CN116391349A

CN116391349A - Efficient point-to-multipoint operation in the presence of an anomalous user device

Info

Publication number: CN116391349A
Application number: CN202080106553.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: U·B·埃尔马里; D·布哈图劳; D·纳夫拉蒂尔; 郑迺铮; V·保利; A·普拉萨德
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2020-10-23
Filing date: 2020-10-23
Publication date: 2023-07-04
Also published as: WO2022082793A1

Abstract

According to example embodiments of the present invention, at least one method and apparatus are provided for performing: receiving, by at least one user equipment of a group of more than one user equipment of the communication network, first information for being in a point-to-multipoint service group from a network node of the communication network, wherein the first information relates to an indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment; and determining, based on the received first information, that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

Description

Efficient point-to-multipoint operation in the presence of an anomalous user device

Technical Field

The teachings according to the exemplary embodiments of this invention relate generally to selectively disabling user equipment from utilizing network configuration and, more particularly, to selectively disabling user equipment from utilizing point-to-multipoint network configuration based on a determined channel quality.

Background

This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Accordingly, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

Certain abbreviations in the specification and/or drawings are defined as follows:

BLER: block error rate

CQI: channel quality indicator

CSI: channel state information

DL: downlink link

gNB: next generation (5G) node B

HARQ: hybrid automatic repeat request

MCS: modulation and coding selection

NR: new radio (5G)

PDSCH: physical downlink shared channel

PRACH: physical random access channel

PTM: point-to-multipoint

PTP: point-to-point

PUSCH: physical uplink shared channel

QoS: quality of service

RAN: radio access network

RRC: radio resource control

SC-PTM: single cell PTM

UE: user equipment

At the time of this application, 3GPP has approved work for supporting Multicast and Broadcast Systems (MBS) in release 17 New Radio (NR). Herein, point-to-multipoint (PTM) transmission is expected to efficiently provide MBS services to a plurality of users by using the same radio frame as unicast transmission. In this regard, the main focus is on strategies for achieving high efficiency and reliability to achieve new use cases for PTMs. Here, the application of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) technology is largely supported, and various options are being studied in the standards body conference and email discussion. It is agreed at the standards body conference that HARQ-ACK feedback is supported for PTM for UEs in rrc_connected state, and detailed HARQ-ACK feedback solutions, such as based on ACK/NACK and based on NACK only, will be specified by further investigation.

In wireless technology, retransmission-based error recovery techniques are widely used to ensure reliable transmission of data, although the data is received with errors. In general, automatic repeat request (ARQ) implemented for a Radio Link Control (RLC) acknowledged mode and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) implemented in a medium access control/physical (MAC/PHY) radio sublayer are used to regulate retransmission of data to improve reliability of a radio link. These methods may improve the spectral efficiency of communications over radio fading channels.

Example embodiments in this disclosure are directed to improving at least these operations in an upcoming standard version, such as an NR version.

Disclosure of Invention

This section contains examples of possible implementations and is not meant to be limiting.

In one example aspect of the invention there is an apparatus, such as a user equipment side apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receiving, by at least one user equipment of a group of more than one user equipment of the communication network, first information from a network node of the communication network; and determining, based on the received first information, that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

In another example aspect of the invention, there is a method comprising: receiving, by at least one user equipment of a group of more than one user equipment of the communication network, first information for being in a point-to-multipoint service group from a network node of the communication network, wherein the first information relates to an indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment; and determining, based on the received first information, that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

Another example embodiment is a method comprising a previous segment method and/or an apparatus comprising a previous segment apparatus, wherein the first information related to the indication of channel quality comprises: at least one of a quality of service indicator, a channel quality indicator, a block error rate, or a count of negative acknowledgements transmitted by the user equipment on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, and determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on a comparison of an indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment and a channel quality requirement of the at least one user equipment, wherein not allowing the at least one user equipment to utilize the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group comprises: at least one of acknowledgement, negative acknowledgement, hybrid retransmission request feedback is not allowed to be transmitted using at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group is a common feedback resource used by licensed user equipment of the point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the channel quality requirement comprises: reflecting at least one of an indication of a channel quality threshold, or at least one of a timer or a counter threshold, for one of a quality of service indicator, a channel quality indicator, a block error rate, or a count of negative acknowledgements, wherein determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on at least one of: the indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment is one of: equal to, below, or above a corresponding channel quality requirement threshold, wherein determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on at least one of: the channel quality measurement is one of the following, at least for the duration of the timer: equal to, below or above a threshold, or for at least a plurality of consecutive measurements during the duration of the threshold, the channel quality measurement is one of: equal to, below or above a threshold, wherein channel quality indicator 0 of channel quality indicator bits is transmitted from the at least one user equipment to the network node using the channel state information report based on the comparison result, wherein the channel quality indicator 0 indicates to the network node to provide control signaling to at least one of: disabling negative acknowledgement feedback or de-configuring channel state information feedback resources of the at least one user equipment, wherein the control signaling comprises dedicated signaling for configuring the at least one user equipment to at least one of: disabling negative acknowledgement feedback or de-configuring channel state information resources of the at least one user equipment, stopping sending negative acknowledgements from the at least one user equipment without additional indications from the network node, wherein the received first information further comprises an indication that the at least one user equipment does not need to perform at least one of: transmitting a hybrid automatic repeat request feedback on at least one feedback resource of a point-to-multipoint service group or a channel state information report on dedicated resources for at least one user equipment, wherein the group of more than one user equipment comprises a point-to-multipoint link adaptation group, wherein the dedicated resource assignment is received by the at least one user equipment; and transmitting, at the at least one user equipment, second information of at least one of the point-to-multipoint channel state indicator measurements, using the assigned dedicated resources, wherein the second information of the at least one of the point-to-multipoint channel state indicator measurements, and at least one of an acknowledgement, a negative acknowledgement, a hybrid retransmission request feedback, or a request to access a common feedback resource, for the network node to determine whether to allow the at least one user equipment to issue a hybrid automatic retransmission request feedback for the point-to-multipoint service on the group common feedback resource of the group, wherein the at least one criterion for re-entering the point-to-multipoint service is received by the at least one user equipment based on the at least one channel measurement, or an instruction for decoding data received by the point-to-multipoint service; and determining, based on the criteria, whether at least one criterion for re-entry is met for granting the at least one user equipment re-entry to the point-to-multipoint service, wherein the channel measurements comprise at least one of signal-to-interference-to-noise ratio or reference signal received power measurements, and wherein re-entry comprises resuming utilization of at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, and wherein after determining that the at least one criterion for re-entry is met, issuing a scheduling request to the network node; receiving, from the network node, an activation for transmitting negative acknowledgement feedback on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group in response to the scheduling request; and based on the re-entry, issuing a negative acknowledgement feedback on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group according to a result of decoding the data packet received through the point-to-multipoint service, wherein after determining that at least one criterion for re-entry is met, issuing a scheduling request to the network node; receiving a resource allocation of physical uplink shared channel resources from a network node; transmitting a request for re-entering the point-to-multipoint service group by using the physical uplink shared channel resource; receiving activation information from the network node, the activation information being for configuring at least one user equipment to issue feedback on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group; and transmitting a negative acknowledgement on the group common feedback resource based on a result of decoding the data packet received through the multipoint service, wherein the re-entry request includes channel quality information, wherein a timer is started when the scheduling request is transmitted; after expiration of the timer, if the at least one user equipment has not re-entered the point-to-multipoint service and if the at least one re-admission criterion is still met, the at least one user equipment: sending out another scheduling request; and restarting the timer, wherein upon recognizing that at least one criterion for re-entry is now fulfilled, a negative acknowledgement is issued on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group in accordance with a result of decoding a data packet received through the point-to-multipoint service, and/or wherein the at least one criterion for re-entry remains fulfilled during a duration of the re-entry timer that has been started after the at least one user equipment detects that the at least one criterion for re-entry is fulfilled.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing program code that is executed by at least one processor to perform at least the method described in the preceding paragraph.

In another example aspect of the invention, there is an apparatus comprising: means for receiving, by at least one user equipment of a group of more than one user equipment of a communication network, first information from a network node of the communication network for being in a point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the first information relates to an indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment; and means for determining, based on the received first information, that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, at least the means for receiving and the means for determining comprise a network interface and computer program code stored on a computer readable medium and executed by at least one processor.

In another example aspect of the invention there is an apparatus, such as a network side apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receiving, by a network node of a communication network, an indication of channel quality measured at least one device from at least one user device of a point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the point-to-multipoint service group comprises more than one user device including the at least one user device; determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group based on an indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment in the group of more than one user equipment; and based on the determination, transmitting the determined first information to at least one user equipment.

In another example aspect of the invention, there is a method comprising: receiving, by a network node of a communication network, an indication of channel quality measured at least one device from at least one user device of a point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the point-to-multipoint service group comprises more than one user device including the at least one user device; determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group based on an indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment in the group of more than one user equipment; and based on the determination, issuing first information of the determination to at least one user equipment.

Another example embodiment is a method comprising the previous paragraph of method and/or an apparatus comprising the previous paragraph of apparatus, wherein the indication of channel quality comprises at least one of a quality of service indicator, a channel quality indicator, a block error rate, or a count of negative acknowledgements transmitted by the user equipment on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the indication of channel quality comprises at least one of a quality of service indicator, a channel quality indicator, a block error rate, or a count of negative acknowledgements from the user equipment on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the determining comprises: determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on a comparison of an indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment with channel quality requirements of the at least one user equipment, wherein not allowing the at least one user equipment to utilize the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group comprises: at least one of acknowledgement, negative acknowledgement, hybrid retransmission request feedback is not allowed to be transmitted using at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group is a common feedback resource used by licensed user equipment of the point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the channel quality requirement comprises: reflecting at least one of an indication of a channel quality threshold, or at least one of a timer or a counter threshold, for one of a quality of service indicator, a channel quality indicator, a block error rate, or a count of negative acknowledgements, wherein determining that at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource is based on at least one of: the indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment is one of: equal to, below or above a corresponding channel quality requirement threshold, wherein determining that at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource is based on at least one of: the channel quality measurement is at least for the duration of the timer one of the following: equal to, below or above a threshold, or channel quality measurements during the duration of the threshold, for at least one of the following over a plurality of consecutive measurements: equal to, below or above a threshold, wherein based on the comparison result, a channel state information report is transmitted with at least one user equipment, wherein the transmission causes the network node to at least one of: providing control signaling to deactivate the negative acknowledgement only feedback, or to de-configure channel state information feedback resources of the at least one user equipment, wherein the control signaling comprises dedicated signaling for configuring the at least one user equipment to at least one of: disabling negative acknowledgement only feedback or de-configuring channel state information resources of at least one user equipment, wherein the information for disallowing utilization of the at least one feedback resource over the point-to-multipoint service comprises an indication that the at least one user equipment is not to perform at least one of: using at least one of transmitting hybrid automatic repeat request feedback on at least one feedback resource of a point-to-multipoint service group for hybrid automatic repeat request feedback, or transmitting channel state information reports on dedicated resources for at least one user equipment, wherein the group of more than one user equipment comprises a point-to-multipoint link adaptation group, wherein dedicated resource assignments are transmitted with the at least one user equipment, wherein the assigned dedicated resources are used to transmit second information of at least one of the point-to-multipoint channel state indicator measurements at the at least one user equipment, wherein the at least one of the point-to-multipoint channel state indicator measurements is used to re-enter at least one criterion for a re-entry into the at least one user equipment based on at least the channel measurements and on at least one of instructions to decode data received by the point-to-multipoint service; and wherein based on the criterion it can be identified whether at least one criterion for re-entry is fulfilled for granting at least one user equipment re-entry to the point-to-multipoint service, wherein the channel measurements comprise at least one of signal-to-interference-to-noise ratio or reference signal received power measurements, and wherein re-entry comprises resuming utilization of at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, wherein based on the at least one criterion for re-entry is fulfilled, the method comprises: receiving a scheduling request from at least one user equipment; transmitting, from the network node, an activation for issuing negative acknowledgement feedback on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group in response to the scheduling request; and receiving negative acknowledgement feedback on at least one feedback resource of the group of point-to-multipoint services based on the re-entry according to a result of decoding the data packet received through the point-to-multipoint service, wherein at least one criterion for the at least one user equipment to re-enter the point-to-multipoint service is used, wherein the information comprises at least one of: at least one channel quality measurement of the point-to-multipoint service or data received by at least one user equipment through the point-to-multipoint service; and determining, based on the information, whether at least one criterion for re-entry is met for granting the at least one user equipment re-entry to the point-to-multipoint service, wherein a scheduling request is received from the at least one user equipment; transmitting activation information with at least one user equipment to send feedback on a common negative acknowledgement resource; and receiving a negative acknowledgement from the at least one user equipment on a group common negative acknowledgement only resource based on the re-entry according to a result of decoding the data packet transmitted through the point-to-multipoint service, wherein the scheduling request is received from the at least one user equipment based on the at least one criterion being met at the at least one user equipment; issuing an grant for use of physical uplink shared channel resources to at least one user equipment; receiving a request to re-enter a point-to-multipoint service group from at least one user equipment; transmitting activation information to at least one user equipment, the activation information being for configuring the at least one user equipment to transmit feedback on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group; and receiving a negative acknowledgement from the at least one user equipment on a common negative acknowledgement resource in dependence on the result of decoding the data packet transmitted over the point-to-multipoint service, wherein the request comprises channel quality information and/or wherein at least one criterion must remain fulfilled during the duration of a re-entry timer period that has been started by the at least one user equipment upon detection that the at least one re-admission criterion is fulfilled.

In another example aspect of the invention, there is an apparatus comprising: means for receiving, by a network node of a communication network, an indication of channel quality measured at least one device from at least one user equipment of a point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the point-to-multipoint service group comprises more than one user equipment including the at least one user equipment; means for determining that at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group based on an indication of channel quality measured from at least one user equipment in the group of more than one user equipment; and means for transmitting the determined first information to at least one user equipment based on the determination.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, at least the means for maintaining or establishing, the means for determining, and the means for transmitting comprise a network interface and computer program code stored on a computer readable medium and executed by at least one processor.

A communication system includes a network-side device and a user equipment-side device that perform the above operations.

Drawings

The above and other aspects, features and benefits of various embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals are used to designate like or equivalent elements. The accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily to scale, are included to provide a better understanding of embodiments of the disclosure, and wherein:

fig. 1 shows spectral efficiency profiles of various SC-PTM transmission schemes;

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of one possible and non-limiting exemplary system in which an exemplary embodiment of the invention may be practiced;

fig. 3 shows a high-level flow chart of one proposed method (detecting an anomalous UE and exiting a PTM group) according to an example embodiment of the invention;

fig. 4 shows another high-level flow chart of the proposed method (UE re-entering PTM group) according to an example embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 depicts another high-level flow chart of a further possible implementation combination in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention; and

fig. 6A and 6B each illustrate a method that may be performed by an apparatus according to an example embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

In example embodiments of the invention disclosed herein, at least one method and apparatus for selectively disabling a user equipment from utilizing a point-to-multipoint network configuration based on a determined channel quality is presented.

Similar to the wireless techniques described above, retransmission-based error recovery techniques are widely used to ensure reliable transmission of data, although the data is received with errors. In general, automatic repeat request (ARQ) implemented for a Radio Link Control (RLC) acknowledged mode and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) implemented in a medium access control/physical (MAC/PHY) radio sublayer are used to regulate retransmission of data to improve reliability of a radio link. These methods may improve the spectral efficiency of communications over radio fading channels. Example embodiments in this disclosure are directed to improving at least these operations in upcoming standard versions, such as NR versions. It is an object of example embodiments of the present invention to propose a mechanism and an apparatus for performing detection and handling of: wherein the QoS criteria of even a UE in very good channel conditions cannot be met due to a UE in poor channel conditions in the multicast group.

For MBS,3GPP has investigated the potential use of HARQ for improving the reliability of point-to-multipoint (PTM) radio transmissions, but to date they have only been deployed in PTP service delivery. The results of this study indicate that HARQ can improve transmission in the presence of errors. However, when there are a large number of UEs consuming MBS services, there are many HARQ ACK/NACK feedback messages, resulting in high signaling overhead and resource inefficiency. In general, the so-called "enhanced outer loop link adaptation (eola)" technique is used as an alternative technique to obtain the required reliability level, which adjusts the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) to a more and more conservative setting based on the worst-positioned UE. However, for the same number of UEs (where eola does not react), bursty errors may occur-errors that occur at intervals in short bursts (due to fading and power drop), resulting in a loss of protocol data units. Therefore, maintaining a reasonably efficient MCS and data retransmission via HARQ (for lost/decoding failed data units) is crucial to improving the reliability of the link. As shown in fig. 1, our results also show that in the presence of a relatively large audience, in an urban environment with an average of 20 UEs per cell, higher spectral efficiency can be achieved with a slowly varying MCS compared to the scheme of controlling reliability without HARQ by eOLLA et al, with the fast fading variations being handled in dependence of adaptive retransmissions via HARQ, for the expected simulation results of 5G-NR SC-PTM.

Fig. 1 shows spectral efficiency profiles of various SC-PTM transmission schemes. As shown in fig. 1, a BLER target of 1% is shown at 1A of fig. 1, without HARQ; the first Tx BLER target 30%, HARQ, is shown at 1B of fig. 1; and as shown in 1C of fig. 1, the residual BLER target is 1%, HARQ.

However, operations using HARQ can lead to problems with HARQ feedback overhead, especially in the case of larger audience. One approach to receiving a large amount of support is NACK-only HARQ feedback, a scheme in which the network provides common uplink radio resources (e.g., physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)) that can be used for NACK transmission by any UE that cannot decode the associated PDSCH. Although this is very efficient, because it avoids the overhead of expanding the UL with the growth of the audience, and the gNB can use only energy detection to see if any UE has requested retransmission for a particular packet, so it is not possible for the gNB to know the error rate of individual UEs from this feedback on the common resource. Whereas in the case of ACK/NACK feedback on UE-specific resources, the gNB may understand the error rate of each individual UE and perform link adaptation accordingly. Thus, when using NACK-only HARQ feedback, the UE has to provide additional feedback on the channel or service delivery quality in order to facilitate efficient link adaptation for PTM transmission.

In one possible scenario, there may be a method for efficient PTM operation using UE-triggered CSI reporting, where NACK feedback from a UE receiving PTM service is transmitted on a group common feedback resource, i.e. a NACK-only based HARQ operation mode. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, to facilitate efficient link adaptation, the network signals to the UE a PTM-CSI measurement configuration consisting of reliability criteria and parameters for the measurements. Whenever the UE does not meet its reliability, it issues a scheduling request to the gNB to acquire resources for PTM-CSI transmission. In response, the UE receives an allocation of UL resources on which the UE may issue its PTM-CSI report. The gNB receives the PTM-CSI report, adapts the MCS accordingly, and configures periodic PTM-CSI reports for the UE (until additional notification). If any other UE has previously reported PTM-CSI because it did not meet reliability in the past, but now because the gcb is always making MCS selections in response to the PTM-CSA report of that UE, the gcb tells the UE to stop sending PTM-CSE reports. In this way, only a few UEs in the cell report PTM-CSI for the gcb to perform link adaptation.

In addition to the efficiency of the proposed method, in some cases the channel conditions of the UE or UEs may be much worse than other UEs (e.g. UEs close to the cell edge). These UEs may not meet the reliability of the PTM service, i.e. the reliability criteria of the PTM service are not met, and request retransmission by sending out a NACK on the group common feedback resource or on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, furthermore, CQI values much lower than the UEs are reported under better channel conditions. In this case, in addition to retransmissions, qoS service requirements (such as delay budget) for services of even UEs in better channel conditions may not be met due to the gNB adapting PTM transmissions based on UEs in the PTM group with the worst channel conditions, i.e. MCS selection, due to an excessive number of retransmissions and/or due to a lack of time/frequency resources for low MCS values corresponding to CQI values reported by UEs in poor channel conditions.

It is therefore an object of an example embodiment according to the present invention to provide a mechanism for detecting and handling the following: wherein the QoS criteria of even UEs in very good channel conditions cannot be met due to UEs in poor channel conditions in the multicast group.

Note that:

in the context of inter-cell handover, the network may configure certain thresholds, e.g. certain thresholds regarding received signal strength that trigger certain actions from the UE to the network and measurement reports (e.g. measuring and reporting neighboring cells to which the UE may be handed over); and

CSI reporting with CQI index 0 is used by the UE to indicate that the UE considers that even the lowest MCS is not sufficient to serve the UE in case of PTP transmission in NR and LTE.

In an example embodiment of the invention, at least one method is presented for detecting the following: wherein the QoS criteria of the PTM service cannot be met even for UEs in very good channel conditions due to UEs in poor channel conditions in the multicast group, the method is also used to identify UEs in poor channel conditions that pose this problem, the mechanism by which these UEs are excluded from the PTM group, and the technique of re-admitting them to the ongoing PTM session in case their channel conditions are sufficiently improved or in the cell (e.g. due to a reduction in load) allowing them to be re-admitted to the PTM group. For brevity, we will hereinafter refer to UEs in poor channel conditions as "abnormal UEs". Similarly, a group of UEs receiving PTM services (excluding "abnormal UEs") is hereinafter referred to as a "PTM link adaptation group (PTM LA group)". The gNB should consider only ACK/NACK and/or CSI reporting from UEs in the PTM LA set when performing LA and retransmission.

Before describing in detail exemplary embodiments of the present invention, reference is made to FIG. 2 for a simplified block diagram of various electronic devices suitable for use in practicing the exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of one possible and non-limiting exemplary system in which an exemplary embodiment of the invention may be practiced. In fig. 2, a User Equipment (UE) 10 is in wireless communication with a wireless network 1 or network 1 as in fig. 2. The wireless network 1 or network 1 as in fig. 2 may comprise a communication network such as a mobile network, for example the mobile network 1 or first mobile network disclosed herein. Any reference herein to a wireless network 1 as in fig. 2 may be considered a reference to any wireless network disclosed herein. In addition, the wireless network 1 as in fig. 2 may also include hard-wired features that may be required for a communication network. The UE is wireless and typically a mobile device that can access a wireless network. For example, the UE may be a mobile phone (or referred to as a "cellular" phone) and/or a computer with mobile terminal functionality. For example, the UE or mobile terminal may also be a portable, pocket, hand-held, computer embedded or in-vehicle mobile device and perform language signaling and/or data exchanges with the RAN.

The UE 10 comprises one or more processors DP 10A, one or more memories MEM 10B and one or more transceivers TRANS 10D interconnected by one or more buses. Each of the one or more transceivers TRANS 10D includes a receiver and a transmitter. Further, each of the transceivers 10D may be associated with a subscriber identity module 10E. However, this is not limiting and inclusion of a SIM and/or subscriber identity module is not a requirement of operation according to the example embodiments of the invention disclosed herein. The subscriber identity module 10E may be associated with two or more identity subscriber modules (SIM a and SIM B), as shown in fig. 2, each SIM configured to perform operations comprising the example embodiments of the invention disclosed herein. One or more buses may be an address, data, or control bus, and may include any interconnection mechanism, such as a series of lines on a motherboard or integrated circuit, fiber optic or other optical communications device, or the like. One or more transceivers TRANS 10D may optionally be connected to one or more antennas for communication 11 and 18 with NN 12 and NN 13, respectively. The one or more memories MEM 10B comprise computer program code PROG 10C. The UE 10 communicates with NN 12 and/or NN 13 via a wireless link 11.

NN 12 (NR/5G node B, evolved NB, or LTE device) is a network node, such as a primary node or a secondary node base station (e.g., for NR or LTE long term evolution), that communicates with devices such as NN 13 and UE 10 of FIG. 2. The NN 12 provides access to wireless devices, such as UEs 10, to the wireless network 1. The NN 12 includes one or more processors DP 12A, one or more memories MEM 12C, and one or more transceivers TRANS 12D that are interconnected by one or more buses. According to example embodiments, these TRANS 12D may include X2 and/or Xn interfaces for performing example embodiments of the present invention. Each transceiver TRANS 12D of the one or more transceivers TRANS 12D comprises a receiver and a transmitter. One or more transceivers TRANS 12D may optionally be connected to one or more antennas for communication with the UE 10 over at least link 11. The one or more memories MEM 12B and the computer program code PROG 12C are configured to, with the one or more processors DP 12A, cause the NN 12 to perform one or more of the operations as described herein. The NN 12 may communicate with another gNB or eNB, or a device such as NN 13, such as via link 14. Further, link 11, link 14, and/or any other link may be wired, or wireless, or both, and may implement, for example, an X2 or Xn interface. In addition, link 11 and/or link 14 may be through other network devices such as, but not limited to, NCE/SGW/AMF/UPF devices such as NCE/MME/SGW/UDM/PCF/AMM/SMF14 of FIG. 2. The NN 12 may perform functions of an MME (mobility management entity) or SGW (serving gateway), such as user plane functions, and/or perform access management functions for LTE and similar functions for 5G.

The NN13 may be associated with a mobile function device such as an AMF or SMF, and further the NN13 may include an NR/5G node B or possibly an evolved NB base station such as a primary or secondary node base station (e.g., for NR or LTE long term evolution) that communicates with devices such as the NN12 and/or UE 10 and/or wireless network 1. The NN13 includes one or more processors DP 13A, one or more memories MEM 13B, one or more network interfaces, and one or more transceivers TRANS 12D, which are interconnected by one or more buses. According to example embodiments, these network interfaces of the NN13 may include X2 and/or Xn interfaces for performing example embodiments of the present invention. Each transceiver TRANS 13D of the one or more transceivers TRANS 13D comprises a receiver and a transmitter which may optionally be connected to one or more antennas. The one or more memories MEM 13B comprise computer program code PROG 13C. For example, the one or more memories MEM 13B and the computer program code PROG 13C are configured to, with the one or more processors DP 13A, cause NN13 to perform one or more of the operations as described herein. The NN13 may communicate with another mobile function device and/or eNB (such as NN12 and UE 10) or any other device using, for example, link 11 or another link. The link 14 as shown in fig. 2 may be used for communication between NN12 and NN 13. These links may be wired or wireless or both, and may implement, for example, an X2 or Xn interface. Further, as described above, link 11 and/or link 14 may be through other network devices such as, but not limited to, NCE/MME/SGW devices such as NCE/MME/SGW/UDM/PCF/AMM/SMF 14 of FIG. 2.

The bus or buses of the device of fig. 2 may be an address, data, or control bus, and may include any interconnection mechanism, such as a series of lines on a motherboard or integrated circuit, fiber optic or other optical communication devices, wireless channels, etc. For example, one or more of the transceivers TRANS 12D, TRANS D and/or TRANS 10D may be implemented as a Remote Radio Head (RRH), wherein other elements of the NN 12 are physically in different locations than the RRH, and one or more of the buses 157 may be implemented in part as fiber optic cables to connect the other elements of the NN 12 to the RRH.

Note that although fig. 2 shows network nodes such as NN 12 and NN 13, any of these nodes may be incorporated or incorporated into an eNodeB or eNB or gNB, such as for LTE and NR, and still be configured to perform example embodiments of the present invention.

Further, note that the description herein indicates that a "cell" performs functions, but it should be clear that the gcb and/or user equipment and/or mobility management function device forming the cell will perform these functions. Furthermore, the cells form part of a gNB, and there may be multiple cells per gNB.

The wireless network 1 or any network it may represent may or may not include NCE/MME/SGW/UDM/PCF/AMM/SMF 14, which may include (NCE) network control element functions, MME (mobility management entity)/SGW (serving gateway) functions, and/or Serving Gateway (SGW), and/or MME (mobility management entity), and/or SGW (serving gateway) functions, and/or user data management functions (UDM), and/or PCF (policy control) functions, and/or Access and Mobility Management (AMM) functions, and/or Session Management (SMF) functions, and/or authentication server (AUSF) functions, and which provides connectivity to another network, such as a telephone network and/or a data communication network (e.g., the internet), and which is configured to perform any 5G and/or NR operations in addition to or instead of other standard operations at the time of this application. The NCE/MME/SGW/UDM/PCF/AMM/SMF 14 may be configured to perform operations according to example embodiments of the present invention in LTE, NR, 5G and/or any standards-based communication techniques performed or discussed at the time of this application. Further, note that operations performed by NN 12 and/or NN 13 according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention may also be performed at NCE/MME/SGW/UDM/PCF/AMM/SMF 14.

The NCE/MME/SGW/UDM/PCF/AMM/SMF 14 comprises one or more processors DP 14A, one or more memories MEM 14B, and one or more network interfaces (N/W I/F) interconnected by one or more buses coupled with links 13 and/or 14. According to example embodiments, these network interfaces may include X2 and/or Xn interfaces for performing example embodiments of the present invention. The one or more memories MEM 14B comprise computer program code PROG 14C. The one or more memories MEM 14B and the computer program code PROG 14C are configured to, with the one or more processors DP 14A, cause the NCE/MME/SGW/UDM/PCF/AMM/SMF 14 to perform one or more operations required to support operations according to example embodiments of the present invention.

The wireless network 1 may implement network virtualization, which is a process of combining hardware and software network resources and network functions into a single software-based management entity (virtual network). Network virtualization involves platform virtualization, which is typically combined with resource virtualization. Network virtualization can be divided into external and internal, with external network virtualization combining many networks or parts of networks into one virtual unit, internal network virtualization providing network-like functionality for software containers on a single system. Note that at some level, the virtualized entities resulting from network virtualization are still implemented using hardware such as processors DP 10, DP 12A, DP a and/or DP 14A and memories MEM 10B, MEM 12B, MEM 13B and/or MEM 14B, and that such virtualized entities also produce technical effects.

The computer readable memories MEM B, MEM B and MEM 14B may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and 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 computer readable memories MEM 12B, MEM B and MEM 14B may be means for performing a memory function. Processors DP 10, DP 12A, DP a and DP 14A may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs) and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. The processors DP 10, DP 12A, DP a and DP 14A may be means for performing functions, such as controlling the UEs 10, NN 12, NN 13 and other functions described herein.

As described above, in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, at least one method for detecting the following is proposed: wherein QoS criteria for PTM services cannot be met even for UEs in very good channel conditions due to UEs in poor channel conditions in the multicast group, identifying UEs in poor channel conditions that pose this problem, mechanisms to exclude these UEs from the PTM group, and techniques to re-admit them to an ongoing PTM session in case their channel conditions are sufficiently improved or in the cell (e.g. due to a reduction in load) allowing them to re-admit to the PTM group. The gNB should consider only ACK/NACK and/or CSI reporting from UEs in the PTM LA set when performing LA and retransmission.

The process comprises the following steps:

1) Detecting an anomalous UE and exiting the anomalous UE from the PTM LA group: the detection of an abnormal UE may be performed on the UE or the gNB side. Suggesting different actions to take based on where the detection occurs;

a) Detection on the gNB side: the gNB may detect that the QoS service requirements of the UE cannot be met and observe that some UEs report significantly lower than other CQI values, while in parallel, the gNB may receive a large number of NACKs on the UE's group common feedback resources. gNB can use QoS basedThreshold CQI configured for service requirements and/or cell load _outlier . If the UE repeatedly reports less than CQI _outlier CQI value of (e.g., at N) _outlier K in CQI reports _outlier Secondary, or during a certain period T _outlier-gNB The inner continuously reports, the gNB may detect that the UE is an anomalous UE. K (K) _outlier And N _outlier Or timer T _outlier-gNB May also be configured to be implementation-specific. After discovery of an abnormal UE, the gNB will inform the UE that it has not to use at least one feedback resource of the common feedback resource or the point-to-multipoint service group for HARQ feedback, and may have not yet to issue CSI reports on UE-specific resources, i.e. the gNB will withdraw the UE from the PTM LA group,

b) Detection at UE side: according to an example embodiment of the invention, two alternatives are proposed to detect the problem of an anomalous UE on the UE side. In both cases, the UE may be configured with a timer T in addition to the signaled reliability criteria _outlier . The UE should start the timer when its reliability criteria is not met and should not stop the timer until it expires unless its reliability criteria is met:

i) Upon expiration of the timer, the UE may report a CQI with index 0 indicating to the gNB that the QoS service requirements of the UE cannot be met. Upon receiving CQI 0, the gNB should inform the UE that no NACK is issued on the group common NACK resource anymore, and no CSI report is issued on the UE-specific resource anymore, i.e. the gNB withdraws the UE from the PTM LA group,

ii) after expiration of the timer, the UE may stop sending NACKs on the group common NACK resource and, if configured, may also stop periodic CSI reporting without expecting additional notifications from the gNB. Since the expected CSI report is not from the UE, the gNB may be aware that the UE has logged itself out of the PTM LA group;

2) Actions to be taken after the UE is withdrawn from the PTM LA group: after the anomalous UE has exited from the PTM LA group, it should:

continuing the PTM-CSI measurement; or alternatively

Continue to attempt to decode the PTM transmission (unless/until the UE or application relinquishes service) and measure its reliability that can be achieved through the ongoing transmission.

Continuing the PTM-CSI measurement requires less processing than decoding the PTM transmission, but it provides a less accurate prediction of the expected reliability.

Furthermore, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, at least two different techniques are proposed to define UE behavior after the UE exits from the usual PTM LA group, as follows:

a) The gNB can assign dedicated feedback resources to the exiting UE in order to determine whether its channel quality is improving, to the extent that the UE can be re-admitted to the ongoing PTM LA set. The UE may be requested to provide ACK/NACK feedback and/or CSI reports from dedicated feedback resources. In case the UE does not decode the PTM transmission, but only makes PTM-CSI measurements, ACK/NACK feedback cannot be used, so the gNB will only assign resources for CSI reporting,

b) The UE is not assigned any additional resources, and only PTM-CSI measurements are made,

or attempt to decode an ongoing PTM transmission.

Furthermore, for both (a) and (b), even if the UE does not actively receive data, and is not assigned additional resources related to PTM services on BWP, the UE starts a BWP inactivity timer and stays on the BWP that is scheduling PTM services;

3) Mechanism for the exited UE to rejoin the PTM LA group: the re-admission mechanism of the present disclosure depends on how the UE is configured after having exited the PTM LA group. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, different mechanisms are proposed, such as the following:

a) If the UE is assigned UE-specific ACK/NACK and/or CSI resources after being exited the PTM LA group, i.e. procedure (2-a), the gNB may determine that the channel condition of the UE becomes better by looking at the ACK/NACK and/or CSI reports issued by the UE. The gNB may use re-entry criteria such as target BLER (BLER) _re-admit ) And/or target CQI (CQI) _re-admit ) So as to be according to the type of UL resources configured for the exited UEIt is decided to re-admit the UE to the PTM LA group. In addition, gNB can use a timer T _re-admit The timer T _re-admit The reporting measurement for the abnormal UE is initiated when the gNB detects that the target criterion is initially met. If the UE continues to meet the target criteria until the timer expires, the gNB should decide to leave the UE in the PTM LA set. If the gNB decides to let the UE return to the PTM LA group, it should inform the UE that it can rejoin the PTM LA group that issued HARQ feedback on the group common feedback resource and is eligible to request permission to issue a PTM-CSI report,

b) The UE may be configured with new reliability re-entry criteria, such as CQI _re-join Or BLER _re-join . If the UE is not assigned any feedback resources after having exited the PTM LA group, i.e. the procedure at (2-b), the UE may (continuously) evaluate whether the new reliability criterion is fulfilled for the ongoing PTM session. If the reliability criterion is met, the UE may attempt to rejoin the PTM LA set by issuing a Scheduling Request (SR). After the UE sends out the SR, the gNB may or may not have the UE rejoin, where the exact algorithm of the gNB decision is not in the range of this IR. One situation where the gNB may not allow the UE to be re-admitted to the PTM LA group is that the gNB has recently observed CQI _re-join /BLER _re-join The configuration is not up-to-date, meaning that the UE that previously (and recently) used the target and rejoined, soon after rejoining, again has reliability issues and the gNB has not updated the CQI of the UE that is requesting rejoining _re-join /BLER _re-join 。

If the gNB decides to let the UE return to the PTM LA group, it should inform the UE that it can now send out feedback on the group common feedback resources.

After the SR is sent out, the UE may start a timer T _re-join And if the gNB does not let the UE join the PTM LA group, the UE may repeat the process by issuing another SR after expiration of the timer, provided that its reliability criteria is still met by the ongoing PTM transmission.

After rejoining the PTM LA group, the UE may follow the previously defined procedure. In case the UE is not reliable enough, however, it requests a PTM-CSI report,

c) As in option (3-b) above, the UE may be configured with new reliability criteria, such as CQI _re-join Or BLER _re-join . Unlike option (3-b) above, there may be a "silent" re-entry mode if the UE is not assigned any feedback resources after exiting the PTM LA group. The exited UE may determine that its reception condition is good enough, e.g., by combining the current BLER with the BLER _re-join Compare, or compare, the current CQI with the CQI _re-join The comparison is made and the NACK may simply start to be sent on the group common feedback resource. After rejoining, the UE may follow the previously defined procedure in case it is not satisfactory for reliability. In this mode, the gNB does not have the capability of explicit admission control, but may simply adjust the re-admission criteria (e.g., CQI _re-join Or BLER _re-join ) To control under what conditions the UE will rejoin.

For the reasons mentioned in (3-b), an exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides that after re-joining the PTM LA set, the UE should wait for a certain period of time T before requesting PTM-CSI reporting resources, if necessary _re-join,CSI 。

From the UE point of view, at least the following features may be considered as standard dependent claims:

receiving a configuration indicating that the UE has not to issue a NACK on the common feedback resource, although this resource will still be configured, i.e. known by the UE,

receiving a configuration indicating that the UE may start sending NACKs on previously configured common feedback resources that were previously disabled/rejected,

receive timer T _outlier Is provided in the configuration of (a),

if T _outlier And due, a CSI report with CQI index 0 is sent out,

if T _outlier Due, the CSI report and NACK feedback on the group common resource is stopped,

configuration of reception parameters, such as CQI _re-join 、BLER _re-join 、T _re-join And T _re-join,CSI These parameters control the re-admission into the PTM LA group,

issue SR to gNB to rejoin ongoing PTM LA group and to send out a message in the reliability standard (e.g., CQI _re-join Or BLER _re-join ) When satisfied and at timer T _re-join When not running or when having expired, a timer T is possibly started _re-join ，

By comparing the current value of the reliability criterion with a corresponding threshold (e.g. BLER and BLER _re-join Or current CQI and CQI _re-join ) By comparison, after determining that the reception conditions of the group common feedback resource are good enough, a NACK is initiated on the group common feedback resource to perform a "silent re-entry" mode, and/or

After rejoining the ongoing PTM LA set, a timer T is started _re-join,CSI And request the PTM-CSI reporting resource only after expiration of the timer (if needed).

A flow chart indicating high-level decisions made by the UE and the gNB is shown. Further, fig. 5 shows different options that may be used in the system. In particular, the figure shows which combinations of the various techniques represented under (1), (2) and (3) can be performed in system operation.

Further comments, details, and options regarding the steps of this process are provided in the figures and details described herein. Fig. 3 shows some of these processes according to an example embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 shows a high-level flow chart of one proposed method (detecting an anomalous UE and exiting the PTM group) according to an example embodiment of the invention. As shown in step 305 of fig. 3, is the start of the proposed method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In step 310 of fig. 3, it is determined whether the UE is configured with T _outlier . If "yes," at step 330 of fig. 3, it is determined by the UE whether the service reliability criteria are met at the UE. If yes here, the UE performs the same step 330. If NO in step 330, the UE initiates T as shown in step 335 _outlier And proceed to the graphStep 340 of 3. If the answer is "no" in step 340 of fig. 3, then a determination is made as to whether option 1-b-i (described below) applies, as shown in step 345 of fig. 3. If "no" here, option 1-b-ii is used as shown in fig. 3, and the UE stops sending NACK and CSI reports as shown in step 355 of fig. 3. Thus, as shown in step 325 of fig. 3, the UE is exited from the PTM LA group. If yes in step 345, the UE sends out CQI 0 to the gNB using CSI report as shown in step 350 of fig. 3. In step 320 of fig. 3, the gNB uses RRC signaling to deactivate NACK-only feedback for the abnormal UE and to cancel configuring its CSI resources. If it is determined at step 310 of fig. 3 that the UE is not configured with T _outlier Then the gNB determines whether an anomalous UE is detected, as shown in step 315 of fig. 3. If so, this proceeds to step 320 of FIG. 3 and follows the procedure of step 320 described above.

Fig. 4 shows a high-level flow chart of another proposed method (UE rejoining PTM group) according to an example embodiment of the present invention. As shown in step 400 of fig. 4, is the start of the proposed method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. After the UE is exited from the PTM LA group, the UE decodes the ongoing PTM transmission or only makes PTM-CSI measurements, as shown in step 405 of fig. 4. As shown in step 410 of FIG. 4, it is determined whether option 2-a as described herein is used. If "yes" here, the gNB assigns dedicated ACK/NACK and/or CSI reporting resources to the UE as shown in step 415 of FIG. 4. Then, as shown in step 420 of fig. 4, it is determined whether the channel condition of the UE is sufficient to re-admit the UE to the PTM LA group by the gNB. If no here, operation returns to step 420 of fig. 4. If yes in step 420, the gNB re-activates the UE to send feedback on the common NACK-only resource, as shown in step 425 of FIG. 4, and as shown in step 465 of FIG. 4, so that the UE rejoins the PTM LA group.

If the answer is "no" at step 410 of fig. 4, option 2-b disclosed herein is applied. As shown in step 445 of fig. 4, it is determined by the UE whether the ongoing PTM transmission meets the re-admission criteria. If no here, operation returns to step 445 of FIG. 4. If "Yes" here, as shown in the figureStep 440 of 4 determines whether to apply option 3-b disclosed herein. If no here, the operation proceeds to step 450 of fig. 4, where the UE starts to issue a NACK on the group common resource, and step 465 is performed as described above. If yes at step 440 of fig. 4, the UE initiates T as shown at step 435 of fig. 4 _re-join And then proceeds to step 430. At step 430 of FIG. 4, if T _re-join If so, operation proceeds to step 445 of FIG. 4, as described above. Further, if yes at step 440 of fig. 4, the UE issues an SR to the gNB as shown in step 455, and then proceeds to step 460. At step 460 of fig. 4, the gNB determines whether to re-admit the UE to the PTM group, and if so, operation proceeds to step 425 as described above. At step 460 of fig. 4, if the answer is no, then operation proceeds to step 430, as described above. As shown in step 470 of fig. 4, the operation shown in fig. 4 is stopped.

Fig. 5 shows a high-level flow chart of a further possible implementation combination according to an example embodiment of the invention. Fig. 5 includes 3 parts including part (1) detecting and exiting an anomalous UE from the PTM LA group; part (2) actions taken after exiting the UE from the PTM LA group; and part (3) a mechanism for the exited UE to rejoin the PTM LA group. As shown in part (1), subsection (a) is detected by the gNB and the UE is exited from the PTM LA group; sub-part (b-i) is detected by the UE and explicitly indicates CQI 0 to the gNB, followed by the gNB exiting the UE from the PTM LA group; and the subsection (b-ii) detects the UE by the UE and exits it from the PTM LA group without explicit signaling to the gNB. These sub-portions of part (1) of fig. 5 are connected to sub-portions 2 (a) and 2 (B) of part (2) of fig. 5. In subsection 2 (a), the UE determines PTM-CSI based on the channel measurements, and in subsection 2 (B) of fig. 5, the UE determines PTM-CSI based on decoding of the PTM transmission.

Subsection 2 (a) of part (2) of fig. 5 is connected to 2 (a), where UE-specific resources for CSI reporting are configured by the gNB, and to 2 (a) (b), where no additional UL resources are configured for the UE.

However, subsection 2 (B) of part (2) of fig. 5 is connected to 2 (B) (a), where UE-specific resources for ACK/NACK and/or CSI reporting are configured by the gNB, and to 2 (B), where no additional UL resources are configured for the UE.

Furthermore, the subsection 2 (a) of the section (2) of fig. 5 is connected to the subsection 3 (a) of the section (3) of fig. 5. In subsection 3 (A) (a), BLER is used by gNB _re-admit And/or CQI _re-admit To detect and let the UE rejoin the PTM LA group.

The subsection 2 (a) (b) of the section 2 of fig. 5 is connected to the subsections 3 (a) (b) and 3 (a) (c) of the section (3) of fig. 5. In subsection 3 (a) (b), BLER is used by the UE _re-join And/or CQI _re-join Detects and issues an SR to the gNB. In subsection 3 (a) (c), BLER is used by the UE _re-join And/or CQI _re-join To perform silent re-entry to the PTM LA group.

The subsection 2 (B) (a) of the section 2 of fig. 5 is connected to the subsection 3 (B) (a) of the section (3) of fig. 5. In subsection 3 (B) (a), CQI is used by gNB _re-admit To detect and let the UE rejoin the PTM LA group.

However, the subsection 2 (B) of the section 2 of fig. 5 is connected to the subsections 3 (B) and 3 (B) (c) of the section (3) of fig. 5.

In subsection 3 (B), CQI is used by the UE _re-join Detects and issues an SR to the gNB. In subsection 3, CQI is used by the UE _re-join To make silence reentry.

In subsection 3 (B) (c), CQI is used by the UE _re-join To make silence reentry.

Furthermore, at least with respect to the processes of fig. 3, 4 and 5 disclosed above:

regarding step 1-a: after discovery of an anomalous UE, the gNB may configure the UE using dedicated RRC (re) configuration signaling such that the UE is informed that it must not issue a NACK on the group common feedback resource (PUCCH or PRACH) and that the UE must not issue a (PTM-) CSI report on the UE-specific PUCCH resource anymore. The group common NACK feedback resource will remain configured for the remaining UE usage, although it is deactivated for that particular abnormal UE. This may be critical when the UE wants to rejoin the PTM LA group, depending on which of the proposed mechanisms is used for rejoining, since if the resources are allocated in a persistent manner, the gNB may not need to indicate the resources to the UE again after rejoining, either absolutely or using persistent rules, e.g. as to how to derive the resources from the DCI indicating the corresponding PDSCH transmission. Thereafter, the gNB may reallocate UE-specific PUCCH or PUSCH resources that may have been used for CSI reporting for other purposes; and

Regarding step 1-b: the gNB can configure the timer T using UE-specific RRC (re-) configuration _outlier . If the system implements both options (1-a) and (1-b), the configuration of the timer may indicate that the method set forth in (1-b) is used in the system, instead of (1-a):

omicron regarding step 1-b-i: the CQI with index 0 is used by the UE to indicate that the UE considers that even the lowest MCS is not sufficiently robust to meet QoS service criteria and will exit the PTM LA group. As in (1-a), the gNB may configure the UE with a dedicated RRC (re) configuration message in such a way that the UE is informed that it must not issue a NACK on the group common feedback resource (PUCCH or PRACH) and that the UE must no longer issue a PTM related CSI report from the UE specific PUCCH or PUSCH resources. The group common NACK feedback resource will remain configured for the UE for use by other UEs still in the PTM LA group, although it is deactivated for that (and other) abnormal UE, and

omicron regarding step 1-b-ii: upon detecting a missing CSI report from the UE, the gNB does not issue any RRC (re) configuration message, and may freely use UE-specific resources (PUCCH or PUSCH) for CSI reporting for the UE that is not exited for other purposes.

In both cases, it is contemplated that the anomalous UE has been configured to periodically report CSI, and the mechanisms presented herein according to example embodiments of the invention may also be applied, such as if the PTM-specific CSI reporting is not part of a system implementation.

Note that, according to the present disclosure, operations performed in steps according to an example embodiment of the present invention may include:

regarding step 2-a: the UE-specific feedback resources may be configured as PUCCH or PRACH for ACK/NACK reporting and/or PUSCH or PUCCH for CSI reporting. The CSI reporting period is reserved to be implementation-specific and is not within the scope of the example embodiments of the invention;

regarding step 2-b: in this step, the UE can only wait to rejoin the PTM LA group while attempting to decode the current PTM transmission or only make PTM-CSI channel measurements;

concerning step 3-a: if the UE follows step (2-a), but does not follow step (2-b), this step may be performed. If the gNB decides to let the UE return to the PTM LA group, it should use RRC (re-) configuration to inform the UE that it can now send NACK feedback on the group common PUCCH resources, in addition to reconfiguring or disabling the UE-specific ACK/NACK and possibly PTM-CSI resources. Thereafter, the UE should follow the normal operation of the PTM group, e.g. as proposed;

Concerning step 3-b: if the UE follows step (2-b), but does not follow step (2-a), this step may be performed. Through the RRC (re) configuration signal, the UE may be configured with new reliability criteria, such as the serving BLER target BLER _re-join Or the required CQI _re-join Conveniently in combination with a margin, for example reflecting the fact that the UE itself cannot trigger a retransmission. In case the UE is actually part of the PTM group, its NACK feedback will help it to have a better BLER or CQI than the current state in which it is not allowed to send out NACK feedback. Thus, the system does not expect the UE to be able to reach the QoS serving BLER target or the required CQI, which is why a new target that can be configured slightly higher or lower than the original BLER target is introduced in this step.

When the UE determines that the ongoing PTM session now meets the new reliability criteria, it attempts to rejoin the PTM LA group by issuing an SR. According to the current standard, the minimum PUCCH resource may carry 2 bits in addition to SR bits. If the UE does not need these 2 bits for PTP HARQ feedback, it can utilize them (flip any of them to "1") to explicitly indicate that it requests to rejoin the PTM LA group. Alternatively, this may be a two-step approach, where the UE indicates that it wishes to rejoin a particular PTM LA group in a first PUSCH transmission granted by the gNB in response to a legacy SR.

After deciding to re-admit the UE to the PTM LA group, the gNB should use RRC (re-) configuration to inform the UE that it can now send out feedback on the group common feedback resource. If the UE does not receive RRC reconfiguration after the SR is sent out, it may start a timer T _re-join (configured by RRC signaling), and after expiration of the timer, if needed and if the criteria allowing to do so are met, another SR is sent.

Furthermore, it can be seen that it has been proposed that after re-joining the PTM LA group, the UE should wait for a certain period of time T before requesting PTM-CSI reporting uplink resources _re-join,CSI . The purpose of the waiting period is for the UE to make accurate measurements and to be able to issue CQI reports that will correctly reflect the current channel conditions. Example embodiments of the invention provide that T _re-join,CSI Can be explicitly signaled to the UE by RRC signaling, or T _re-join,CSI Can be derived from previous configurations on how to calculate CQI from a general CQI reporting configuration;

concerning step 3-c: if the UE follows step (2-b), but does not follow step (2-a), this step may be performed. As in the case of (3-b), the UE may be configured via RRC (re) configuration signaling with new reliability standard BLER _re-join Or CQI _re-join The method comprises the steps of carrying out a first treatment on the surface of the And/or

T _re-join,CSI Should be configured as described in step (3-b).

Fig. 6A illustrates operations that may be performed by a device, such as, but not limited to (e.g., UE 10 as in fig. 2) a device. As shown in step 610 of fig. 6A, first information for being in a point-to-multipoint service group is received from a network node of a communication network by at least one user equipment of a group of more than one user equipment of the communication network. As shown in step 620 of fig. 6A, wherein the first information relates to an indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment. Then, as shown in step 630 of fig. 6A, it is determined that at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group based on the received first information.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the first information related to the indication of channel quality comprises at least one of a quality of service indicator, a channel quality indicator, a block error rate or a count of negative acknowledgements issued by the user equipment on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, and the determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on a comparison of the indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment and a channel quality requirement of the at least one user equipment.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein not allowing the at least one user equipment to utilize the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group comprises: at least one of acknowledgement, negative acknowledgement, hybrid retransmission request feedback is not allowed to be made with at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group is a common feedback resource used by licensed user equipment of the point-to-multipoint service group.

The example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the channel quality requirements include: at least one of an indication of a channel quality threshold, or at least one of a timer or a counter threshold, is reflected for one of a quality of service indicator, a channel quality indicator, a block error rate, or a count of negative acknowledgements.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, the determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on at least one of: the indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment is one of: equal to, below, or above the corresponding channel quality requirement threshold.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, the determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on at least one of: the channel quality measurement is one of the following, at least for the duration of the timer: equal to, below or above a threshold, or at least within a plurality of consecutive measurements, the channel quality measurement is one of: equal to, below or above a threshold.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, channel quality indicator 0 of channel quality indicator bits is sent from the at least one user equipment to the network node using the channel state information report based on the comparison result, wherein the channel quality indicator 0 instructs the network node to provide control signaling for at least one of: disabling negative acknowledgement feedback, or de-configuring channel state information feedback resources of at least one user equipment.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the control signaling comprises dedicated signaling for configuring the at least one user equipment to at least one of: disabling negative acknowledgement feedback, or de-configuring channel state information resources of at least one user equipment.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, the sending of the negative acknowledgement from the at least one user equipment is stopped without an additional indication from the network node.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the received first information further comprises an indication that the at least one user equipment is not to perform at least one of: the hybrid automatic repeat request feedback is sent on a common feedback resource or on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group or the channel state information report is sent on a dedicated resource of at least one user equipment.

The example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the group of more than one user equipment comprises a point-to-multipoint link adaptation group.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, a dedicated resource assignment is received by at least one user equipment; and transmitting, at the at least one user equipment, second information of at least one of the point-to-multipoint channel state indicator measurements using the assigned dedicated resources, wherein the second information of the at least one of the point-to-multipoint channel state indicator measurements, and at least one of an acknowledgement, a negative acknowledgement, a hybrid retransmission request feedback, or a request to access a common feedback resource, is used by the network node to determine whether to allow the at least one user equipment to send hybrid automatic retransmission request feedback for the point-to-multipoint service on the group common feedback resource of the group.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, at least one criterion for re-entering the point-to-multipoint service is received by the at least one user equipment based on at least one channel measurement, or an instruction for decoding data received through the point-to-multipoint service; and determining whether at least one re-entry criterion is met based on the criterion to admit the at least one user equipment to re-enter the point-to-multipoint service.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the channel measurement comprises at least one of a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio or a reference signal received power measurement, and wherein the re-entering comprises resuming utilization of at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, upon determining that at least one re-entry criterion is fulfilled, a scheduling request is issued to the network node; receiving, from the network node, an activation for transmitting negative acknowledgement feedback on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group in response to the scheduling request; and based on the re-entry, transmitting negative acknowledgement feedback on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group according to a result of decoding the data packet received through the point-to-multipoint service.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, after determining that at least one re-entry criterion is fulfilled, a scheduling request is issued to the network node; receiving a resource allocation of physical uplink shared channel resources from a network node; issuing a request to re-enter the point-to-multipoint service group using the physical uplink shared channel resource; receiving activation information from the network node, the activation information being for configuring at least one user equipment to send feedback on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group common feedback resource; and transmitting a negative acknowledgement on the group common feedback resource based on a result of decoding the data packet received through the multipoint service.

An example embodiment as described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the request for reentry comprises channel quality information.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, a timer is started when a scheduling request is issued; after expiration of the timer, if the at least one user equipment has not re-entered the point-to-multipoint service and if the at least one re-admission criterion is still met, the at least one user equipment: sending another scheduling request; and restarting the timer.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, a negative acknowledgement is sent on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group according to the result of decoding a data packet received through the point-to-multipoint service after recognizing that at least one criterion for re-entry is now fulfilled.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the at least one criterion for re-entry remains fulfilled during the duration of the re-entry timer that has been started after the at least one user equipment detects that the at least one criterion for re-entry is fulfilled.

A non-transitory computer readable medium (MEM 10A of fig. 2) stores program code (PROG 10C of fig. 2) for execution by at least one processor (DP 10A and/or SIM 10E of fig. 2) to perform at least the operations described in the preceding paragraphs.

According to an example embodiment of the invention as described above, there is an apparatus comprising: means for receiving (e.g. TRANS 10D, MEM 10B, PROG C and DP 10A and/or SIM 10E in fig. 2) from a network node (e.g. NN 12 and/or NN 13 in fig. 2) of a communication network (e.g. network 1 in fig. 2) by at least one user equipment (e.g. UE 10 in fig. 2) of a group of more than one user equipment for first information in a point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the first information relates to an indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment; and means for determining (e.g. TRANS 10D, MEM 10B, PROG C and DP 10A and/or SIM 10E in fig. 2) that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group based on the received first information.

In an example aspect of the invention according to the preceding paragraph, wherein the means for at least receiving and means for determining and means for issuing comprise a non-transitory computer readable medium [ MEM 10B ] encoded with a computer program [ PROG 10C ] executable by the at least one processor [ DP 10A and/or SIM 10E ].

Fig. 6B illustrates operations that may be performed by a network device such as, but not limited to, network node NN 12 and/or NN 13 or eNB in fig. 2. As shown in step 650 of fig. 6B, it is determined that at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group based on the indication of channel quality, as shown in step 660 of fig. 2. The determined first information is then sent to the at least one user equipment based on the determination, as shown in step 670 of fig. 2.

An example embodiment as described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the indication of channel quality comprises at least one of a quality of service indicator, a channel quality indicator, a block error rate, or a count of negative acknowledgements sent by the user equipment on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

An example embodiment as described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the indication of channel quality is included on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, at least one of a quality of service indicator, a channel quality indicator, a block error rate, or a count of negative acknowledgements from the user equipment.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the determining comprises: the determination that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on a comparison of an indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment with a channel quality requirement of the at least one user equipment.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein not allowing the at least one user equipment to utilize the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group comprises: at least one of acknowledgement, negative acknowledgement, hybrid retransmission request feedback is not allowed to be sent out using at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, the determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on at least one of: the indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment is one of: equal to, below or above the corresponding channel quality requirement threshold.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, the determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on at least one of: the channel quality measurement is one of the following at least for the duration of the timer: equal to, below or above a threshold, or at least within a plurality of consecutive measurements, the channel quality measurement is one of: equal to, below or above a threshold.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, the channel state information report is transmitted with the at least one user equipment based on the comparison, wherein the transmitting causes the network node to at least one of: control signaling is provided to deactivate negative acknowledgement only feedback, or to de-configure channel state information feedback resources of at least one user equipment.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the control signaling comprises dedicated signaling for configuring the at least one user equipment to at least one of: disabling the negative acknowledgement only feedback, or de-configuring channel state information resources of the at least one user equipment.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the information for disallowing utilization of the at least one feedback resource over the point-to-multipoint service comprises an indication that the at least one user equipment does not need to perform at least one of: the hybrid automatic repeat request feedback is sent out on at least one feedback resource of a point-to-multipoint service group or a common feedback resource for the hybrid automatic repeat request feedback or on a dedicated resource for at least one user equipment.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, dedicated resource assignments are transmitted with at least one user equipment, wherein the assigned dedicated resources are used to transmit, at the at least one user equipment, second information of at least one of the point-to-multipoint channel state indicator measurements, wherein the second information of the at least one of the point-to-multipoint channel state indicator measurements, or at least one of an acknowledgement, a negative acknowledgement, a hybrid retransmission request feedback, or a request to access a common feedback resource, for the network node to determine whether to allow the at least one user equipment to issue hybrid automatic retransmission request feedback for a point-to-multipoint service on a group common feedback resource of the group.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, at least one criterion for re-entering the point-to-multipoint service is communicated with at least one user equipment based at least on the channel measurements and on an instruction whether to decode data received over the point-to-multipoint service; and wherein based on the criteria, it can be identified whether at least one criterion for re-entry is fulfilled to grant the at least one user equipment to re-enter the point-to-multipoint service.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the channel measurement comprises at least one of a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio, or a reference signal received power measurement, and wherein the re-entering comprises resuming utilization of at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the method is satisfied based on at least one criterion for reentry, the method comprising: receiving a scheduling request from at least one user equipment; transmitting, from the network node, an activation for issuing negative acknowledgement feedback on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group in response to the scheduling request; and receiving negative acknowledgement feedback on at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group according to a result of decoding the data packet received through the point-to-multipoint service based on the re-entering.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, at least one criterion for at least one user equipment to re-enter the point-to-multipoint service is used, wherein the information comprises at least one of: at least one channel quality measurement of the point-to-multipoint service or data received by at least one user equipment through the point-to-multipoint service; and determining, based on the information, whether at least one criterion for re-entry is met for granting the at least one user equipment re-entry to the point-to-multipoint service.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, a scheduling request is received from at least one user equipment; transmitting activation information with at least one user equipment, the activation information being used for transmitting feedback on a common negative acknowledgement resource; and receiving a negative acknowledgement from the at least one user equipment on the group common negative acknowledgement only resource based on the re-entry according to a result of decoding the data packet transmitted through the point-to-multipoint service.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, a scheduling request is received from at least one user equipment based on at least one criterion being met at the at least one user equipment; issuing an grant for use of physical uplink shared channel resources to at least one user equipment; receiving a request to re-enter a point-to-multipoint service group from at least one user equipment; transmitting activation information to at least one user equipment, the activation information being for configuring the at least one user equipment to transmit feedback on at least one feedback resource of a point-to-multipoint service group common negative acknowledgement resource; and receiving a negative acknowledgement from the at least one user equipment on the common negative acknowledgement resource according to a result of decoding the data packet transmitted through the point-to-multipoint service.

An example embodiment as described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the request comprises channel quality information.

According to an example embodiment described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the at least one criterion has to remain fulfilled during the duration of the re-entry timer period that has been started after the at least one re-admission criterion was detected to be fulfilled.

According to an example embodiment of the invention as above, there is an apparatus comprising: means for receiving (e.g., TRANS 12D and/or TRANS 13D, MEM B and/or MEM 13B, PROG C and/or PROG 13C and DP 12A and/or DP 13A in fig. 2) by a network node (e.g., NN 12 and/or NN 13 in fig. 2) an indication of channel quality measured at least one user equipment (e.g., UE 10 in fig. 2) by a network node (e.g., NN 12 and/or NN 13 in fig. 2) of a communication network (e.g., network 1 in fig. 2), wherein the point-to-multipoint service group includes more than one user equipment including at least one user equipment of the communication network, comprising: means for determining (as in fig. 2 TRANS 12D and/or TRANS 13D, MEM B and/or MEM 13B, PROG C and/or PROG 13C and DP 12A and/or DP 13A) that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group based on the indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment of the group of more than one user equipment; and means for issuing (as in fig. 2 TRANS 12D and/or TRANS 13D, MEM B and/or MEM 13B, PROG C and/or PROG 13C and DP 12A and/or DP 13A) the determined first information to the at least one user equipment based on the determination.

In an example aspect of the invention according to the preceding paragraph, wherein the means for at least maintaining or establishing, the means for determining and the means for issuing comprise a non-transitory computer readable medium [ MEM 12B and/or MEM 13B ] encoded with a computer program [ PROG 12C and/or PROG 13C ] executable by the at least one processor [ DP 12A and/or DP 13A ].

It is believed that advantages brought by applying the techniques of the present disclosure in accordance with example embodiments of the present invention may include that UEs in sufficiently good channel conditions are not subject to UEs in the PTM group in poor channel conditions and may meet their QoS service requirements. Additional advantages may include that UEs that are exiting from the PTM LA group may rejoin the PTM LA group with minimal effort, if their channel conditions improve or other system constraints allow.

Furthermore, in accordance with example embodiments of the present invention, there is circuitry for performing operations in accordance with example embodiments of the present invention disclosed herein. The circuitry may include any type of circuitry including content encoding circuitry, content decoding circuitry, processing circuitry, image generation circuitry, data analysis circuitry, and the like. Further, the circuitry may include discrete circuitry, application Specific Integrated Circuitry (ASIC) and/or field programmable gate array circuitry (FPGA) or the like, as well as a processor specifically configured by software to perform the corresponding functions, or a dual core processor with software and a corresponding digital signal processor, or the like. Furthermore, the necessary inputs to and outputs from the circuitry, the functions performed by the circuitry, and the interconnection of the circuitry with other components that may include other circuitry (possibly via inputs and outputs) are provided in order to perform the example embodiments of the invention described herein.

According to example embodiments of the invention disclosed in the present application, the provided "circuitry" may include at least one or more or all of the following:

(a) Hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in analog and/or digital circuitry only

Now;

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

(i) A combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) and software/firmware; and

(ii) Any portion of the hardware processor(s) having software, including digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(s), work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions, such as in accordance with the disclosure herein

The function or operation of the example embodiments of the present invention; and

(c) Hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or a portion of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware)

The operation is performed, but when the software is not required to perform the operation, the software may not exist. "

In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, there is sufficient circuitry to perform at least the novel operations disclosed in this application, "circuitry" as may be used herein refers to at least the following:

Now; and

(b) A combination of circuitry and software (and/or firmware), such as (as applicable):

(i) A combination of processor(s), or (ii) portion(s) of processor/software, including digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(s), that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions; and

(c) Circuits that require software or firmware to operate, such as microprocessor(s) or a portion of microprocessor(s), even if the software or firmware is not physically present.

This definition of "circuitry" applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term "circuitry" will also encompass only a processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a processor, along with implementations of software and/or firmware. For example, if applicable to the particular claim element, the term "circuitry" would also cover a baseband integrated circuit or applications processor integrated circuit for a mobile phone, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other network device.

In general, the various embodiments may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. For example, some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although the invention is not limited thereto. While various aspects of the invention may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

Embodiments of the invention may be practiced in various components such as integrated circuit modules. Overall, the design of integrated circuits is a highly automated process. Complex and powerful software tools are available for converting a logic level design into a semiconductor circuit design ready to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate.

The term "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. All of the embodiments described in this detailed description are provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use exemplary embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention which is defined by the claims.

The foregoing description has provided by way of exemplary and non-limiting examples a full and informative description of the best method and apparatus presently contemplated by the inventors for carrying out the invention. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. However, all such and similar modifications of the teachings of this invention will still fall within the scope of this invention.

It should be noted that the terms "connected," "coupled," or any variant thereof refer to any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements and may encompass the presence of one or more intervening elements between two elements "connected" or "coupled" together. The coupling or connection between the elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. As employed herein, two elements may be considered "connected" or "coupled" together by using one or more wires, cables, and/or printed electrical connections, as well as by using electromagnetic energy, such as electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency region, the microwave region, and the optical (visible and invisible) regions, as several non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples.

Furthermore, some of the features of the preferred embodiments of this invention could be used without the corresponding use of other features. Thus, the foregoing description should be considered as merely illustrative of the principles of the present invention, and not in limitation thereof.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by at least one user equipment of a group of more than one user equipment of a communication network, first information for being in a point-to-multipoint service group from a network node of the communication network,

wherein the first information relates to an indication of channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment; and

based on the received first information, it is determined that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information related to the indication of channel quality comprises: at least one of a quality of service indicator, a channel quality indicator, a block error rate, or a count of negative acknowledgements transmitted by the at least one user equipment on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, and

the method comprises the following steps:

Determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on a comparison of an indication of the channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment with a channel quality requirement of the at least one user equipment.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the disallowing the at least one user equipment to utilize the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group comprises: at least one of acknowledgement, negative acknowledgement, hybrid retransmission request feedback is not allowed to be transmitted using the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

4. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group is a common feedback resource used by licensed user equipment of the point-to-multipoint service group.

5. The method of any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the channel quality requirement comprises: at least one of an indication of the channel quality threshold, or at least one of a timer or a counter threshold is reflected for one of the quality of service indicator, channel quality indicator, block error rate, or count of negative acknowledgements.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on at least one of:

the indication of the channel quality measured from the at least one user equipment is one of: equal to, below, or above the corresponding channel quality requirement threshold.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on at least one of:

the channel quality measurement is one of the following, at least for the duration of the timer: equal to, below or above the threshold, or

The channel quality measurement is one of the following, at least within a plurality of consecutive measurements: is equal to, below or above the threshold.

8. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 7, comprising:

based on the comparison, using a channel state information report, transmitting a channel quality indicator, 0, of channel quality indicator bits from the at least one user equipment to the network node, wherein the channel quality indicator, 0, indicates to the network node to provide control signaling to at least one of: disabling negative acknowledgement feedback, or de-configuring channel state information feedback resources of the at least one user equipment.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the control signaling comprises dedicated signaling for configuring the at least one user equipment to at least one of: disabling negative acknowledgement feedback, or de-configuring channel state information resources of the at least one user equipment.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, comprising:

the transmission of negative acknowledgements from the at least one user equipment is stopped without an additional indication from the network node.

11. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the received first information further comprises an indication that the at least one user equipment does not perform at least one of:

transmitting a hybrid automatic repeat request feedback on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, or

A channel state information report is issued on dedicated resources for the at least one user equipment.

12. The method according to any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the group of more than one user equipment comprises a point-to-multipoint link adaptation group.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, comprising:

Receiving, by the at least one user equipment, a dedicated resource assignment; and

transmitting, at the at least one user equipment, second information of at least one of the point-to-multipoint channel state indicator measurements and at least one of an acknowledgement, a negative acknowledgement, a hybrid retransmission request feedback, or a request to access the common feedback resource using the assigned dedicated resources, for the network node to determine whether to allow the at least one user equipment to issue hybrid automatic retransmission request feedback for the point-to-multipoint service on the group common feedback resource of the group.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, comprising:

receiving, by the at least one user equipment, at least one criterion for re-entering the point-to-multipoint service based on at least one channel measurement or instructions for decoding data received through the point-to-multipoint service; and

based on the criteria, it is determined whether the at least one criterion for re-entry is met for granting the at least one user equipment re-entry to the point-to-multipoint service.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the channel measurements comprise at least one of signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio or reference signal received power measurements, and wherein the re-entering comprises resuming the utilization of at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, comprising:

after determining that the at least one criterion for re-entry is fulfilled, issuing a scheduling request to the network node;

receiving, from the network node, activation information for issuing negative acknowledgement feedback on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group in response to the scheduling request; and

based on the re-entry, the negative acknowledgement feedback is issued on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group according to a result of decoding a data packet received through the point-to-multipoint service.

17. The method according to claim 14 or 15, comprising:

receiving a resource allocation of a physical uplink shared channel from the network node;

Issuing a request for re-entering the point-to-multipoint service group by using the resource allocation of the physical uplink shared channel;

receiving activation information from the network node, the activation information being for configuring the at least one user equipment to issue feedback on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group; and

a negative acknowledgement is sent out on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group based on a result of decoding a data packet received through the point-to-multipoint service.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the request for reentry comprises channel quality information.

19. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 18, comprising:

starting a timer when the scheduling request is sent out;

after expiration of the timer, if the at least one user equipment has not re-entered the point-to-multipoint service and if the at least one criterion for re-entry is met, the at least one user equipment:

sending out another scheduling request; and

restarting the timer.

20. The method according to claim 14 or 15, comprising:

Upon determining that the at least one criterion for re-entry is fulfilled, a negative acknowledgement is issued on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group in accordance with a result of decoding a data packet received through the point-to-multipoint service.

21. The method according to any of claims 14 to 17, wherein the at least one criterion for re-entry remains fulfilled during the duration of a re-entry timer that has been started after the at least one user equipment detects that the at least one criterion for re-entry is fulfilled.

22. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

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

first information for being in a point-to-multipoint service group is received from a network node of a communication network,

wherein the apparatus is one user equipment of a group of more than one user equipment of the communication network and the first information relates to an indication of channel quality measured from the apparatus; and

Based on the received first information, it is determined that the apparatus is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

23. An apparatus comprising means for:

24. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a network node of a communication network, an indication of channel quality measured at least one device from at least one user device of a point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the point-to-multipoint service group comprises more than one user device including the at least one user device;

determining, based on the indication of channel quality, that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group; and

Based on the determination, the determined first information is sent to the at least one user equipment.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the indication of channel quality comprises: at least one of a quality of service indicator, a channel quality indicator, a block error rate, or a count of negative acknowledgements received from the at least one user equipment on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

26. The method according to claim 24 or 25, wherein the determination is based on a comparison of an indication of the channel quality measured at the at least one user equipment with channel quality requirements of the at least one user equipment.

27. The method of any of claims 24 to 26, wherein the disallowing the at least one user equipment to utilize the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group comprises: at least one of acknowledgement, negative acknowledgement, hybrid retransmission request feedback is not allowed to be sent out using the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

28. The method according to any of claims 24 to 27, wherein the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group is a common feedback resource for licensed user equipment using the point-to-multipoint service group.

29. The method of any of claims 26 to 28, wherein the channel quality requirement comprises: at least one of an indication of the channel quality threshold, or at least one of a timer or a counter threshold is reflected for one of the quality of service indicator, channel quality indicator, block error rate, or count of negative acknowledgements.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on at least one of:

the indication of the channel quality measured at the at least one user equipment is one of: a corresponding channel quality threshold that is equal to, lower than, or higher than the channel quality requirement.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the determining that the at least one user equipment is not allowed to utilize the at least one feedback resource is based on at least one of:

the channel quality measurement is one of the following, at least for the duration of the timer: equal to, below or above the corresponding channel quality threshold, or

The channel quality measurement is one of the following, at least within a plurality of consecutive measurements: equal to, below or above the corresponding channel quality threshold.

32. The method of any one of claims 26 to 31, comprising:

based on the comparison, communicating with the at least one user equipment, wherein the communicating causes the network node to at least one of: control signaling is provided to deactivate negative acknowledgement feedback, or to de-configure channel state information feedback resources of the at least one user equipment.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the control signaling comprises dedicated signaling for configuring the at least one user equipment to at least one of: disabling negative acknowledgement feedback, or de-configuring channel state information resources of the at least one user equipment.

34. The method of any of claims 24 to 33, wherein the information for the disallowing utilization of at least one feedback resource over the point-to-multipoint service comprises: the at least one user equipment does not perform an indication of at least one of:

issuing hybrid automatic repeat request feedback on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group, or

A channel state information report is sent out on dedicated resources for the at least one user equipment.

35. The method of any of claims 24 to 34, wherein the group of more than one user equipment comprises a point-to-multipoint link adaptation group.

36. The method of any one of claims 24 to 35, comprising:

assigning dedicated resources to the at least one user equipment,

wherein the assigned dedicated resources are used to transmit at the at least one user equipment second information of at least one of the point-to-multipoint channel state indicator measurements,

wherein the second information of at least one of the point-to-multipoint channel state indicator measurements, or at least one of an acknowledgement, a negative acknowledgement, a hybrid retransmission request feedback, or a request to access the common feedback resource, is used by the network node to determine whether to allow the at least one user equipment to issue hybrid automatic retransmission request feedback for the point-to-multipoint service on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

37. The method of any one of claims 24 to 35, comprising:

transmitting at least one criterion for re-entering the point-to-multipoint service with the at least one user equipment based at least on channel measurements and instructions whether to decode data received over the point-to-multipoint service; and

Wherein based on the criteria, it can be identified whether the at least one criterion for re-entry is fulfilled for granting the at least one user equipment re-entry to the point-to-multipoint service.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the channel measurements comprise at least one of signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio or reference signal received power measurements, and wherein the re-entering comprises resuming the utilization of at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group.

39. The method according to claim 37 or 38, comprising: after the at least one criterion for re-entry is fulfilled,

receiving a scheduling request from the at least one user equipment;

transmitting, in response to the scheduling request, activation information with the at least one user equipment, the activation information being for issuing negative acknowledgement feedback on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group; and

based on the re-entry, a negative acknowledgement is received on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group according to a result of decoding a data packet received from the at least one user equipment through the point-to-multipoint service.

40. The method of claim 24, comprising:

using at least one criterion for the at least one user equipment to re-enter the point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the information comprises at least one of: at least one channel quality measurement of the point-to-multipoint service or data received at the at least one user equipment through the point-to-multipoint service; and

based on the information, it is determined whether the at least one criterion for re-entry is met for granting the at least one user equipment re-entry to the point-to-multipoint service.

41. The method of claim 40, comprising:

receiving a scheduling request from the at least one user equipment;

transmitting activation information with the at least one user equipment to send feedback on a common negative acknowledgement resource; and

a negative acknowledgement is received from the at least one user equipment on the common negative acknowledgement resource in accordance with a result of decoding a data packet transmitted over the point-to-multipoint service.

42. The method of claim 40, comprising:

receiving a scheduling request from the at least one user equipment based on the at least one criterion being met at the at least one user equipment;

Issuing an grant for use of physical uplink shared channel resources to the at least one user equipment;

receiving a request from the at least one user equipment to re-enter the point-to-multipoint service group;

transmitting activation information to the at least one user equipment, the activation information being for configuring the at least one user equipment to transmit feedback on the at least one feedback resource of the point-to-multipoint service group common negative acknowledgement resource; and

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the request includes channel quality information.

44. The method of any of claims 40 to 43, wherein the at least one criterion remains met during the duration of the re-entry timer period that has been initiated after the at least one user equipment detects that the at least one criterion for re-entry is met.

45. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

receiving, at the apparatus of a communication network, an indication of channel quality measured at least one device from at least one user device of a point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the point-to-multipoint service group comprises more than one user device including the at least one user device;

46. An apparatus comprising means for:

at a network node of a communication network, receiving an indication of channel quality measured at least one device from at least one user device of a point-to-multipoint service group, wherein the point-to-multipoint service group comprises more than one user device including the at least one user device;

47. An apparatus comprising at least one of means for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 21, or means for performing the method of any one of claims 24 to 44.

48. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 21 or at least to perform the method of any one of claims 24 to 44.

49. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 21 or for performing the method according to any one of claims 24 to 44.

50. A computer program comprising instructions stored thereon for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 21 or for performing the method of any of claims 24 to 44.

51. A computer readable medium of wireless communication storing a program of instructions, execution of which by a processor configures an apparatus to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 21, or to perform a method according to any one of claims 24 to 44.