CN101998522B

CN101998522B - Buffer state information report processing method and relay node

Info

Publication number: CN101998522B
Application number: CN200910091539.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 赵亚利; 李国庆; 谌丽; 鲍炜
Original assignee: China Academy of Telecommunications Technology CATT
Current assignee: China Academy of Telecommunications Technology CATT; Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2009-08-25
Filing date: 2009-08-25
Publication date: 2014-04-02
Anticipated expiration: 2029-08-25
Also published as: CN101998522A

Abstract

The invention discloses a buffer state information report processing method and a relay node. The method comprises that: the relay node acquires the buffer state information of the relay node; and the relay node reports the acquired buffer state information to a home base station. In the method, a scheme for reporting a buffer state to the home base station by the relay node is provided in a network into which the relay node is introduced, and simultaneously, the report method can reduce the complexity of realization and overhead in buffer state report on the basis of not influencing system performance.

Description

Method for reporting and processing buffer status information and relay node

Technical Field

The present invention relates to mobile communication technologies, and in particular, to a processing method for reporting buffer status information and a relay node.

Background

Compared with an LTE (Long Term Evolution ) system, the peak rate of an LTE-a (Long Term Evolution-advanced) system is greatly improved, and an RN (Relay Node) is introduced to improve capacity and improve edge coverage.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of nodes, interfaces, and links in LTE-a, and a brief description is given below to type RN (relay node of type 1) in conjunction with fig. 1.

The function of the type RN is equivalent to a complete base station, and after the LTE-A system introduces the type RN, the nodes, interfaces and links are defined as follows:

1) the node comprises:

donor eNB (home base station): eNB (evolved base station) to which RN belongs;

relay Node: an entity existing between the Donor eNB and the UE, abbreviated RN;

Relay-UE (user equipment for Relay service): the UE served by the RN, abbreviated as R-UE;

marco UE (user equipment served by donor eNB): and the UE directly performs data interaction with the Donor eNB.

2) The interface comprises:

a Un interface: an interface between the RN and the Donor eNB;

a Uu interface: an interface between R-UE and RN or an interface between Marco UE and Donor eNB.

3) The wireless link includes:

backhaullink: a backhaul link, a link corresponding to the Un interface;

access link: and the access link is a link corresponding to the Uu interface.

4) And a transmission route:

downlink transmission after introducing the RN: data reaching Relay-UE under RN needs to be sent to RN by Donor eNB through downlink backhaul, and then sent to Relay-UE by RN through downlink access link;

uplink transmission after introducing the RN: uplink transmission of Relay-UE under the RN is firstly sent to the RN by the Relay-UE through an uplink access link, and then is sent to the Donor eNB by the RN through an uplink backhaul link.

And secondly, a Buffer State Report (BSR) reporting mechanism of the LTE system.

The LTE is a scheduling-based system, in which a base station allocates time-frequency resources for uplink and downlink data transmission to a terminal, and the terminal receives downlink data or transmits uplink data according to a scheduling signaling of the base station.

For the uplink, since the uplink scheduler is located in the base station, in order to perform uplink scheduling and reasonably allocate uplink resources to the terminal, the terminal needs to perform uplink buffer data state reporting, i.e., BSR.

BSR classification and triggering conditions in LTE systems are as follows:

1) conventional bsr (regular bsr): (1) triggering when data with higher priority than the data in the current buffer arrives or data arrives in the originally empty buffer; (2) the retxBSR-Timer (BSR retransmission Timer) is overtime and is triggered when data exists in the buffer;

2) periodic bsr (periodic bsr): periodic BSR-Time (periodic BSR timer) timeout trigger;

3) piggyback bsr (padding bsr): if the UE organizes a MAC (Medium access control) PDU (Packet Data Unit), resources are available in addition to Data to be transmitted, and a Padding BSR may be triggered.

The BSR reporting mechanism of the LTE system is as follows:

after the BSR is triggered, both the period BSR and the Padding BSR need to be reported when uplink resources are available.

The Regular BSR triggers an SR (Scheduling Request) procedure when no uplink resource is available, and requests the base station to allocate an uplink resource to a UE (User Equipment).

After the base station allocates the uplink resource to the UE, if the resource just sends all uplink data, the base station may send the uplink data directly without sending a BSR; if the resource is not enough to send all uplink data, reporting a Regular BSR and a Periodic BSR preferentially, and then carrying out subsequent transmission scheduling by the base station according to the uplink data quantity required by the UE reported by the BSR.

Both the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR contain all available data volume information in the UE buffer, and the reporting formats are completely the same. The MAC layer preferentially places the two types of MAC ces when organizing the MAC PDUs, and then places the MAC SDUs. The priority of Padding BSR is lower than that of general data, and according to the resource amount of the week, when a plurality of logical channel groups all have data, the BSR may only contain BSR information of a partial logical channel group with the highest priority, and the BSR is called a truncated BSR (truncated BSR).

If multiple BSRs are triggered simultaneously, only the BSR with the highest priority is reported. After the BSR is reported, starting or restarting the periodicBSR-Time unless the BSR is a truncated BSR; the UE starts or restarts the retxsbsr-Timer as long as it obtains new data resource allocation.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a MAC subheader, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of Short BSR and Truncated BSR MAC Control elements, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of LongBSR MAC Control elements, BSR is reported in the form of MAC CE (Control Element), the report time is divided into two parts, namely, a MAC subheader and a MAC CE, BSR MAC CE includes two formats, namely, a long BSR and a Short BSR, and the formats of the Truncated BSR and the Short BSR are the same. The formats of the MAC subheader and BSR MAC CE in the LTE system are shown in fig. 2, fig. 3, and fig. 4, respectively.

Wherein the meaning of each domain is as follows:

LCID (Logical Channel ID, Logical Channel identification): and the logical channel numbers are used for identifying the corresponding load parts, and each of the long BSR, short BSR and truncated BSR has one LCID.

E: an extension bit for indicating whether the next byte is a MAC subheader or a MAC payload.

R: the bits are reserved.

LCG ID (Logical Channel Group ID, Logical Channel Group number): 4 logical channel groups are divided when BSR reports in the LTE system.

Buffer Size: the amount of data buffered in the corresponding logical channel group.

At present, the BSR reporting mechanism on the access link in LTE-a is the same as that in LTE system, but the prior art has the following disadvantages: there is no technical scheme for reporting the BSR on the backhaul link.

Disclosure of Invention

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a buffer status information reporting processing method and a relay node, so as to solve the BSR reporting problem on an access link in the LTE-a system in the prior art.

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for reporting and processing buffer state information, which comprises the following steps:

a Relay Node (RN) acquires a BSR of the RN, which is buffer state information of all cells under the jurisdiction of the RN; when the RN reports the acquired BSR to a home base station donor eNB, uniformly reporting buffer state information of all cells under the jurisdiction of the RN to the donor eNB; or,

the RN acquires the buffer area state information of the RN, wherein the buffer area state information is the buffer area state information of each cell under the RN; when the RN reports the acquired buffer state information to the doror eNB, respectively reporting the buffer state information of each cell administered by the RN to the doror eNB;

when the RN reports the acquired buffer state information to the home base station donor eNB, the method comprises the following steps:

if the RN buffer area buffer is empty originally, triggering and reporting the conventional RegularBSR when uplink data arrive;

or, when the BSR retransmission Timer retxBSR-Timer is overtime and the RN buffer has data, triggering and reporting the Regular BSR;

or triggering the periodic BSR when the periodic BSR timer period-Time is overtime;

or, if the RN organizes the MAC packet data unit PDU, resources are available in addition to data to be transmitted on the component carrier corresponding to the cell, and the resources can carry the piggybacking BSR, and trigger reporting of the Padding BSR on the component carrier;

and, in the above-mentioned reporting process, the following condition is satisfied:

when reporting the Regular BSR or reporting the Periodic BSR, not reporting the Padding BSR;

when only the Padding BSR is reported, if a plurality of member carriers have resources capable of bearing the Padding BSR at the same time, only one of the Padding BSR is reported on one of the member carriers.

Preferably, when the RN reports BSRs of all cells under the jurisdiction of the RN to the donor eNB in a unified manner, the adopted BSR MAC CE includes the following domains: a reserved bit field and a Buffer Size field.

Preferably, when the RN reports BSRs of cells administered by the RN to the donor eNB, respectively, the adopted BSR MAC CE includes the following domains: a cell identification field, a reserved bit field and a Buffer Size field.

Preferably, the BSR includes a regular BSR, a periodic BSR, and a piggyback BSR, and when the RN reports the acquired BSR to the doror eNB, the report is performed according to one or a combination of the following constraints:

when reporting the Regular BSR, the Periodic BSR and the padding BSR at the same time, only reporting the Regular BSR or the Periodic BSR;

when reporting the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR at the same time, reporting one of the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR;

when organizing MAC PDUs, the priority is: regular BSR ═ Periodic BSR > data > padding BSR;

if the uplink resources allocated to the UE by the base station just can send all uplink data, sending the uplink data without reporting the BSR;

if uplink resources are not allocated to the RN when the Regular BSR is reported, triggering an SR process;

using Periodic BSR resources distributed by the Donor eNB for the RN when reporting the Periodic BSR;

in a single carrier system, when reporting a Padding BSR, using the carrier for reporting, in a multi-carrier system, if the RN has data transmission and the carrier for data transmission can bear the Padding BSR, using the carrier for BSR reporting, otherwise, randomly selecting one carrier from the carriers for bearing the Padding BSR or selecting one carrier according to carrier load factors for BSR reporting.

Preferably, after the RN reports the acquired BSR to the donor eNB, the method further includes:

starting or restarting the retxBSR-Timer, and starting or restarting the periodicBSR-Timer when the reported buffer state information is not the truncated BSR.

The embodiment of the invention also provides an RN, which comprises the following steps:

an acquiring module, configured to acquire a BSR of an RN;

a reporting module, configured to report the obtained BSR to a donor eNB;

the acquisition module comprises a first acquisition unit, and the reporting module comprises a first reporting unit, wherein: the first acquiring unit is used for acquiring the buffer area state information of all cells under the RN; the first reporting unit is used for reporting the buffer state information of all cells under the jurisdiction of the RN to the doror eNB in a unified manner when reporting the acquired buffer state information to the doror eNB; and/or, the acquiring module comprises a second acquiring unit, and the reporting module comprises a second reporting unit, wherein: the second acquiring unit is used for acquiring the buffer area state information of each cell under the RN; a second reporting unit, configured to report the obtained buffer state information to the donor eNB, and report the buffer state information of each cell administered by the RN to the donor eNB respectively;

the reporting module is further configured to trigger reporting of a regulated bsr when uplink data arrives if the RN buffer is empty when the RN reports the acquired buffer status information to the home base station donor eNB; or, when the retxBSR-Timer is overtime and the RN cache has data, triggering and reporting the RegularBSR; or triggering the period BSR when the period BSR-Time is overtime; or, if the RN organizes the MAC PDU, resources are available in addition to data to be transmitted on the component carrier corresponding to the cell, and the resources can carry Padding BSR, and trigger reporting of Padding BSR on the component carrier; and, in the above-mentioned reporting process, the following condition is satisfied: when reporting the Regular BSR or reporting the Periodic BSR, not reporting the padding BSR; when only the Padding BSR is reported, if a plurality of member carriers have resources capable of bearing the Padding BSR at the same time, only one of the Padding BSR is reported on one of the member carriers.

Preferably, the first reporting unit is further configured to, when reporting BSRs of all cells governed by the RN to the donor eNB in a unified manner, use a BSR MAC CE including a domain of: a reserved bit field and a BufferSize field.

Preferably, the second reporting unit is further configured to, when reporting the buffer status information of each cell administered by the RN to the donor eNB, respectively, adopt a BSR MAC CE including: a cell identification field, a reserved bit field and a Buffer Size field.

Preferably, the reporting module is further configured to report, when the BSR includes a regular BSR, a periodic BSR, and a piggyback BSR, and when the obtained buffer status information is reported to the doror eNB, the buffer status information according to one of the following constraints or a combination thereof: when reporting the Regular BSR, the Periodic BSR and the paddingBSR at the same time, only reporting the Regular BSR or the Periodic BSR; when reporting the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR at the same time, reporting one of the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR; when organizing MAC PDUs, the priority is: regular BSR > Periodic BSR > data > padding BSR; if the uplink resource allocated to the UE by the base station just can send all uplink data, sending the uplink data without reporting the state information of the buffer area; if uplink resources are not allocated to the RN when the Regular BSR is reported, triggering an SR process; using periodic BSR resources distributed by the Donor eNB for the RN when reporting the PeriodicBSR; in a single carrier system, the carrier is used for reporting when the Padding BSR is reported, in a multi-carrier system, if the RN has data transmission and the carrier for the data transmission can bear the Padding BSR, the carrier is used for carrying out buffer area state information reporting, otherwise, one carrier is randomly selected from the carriers bearing the Padding BSR or selected according to carrier load factors for carrying out buffer area state information reporting.

Preferably, further comprising: and the Timer module is used for starting or restarting retxBSR-Timer except that the reported buffer state information is a truncated BSR after the obtained buffer state information is reported to the donor eNB, and starting or restarting periodicB SR-Timer when the reported buffer state information is not the truncated BSR.

The invention has the following beneficial effects:

in the implementation process of the invention, the RN acquires the buffer area state information of the RN; and the RN reports the acquired buffer state information to the donor eNB. By the technical scheme, in a network with the RN introduced, the scheme that the RN reports the buffer state information to the Donor eNB is provided, and meanwhile, the reporting mode can reduce the complexity of implementation and the overhead of reporting the buffer state information on the basis of not influencing the system performance.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating nodes, interfaces and links in LTE-A in the background art;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a MAC subheader in the background art;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of Short BSR and Truncated BSR MAC control element in the background art;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a Long BSR MAC control element in the background art;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation flow of a buffer status information reporting processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a MAC subheader structure adopted when the buffer status information of all cells is uniformly reported in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a BSRMAC CE used when the buffer status information of all cells is uniformly reported in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a MAC subheader structure adopted when buffer status information of each cell is reported respectively in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a BSRMAC CE structure (1) adopted when buffer status information of each cell is reported respectively in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a BSRMAC CE structure (2) adopted when buffer status information of each cell is reported respectively in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a relay node structure in the embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The inventor notices in the process of invention that: at present, no uplink buffer area state information reporting mechanism on the backhaul of the LTE-A system exists. In an LTE-a system, uplink data of R-UE must be sent to RN through Uu port to reach a base station, and then RN sends to Donor eNB through uplink backhaul subframe, but because the number of UL (uplink) backhaul subframe is limited, it is generally considered that the priority of RN uplink data in Un port uplink backhaul subframe is higher than that of Marco UE, and this reason also causes that if RN continues using BSR reporting mechanism of LTE system, RN will bring certain complexity, and there is no much improvement on system performance, so a new BSR reporting mechanism needs to be considered.

In view of this, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for reporting and processing buffer status information, and the following describes a specific embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of an implementation process of a buffer status information reporting processing method, as shown in the figure, the following steps may be included in the buffer status information reporting process:

step 501, the RN acquires the buffer status information of the RN;

step 502, the RN reports the acquired buffer status information to the donor eNB.

In the implementation of the method for reporting the buffer state information by the RN in the LTE-a system, when the RN reports the buffer state information to the donoreNB, only the total data volume is reported, and the logical channel group is not distinguished, so that the complexity and the reporting overhead of BSR reporting can be reduced by using the scheme, and the system performance is not affected basically.

In the prior art, no clear definition is given for the definition of RN, so that the following description will take typern as an example, and it is known to those skilled in the art from the implementation of the present invention that all RNs having the same or similar function as typern may also adopt the present invention, that is, RNs having the same connection relationship with UE and Donor eNB and having the same function as typern described in the background art may also be implemented in embodiments where no BSR reporting scheme is performed on backhaul.

In specific implementation, two modes can be adopted:

1. and uniformly reporting the buffer state information of all cells under the RN, namely:

the buffer area state information of the RN acquired by the Typel RN is the buffer area state information of all cells under the jurisdiction of the RN;

when the Typel RN reports the acquired buffer state information to the doror eNB, reporting the buffer state information of all cells administered by the Typel RN to the doror eNB uniformly;

2. the buffer status information of different cells under the RN is respectively reported, namely:

the Typel RN acquires the buffer area state information of the RN, and the buffer area state information is the buffer area state information of each cell administered by the Typel RN;

and when the Typel RN reports the acquired buffer state information to the doror eNB, reporting the buffer state information of each cell administered by the Typel RN to the doror eNB respectively.

The two modes will be described below in detail according to the triggering condition for reporting, the mechanism for reporting, and the specific implementation of the MAC CE format used in reporting.

Firstly, reporting a trigger condition of buffer zone state information.

1. In a scenario where buffer status information of all cells under RN is reported uniformly, the BSR triggering mechanism is as follows, and reporting of buffer status information may be triggered as long as one of the following conditions is satisfied, that is, when a type RN reports buffer status information of all cells under the jurisdiction of the type RN to a donor eNB uniformly, the reporting may include:

if the RN buffer is empty originally, triggering and reporting the conventional BSR when uplink data arrive;

or, when the retxBSR-Timer is overtime and the RN buffer has data, triggering and reporting the conventional BSR;

or triggering a periodic BSR when the periodicBSR-Time is overtime;

or, if the RN organizes the MAC PDU, resources are available in addition to the data to be transmitted, and the resources can carry the BSR, and trigger reporting of the piggybacking BSR, that is, if the RN organizes the MAC PDU, resources are available in addition to the data to be transmitted, and the resources can carry the BSR, and trigger reporting of the Padding BSR;

when reporting the conventional BSR or reporting the Periodic BSR, not reporting the padding BSR;

when only the padding BSR is reported, if a plurality of member carriers have resources capable of carrying the piggyback BSR at the same time, only one of the piggyback BSR is reported on one of the member carriers.

2. When the type RN reports the obtained buffer status information reported by each cell to the donor eNB, the method may include:

or triggering a periodic BSR when the periodicBSR-Time is overtime;

or, if the RN organizes the MAC PDU, resources are available in addition to data to be transmitted on the member carrier corresponding to the cell, and the resources can carry the piggybacked BSR, and trigger reporting of the piggybacked BSR on the member carrier;

That is, when the type RN reports the acquired buffer status information to the home base station donor eNB, the triggering principle may be:

1) the triggering mechanisms of Regular BSR, Periodic BSR and padding BSR on each carrier are the same;

2) when a Regular BSR or a Periodic BSR is triggered, the padding BSR is not triggered;

3) when only the padding BSR is triggered, if a plurality of member carriers have padding capable of placing the padding BSR at the same time, only one padding BSR is triggered.

And II, reporting a BSR.

In implementation, the BSR includes a regular BSR, a periodic BSR, and a piggyback BSR, so that when the type RN reports the acquired buffer status information to the doror eNB, one or a combination of the following constraints may be included:

when the Regular BSR, the Periodic BSR and the padding BSR need to be reported simultaneously, only reporting the Regular BSR or the Periodic BSR, namely, when the Regular BSR, the Periodic BSR and the padding BSR are triggered simultaneously, only reporting the Regular BSR or the Periodic BSR;

when reporting the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR at the same time, reporting one of the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR, namely when the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR are triggered at the same time, reporting any one of the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR;

when organizing MAC PDUs, the priority is: regular BSR > data > padding BSR, i.e. the priority when organizing MAC PDUs may be: regular BSR ═ PeriodicBSR > data; data > padding BSR;

if the uplink resource allocated to the UE by the base station just can send all uplink data, sending the uplink data without reporting the buffer status information, that is, if the uplink resource allocated to the UE by the base station just can send all uplink data, directly sending the uplink data without sending the buffer status information;

if uplink resources are not allocated to the RN when the Regular BSR is reported, triggering an SR process, namely, if the uplink resources are not allocated to the RN at the moment, triggering the SR process because the Regular BSR reports the uplink resources needed;

using Periodic BSR resources distributed by the Donor eNB for the RN when reporting the Periodic BSR, namely, using the Periodic BSR resources distributed by the Donor eNB for reporting the Periodic BSR;

in a single carrier system, when reporting a Padding BSR, using the carrier for reporting, in a multi-carrier system, if the RN has data transmission and the carrier for data transmission can bear the Padding BSR, using the carrier for BSR reporting, otherwise, randomly selecting one carrier from the carriers for bearing the Padding BSR or selecting one carrier according to carrier load factors for BSR reporting, namely, for the single carrier system, if reporting the Padding BSR, using the carrier for reporting; for a multi-carrier system, if the RN has data transmission and the data-transmitted carrier can carry the Padding BSR, the carrier is used for BSR reporting, otherwise, one carrier is randomly selected from the carriers which can carry the Padding BSR or selected according to factors such as carrier load and the like for BSR.

And thirdly, adopting an MAC CE format when the BSR is reported.

1. When the type RN reports the acquired buffer state information reported by all the cells to the donor eNB in a unified manner, the adopted BSR MAC CE comprises the following domains: a reserved bit field and a Buffer Size field.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a MAC subheader used when buffer status information of all cells is uniformly reported, and fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a BSR MAC CE used when buffer status information of all cells is uniformly reported, in a specific implementation, under the condition that buffer status information of all cells is uniformly reported under RN, since a peak rate of RN is the same as a peak rate of Marco UE under Donor eNB, it should be noted that, in an LTE-a system, RN does not distinguish a logical channel when reporting buffer status information, and only reports a total data volume, therefore, structures of a BSR MAC subheader and a BSR MAC CE may be as shown in fig. 6 and fig. 7.

Wherein the meaning of each domain is as follows:

lcid (logical Channel id): a logical channel number for identifying a corresponding payload portion;

e: an extension bit for indicating whether a next byte is a MAC subheader or a MAC payload;

r: reserving bits, considering that the number of UL backhaul subframes is limited for the LTE-a system, so the R bits in the BSR MAC CE may also be extended to a part of the Buffer Size;

buffer Size: the total data volume in the cache needing to be reported by the RN;

as can be seen from fig. 6, a reserved bit field and a BufferSize field are added in the field included by the BSR MAC CE. It should be noted that: the Size of the Buffer Size in fig. 6 may be changed due to the need of subsequent evolution, and as the Size of the Buffer Size is changed, the number of R bits may also be changed. Of course, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that corresponding modifications may be made as required by the subsequent improvements.

2. When the type RN reports the acquired buffer state information reported by each cell to the donor eNB, the adopted BSR MAC CE comprises the following domains: a cell identification field, a reserved bit field and a Buffer Size field.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a MAC subheader structure adopted when BSRs of respective cells are reported, fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a BSR MAC CE structure (1) adopted when BSRs of respective cells are reported, and fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a BSR MAC CE structure (2) adopted when BSRs of respective cells are reported, where meanings of respective domains are the same as those in fig. 6 and 7, and are not repeated. As can be seen from fig. 9, a cell identification field, a reserved bit field, and a Buffer Size field are added in the field included by the BSR MAC CE.

The cell identity is explained below.

Under the scenario that the buffer status information of each cell is reported separately, the cell number needs to be identified explicitly or implicitly. The following modes can be adopted:

1) and when the RN sends data and information to the Doner eNB at the Un port, the RN is sent in a sub-cell manner, all data have a uniform cell location or cell number, and the buffer status information is used as a part of the data, and the format of the buffer status information does not need to be specially processed 7 and can be the same as that of fig. 6 and 7.

2) And adding a cell identifier when the RN reports the state information of the buffer zone. The MAC subheader and MAC CE format are shown in fig. 8 and 9.

3) And when a plurality of cells need to report the buffer state information, reporting the buffer state information of each cell according to the cell sequence (negotiation can be realized between the Donor eNB and the RN in the cell sequence). The MAC subheader and MAC CE format may be as shown in fig. 8 and 10.

It should be noted that: since the MAC CE format depends on different cell identification lengths and the number of cells under RN, the MAC CE formats shown in fig. 9 and 10 may have length variation but basic domain variation.

In the specific implementation, further, the subsequent processing procedure after the report of the buffer status information may also be included, that is, after the type RN reports the acquired buffer status information to the donor eNB, the method may further include: starting or restarting the retxBSR-Timer, and starting or restarting the periodicBSR-Timer when the reported buffer state information is not the truncated BSR.

Starting or restarting periodicBSR-Timer (except truncated BSR); and, starting or restarting the retxsbsr-Timer means starting/restarting the periodicBSR-Timer and the retxsbsr-Timer after BSR is performed, but if the reported BSR is a truncated BSR, the periodicBSR-Timer is not started/restarted, but the retxsr-Timer is also started/restarted.

Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiment of the present invention further provides an RN, and since the principle of the relay node for solving the problem is similar to the buffer status information reporting processing method, the implementation of the relay node may refer to the implementation of the method, and the repeated parts are not described in detail.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a relay node, as shown in the figure, including:

an obtaining module 1101, configured to obtain buffer status information of the RN;

a reporting module 1102, configured to report the obtained buffer status information to the donor eNB.

In implementation, when a manner of uniformly reporting the buffer status information of all cells under the RN is adopted, the acquiring module may include a first acquiring unit, and the reporting module may include a first reporting unit, then:

the first acquiring unit is used for acquiring the buffer area state information of all cells under the RN;

the first reporting unit is used for reporting the buffer state information of all cells under the jurisdiction of the RN to the doror eNB in a unified manner when reporting the acquired buffer state information to the doror eNB;

when the buffer status information of different cells is reported under the RN, the acquiring module may include a second acquiring unit, and the reporting module includes a second reporting unit, then:

the second acquiring unit is used for acquiring the buffer area state information of each cell under the RN;

and a second reporting unit, configured to report the buffer state information of each cell administered by the RN to the doror eNB when reporting the acquired buffer state information to the doror eNB.

In the implementation, when the buffer status information of all cells under RN is uniformly reported, different MAC CE formats may be used, and specifically, the first reporting unit may be further configured to report the buffer status information of all cells under RN to the donor eNB in a unified manner, where the BSR MAC CE includes: a reserved bit field and a Buffer Size field.

In an implementation, the buffer status information of different cells under the RN may be respectively reported in different MAC CE formats, and specifically, the second reporting unit may be further configured to, when the buffer status information of each cell under the RN is respectively reported to the donoreNB, the BSR MAC CE included in the domain: a cell identification field, a reserved bit field and a Buffer Size field.

In implementation, the reporting module may be further configured to trigger reporting of a conventional BSR when uplink data arrives if the RN buffer is empty when the RN reports the acquired buffer status information to the home base station donor eNB; or, when the retxBSR-Timer is overtime and the RN buffer has data, triggering and reporting the conventional BSR; or triggering a periodic BSR when the periodicBSR-Time is overtime; or, if the RN organizes the MAC PDU, resources are available in addition to data to be transmitted on the member carrier corresponding to the cell, and the resources can carry the piggybacked BSR, and trigger reporting of the piggybacked BSR on the member carrier; and, in the above-mentioned reporting process, the following condition is satisfied: when reporting the conventional BSR or reporting the Periodic BSR, not reporting the padding BSR; when only the padding BSR is reported, if a plurality of member carriers have resources capable of carrying the piggyback BSR at the same time, only one of the piggyback BSR is reported on one of the member carriers.

In implementation, different reporting mechanisms may be adopted as required during reporting, and specifically, the reporting module may be further configured to report the buffer status information, which includes a regular BSR, a periodic BSR, and a piggybacked BSR, to the doror eNB according to one or a combination of the following constraints: when reporting the Regular BSR, the Periodic BSR and the padding BSR at the same time, only reporting the Regular BSR or the Periodic BSR; when reporting the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR at the same time, reporting one of the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR; when organizing MAC PDUs, the priority is: regular BSR ═ Periodic BSR > data > padding BSR; if the uplink resource allocated to the UE by the base station just can send all uplink data, sending the uplink data without reporting the state information of the buffer area; if uplink resources are not allocated to the RN when the Regular BSR is reported, triggering an SR process; using Periodic BSR resources distributed by the Donor eNB for the RN when reporting the Periodic BSR; in a single carrier system, the carrier is used for reporting when the padding BSR is reported, in a multi-carrier system, if the RN has data transmission and the carrier for the data transmission can bear the padding BSR, the carrier is used for reporting buffer state information, otherwise, one carrier is randomly selected from the carriers bearing the padding BSR or selected according to carrier load factors for reporting the BSR.

In implementation, the relay node may further include: the Timer module 1103 is configured to start or restart the retxsbsr-Timer after the obtained buffer status information is reported to the donoreNB, and start or restart the periodicBSR-Timer when the reported buffer status information is not a truncated BSR.

For convenience of description, each part of the above-described apparatus is separately described as being functionally divided into various modules or units. Of course, the functionality of the various modules or units may be implemented in the same one or more pieces of software or hardware in practicing the invention.

As can be seen from the above, in the network in which the RN is introduced, when the RN reports BSR to the Donor eNB, only the total data volume is reported, and the logical channel group is not distinguished.

Specifically, two modes of uniformly reporting the buffer state information of all cells under the RN and respectively reporting the buffer state information of different cells under the RN are provided;

further, a triggering condition and a reporting mechanism for uniformly reporting the state information of all cell buffers under the RN and a specific implementation mode of an adopted MAC CE format are also provided;

further, a triggering condition and a reporting mechanism for respectively reporting the buffer status information of different cells under the RN, and a specific implementation mode of an adopted MAC CE format are also provided.

By the technical scheme, in a network with the RN introduced, a scheme that the RN reports the buffer status information to the Donor eNB is provided, and the implementation complexity and BSR reporting overhead can be reduced on the basis of not influencing the system performance by using the reporting mode.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, additional variations and modifications in those embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once they learn of the basic inventive concepts. Therefore, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as including preferred embodiments and all such alterations and modifications as fall within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method for reporting and processing buffer status information is characterized by comprising the following steps:

a relay node RN acquires buffer zone state information of the RN, wherein the buffer zone state information is buffer zone state information of all cells under the RN; when the RN reports the acquired buffer state information to a home base station donor eNB, uniformly reporting the buffer state information of all cells under the RN to the donor eNB; or,

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the RN reports the buffer status information of all cells under the jurisdiction of the RN to a donor eNB in a unified manner, the adopted buffer status BSR MAC control element CE includes the following fields: a reserved bit field and a data Buffer Size field.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein when the RN reports the buffer status information of each cell administered by the RN to a donor eNB, respectively, the adopted BSR MAC CE includes the following fields: a cell identification field, a reserved bit field and a Buffer Size field.

4. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the BSRs include Regular BSRs, period BSRs, Padding BSRs, and when the RN reports the acquired BSRs to the donor eNB, the reporting is performed according to one or a combination of the following constraints:

when organizing MAC PDUs, the priority is: regular BSR ═ Periodic BSR > data > padding B SR;

if the uplink resource allocated to the UE by the base station just can send all uplink data, sending the uplink data without reporting the state information of the buffer area;

if uplink resources are not allocated to the RN when the Regular BSR is reported, triggering a Scheduling Request (SR) process;

using the radio eNB to allocate radio BSR resources for the RN when reporting the radio BSR;

in a single carrier system, the carrier is used for reporting when the Padding BSR is reported, in a multi-carrier system, if the RN has data transmission and the carrier for the data transmission can bear the Padding BSR, the carrier is used for carrying out buffer area state information reporting, otherwise, one carrier is randomly selected from the carriers bearing the Padding BSR or selected according to carrier load factors for carrying out buffer area state information reporting.

5. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein after the RN reports the obtained buffer status information to the Donor eNB, the method further comprises:

6. A relay node, comprising:

the acquisition module is used for acquiring the buffer area state information of the RN;

the reporting module is used for reporting the acquired buffer area state information to the donor eNB;

7. The relay node of claim 6, wherein the first reporting unit is further configured to, when reporting the buffer status information of all cells administered by the RN to the donor eNB in a unified manner, adopt a BSR MAC CE including a domain of: a reserved bit field and a Buffer Size field.

8. The relay node of claim 6, wherein the second reporting unit is further configured to, when reporting the buffer status information of each cell administered by the RN to the donor eNB, respectively, adopt a BSR MAC CE including a domain of: a cell identification field, a reserved bit field and a Buffer Size field.

9. The relay node of any of claims 6 to 8, wherein the reporting module is further configured to, when the BSRs include a Regular BSR, a Periodic BSR, and a Padding BSR, report the acquired buffer status information to the donoreNB according to one or a combination of the following constraints: when reporting the Regular BSR, the Periodic BSR and the padding BSR at the same time, only reporting the Regular BSR or the Periodic BSR; when reporting the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR at the same time, reporting one of the Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR; when organizing MAC PDUs, the priority is: regular BSR ═ Periodic BSR > data > padding BSR; if the uplink resource allocated to the UE by the base station just can send all uplink data, sending the uplink data without reporting the state information of the buffer area; if uplink resources are not allocated to the RN when the Regular BSR is reported, triggering an SR process; using the radio eNB to allocate radio BSR resources for the RN when reporting the radio BSR; in a single carrier system, the carrier is used for reporting when the Padding BSR is reported, in a multi-carrier system, if the RN has data transmission and the carrier for the data transmission can bear the Padding BSR, the carrier is used for carrying out buffer area state information reporting, otherwise, one carrier is randomly selected from the carriers bearing the Padding BSR or selected according to carrier load factors for carrying out buffer area state information reporting.

10. The relay node of any of claims 6 to 8, further comprising: and the Timer module is used for starting or restarting the retxBSR-Timer after the acquired buffer state information is reported to the donor eNB, and starting or restarting the periodicBSR-Timer when the reported buffer state information is not the truncated BSR.