CN112602366A

CN112602366A - Data priority indication for uplink grants

Info

Publication number: CN112602366A
Application number: CN201880096804.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 方亮; H·E·席珀拉; 李海涛
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Oyj; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2018-08-24
Filing date: 2018-08-24
Publication date: 2021-04-02
Also published as: WO2020037675A1

Abstract

There is provided a method in a terminal device of a wireless network, the method comprising: transmitting a message to a network node of a wireless network, the message indicating a need to transmit data, wherein the message comprises a reserved data priority block indicating a priority of data that needs to be transmitted; receiving an uplink grant message from the network node as a response to the transmitted message; and transmitting data at least in part on the radio resources indicated in the uplink grant message.

Description

Data priority indication for uplink grants

Technical Field

The present invention relates to communications.

Background

In a wireless network, the network allocates radio resources for terminal devices based on requests from the terminal devices. As the number of terminal devices continues to increase, there may be situations where the network cannot serve the terminal devices quickly enough to maintain a certain service. Thus, a large number of uplink grant requests may even block the most critical services. Therefore, it may be beneficial to provide a solution that enables a network to serve at least the most critical terminal devices and/or services.

Disclosure of Invention

According to one aspect, the subject matter of the independent claims is provided. Some embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.

One or more examples of implementations are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

Drawings

Some embodiments will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Fig. 1 shows an example of a wireless communication system to which embodiments of the present invention may be applied;

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate flow diagrams according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate signal diagrams according to some embodiments;

FIGS. 5A, 5B, 5C, and 5D illustrate some embodiments;

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate signal diagrams according to some embodiments;

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment; and

fig. 8 and 9 illustrate block diagrams of apparatuses according to some embodiments.

Detailed Description

The following embodiments are exemplary. Although the specification may refer to "an", "one", or "some" embodiment in various places throughout the text, this does not necessarily mean that each such reference refers to the same embodiment or that a particular feature only applies to a single embodiment. Individual features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

In the following, different exemplary embodiments will be described using a radio access architecture based on long term evolution advanced (LTE-advanced) or new radio (NR, 5G) as an example of an access architecture to which the embodiments can be applied, without limiting the embodiments to such an architecture. It is clear to a person skilled in the art that the embodiments can also be applied to other kinds of communication networks with suitable components by appropriately adjusting the parameters and procedures. Some examples of other options applicable to the system are Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) radio Access network (UTRAN or E-UTRAN), Long term evolution (LTE, same as E-UTRA), Wireless local area network (WLAN or WiFi), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Bluetooth

Personal Communication Services (PCS),

Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), systems using ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, sensor networks, mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), and internet protocol multimedia subsystems (IMS), or any combination thereof.

Fig. 1 depicts an example of a simplified system architecture, showing only some elements and functional entities, all of which are logical units, the implementation of which may differ from that shown. The connections shown in FIG. 1 are logical connections; the actual physical connections may differ. It is clear to a person skilled in the art that the system typically comprises other functions and structures than those shown in fig. 1.

The embodiments are not, however, limited to the systems given as examples, but a person skilled in the art may apply the solution to other communication systems having the necessary characteristics.

The example of fig. 1 shows a portion of an exemplary radio access network.

Fig. 1 shows

user equipments

100 and 102 configured to be in a wireless connection on one or more communication channels in a cell provided by an access node, such as an (e/g) NodeB 104. The physical link from the user equipment to the (e/g) NodeB is called an Uplink (UL) or reverse link, and the physical link from the (e/g) NodeB to the user equipment is called a downlink or forward link. It should be understood that the (e/g) NodeB or functionality thereof may be implemented using any node, host, server, or access point, etc. entity suitable for such usage. In a broad sense, the above-described node 104 may be referred to as a network node 104 or a network element 104.

A communication system typically comprises more than one (e/g) NodeB, in which case the (e/g) nodebs may also be configured to communicate with each other via wired or wireless links designed for this purpose. These links may be used for signaling purposes. (e/g) a NodeB is a computing device configured to control the radio resources of the communication system to which it is coupled. The NodeB may also be referred to as a base station, an access point, or any other type of interface device that includes relay stations capable of operating in a wireless environment. (e/g) the NodeB includes or is coupled to a transceiver. From the transceiver of the (e/g) NodeB, the antenna unit is provided with a connection, which establishes a bi-directional radio link to the user equipment. The antenna unit may comprise a plurality of antennas or antenna elements. (e/g) the NodeB is further connected to a core network 110(CN or next generation core NGC). Depending on the system, the CN side counterpart may be a serving gateway (S-GW, routing and forwarding user data packets), a packet data network gateway (P-GW, for providing a connection of User Equipment (UE) with external packet data networks), or a Mobility Management Entity (MME), etc.

A user equipment (also referred to as UE, user equipment, user terminal, terminal device, etc.) illustrates one type of device to which resources on an air interface are allocated and assigned, and thus any features described herein with user equipment may be implemented with a corresponding apparatus, such as a relay node. One example of such a relay node is a layer 3 relay (self-backhauling relay) towards the base station.

User equipment generally refers to portable computing devices, including wireless mobile communication devices with or without Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), including but not limited to the following types of devices: mobile stations (mobile phones), smart phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), cell phones, devices using wireless modems (alarm or measurement devices, etc.), laptop and/or touch screen computers, tablets, game consoles, notebooks, and multimedia devices. It should be understood that the user equipment may also be an almost exclusive uplink-only device, an example of which is a camera or camcorder that loads images or video clips to the network. The user device may also be a device with the capability to operate in an internet of things (IoT) network, in which scenario objects are provided with the capability to transmit data over the network without human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. The user equipment (or in some embodiments, a layer 3 relay node) is configured to perform one or more of the user equipment functionalities. A user equipment may also be called a subscriber unit, mobile station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, or User Equipment (UE), to name a few.

The various techniques described herein may also be applied to Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) (Systems that cooperate with computational elements that control Physical entities). The CPS may enable the implementation and utilization of a large number of interconnected ICT devices (sensors, actuators, processor microcontrollers, etc.) embedded in different locations in the physical object. The mobile network physical system in which the physical system in question has an inherent mobility is a sub-category of network physical systems. Examples of mobile physical systems include mobile robots and electronics transported by humans or animals.

It should be understood that in fig. 1, the user equipment is depicted as including 2 antennas for clarity only. The number of receiving and/or transmitting antennas may naturally vary depending on the current implementation.

Additionally, although the apparatus is depicted as a single entity, different units, processors, and/or memory units (not all shown in fig. 1) may be implemented.

5G supports many more base stations or nodes than LTE (the so-called small cell concept) using multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, including macro-sites cooperating with smaller base stations and employing multiple radio technologies depending on service requirements, use cases and/or available spectrum. The 5G mobile communication supports various use cases and related applications including video streaming, augmented reality, different data sharing modes, and various forms of machine type applications including vehicle safety, different sensors, and real-time control. 5G is expected to have multiple radio interfaces, namely cmWave and mmWave, and is integrable with existing legacy radio access technologies such as LTE. Integration with LTE may be implemented at least at an early stage as a system in which macro coverage is provided by LTE and 5G radio interface access comes from cells by aggregation to LTE. In other words, plan 5G supports both inter-RAT operability (such as LTE-5G) and inter-RI operability (inter-radio interface operability, such as cmWave-mmWave). One of the concepts considered for use in 5G networks is network slicing, where multiple independent and dedicated virtual subnetworks (network instances) can be created within the same infrastructure to run services with different requirements on latency, reliability, throughput and mobility.

Current architectures in LTE networks are fully distributed in the radio and fully centralized in the core network. Low latency applications and services in 5G require the content to be brought close to the radio, resulting in local burstiness and multiple access edge computations (MEC). 5G allows analysis and knowledge generation to be performed at the data source. This approach requires the utilization of resources such as laptops, smart phones, tablets and sensors that may not be continuously connected to the network. MECs provide a distributed computing environment for application and service hosting. It also has the ability to store and process content in the vicinity of cellular subscribers to speed response times. Edge computing covers a wide range of technologies such as wireless sensor networks, mobile data acquisition, mobile signature analysis, collaborative distributed peer-to-peer ad hoc networks and processes (which can also be classified as local cloud/fog computing and grid/mesh computing), dew computing, mobile edge computing, cloudlets, distributed data storage and retrieval, autonomous self-healing networks, remote cloud services, augmented and virtual reality, data caching, internet of things (large-scale connectivity and/or latency critical), critical communications (autonomous driving cars, traffic safety, real-time analysis, time critical control, healthcare applications).

The communication system is also capable of communicating with or utilizing services provided by other networks, such as the public switched telephone network or the internet 112. The communication network may also be capable of supporting the use of cloud services, e.g., at least a portion of the core network operations may be performed as a cloud service (this is depicted in fig. 1 by "cloud" 114). The communication system may also comprise a central control entity or the like providing the networks of different operators with facilities for cooperation, e.g. in spectrum sharing.

Edge clouds can be introduced into Radio Access Networks (RANs) by utilizing network function virtualization (NVF) and Software Defined Networking (SDN). Using an edge cloud may mean that access node operations are to be performed at least in part in a server, host, or node operatively coupled to a remote radio head or base station that includes a radio portion. Node operations may also be distributed among multiple servers, nodes, or hosts. The application of the clooud RAN architecture enables RAN real-time functions to be performed on the RAN side (in distributed unit DU 104) and non-real-time functions to be performed in a centralized manner (in centralized unit CU 108).

It should also be understood that the labor allocation between core network operation and base station operation may be different than that of LTE, or even non-existent. Some other technological advances that may be used are big data and all IP, which may change the way the network is built and managed. A 5G (or new radio NR) network is designed to support multiple hierarchies, where MEC servers can be placed between the core and the base stations or nodebs (gnbs). It should be understood that MEC may also be applied to 4G networks.

The 5G may also utilize satellite communications to enhance or supplement the coverage of the 5G service, such as by providing backhaul. Possible use cases are to provide service continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M) or internet of things (IoT) devices or for on-board passengers, or to ensure service availability for critical communications as well as future rail/maritime/airline communications. Satellite communications may utilize Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite systems, but may also utilize Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite systems, particularly giant constellations (systems in which hundreds of (nanometers) satellites are deployed). Each satellite 106 in the giant constellation may cover several satellite-enabled network entities that create terrestrial cells. Terrestrial cells may be created by the terrestrial relay node 104 or a gNB located in the ground or in a satellite.

It is clear to a person skilled in the art that the depicted system is only an example of a part of a radio access system, and in practice the system may comprise a plurality of (e/g) nodebs, that a user equipment may access a plurality of radio cells, and that the system may also comprise other apparatuses, such as physical layer relay nodes or other network elements, etc. The at least one (e/g) NodeB may be a home (e/g) NodeB. In addition, in a geographical area of the radio communication system, a plurality of radio cells of different kinds and a plurality of radio cells may be provided. The radio cells may be macro cells (or umbrella cells), which are large cells typically up to tens of kilometers in diameter, or smaller cells such as micro cells, femto cells, or pico cells. The (e/g) NodeB of fig. 1 may provide any kind of these cells. A cellular radio system may be implemented as a multi-layer network comprising several cells. Typically, in a multi-layer network, one access node provides one or more cells, and thus a plurality of (e/g) nodebs are required to provide such a network structure.

To meet the need for improved deployment and performance of communication systems, the concept of "plug and play" (e/g) nodebs has been introduced. Typically, in addition to a home (e/g) NodeB (H (e/g) NodeB), a network capable of using a "plug and play" (e/g) NodeB also includes a home NodeB gateway or HNB-GW (not shown in fig. 1). An HNB gateway (HNB-GW), typically installed within an operator's network, may aggregate traffic from a large number of HNBs back to the core network.

For Narrowband (NB) internet of things (IoT), known as NB-IoT, the amount of Data (DV) and Power Headroom (PH) reporting Media Access Control (MAC) Control Elements (CEs) currently in use may not meet the quality of service requirements required by the current specifications. Similar comments may be made at least with respect to Buffer Status Report (BSR) MAC CE. In general, DV and PH MAC CEs or BSR MAC CEs may be used to indicate the need to transmit data. That is, the UE may request radio resources from the network to transmit data. DV and PH or BSR reporting procedures may be applicable to NB-IoT UEs and may be used to provide information to a serving network node (e.g., eNB) regarding the amount of data available for transmission in an UL buffer associated with a MAC entity. After all MAC Protocol Data Units (PDUs) of a Transmission Time Interval (TTI) are established, the DV field may identify the total amount of data available on all logical channels and data not already associated with the logical channels. The amount of data may be indicated in number of bytes. It may include all data available for transmission in the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer and the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer. The request of the UE may be triggered by, for example, arrival of data in a transmit buffer of the UE. A current problem may be that the UE cannot express the priority of the data it needs to transmit. Thus, the network (i.e., the network that allocates the radio resources) does not know which UE should be served first and/or faster. It is noted that there may be hundreds or even thousands of UEs requesting radio resources, and it may therefore be beneficial to provide a solution that is capable of dynamically handling such a large number of requests and of serving the most important requests first. Thus, a solution for prioritizing data that needs to be transmitted by a UE is provided.

Fig. 2 shows a flow chart indicating a method in a terminal device of a wireless network, the method comprising: transmitting (block 202) a message to a network node of a wireless network, the message indicating a need to transmit data, wherein the message comprises a reserved data priority block indicating a priority of the data that needs to be transmitted; receiving (block 204) an uplink grant message from the network node as a response to the transmitted message; and transmitting (block 206) data at least in part on the radio resources indicated in the uplink grant message.

Fig. 3 shows a flow chart indicating a method in a network node of a wireless network, the method comprising: receiving (block 302) a message from a terminal device of a wireless network, the message indicating a need to transmit data, wherein the message includes a reserved data priority block indicating a priority of the data that needs to be transmitted; performing (block 304) allocation of radio resources based at least on the received message; and transmitting (block 306) an uplink grant message to the terminal device indicating the allocated radio resources for transmitting the data.

In fig. 2 and 3, the terminal device may represent UE 100 or UE 102 (or some other UE). Similarly, a network node may refer to either network node 104 or access node 104. A wireless network may refer to any wireless network. In an embodiment, the wireless network is a cellular network. In an embodiment, the wireless network is a cellular network utilizing NB-IoT technology. In an embodiment, the wireless network is an NB-IoT network.

Thus, basically, the UE 100 can request radio resources for transmitting data from its transmission buffer. To assist the network node 104 in allocating radio resources in a dynamic and efficient manner, the UE 100 indicates the priority of the data in a radio resource request message (i.e., sent in block 202). Thus, the network node 104 may, for example, serve one or more first UEs having higher priority data to transmit than one or more UEs having lower priority data to transmit. Thus, the network node 104 may distinguish UEs or mission critical services of UEs and may thus schedule a Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel (NPUSCH) in the MAC layer for UEs whose priority is mission critical and/or have mission critical services, in other words, have high priority data to send.

Let us, with the help of some examples, go through a careful study of the problems solved by the proposed solution. Two different uses of the UE are assumed:

UE type A (e.g., UE 100) is used to detect earthquakes. UE type a may be optimized with user plane cellular internet of things (CIoT) Evolved Packet System (EPS). UE type a may require two services:

1. in the case of low-level earthquakes, data is collected (medium priority). Utilizing a Data Radio Bearer (DRB) service.

2. In case of a strong earthquake, an alarm is triggered (high priority). Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB) services are utilized.

UE type B is used for charging. UE type B can be optimized with user plane CIoT EPS and requires one service:

1. power usage (low priority) utilization Data Radio Bearer (DRB) services are calculated and reported.

Note that control plane Ciot EPS optimization may support efficient transport of user data (IP, non-IP or SMS) over the control plane via the MME without triggering data radio bearer establishment.

Since the current system does not support priority indication, the scheduling scheme is assumed to be round robin. Thus, for example, if the system is sized to support a large number of NB-IoT UEs, mac-ContentionResolutionTimer-r13 may be set to 960ms (milliseconds). Thus, if UE type a triggers a seismic alarm, Random Access Channel (RACH) access is successful (i.e., Msg3 is received, note that DV and PH CE or BSR CE may be reported with Msg3 or included in Msg3), and up to 960ms is required to schedule an emergency NPUSCH (just before contentionsolutiontimer-r 13 expires). In this example, assume that the setting of "mac-ContentionResolutionTimer-r 13" represents the maximum scheduling delay after the reception of msg 3. This delay may be assumed by, for example, the following configuration:

type B UEs having at least 240 type a UEs that are about to collect data or have reported data volume and power headroom reports MAC CE or BSR CE are waiting earlier than the type a UEs for earthquake alarm processing in the previous TTI,

repeatedly set NPUSCH and NB-IoT physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) to 4, and assuming all NPUSCH CRC OK,

in the case of NB-IoT single tones, only one UE is scheduled per TTI.

However, if the number of repetitions is greater than 4, and/or NPUSCH retransmission is needed, and/or more UEs are waiting to be scheduled, the mac-ContentionResolutionTimer-r13 may expire, and it may take even longer to schedule the UE for an emergency NPUSCH. Thus, by providing a solution where the data priority (e.g. low (DRB 1), medium (DRB 2), high (SRB)) can be indicated with an uplink grant request message, such as message 3 of RACH. Thus, the network can know which UE should be allocated resources with higher priority. Note that a priority class system with three different priorities is an example. However, the proposed solution is not necessarily limited to utilizing only three different categories.

Thus, let us now look at fig. 4A, fig. 4A shows a signal diagram according to an embodiment. Referring to fig. 4A, a UE 100 (which may be UE type a or UE type B, for example) acquires data for transmission (block 402). Examples of such data may be water meter reading(s), seismic alarms and seismic data. The UE 100 determines the priority of the data. The determination may be based on preconfigured class and/or priority configuration information from the network (e.g., from the network node 102). That is, in some embodiments, the network may configure the priority of different data categories. Accordingly, the UE 100 may determine the priority of the data. The UE 100 may then use the reserved data priority block of the message (i.e., the message of block 202) to indicate the determined priority of the data. In block 404, the message may be sent to network node 104 and received by network node 104. In block 304, based on the message (and possibly other similar messages from other UEs), the network node 104 performs allocation of radio resources. For example, the network node 104 may first process and allocate radio resources for UEs requesting radio resources for high priority data (e.g., earthquake alerts) in a certain TTI, then process medium priority requests, and finally process lower priority requests. How the network node 102 utilizes the priority information may vary between implementations, but it may be beneficial to provide radio resources for high/higher priority data as soon as possible or at least before providing resources for lower priority requests. For example, the network node 104 may maintain a queue for the radio resource request messages, wherein high priority requests are always processed before lower priority requests. The request here refers to one or more messages of block 202.

Once the radio resources requested by the message sent in block 404 have been allocated, the network node 104 indicates the resources to the UE 100 using an uplink grant message (block 408). The UE 100 may then transmit data on the indicated radio resources. If not all data that needs to be sent is successfully sent in block 206, the UE 100 may request other resources similar to in block 404. For example, the data that needs to be transmitted may refer to data in a transmission buffer of the UE.

Fig. 4B shows a signal diagram in which two UEs (i.e., UE 100 and UE 102) request radio resources for transmitting data according to an embodiment. Basically, blocks 412, 422 may be similar to block 402; blocks 414, 424 may be similar to block 404; block 430 may be similar to block 304; and blocks 418, 428 may be similar to block 408. However, since there may be more radio resource request messages, the network node 104 may need to provide resources for more than one UE. Naturally, there may be more than two UEs.

Above we describe an example where type a UEs have two different priorities (medium and high) of data and type B UEs have one priority (i.e. low) of data. Let us now discuss fig. 4B using the same example. Thus, in block 414, the UE 100 (in this example, a type a UE) may send a message (i.e., a UL grant request) indicating the priority of the data to be sent. In this case, it is of medium or high priority. At the same time, or substantially the same time, the UE 102 (i.e., a type B UE in this example) may send a similar UL grant request indicating that the data that needs to be sent by the UE 102 is of low priority. Thus, in block 430, the network node 104 may first allocate resources to the UE 100 and then to the UE 102. That is, the network node 104 may prioritize UE 100 transmissions over UE 102 transmissions. This may also or alternatively include allocating more resources for the UE 100. The UL grant messages 418, 428 may indicate the allocated radio resources. Because of the lower priority of UE 102 transmissions, it may be necessary to wait longer to acquire the UL grant, i.e., the time between sending the message in block 424 and receiving the grant in block 428 may be longer than the time between blocks 414 and 418.

Thus, basically, the UE 100 may select the highest priority logical channel, classify the priorities (based on a predetermined configuration or a configuration made by the network), and indicate the priorities in the message requesting the radio resources. The network node 104 may then allocate (as in block 430) radio resources based on the indicated priority. In an embodiment, performing the allocation of radio resources (e.g. block 430) is based on a plurality of messages from a plurality of terminal devices (e.g. from

UEs

100, 102, respectively), the plurality of messages (block 414, 424) indicating data transmission requirements of the plurality of terminal devices, wherein the network node 104 is further configured to: one or more messages indicating a higher priority of data that needs to be transmitted are processed at a higher priority than one or more messages indicating a lower priority of data that needs to be transmitted. As described above, this may mean that the network node 104 processes the message from the UE 100 before processing the message from the UE 102. Alternatively or additionally, this may mean that the network node 104 allocates radio resources to the UE 100 before allocating radio resources to the UE 102. In this example, note that the message from UE 100 indicates a higher priority than the message from UE 102. In some examples, the opposite may be possible. In this case(s), the network node 102 may prioritize the UE 102 over the UE 100.

Fig. 5A, 5B, 5C and 5D show some examples of how the

UE

100, 102 expresses priority to the network node 104. Fig. 5A and 5B relate to DV and PH MAC CE reporting, and fig. 5C and 5D relate to BSR MAC CE reporting.

Referring first to fig. 5A, message 3 may include PH MAC CE506 and DV MAC CE 508, as well as

reserved bits

502, 504. According to an embodiment, the

bits

502, 504 are used to indicate the priority of the data that needs to be transmitted. Thus, the message indicating the need to transmit data also includes DV CE 508 and PH CE 506. The reserved data priority block may therefore be denoted by reference numeral 510, as shown in fig. 5B. The reserved data priority block may represent and/or include

reserved bits

502, 504. Thus, the reserved data priority block 510 may be used to indicate four different categories/options: "00", "01", "10", "11". As described above, in some examples, three priority classes may be used. For example, "00" may represent a high priority, such as seismic alarm (e.g., SRB), "01" may represent a medium priority, such as seismic data (e.g., DRB 1), and "10" may represent a low priority (e.g., DRB 2).

Similarly, as described above, in an embodiment, the message indicating the need to transmit data also includes the BSR CE 514. Referring to fig. 5C, the BSR CE514 may generally include a logical channel group Identifier (ID)512 that may be used to indicate a Logical Channel Group (LCG), such as in LTE. However, element 512 may not need to be used in the BSR message, for example, since the NB-IoT may utilize only one LCG or only one logical channel. Thus, as shown in fig. 5D, the BSR message includes a reserved data priority block 520 and a BSR CE 514. Block 520 may utilize bits reserved for LGC ID 512. For example, the block 520 may be used similarly to the block 510. Note that Msg3 of the RACH procedure may include, for example, BSR CE514 or DV and

PH CEs

506, 508. Both of these can be used to indicate the need to send data and, with the proposed solution, can also be used to indicate the priority of data according to a predetermined category system or according to a network configuration.

In embodiments, the BSR is referred to as a short BSR.

According to an embodiment, referring to fig. 5B and 5D, the reserved

data priority block

510, 520 indicates one of at least three different priority classes. As noted above, there may be more or less than three priority levels. In one embodiment, there are three priority classes: DRB 1 (low priority), DRB 2 (medium priority) and SRB (high priority).

According to an embodiment, referring to fig. 5B and 5D, in a message (i.e., at least in some examples, the message sent in block 202 and referred to as Msg3 of the RACH procedure), the reserved

data priority block

510, 520 precedes either the BSR CE514 or the PH CE506 and DV CE 508. However, the priority may be indicated by some other location of the message. However, as described above, blocks 502, 504 and 512 may be used to indicate the priority and are already available to the UE, although not used in the current solution.

Fig. 6A and 6B illustrate signal diagrams according to some embodiments. Referring first to fig. 6A, the network node 104 may send (in block 602) priority configuration information to the UE 100, wherein the priority configuration information indicates a data type and/or a data priority. The UE 100 may receive priority configuration information. In block 604, the UE 100 may include at least some data of the indicated data type and/or with the indicated data priority from a transmit buffer of the UE 100 into a message (e.g., the message discussed above with respect to block 202) indicating a need to transmit the data. Further, in block 606, the UE 100 may transmit a message indicating a need to transmit data and including the at least some data. As described above, the network node 104 may receive the message and the allocated radio resources. The uplink grant message may be sent as shown in block 608, and in block 610, the UE 100 may send the required data (e.g., data that does not fit in the message of block 606 and/or data that needs to be sent but has a different data type or data priority than the indicated data type or data priority (i.e., indicated by the message 602)). Thus, the priority configuration information in block 602 may cause the UE 100 to include at least some data having the indicated data type and/or having the indicated data priority into a message indicating a need to transmit the data. This process may be referred to as Early Data Transfer (EDT). However, in the current solution, it is not possible to indicate what type of data or what priority class data should be included in the message (e.g., Msg3) as is now proposed. For example, using the proposed solution, the network may configure that only earthquake alarm(s) should have been sent with the message of block 202 or 606. In an embodiment, the highest priority data is configured to be sent in the message. However, this may depend on the network. The solution of fig. 6A may work individually or with a solution where the UE 100 indicates the priority of the data that needs to be transmitted.

It should also be noted that the UE 100 may indicate the priority of the data it needs to be transmitted, which may exclude data already included in the message of block 606. It should also be noted that using the proposed method, the network node 104 may receive the most critical data before sending the message 608 and receiving the message 610. Also, in some examples, message 610 may be sent to some other entity. Since the most critical data configurable via the message 602 network can already be received in block 606, the processing of said data can be performed faster than in prior art solutions. Thus, for example, an earthquake alarm can be given more quickly. In some cases, this may save lives. Further, blocks 608 and 610 may be substantially equal to blocks 408 and 206, respectively.

Referring now to fig. 6B, it can be seen that there may be more than one

UE

100, 102 utilizing the EDT option, and the network node 104 may also configure more than one

UE

100, 102 to utilize priority transmissions (which may be referred to as EDTs). However, in the example of fig. 6B, only the UE 100 is configured to utilize priority transmissions (block 622), and the UE 102 is not configured to use the priority transmissions at all, or is explicitly configured by the network node 104 to not utilize priority transmissions (block 632). Thus, when the UE 100 has data for transmission (block 624), it may include high priority data (i.e., data configured in block 622 or possibly pre-configured to the UE 100) into the message of block 626 (e.g., Msg3) and send the message to the network node 104. This is a function similar to that described with respect to fig. 6A. However, since the UE 102 is not configured to utilize priority transmission and it is determined in block 634 that it has data to send, the UE 102 cannot include the data in the message sent in block 636. However, in some embodiments, the UL grant request (or Msg3) indicates the priority of the data that the UE 102 needs to send. This is a function similar to the function described above (e.g., fig. 2). Based on the priority indication of the respective data, the network node 104 may allocate radio resources for the UE 100, 102 (block 640). Again, this may be similar to that discussed above with respect to block 430, for example. In blocks 628, 638, the network node 104 may send a UL grant to the

UE

100, 102 in accordance with the allocated radio resources, and/or the network node 104 may send a UL grant to the

UE

100, 102 to indicate the allocated radio resources.

Although fig. 6B shows that the data of UE 102 has a lower priority in block 636, this need not necessarily be the case. Thus, basically, data that needs to be transmitted by UE 100 and UE 102 may have the same priority. Further, both may enable EDT, but only the UE 100 may have data that needs to be sent with a particular priority that meets the configured criterion/criteria (i.e., configured at block 622). Thus, even if EDT is enabled for the UE, the UE may not send data over Msg3 that does not meet the configured criteria.

For example, UE type C (e.g., UE 100) may be used for medical emergencies and may require two different priority data:

1. medical emergency notification in case of a patient with sudden illness (high priority) (SRB),

2. patient vital sign transmission (medium priority) (SRB or DBR) to the center of disease.

On the other hand, UE type D (e.g., UE 102) may be used for an intelligent water meter and may only require one service:

1. the water usage metering data is sent periodically. (Low priority) (SRB or DBR)

Both types of data can be sent from the MAC layer through SRB or DBR. Thus, when the UE sends Msg3 in the EDT, it may be necessary to prioritize and the UE may need to know when the EDT is needed, as patient vital sign data may be sent periodically, while medical emergency notifications may only be sent when a sudden illness occurs. Type C UEs may send messages to a medical center, which may be an APP server connected to the EPS (see CIoT EPS).

In an embodiment, the solution is for a system utilizing low complexity coverage enhancement (BL/CE) with LTE bandwidth reduction. That is, the wireless network may be a cellular network utilizing LTE-BL/CE. For example, BSR MAC may be used for LTE-BL/CE. Thus, if EDT is utilized as shown in fig. 6A and 6B, the BSR MAC may include high priority data (i.e., data that the network may configure to transmit in the BSR MAC) for LTE-BL/CE. For example, with NB-IoT, Msg3 may be used.

It should also be noted that reference is made above to NPUSCH. This may refer to the case where the system utilizes NB-IoT. Additionally and/or alternatively, if LTE-BL/CE is utilized, for example, the system may utilize a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

Thus, referring to fig. 6B, in block 636, if LTE-BL/CE is utilized, the message may include a BSR (e.g., indicating a low priority). Further, in block 626, the message may include a BSR (e.g., indicating high priority and/or including EDT data). In such a case, the network may allocate radio resources on the PUSCH.

Fig. 7 shows a further embodiment. Referring to fig. 7, it is shown how a message may be configured (sent in blocks 202, 404, 414, 424, 606, 626, and/or 636) such that it supports an indication of priority and/or addition of at least some data to the message. Thus,

messages

702, 704, 706 are shown, each indicating a different priority: "00" equals 0, "01" equals 1, and "10" equals 2. The priority may be represented by block 710, which block 710 may be, for example, block 510 or block 520. The rest of the message may be indicated with reference number 720 or block 720. Thus, as the case may be, block 720 may include DV CEs, PH CEs, BSR CEs, and/or priority data (i.e., EDT data that may be transmitted in Msg3 (e.g., including DV CEs and PH CEs) and/or BSR).

Fig. 8 and 9 provide an

apparatus

800, 900, the

apparatus

800, 900 comprising control Circuitry (CTRL)810, 910, such as at least one processor, and at least one

memory

830, 930 comprising computer program code (software) 832, 932, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code (software) 832, 932 are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the

respective apparatus

800, 900 to perform any one of the above embodiments, such as described with reference to fig. 1-7, or operations thereof.

Referring to fig. 8 and 9, the

memories

830, 930 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The

memories

830, 930 may include databases 834, 934 for storing data. The data may include, for example, configuration information, priority information (e.g., priority class), and/or data that needs to be transmitted.

The

apparatus

800, 900 may also include a radio interface (TRX)820, 920, the

TRX

820, 920 including hardware and/or software for implementing communication connections according to one or more communication protocols. The TRX may provide the apparatus with communication capabilities for e.g. accessing a radio access network and enabling communication between network nodes. The TRX may include standard well-known components such as amplifiers, filters, frequency converters, (de) modulators, encoder/decoder circuitry, and one or more antennas.

The

apparatus

800, 900 may further comprise a

user interface

840, 940, the

user interface

840, 940 comprising, for example, at least one keypad, a microphone, a touch display, a speaker, etc. The

user interface

840, 940 may be used by a user of the

device

800, 900 to control the respective device.

In an embodiment, the apparatus 800 may be or be included in a UE, such as

UE

100 or 102.

According to an embodiment, CTRL 810 includes: messaging circuitry 812, the messaging circuitry 812 configured to send a message to a network node 104 of a wireless network, the message indicating a need to send data, wherein the message includes a reserved data priority block indicating a priority of the data that needs to be sent; receive circuitry 814 configured to receive an uplink grant message as a response to the transmitted message; and data transmission circuitry 816 configured to transmit data at least in part on the radio resources indicated in the uplink grant message. Thus, essentially, circuitry 812 may perform at least the operations described with respect to block 202; circuitry 814 may perform at least the operations described with respect to block 204; circuitry 816 may perform at least the operations described with respect to block 206.

In an embodiment, the apparatus 900 may be or be comprised in a base station (e.g., also referred to as a base transceiver station, NodeB, radio network controller, evolved NodeB, or gdnodeb). The apparatus 900 may be, for example, the network node 104 or be comprised in the network node 104.

According to an embodiment, CTRL 910 includes: receive circuitry 912, the receive circuitry 912 configured to receive a message from a terminal device (e.g., UE 100 and/or UE 102) of a wireless network, the message indicating a need to transmit data, wherein the message includes a reserved data priority block indicating a priority of data that needs to be transmitted; allocation circuitry 914 configured to perform allocation of radio resources based at least on the received message; and transmit circuitry 916 configured to transmit an uplink grant message to the terminal device indicating the allocated radio resources for transmitting data. Thus, essentially, circuitry 912 may perform at least the operations described with respect to block 302; circuitry 914 may perform at least the operations described with respect to block 304; circuitry 916 may perform at least the operations described with respect to block 306.

In an embodiment, at least some of the functionality of the apparatus 900 may be shared between two physically separate devices, thereby forming one operational entity. Thus, it can be seen that apparatus 900 depicts an operational entity comprising one or more physically separate devices for performing at least some of the described processes. Thus, for example, an apparatus 900 utilizing such a shared architecture may include a Remote Control Unit (RCU), such as a host computer or server computer, operatively coupled (e.g., via a wireless or wired network) to a Remote Radio Head (RRH), such as a transmission point (TRP), located in a base station or network node 104. In an embodiment, at least some of the described processes may be performed by the RCU. In an embodiment, execution of at least some of the described processes may be shared between the RRH and the RCU.

In an embodiment, the RCU may generate a virtual network through which the RCU communicates with the RRH. In general, virtual networking may involve the process of combining hardware and software network resources and network functionality into a single software-based management entity (virtual network). Network virtualization may involve platform virtualization, typically in combination with resource virtualization. Network virtualization may be classified as an external virtual network that combines many networks or portions of networks into a server computer or host computer (i.e., RCU). External network virtualization aims to optimize network sharing. Another classification is an internal virtual network, which provides network-like functionality for software containers on a single system.

In an embodiment, the virtual network may provide flexible allocation of operations between the RRHs and the RCUs. In fact, any digital signal processing task may be performed in the RRH or RCU, and the boundary at which responsibility is transferred between the RRH and RCU may be chosen depending on the implementation.

As used in this application, the term "circuitry" refers to all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations, such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry, and (b) combinations of circuitry and software (and/or firmware), such as (as applicable): (i) a combination of processor(s), or (ii) a processor (s)/portion(s) of software, including digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(s), that work together to cause a device to perform various functions, and (c) a circuit, such as a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor, that requires software or firmware to be removed from (even if such software or firmware is not physically present). This definition of "circuitry" applies to all uses of this term in this application. As another example, as used in this application, the term "circuitry" would also encompass an implementation of merely a processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term "circuitry" would also cover (e.g., if applicable to the particular element) a baseband integrated circuit or applications processor integrated circuit for a mobile phone or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or another network device.

In an embodiment, at least some of the processes described in connection with fig. 1-9 may be performed by an apparatus comprising respective means for performing at least some of the described processes. Some example components for performing a process may include at least one of: detectors, processors (including dual and multi-core processors), digital signal processors, controllers, receivers, transmitters, encoders, decoders, memories, RAMs, ROMs, software, firmware, displays, user interfaces, display circuitry, user interface software, display software, circuits, antennas, antenna circuitry, and circuitry. In an embodiment, the at least one processor, the memory, and the computer program code form processing means or comprise one or more computer program code portions or operations thereof for performing one or more operations in accordance with any of the embodiments of fig. 1-9.

According to yet another embodiment, an apparatus for performing an embodiment includes circuitry comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. When activated, the circuitry causes the apparatus to perform at least some of the functionality or operations thereof in accordance with any of the embodiments of fig. 1-9.

The techniques and methods described herein may be implemented by various means. For example, the techniques may be implemented in hardware (one or more devices), firmware (one or more devices), software (one or more modules), or a combination thereof. For a hardware implementation, the apparatus of an embodiment may be implemented within one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. For firmware or software, the implementation may be performed by at least one chipset module (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that performs the functions described herein. The software codes may be stored in memory units and executed by processors. The memory unit may be implemented within the processor or external to the processor. In the latter case, the memory unit may be communicatively coupled to the processor via various means as is known in the art. Additionally, components of systems described herein may be rearranged and/or complimented by additional components in order to facilitate achieving the various aspects, etc., described with regard thereto, and they are not limited to the precise configurations set forth in a given figure, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art.

The embodiments described above may also be performed in the form of a computer process defined by a computer program or a portion thereof. The embodiments of the method described in connection with fig. 1 to 9 may be performed by executing at least a part of a computer program comprising corresponding instructions. The computer program may be in source code form, object code form, or in some intermediate form, and may be stored in some sort of carrier, which may be any entity or device capable of carrying the program. For example, the computer program may be stored on a computer program distribution medium readable by a computer or a processor. The computer program medium may be, for example but not limited to, a recording medium, computer memory, read-only memory, electrical carrier signal, telecommunications signal, and software distribution package. For example, the computer program medium may be a non-transitory medium. The encoding of software for performing the illustrated and described embodiments is well within the purview of one of ordinary skill in the art. In an embodiment, a computer readable medium comprises the computer program.

Even though the invention has been described above with reference to an example according to the accompanying drawings, it is clear that the invention is not restricted thereto but it can be modified in several ways within the scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly and they are intended to illustrate, not to limit, the embodiments. It is clear to a person skilled in the art that with the advancement of technology, the inventive concept may be implemented in various ways. Furthermore, it is clear to a person skilled in the art that the described embodiments may, but do not have to, be combined in various ways with other embodiments.

Claims

1. A method in a terminal device of a wireless network, the method comprising:

sending a message to a network node of the wireless network, the message indicating a need to send data, wherein the message includes a reserved data priority block indicating a priority of the data that needs to be sent;

receiving an uplink grant message from the network node as a response to the transmitted message; and

transmitting the data at least in part on the radio resources indicated in the uplink grant message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless network is a cellular network utilizing narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) technology.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the message indicating the need to send data further comprises a buffer status report control element.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the message indicating the need to send data further comprises a data amount control element and a power headroom report control element.

5. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the reserved data priority block comprises at least two bits for indicating the priority of the data that needs to be transmitted.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the reserved data priority block indicates one of at least three different priority classes.

7. The method according to any of claims 3 to 6, wherein in the message the reserved data priority block precedes the buffer status report control element or the data amount control element and the power headroom report control element.

8. The method of any preceding claim, further comprising:

receiving priority configuration information from the wireless network, wherein the priority configuration information indicates a data type and/or a data priority;

including at least some data of the indicated data type and/or of the indicated data priority into the message indicating the need to transmit data from a transmit buffer of the terminal device; and

transmitting the message indicating the need to transmit data and including the at least some data.

9. A method in a network node of a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving a message from a terminal device of the wireless network, the message indicating a need to transmit data, wherein the message includes a reserved data priority block indicating a priority of the data that needs to be transmitted;

performing allocation of radio resources based at least on the received message; and

transmitting an uplink grant message to the terminal device indicating the allocated radio resources for transmitting data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein performing the allocation of radio resources is based on a plurality of messages from a plurality of terminal devices, the plurality of messages indicating data transmission needs of the plurality of terminal devices, the method further comprising:

one or more messages indicating a higher priority of data that needs to be transmitted are processed at a higher priority than one or more messages indicating a lower priority of data that needs to be transmitted.

11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein the wireless network is a cellular network utilizing narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) technology.

12. The method according to any of the preceding claims 9 to 11, wherein the message indicating the need to send data further comprises a buffer status report control element.

13. The method according to any of the preceding claims 9 to 11, wherein the message indicating the need to send data further comprises a data amount control element and a power headroom report control element.

14. The method of any preceding claim 9 to 13, wherein the reserved data priority block comprises at least two bits for indicating the priority of the data that needs to be transmitted.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the reserved data priority block indicates one of at least three different priority classes.

16. The method of any of claims 12 to 15, wherein the reserved data priority block precedes the buffer status report control element or the data amount control element and the power headroom report control element.

17. The method of any preceding claim 9 to 16, further comprising:

sending priority configuration information to the terminal device, wherein the priority configuration information indicates a data type and/or a data priority, the priority configuration information causing the terminal device to include at least some data having the indicated data type and/or having the indicated data priority into the message indicating the need to send data.

18. An apparatus comprising means for causing a terminal device of a wireless network to perform at least the following:

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the wireless network is a cellular network utilizing narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) technology.

20. The apparatus according to claim 18 or 19, wherein the message indicating the need to send data further comprises a buffer status report control element.

21. The apparatus according to claim 18 or 19, wherein the message indicating the need to send data further comprises a data amount control element and a power headroom report control element.

22. The apparatus of any of claims 18 to 21, wherein the reserved data priority block comprises at least two bits for indicating the priority of the data that needs to be transmitted.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the reserved data priority block indicates one of at least three different priority classes.

24. The apparatus according to any of claims 20 to 23, wherein the reserved data priority block precedes the buffer status report control element or the data amount control element and the power headroom report control element in the message.

25. The apparatus according to any of claims 18 to 24, wherein the means is further configured to cause the terminal device to perform:

26. An apparatus comprising means for causing a network node of a wireless network to perform at least the following:

27. The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein performing the allocation of the radio resources is based on a plurality of messages from a plurality of terminal devices, the plurality of messages indicating data transmission needs of the plurality of terminal devices, wherein the means are further configured to cause the network node to perform:

28. The apparatus of claim 26 or 27, wherein the wireless network is a cellular network utilizing narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) technology.

29. The apparatus according to any of claims 26 to 28, wherein the message indicating the need to send data further comprises a buffer status report control element.

30. The apparatus according to any of claims 26 to 28, wherein the message indicating the need to send data further comprises a data amount control element and a power headroom report control element.

31. The apparatus of any of claims 26 to 30, wherein the reserved data priority block comprises at least two bits for indicating a priority of the data that needs to be transmitted.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the reserved data priority block indicates one of at least three different priority classes.

33. The apparatus of any of claims 29-32, wherein the reserved data priority block precedes the buffer status report control element or the data amount control element and the power headroom report control element.

34. The apparatus according to any of claims 26 to 33, wherein the means are further configured to cause the network node to perform:

35. The apparatus of any one of claims 17 to 25 or the apparatus of any one of claims 26 to 34, wherein the means comprises:

at least one processor, and

at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the execution of the apparatus.

36. A computer-readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon for causing a terminal device of a wireless network to perform at least the following:

37. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon for causing a network node of a wireless network to at least: