EP4427432A1

EP4427432A1 - Methods and arrangements for static filtering entries for time sensitive communications

Info

Publication number: EP4427432A1
Application number: EP22890761.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Thomas Luetzenkirchen
Original assignee: Intel Corp
Current assignee: Intel Corp
Priority date: 2021-11-03
Filing date: 2022-11-03
Publication date: 2024-09-11
Also published as: WO2023081267A1; EP4427432A4; CN117597900A

Abstract

Logic may receive a communication from an end STA via a device-side time sensitive networking (TSN) translator and a user equipment to establish a TSN stream. Logic may configure a static filtering entry with port map support for the TSN stream. Logic may identify a PDU of the TSN stream and determine a set of two or more network-side ports of a bridge through which to forward the PDU based on the static filtering entry. Logic may forward the PDU through the set of two or more network-side ports of the bridge. Logic may generate and transmit a TSN application function information element to send to an end STA to advertise capabilities of configuring static filtering with port map support. And logic may generate and transmit a TSN translator information element to send to an end STA to advertise capabilities of determining ports via static filtering with port map support.

Description

METHODS AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR STATIC FILTERING ENTRIES FOR TIME

SENSITIVE COMMUNICATIONS

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 USC §119 from U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/275,384, entitled “CONFIGURATION OF STATIC FILTERING ENTRIES FOR TIME SENSITIVE COMMUNICATION (TSC) IN 5GS”, filed on November 3, 2021, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments herein relate to communications technologies, and more particularly, to routing data based on static filtering entries for time sensitive communications.

BACKGROUND

Many companies have requirements for time-sensitive communication. In the industrial Internet, for instance, there is time-sensitive data, such as a robot instruction, that require sequential execution within a specified period of time. Many such applications involve hardwired network communications but low costs for construction of wireless networks and licensing of private or nonpublic frequency bands are causing companies to build or convert to wireless communications infrastructure.

Wireless communications infrastructure, however, uses a network transmission resources that are shared and susceptible to delays that may not support time-sensitive data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A depicts an embodiment of a communication network to support port mapping in time sensitive networking;

FIG. IB depicts embodiments of a TSN AF feature support information element (IE) for signaling the capabilities;

FIG. 1C depicts embodiments of a TT feature support IE for signaling the capabilities.

FIG. 2 depicts an embodiment of a bridge to support port mapping in time sensitive networking such as the bridge shown in FIG. 1A; FIGs. 3-4 depicts an embodiment of block diagrams of a user equipment (UE) and an access node in a bridge such as the bridges shown in FIGs. 1 and 2;

FIG. 5A-5B depicts an embodiment of a static filtering entries IE, such as the static filtering entries discussed in conjunction with FIGs. 1A-1C, and 2-4;

FIG. 6A-6D depicts an embodiment of a static filtering IE with port map support (or port mapping);

FIG. 6E depicts an embodiment of a table of virtual local access network identifier (VID) values;

FIGs. 7A-7C depict flowcharts of embodiments of processes for a bridge to support static filtering with port mapping such as the bridges shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 depicts an embodiment of protocol entities in wireless communication devices such as the base station and user equipment shown in FIGs. 1-2;

FIG. 9 depicts embodiments of the formats of physical layer data units that form via baseband circuitry and RF circuitry such as the baseband circuitry and the RF circuitry shown in FIGs. 3-4;

FIGs. 10A-B depicts embodiments of communication circuitry such as the components and modules shown in the user equipment and base station in FIGs. 3-4;

FIG. 11 depicts an embodiment of a storage medium described herein;

FIG. 12 depicts an embodiment an architecture of a system of a network such as the communication network in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 13 depicts an embodiment of a device such as a base station or user equipment shown in

FIGs. 1-2;

FIG. 14 depicts an embodiment of interfaces of baseband circuitry such as the baseband circuitry in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 15 depicts an embodiment of a block diagram of components.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The following is a detailed description of embodiments depicted in the drawings. The detailed description covers all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the appended claims.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications are being developed to cover the needed enhancements to the 5G (fifth generation) System (5GS) to enable enhanced support of time-sensitive communication (TSC) to bridge TSC for, e.g., non-public networks. In some embodiments, a non-public network may be referred to as a non-public communications network. The non-public network may include at least one of the following deployment modes: a non-public network (such as an SNPN) of standalone networking, and a non-public network of non-standalone networking (such as a Closed Access Group (CAG)). In some embodiments, the non-public network may include or be referred to as a private network. A private network may be referred to a private communication network, a private network, a Local Area Network (LAN), a Private Virtual Network (PVN), an isolated communication network, a dedicated communication network, or other network.

Embodiments may include user equipment (UE) to UE communication in addition to UE to network communication. In some embodiments, logic circuitry of a bridge may include a time sensitive networking (TSN) application function (AF) to identify the egress port of the bridge for the TSN stream using data routing information such as a local configuration or a static filtering entry that matches the TSN stream. If the TSN AF determines that the TSN stream is for UE-UE communication (i.e., ingress and egress ports of the bridge are in device-side time-sensitive network translators (DS- TTs)), the TSN AF may divide the stream into one or more uplink (UL) streams and one or more downlink (DL) streams and provide the streams on AF Session basis to the policy control functions (PCFs). In some embodiments, logic circuitry of a bridge may include a session management function (SMF) to apply local switching to enable the user plane function (UPF) to locally forward an UL stream from one protocol data unit (PDU) session as a DL stream in another PDU session.

Static filtering entry information is part of user plane node management information container (UMIC) and, if the static filtering entry information is present for UL traffic, the logic circuitry of the bridge may implement, via a user plane function (UPF), a network-side time sensitive networking translator (NW-TT) that uses static filtering entry information to determine the NW-TT egress port(s) from the bridge for forwarding UL TSC traffic.

Embodiments may add support for a bridge, such as a 5GS bridge, for advertising capabilities of port mapping in a static filtering entry, advertising capabilities of implementation of port mapping via static filtering entry by a NW-TT and/or a DS-TT, and for data structures for provision of port mapping in a static filtering entry. Some embodiments may add an information element for a TSN AF to advertise the capabilities of configuration of a static filtering entry with a port map. Some embodiments may add an information element for a TT such as a NW-TT to advertise the capabilities of implementation of a static filtering entry with a port map. Some embodiments may implement a data structure for a static filtering entry with a port map.

In many embodiments, the port map may identify multiple egress (outbound) ports of the bridge. In some embodiments, the port map may identify multiple egress ports for, e.g., multicast (group) medium access control (MAC) addresses. In such embodiments, one or more NW-TTs and/or DS- TTs may have the capabilities to identify multiple egress ports based a broadcast MAC address and based on one or more static filtering entries for a TSN stream.

According to the IEEE Std. 802.1 Q™, multicast (group) MAC addresses can be allocated per TSN stream. In case of multiple listeners of the same TSN stream connected to different NW-TT ports, the TSN AF may configure multiple egress ports for the same MAC address in one or more static filtering entries and the NW-TT may identify multiple egress ports based on one or more static filtering entries for a TSN stream.

Embodiments may enhance a data structure of a static filtering entries information element with the port mapping for supporting multiple egress ports per static filtering entry. For time-sensitive network (TSNs), embodiments may identify, manage, and forward TSN streams of data in data channels between a transmit end and a receive end through one or more bridges.

For time sensitive communication (TSC), a 5GS bridge, for example, can act as a user plane node of an external network or a 5GS bridge can be independently used to enable TSC.

The DS-TT may be deployed at the user equipment (UE), device-side edge and the NW-TT may be deployed at the network-side edge.

When integrated with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) TSN network, the TSN application function (TSN AF) is deployed to exchange user plane node information (i.e., TSN bridge information) with the centralized network configuration (CNC) as defined in IEEE Std 802.1Q™-2018. The user plane node information includes port management information and user plane node management information. Port management information is related to ports located in the DS-TT and NW-TT. User plane node management information is related to the NW-TT.

To support user plane node information exchange between TSN AF and CNC; the DS-TT, NW- TT, and TSN AF support procedures for port management and user plane node management. Such procedures may include procedures between TSN AF and DS-TT for port management and procedures between TSN AF and NW-TT for port management and user plane node management.

A bridge may comprise logic circuitry to support AF-requested time synchronization services. For this purpose, the logic circuitry may implement a network element function (NEF) in the bridge to expose capabilities to support the services. The logic circuitry may implement Time Sensitive Communication and Time Synchronization Function (TSCTSF) to manage the user plane node and ports (either Ethernet ports or point to point (PTP) ports) in the DS-TT and NW-TT for time synchronization. Therefore, the DS-TT, NW-TT, and TSCTSF support procedures for port management and user plane node management. Such procedures may include procedures between the TSCTSF and DS-TT for port management for time synchronization as well as procedures between the TSCTSF and NW-TT for port management and user plane node management for time synchronization.

Embodiments may comprise Node B’s such as the evolved Node B (eNB) and the Next Generation Node B (gNB) as well as user equipment (UE) for Radio Access Networks (RANs) such as RANI, RAN2, and RAN4. RAN may be shorthand for E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) and the numbers 1, 2, and 4 may represent the release numbers for the 3GPP E- UTRAN specifications.

In RANI, the UE may have a capability to perform wide bandwidth communications, such as bandwidths of 100 to 400 megahertz (MHz). In RAN4, the UE may have capabilities to perform wide bandwidth communications and very wide bandwidth communications such as bandwidths from 400 MHz to 1 gigahertz (GHz). In many embodiments, the new radio (NR) in the UE for RAN4 may operate on carrier frequencies below 6 GHz, between 6 GHz and 24 GHz, and above 24 GHz such as between 24 GHz and 52 GHz.

To accomplish the wider bandwidth communications, in some embodiments, a physical layer (PHY) device of the UE may perform carrier aggregation (CA) to aggregate more than one RF chains. In other words, the UE may reuse more than one narrow or wide bandwidth receive (Rx) and transmit (Tx) chains for other radio access technologies (RATs) by synchronizing each of the RF chains to a different portion of the wider bandwidth.

CA may involve aggregation of more than one bandwidth of component carriers transmitted via the RF chains to form contiguous and/or non-contiguous frequency bands. Contiguous bandwidths may transmit signals on the subcarriers across the entire bandwidth. Non-contiguous bandwidths may skip portions (frequency ranges) of the wide or very wide bandwidths that, e.g., include interference, are reserved for other communications or systems, or the like. Other embodiments may accomplish the wider bandwidth communications by inclusion of a single wide bandwidth and/or very wide bandwidth RF chain.

Various embodiments may be designed to address different technical problems associated with port mapping in time sensitive networking via a bridge such as determining multiple ports for a TSN stream, determining multiple network-side TSN translator ports for a TSN stream, determining multiple network-side TSN translator ports for a single broadcast MAC address, configuring a static filtering entry to include port mapping, advertising a capability to configure a static filtering entry to include port mapping, advertising a capability of a network-side TSN translator to implement port mapping, advertising a capability of a network-side TSN translator to determine port mapping via a static filtering entry, advertising a capability of a network-side TSN translator to determine port mapping via port mapping in a static filtering entry, determining multiple TSN translator ports for a TSN stream via port mapping, determining multiple TSN translator ports for a TSN stream via port mapping in a static filtering entry, determining multiple network-side TSN translator ports for a TSN stream via port mapping in a static filtering entry, and/or the like.

Different technical problems such as those discussed above may be addressed by one or more different embodiments. Embodiments may address one or more of these problems associated port mapping in time sensitive networking via a bridge. For instance, some embodiments that address problems associated with port mapping in time sensitive networking via a bridge may do so by one or more different technical means, such as, receiving a communication from a device-side UE to establish a TSN stream, transmitting capabilities in an information element including one or more bits to indicate a port mapping capability of the TSN AF to, e.g., one or more device side UEs, transmitting capabilities in an information element including one or more bits to indicate a port mapping capability of the NW-TT to, e.g., one or more device-side UEs, advertising a capability to configure a static filtering entry to include port mapping, advertising a capability of a network-side TSN translator to implement port mapping, advertising a capability of a network-side TSN translator to determine port mapping via a static filtering entry, advertising a capability of a network-side TSN translator to determine port mapping via port mapping in a static filtering entry, configuring a static filtering entry with port mapping for a TSN stream, configuring a static filtering entry with a port map for a TSN stream, determining multiple TSN translator ports for a TSN stream via port mapping, determining multiple TSN translator ports for a TSN stream via port mapping in a static filtering entry, determining multiple network-side TSN translator ports for a TSN stream via port mapping in a static filtering entry, and/or the like.

Several embodiments comprise systems with multiple processor cores such as central servers, access points, and/or stations (STAs) such as modems, routers, switches, servers, workstations, netbooks, mobile devices (Laptop, Smart Phone, Tablet, and the like), sensors, meters, controls, instruments, monitors, home or office appliances, Internet of Things (loT) gear (watches, glasses, headphones, cameras, and the like), and the like. Some embodiments may provide, e.g., indoor and/or outdoor “smart” grid and sensor services. In various embodiments, these devices relate to specific applications such as healthcare, home, commercial office and retail, security, and industrial automation and monitoring applications, as well as vehicle applications (automobiles, self-driving vehicles, airplanes, drones, and the like), and the like.

The techniques disclosed herein may involve transmission of data over one or more wireless connections using one or more wireless mobile broadband technologies. For example, various embodiments may involve transmissions over one or more wireless connections according to one or more 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), 3GPP LTE- Advanced (LTE-A), 4G LTE, and/or 5G New Radio (NR), technologies and/or standards, including their revisions, progeny and variants. Various embodiments may additionally or alternatively involve transmissions according to one or more Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)/Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)/High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), and/or GSM with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system (GSM/GPRS) technologies and/or standards, including their revisions, progeny and variants.

Examples of wireless mobile broadband technologies and/or standards may also include, without limitation, any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 wireless broadband standards such as IEEE 802.16m and/or 802.16p, International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced (IMT-ADV), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and/or WiMAX II, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 (e.g., CDMA2000 IxRTT, CDMA2000 EV-DO, CDMA EV-DV, and so forth), High Performance Radio Metropolitan Area Network (HIPERMAN), Wireless Broadband (WiBro), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Packet Access (HSOPA), High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) technologies and/or standards, including their revisions, progeny and variants.

Some embodiments may additionally or alternatively involve wireless communications according to other wireless communications technologies and/or standards. Examples of other wireless communications technologies and/or standards that may be used in various embodiments may include, without limitation, other IEEE wireless communication standards such as the IEEE 802.11-2020, IEEE 802.1 lba-2021, IEEE 802.1 lax-2021, IEEE 802.1 lay-2021, and/or standards, Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) wireless communication standards such as Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Direct Services, Wireless Gigabit (WiGig), WiGig Display Extension (WDE), WiGig Bus Extension (WBE), WiGig Serial Extension (WSE) standards and/or standards developed by the WFA Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN) Task Group, machine-type communications (MTC) standards such as those embodied in 3GPP Technical Report (TR) 23.887, 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 22.368, 3GPP TS 23.682, 3GPP TS 36.133, 3GPP TS 36.321, 3GPP TS.331, 3GPP TS 38.133, 3GPP TS 38.321, and/or 3GPP TS 38.331, and/or near-field communication (NFC) standards such as standards developed by the NFC Forum, including any revisions, progeny, and/or variants of any of the above. The embodiments are not limited to these examples. FIG. 1A illustrates a communication network 120 to support port mapping in time sensitive networking. In some embodiments, a transmit end station (STA) of the time-sensitive networking data stream is called a talker, and a receive end STA of the time-sensitive networking data stream is called a listener. One or multiple bridges, such as a bridge 101, are used between the talker and the listener for data forwarding. An end station node can be a talker or a listener. The bridge 101 is responsible for data transmission between a talker and a listener.

The bridge 101 may comprise a wireless communications bridge such as a 5GS bridge with logic circuitry to determine and forward TSN streams between the talker and the listener. For instance, the bridge 101 may include UEs and TSN translators (TTs) to transmit TSN streams from a TSN end STA such as TSN end STA STA-1 to one or more of the other TSN STAs, STA-2, and STA-3, and/or to one or more ports of the TSN system 102 via network-side ports of the bridge 101. The bridge 101 may also determine, manage, and forward TSN streams between one or more of the TSN STAs STA- 1, STA-2, and STA-3 to the TSN system 101.

The bridge 101 may couple with ports of each of the TSN end STAs, STA-1, STA-2, and STA-3, via a UE and DS-TT physically located at or near the TSN end STA. The bridge 101 may couple ports of the DS-TTs with the TSN end STAs via, e.g., wired connections such as Ethernet connections or other hardwired network connections.

In some embodiments, during the initial connection with the STA-1, the bridge 101 may signal to the STA-1 that the bridge 101 comprises logic circuitry to implement a TSN AF with capabilities to configure static filtering entries with port mapping and a NW-TT with capabilities to determine and implement static filtering entries with port mapping to transmit or forward TSN streams via multiple, network-side outbound ports.

In some embodiments, the bridge 101 may signal a TSN AF with capabilities to configure static filtering entries with port mapping by transmission of a TSN AF feature support IE such as the TSN AF feature support IE 110 shown in FIG. IB. In some embodiments, the bridge 101 may signal a TT with capabilities to configure static filtering entries with port mapping by transmission of a TT feature support IE such as the TT feature support IE 130 shown in FIG. 1C.

FIG. IB illustrates a TSN AF feature support information element (IE) 110 for signaling the capability of per-instance parameter handling for a stream filter instance table, for signaling the capability of configuration of a stream filter entry with port mapping, and, in some embodiments, for signaling other capabilities. For example, the signaling may indicate if each instance of a TSN stream can be handled separately by TSN AF logic of bridge logic circuitry of a bridge such as the bridge 101 shown in FIG. 1A. The signaling may also indicate if the TSN AF logic of bridge logic circuitry of a bridge such as the bridge 101 shown in FIG. 1A, can configure a stream filter entry with port mapping.

In some embodiments, the TSN AF feature support IE 110 may comprise a TSN AF feature support IE indicator (IEI) in octet 1. Octet 2 of the TSN AF feature support IE 110 may comprise a length of the TSN AF feature support contents 122. In the present embodiment, the value of the length may indicate octet 3, or one octet.

Octet 3 of the TSN AF feature support IE 110 may comprise 8 bits to signal capabilities of the TSN AF. In the present embodiment, the 8 bits of octet 3 include one bit, bit 1 , to indicate per instance parameter handling and one bit, bit 2, to indicate a capability to configure a stream filter entry with port mapping (also referred to as a static filtering entries port-map support indicator). For example, if bit 1, “Per-inst” 126, is set to zero, per-instance parameter handling for a stream filter instance table is not supported. If bit 1, “Per-inst” 126, is set to one, per-instance parameter handling for a stream filter instance table is supported. If bit 2, “Port-Map” 124, is set to zero, port-map as a part of static filtering entries is not supported. If bit 2, “Port-Map” 124, is set to one, port-map as a part of static filtering entries is supported. Other embodiments may locate the “Per-inst” 126 and/or the “Portmap” 124 at different bits of octet 3.

FIG. 1C illustrates a TT feature support IE 130 for signaling the capability of per-instance parameter handling for a stream filter instance table by a NW-TT, for signaling the capability of processing a stream filter entry with port mapping by the NW-TT to determine or identify one or more port values, and, in some embodiments, for signaling other capabilities by the NW-TT. For example, the signaling may indicate if each instance of a TSN stream can be handled separately by NW-TT logic of bridge logic circuitry of a bridge such as the bridge 101 shown in FIG. 1A. The signaling may also indicate if the NW-TT logic of bridge logic circuitry of a bridge such as the bridge 101 shown in FIG. 1A, can parse or interpret a stream filter entry with port mapping to determine one or multiple network-side port values from the stream filter entry with port mapping.

In some embodiments, the TT feature support IE 130 may comprise a TT feature support IE indicator (IEI) in octet 1. Octet 2 of the TT feature support IE 130 may comprise a length of the TT feature support contents 132. In the present embodiment, the value of the length may indicate octet 3, or one octet.

Octet 3 of the TT feature support IE 130 may comprise 8 bits to signal capabilities of the NW-TT. In the present embodiment, the 8 bits of octet 3 include one bit, bit 1 , to indicate per instance parameter handling and one bit, bit 2, to indicate a capability to configure a stream filter entry with port mapping (also referred to as a static filtering entries port-map support indicator). For example, if bit 1, “Per- inst” 136, is set to zero, per-instance parameter handling for a stream filter instance table is not supported. If bit 1, “Per-inst” 136, is set to one, per-instance parameter handling for a stream filter instance table is supported. If bit 2, “Port-Map” 134, is set to zero, Port-Map as a part of static filtering entries is not supported. If bit 2, “Port-Map” 134, is set to one, Port-Map as a part of static filtering entries is supported.

FIG. 2 illustrates a bridge 210 to support port mapping in time sensitive networking such as the bridge 101 shown in FIG. 1A. The bridge 210 may support TSC between device-side TSN bridges/end STAs 201 A and 20 IB and the network-side TSN system 220. For instance, the bridge 210 may support TSCs between robotic devices operating in a commercial complex, synchronous delivery of music or other sound to multiple speakers at multiple locations, and/or other time-sensitive operations in an office environment , commercial environment, industrial environment, and/or other environment.

In some embodiments, the bridge 210 may be an integration as a bridge in an IEEE 802.1 Time Sensitive Networking (TSN). The bridge 210 may support the Time sensitive communication as defined in IEEE 802.1 Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) standards via support of mechanisms for the time-sensitive (i.e., deterministic) transmission of data over Ethernet networks. Such mechanisms may include, for instance, the TSN AF feature support IE such as the TSN AF feature support IE 110 shown in FIG. IB, the TT feature support IE such as the TT feature support IE 130 shown in FIG. 1C, and static filtering entries with port mapping.

The bridge 210 may be a logical TSN bridge and may include bridge logic circuitry 212 to implement TSN Translator functionality for interoperation between TSN Systems and, e.g., a 5G System (5GS) both for user plane and control plane. 5GS TSN translator functionality consists of device-side TSN translator (DS-TT) and network-side TSN translator (NW-TT). The bridge 210 may comprise bridge logic circuitry 212 with processing circuitry or processor circuitry to implement the NW-TT in the UPF 214 node and a TSN application function (AF).

Note that, in some embodiments, if the NW-TT 216 includes User plane node parameter names 0012H Static filtering entries and 0013H Static filtering with port-map entries in the User plane node management capability IE, a TSN AF shall only include User plane node parameter name 0013H Static filtering with port-map entries.

Note also that, in some embodiments, the NW-TT shall include User plane node parameter names 0012H Static filtering entries and 0013H Static filtering with port-map entries in the User plane node management capability IE. The TSN AF is part of 5G core network (5GC) and provides the control plane translator functionality for the integration of the 5GS with a TSN network, e.g., the interactions with the centralized network configuration (CNC). 5G System specific procedures in a 5GC and a radio access node (RAN), wireless communication links, etc. may remain hidden from the TSN network (TSN bridge/end STAs 201A-201B and the TSN system 220). To achieve such transparency to the TSN network, the bridge 210 may appear as any other TSN Bridge with the TSN ingress and egress ports (204A, 204B, 218A, and 218B) implemented via DS-TTs 203A-203B and NW-TT 216. The DS-TTs 203 A and 203B and the NW-TT 216 may optionally support hold and forward functionality for the purpose of de -jittering and per-stream filtering and policing.

In some embodiments, the DS-TTs 203A and 203B may optionally support link layer connectivity discovery and reporting as defined in IEEE Std 802.1 AB for discovery of Ethernet devices attached to DS-TTs 203A and 203B. In some embodiments, the NW-TT 216 may support link layer connectivity discovery and reporting as defined in IEEE Std 802.1 AB for discovery of Ethernet devices attached to the NW-TT 216. If a DS-TT does not support link layer connectivity discovery and reporting, then the NW-TT 216 may perform link layer connectivity discovery and reporting for discovery of Ethernet devices attached to DS-TTs 203A and 203B on behalf of DS-TTs 203A and 203B. In some embodiments, if the NW-TT 216 performs link layer connectivity discovery and reporting on behalf of the DS-TTs 203A and/or 203B, link layer data protocol (LLDP) frames may be transmitted between the NW-TT 216 and the UEs 205 A and/or 205B on the quality of service (QoS) Flow with a default QoS rule. Alternatively, the session management function (SMF) may establish a dedicated QoS Flow matching on the EtherType defined for the LLDP.

The bridge 210 may include an OFDM network comprising a first user equipment UE 205A and a second user equipment UE 205B and bridge logic circuitry 212 with an access node 213 to wirelessly communicate with the first user equipment UE 205A and the second user equipment UE 205B. The bridge logic circuitry 212 may comprise control plane logic circuitry such TSN AF logic circuitry, session management function (SMF) logic circuitry, policy control function (PCF) logic circuitry, network elementary function (NEF) logic circuitry, and/or the like to configure and manage data traffic including TSC. The bridge logic circuitry 212 may further comprise user plane function (UPF) 214 logic circuitry to identify TSN streams, access corresponding stream filter entries, identify port mapping, and forward PDUs of the TSN streams via ports in accordance with the port mapping.

For network-side communications, the bridge logic circuitry 212 comprises the UPF 214 logic circuitry. The UPF 214 logic circuitry may comprise a NW-TT 216 with network-side ports 218A and 218B. The network-side ports 218A and 218B may physically couple with ports 222A and 222B, respectively, of the TSN system 220.

The UE 205A may couple with DS-TT 203A for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) communications via the bridge 210. The DS-TT 203A comprises a port 204A to physically interconnect the bridge 210 with the TSN bridge/end STA 201A.

The UE 205B may couple with DS-TT 203B for DL and UL communications via the bridge 210. The DS-TT 203B comprises a port 204B to physically interconnect the bridge 210 with the TSN bridge/end STA 20 IB.

For downlink data, the DS-TT 203A and/or DD-TT 203B can be egress ports of data, and a port 218A and/or 218B of the NW-TT 216 is an ingress port of data. For uplink data, the NW-TT 216 ports 218A and/or 218B can be ingress ports of data, and the DS-TTs 203A and/or 203B ports 204A and/or 204B may be egress ports of data. In some embodiments, the ports 204A, 204B, 218A, 218B, 222A, and 222B may be one of Ethernet ports or Internet Protocol (IP) ports.

In some embodiments, the bridge 210 may transmit PDUs of a TSN stream between ports of the bridge via a data channel. The data channel may include, but is not limited to one of the following: a PDU session, a packet data network (PDN) connection, a quality of service (QoS) flow, a bearer, and an Internet Protocol security (IPsec) channel, where the bearer may be an Evolved Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB), a Radio Access Bearer (RAB), a Data Radio Bearer (DRB), a Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB), or the like.

In some embodiments, one TSN bridge/end STA 201A or 201B can be connected to one or more DS-TTs 203A and 203B, and one DS-TT can have one or more ports. In some embodiments, one 5G bridge can have one UPF 214 logic circuitry, and one or more ports can be enabled on the NW-TT 216 of the UPF 214 logic circuitry. In some embodiments, a terminal, such as the UE 205 A, may act as a proxy of the port 204A of the DS-TT 203A and establish a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session with the UPF 214 logic circuitry. Through the PDU session, the port 204A of the DS-TT 203A is associated with one or more of the port 218A and/or port 218B of the NW-TT 216 co-located with the UPF 214. The terminal may be a terminal side device such as a mobile phone, a tablet personal computer, a laptop computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Mobile Internet Device (MID), a wearable device, or an in-vehicle device.

While the bridge 210 illustrates two UEs, 205A and 205B, the bridge 210 may not be limited to two UEs. The bridge 210 may comprise any number of UEs such as 5 UEs, 10 UEs, 20 UEs, or 30 UEs, depending on the bandwidth requirements for the bridge logic circuitry 212 and the UEs. In some embodiments, the bridge logic circuitry 212 may include more than one UPF 214 logic circuitry and/or more than one access node 213. In some embodiments, the UPF 214 logic circuitry may comprise more than one NW-TT 216 and/or the NW-TT 216 may comprise one or more than two network-side ports such as port 218A and 218B. In some embodiments, the DS-TT 203A and DS-TT 203B may each comprise one or more than one device-side ports such as port 204A and 204B to couple with TSN equipment local to the TSN bridge/end STAs 201A and 201B.

In some embodiments, an Application Function (AF) logic circuitry of the bridge logic circuitry 212 may calculate delays of different port pairs, and the delay of a port pair is the time required for a packet to transmit from one port of the port pair to another port. It can be understood that there can be three types of port pairs: a port pair formed by two DS-TT ports, a port pair formed by one DS-TT port and one NW-TT port, and a port pair formed by two NW-TT ports. It can be understood that the delays of the three types of port pairs are calculated in different manners.

In some embodiments, the bridge logic circuitry 212 may determine a bridge delay of a PDU between a pair of ports (DS-TTs, DS-TT to NW-TT, NW-TT to DS-TT, and/or NW-TT to NW-TT) to facilitate TSC and the bridge delay may be different per traffic class. Each port may support one or more traffic classes and the transmission performance of each traffic class may be different.

In some embodiments, a communications network element may include at least one of the following: a network element of a core network and a network element of a radio access network.

In some embodiments, a network element of a core network (e.g., a Core Network (CN) network element) may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: a CN device, a CN node, a CN function, a CN network element, a Mobility Management Entity (MME), an Access Management Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), a User Plane Function (UPF), a Serving GateWay (SGW), a PDN gateway, a Policy Control Function (PCF), a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN), a Unified Data Management (UDM), a Unified Data Repository (UDR), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), and an Application Function (AF), and a Centralized Network Configuration (CNC).

In some embodiments, a network element of a Radio Access Network (RAN) may include but is not limited to at least one of the following: a radio access network device, a radio access network node, a radio access network function, a radio access network unit, a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio access network, a non-3GPP radio access network, a Centralized Unit (CU), a Distributed Unit (DU), a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a 5G base station (gNB), a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a NodeB, a Non-3GPP InterWorking Function (N3IWF), an Access Controller (AC) node, an Access Point (AP) device, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) node, and an interworking function (IWF). In a 3GPP system based on an OFDMA DL, the radio resource is partitioned into subframes in time domain and each subframe comprises of two slots. Each OFDMA symbol further consists of a number of OFDMA subcarriers in frequency domain depending on the system bandwidth. The basic unit of the resource grid is called Resource Element (RE), which spans an OFDMA subcarrier over one OFDMA symbol. Resource blocks (RBs) comprise a group of REs, where each RB may comprise, e.g., 12 consecutive subcarriers in one slot.

Several physical DE channels and reference signals use a set of resource elements carrying information originating from higher layers of code. For DL channels, the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) is the main data-bearing downlink channel, while the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) may carry downlink control information (DCI). The control information may include scheduling decision, information related to reference signal information, rules forming the corresponding transport block (TB) to be carried by PDSCH, and power control command. UEs may use cell-specific reference signals (CRS) for the demodulation of control/data channels in nonprecoded or codebook-based precoded transmission modes, radio link monitoring and measurements of channel state information (CSI) feedback. UEs may use UE- specific reference signals (DM-RS) for the demodulation of control/data channels in non-codebook-based precoded transmission modes.

FIGs. 3-4 are simplified block diagrams of a user equipment (UE) 300 and an access node 400 in a bridge such as the bridge 101 shown in FIG. 1 and the bridge 210 shown in FIG. 2. For the UE 300 shown in FIG. 3, the antenna 331 may transmit and receive RF signals including, for instance, PDUs of TSN streams. The RF circuitry 318, coupled with the antenna 331, may receive RF signals from the antenna 331, converts the RF signals to baseband signals and sends the baseband signals to processor 313 of the baseband circuitry 361. The RF circuitry 318 also converts received baseband signals from the processor 313, converts the baseband signals to RF signals, and sends the RF signals out to the antenna 331.

The RF circuitry 318 illustrates multiple RF chains. While the RF circuitry 318 illustrates five RF chains, each UE may have a different number of RF chains and each of the RF chains in the illustration may represent multiple, time domain, receive (RX) chains and transmit (TX) chains. The RX chains and TX chains include circuitry that may operate on or modify the time domain signals transmitted through the time domain chains such as circuitry to insert guard intervals in the TX chains and circuitry to remove guard intervals in the RX chains. For instance, the RF circuitry 318 may include transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry, which is often called transceiver circuitry. The transmitter circuitry may prepare digital data from the processor 313 for transmission through the antenna 331. In preparation for transmission, the transmitter may encode the data, and modulate the encoded data, and form the modulated, encoded data into Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) and/or Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) symbols. Thereafter, the transmitter may convert the symbols from the frequency domain into the time domain for input into the TX chains. The TX chains may include a chain per subcarrier of the bandwidth of the RF chain and may operate on the time domain signals in the TX chains to prepare the time domain signals for transmission on the component subcarrier of the RF chain. For wide bandwidth communications, more than one of the RF chains may process the symbols representing the data from the baseband processor(s) simultaneously.

The processor 313 processes the received baseband signals and invokes different functional modules to perform features in the UE 300. The memory 310 stores program instructions or code and data 319 to control the operations of the UE 300. The processor 313 may also execute medium access control (MAC) layer code of the code and data 319. For instance, the MAC layer code may execute on the processor 313 to encode or decode PDU signals of one or more of the RF chains via the physical layer (PHY), which is the RF circuitry 318 and associated logic such as the functional modules.

For some embodiments, the UE 300 may transmit UL PDUs and receive DL PDUs of one or more TSN streams. The MAC layer code may execute on the processor 313 to process the TSN streams from one or more RF chains. The protocols may include rules related to when the UE 300 is expected to be available to transmit and receive communications and when the UE 300 is not expected to be available to transmit or receive.

The UE 300 may include a processor 302, memory 304, and a chipset 306 to process UL and DL TSN streams from and to the network interface 308, respectively. For instance, to establish a TSN stream, the end STA such as TSN end STA STA-1 shown in FIG. 1A or the TSN BRIDGE/ END STA 201A shown in FIG. 2, the UE 300 may receive a control plane communication from the bridge logic circuitry 212 including a TSN AF feature support IE indicating that the bridge logic circuitry 212 is capable of configuration of a static filtering entry with port mapping. The processor 313 of the baseband circuitry 361 may pass the DL communication to the processor 302 to transmit via the network interface 308 to the end STA. The processor 302 may transmit the DL communication via the chipset 306 to the network interface 308 and the network interface 308 may transmit the TSN AF feature support IE to the end STA.

The access node 400 and the UE 300 may also include several functional modules and circuits to carry out some embodiments. The different functional modules may include circuits or circuitry that code, hardware, or any combination thereof, can configure and implement. For example, the processor 403 (e.g., via executing program code 409) may configure and implement the circuitry of the functional modules to allow the access node 400 to encode (via codec 405), modulate (via modulator/demodulator 406), and transmit control information and data to the UE 300.

The processor 313 (e.g., via executing program code 319) may configure and implement the circuitry of the functional modules to allow the UE 300 to receive, demodulate (via demodulator 316), and decode (via codec 315) the control information and TSN stream data.

For the access node 400 shown in FIG. 4, the antenna 441 transmits and receives radio signals. The RF circuitry 408, coupled with the antenna 441, receives RF signals from the UE such as antenna 331 shown in FIG. 3, converts the signals to digital baseband signals and sends the digital baseband signals to the processor 403 of the baseband circuitry 451. The RF circuitry 408 also converts received, digital baseband signals from the processor 403, converts the digital baseband signals to RF signals, and sends out to antenna 441.

The processor 403 processes the received baseband signals and invokes different functional modules to perform features in the access node 400. The memory 404 stores program instructions or code and data 409 to control the operations of the access node 400.

FIG. 5A-5B depicts an embodiment of a static filtering entries IE 500, such as the static filtering entries discussed in conjunction with FIGs. 1 A-1C, and 2-4. FIG. 5A depicts the static filtering entries IE 500. The static filtering entries IE 500 may comprise a static filtering entries IE indicator (IEI) 502 at octet 1, a length of the static filtering entries contents 504 at octets 2-3, and static filtering entries 1 506-1 at octets 4 through octet 13 through static filtering entries n 506-n at octets 10n-6 through octet 10n+3.

Each of the static filtering entries 1 506-1 at octets 4 through octet 13 through static filtering entries n 506-n at octets 10n-6 through octet lOn+3 may include a static filtering entry 550 as shown in FIG. 5B. The static filtering entry 550 may comprise a MAC address value 552 at octets 4 through 9, a virtual network identity value 554 at octets 10-11, and a port value 556 at octets 12-13. The MAC address value 552 may comprise (1) an individual MAC address, or (2) a group MAC address, or (3) all Individual Addresses, for which no more specific Filtering Entry exists, or (4) all Group Addresses, for which no more specific Static Filtering Entry exists, or (5) all Unregistered Group Addresses, for which no more specific Static Filtering Entry exists. The group MAC address may identify a group of more than MAC addresses for end STAs and the broadcast MAC address may broadcast to all STAs.

The virtual local area network (VEAN) identity (VID) value 554 may comprise a value that is indicative of a VEAN. The VEANs and their VIDs may provide a convenient and consistent network- wide reference for VLAN Bridges to (a) identify rules for the classification of user data frames into VLANs; (b) effectively extend the source and destination MAC addresses, by treating frames and addressing information for different VLANs independently; (c) identify and select from different active topologies; and (d) identify configuration parameters that partition a physical network.

Taken together these capabilities allow bridges, such as VLAN Bridges, to emulate a number of separately manageable, or virtual, Bridged Networks. A LAN that has been selected by network management to receive frames assigned to a given VLAN is said to form part of, belong to, or be a member of the VLAN. Similarly, end stations that are attached to those LANs and that can receive frames assigned to the VLAN are said to be attached to that VLAN.

Inclusion of the VID in VLAN-tagged frames guards against connectivity loops arising from differing classifications by different bridges, and permits enhanced classification rules to be used by some Bridges, while others simply forward the previously classified frames.

The port value 556 may indicate a network-side port such as the port 218A or the port 218B through which the TSN stream should be routed. In some embodiments, the port value may also indicate the DS-TT ports such as port 204A or port 204B.

An end STA such as 201A or 201B may select the static filtering entries IE 500 when identifying a single network-side port through which to transmit a TSN stream. If the end STA requires routing a TSN stream through multiple network-side ports, the end STA may select a static filtering entry IE with port mapping such as a static filtering with port-map support entries IE 600 shown in FIGs. 6A- 6D.

FIGs. 6A-6D depict the static filtering with port-map support entries IE 600 with port map support (or port mapping). The static filtering with port-map support entries IE 600 may comprise a static filtering with port-map support entries IE indicator (IEI) 602 at octet 1 , a length of the static filtering with port-map support entries contents 604 at octets 2-3, and static filtering with port-map support entries 1 606- 1 at octets 4 through octet m through static filtering with port- map support entries n 606- n at octets o through octet p. Note that the number of static filtering with port-map support entries 1 through n represents a variable number of static filtering with port-map support entries where n is an integer. In some embodiments, the value n may have a maximum value. In some embodiments, the maximum value of n is based on the capabilities and/or limitations such as memory limitations of the bridge such as the bridge 101 shown in FIG. 1A or the bridge 210 shown in FIG. 2.

Each of the static filtering with port- map support entries 1 606- 1 through static filtering with portmap support entries n 606-n may include a static filtering with port-map support entry 620 as shown in FIG. 6B. The static filtering with port-map support entry 620 may comprise a MAC address value 622 at octets 4 through 9, a virtual network identity value 624 at octets 10-11, and a port map 626 at octets 12-m. The MAC address value 622 may comprise (1) an individual MAC address, or (2) A group MAC address, or (3) all Individual Addresses, for which no more specific Filtering Entry exists, or (4) all Group Addresses, for which no more specific Static Filtering Entry exists, or (5) all Unregistered Group Addresses, for which no more specific Static Filtering Entry exists.

The VID value 624 may comprise a value that is indicative of a VLAN such as the VID value 554 shown in FIG. 5B. In some embodiments, the VID value 624 may comprise a VID specification, comprising (1) the VID of a specific VLAN to which the static filtering information applies, or (2) the wildcard VID value, such as “FFF”, indicating that the static filtering information applies to all VIDs for which no specific Static Filtering Entry exists.

In some embodiments, the VID value 624 may include VID values 660 depicted in FIG. 6E. As illustrated in FIG. 6E, the VID value may be a hexadecimal value and may be a 0 to indicate a null VID. The null VID indicates that the tag header contains only priority information and no VID is included in the frame. This VID value of 0 shall not be configured as PVID (port VID) or a member of a VID Set, or configured in any FDB entry, or used in any Management operation. The PVID and VID Set shall contain valid VID values (as shown in FIG. 6E) and may be configured by management. If they have not been explicitly configured, the PVID shall assume the value of the default PVID defined in FIG. 6E and the VID Set shall be empty.

The VID value may be a 1 to indicate a default PVID value used for classifying frames on ingress through a Bridge Port. The PVID value of a Port can be changed by management.

The VID value may be a 2 to indicate the default stream reservation PVID (SR_PVID) value used for a stream reservation protocol (SRP) Stream related traffic. The SR_PVID value of a Port can be changed by management.

The VID value may be FFF to indicate reserved for implementation use. The VID value may be FFF shall not be configured as a PVID or a member of a VID set, or transmitted in a tag header. This VID value may be used to indicate a wildcard match for the VID in management operations or FDB entries.

The port map 626 may facilitate mapping the TSN stream through multiple network-side ports and/or multiple device-side ports. In some embodiments, the port map 626 may comprise a port map 630 shown in FIG. 6C.

The port map 630 may comprise a length of the port map 632 at octets 12-13 and port map entry 1 634-1 at octets 14 through octet q through port map entry n 634-n at octets r+1 through octet s. In some embodiments, each of the port may entry 1 634-1 through port may entry n 634-n may include a port map entry 640 shown in FIG. 6D. The port map entry 640 may include a length of the port map entry 642 at octet 14, a port value 644 at octets 15-16, a control element value 646 at octet 17, and, optionally, a connection identifier value 648 at octets 18-19.

The port map entry 640 may have a variable length because the connection identifier value 648 may be optional. In other embodiments, the length of the port map entry 642 may be fixed and, in such embodiments, the port map entry 640 may not include a length of port map entry 642.

The port value 644 may comprise a value of the outbound port. For instance, the port value 644 may indicate a network-side port such as the port 218A or the port 218B through which the TSN stream should be routed. In some embodiments, the port value 644 may also indicate a DS-TT port such as port 204 A or port 204B.

The control element value 646 may contain an enumerated value of control element as specified in IEEE Std 802.1 Q in the form of a binary encoded octet. The port map 626 may contain a control element value 646 for each outbound port, specifying that a frame with a destination MAC address 622, and in the case of VLAN Bridge components, a VID value 624 is to be (1) Forwarded, independently of any dynamic filtering information held by the filtering database (FDB) of the bridge logic circuitry such as the bridge logic circuitry 212 shown in FIG. 2, or (2) Filtered, independently of any dynamic filtering information, or (3) Forwarded or filtered on the basis of dynamic filtering information, or on the basis of the default Group filtering behavior for the outbound port if no dynamic filtering information is present specifically for the MAC address.

The control element value 646 may be encoded as binary 0 when a VID value 624 is to be (1) Forwarded, independently of any dynamic filtering information held by the filtering database (FDB). The control element value 646 may be encoded as binary 1 when a VID value 624 is to be (2) Filtered, independently of any dynamic filtering information. The control element value 646 may be encoded as binary 2 when a VID value 624 is to be (3) Forwarded or filtered on the basis of dynamic filtering information, or on the basis of the default Group filtering behavior for the outbound port if no dynamic filtering information is present specifically for the MAC address. All other values may be reserved.

The port map entry 644 may contain a connection identifier value (connection_identifier) 648 for the outbound port. A connection identifier value 648 may be associated with the Bridge Port value maintained in a Dynamic Filtering Entry of the FDB for Bridge Ports that generate EM_UNITDATA.indications with a non-null connection_identifier parameter (e.g., a VIP that is a bridge port for a backbone service instance). For a given VID and MAC address, a connection identifier value 648 can be included in a Dynamic Filtering Entry of the FDB. Furthermore, when an EM_UNITDATA.indication with a non-null connection_identifier is received from an ingress port, and a Learning Process identifies or creates a Dynamic Filtering Entry for that frame’s source address and VID, the connection identifier value 648 is included in the entry created for that port in the FDB.

FIGs. 7A-B depict flowcharts of embodiments of a bridge to support static filtering with port mapping such as the bridge 101 shown in FIG. 1A and the bridge 210 shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 7A illustrates an embodiment of a flowchart for a process 7000 to apply static filtering with port map support. At the beginning of the process 7000, the bridge may receive a TSN stream PDU (element 7005). For example, a TSN end STA may establish a TSN stream with a bridge logic circuitry of a bridge such as the bridge logic circuitry 212 shown in FIG. 2. The TSN AF logic circuitry of the bridge logic circuitry may transmit a frame comprising TSN AF feature support IE to the TSN end STA to indicate support for configuration of static filtering with port map support and the TSN end STA may communicate an indication a set of network-side ports and possibly device-side ports for distribution of the TSN stream via, e.g., a group MAC address.

The TSN AF logic circuitry of the bridge logic circuitry may respond by generation of a static filter for the TSN stream for the TSN end STA to facilitate TSC of the TSN stream. In some embodiments, the NW-TT may cause transmission of a frame with a TT feature support IE indicating support for static filtering with port map support. In some embodiments, the TT feature support IE may be transmitted in the same frame as the TSN AF feature support IE.

Thereafter, the bridge may receive the TSN stream PDU (element 7005) and the UPF node (also referred to as UPF logic circuitry) may pass the TSN stream PDU to the NW-TT. The NW-TT may determine the set of one or more network-side ports through which to transmit the TSN stream PDU based on the MAC address included in the PDU of the TSN stream (element 7020) and the port values in the static filtering entry configured for the TSN stream.

Based on the determination of the set of network-side ports, the bridge may transmit the PDU via the set of one or more network- side ports (element 7025). In some embodiments, the static filtering entry or another filtering entry may indicate a set of one or more device-side ports through which to transmit the PDU of the TSN stream also and the bridge logic circuitry may pass the PDU of the TSN stream to the set of one or more device-side ports.

After transmitting the PDU of the TSN stream or concurrently with determining the set of one or more ports for the PDU of the TSN stream, the bridge may receive one or more PDUs (element 7035) and process the one or more PDUs concurrently. Otherwise, the bridge may wait to receive additional PDUs.

FIG. 7B illustrates an embodiment of a flowchart of a process 7100 to establish a TSN stream for UE from or DE to a TSN end STA such as the TSN end STA in FIG. 1A and the TSN end STA in FIG. 2. The process 7100 may begin with the bridge receiving a communication from a device side UE to establish a TSN stream (element 7105). The bridge logic circuitry may respond with a transmission of capabilities in an information element including one or more bits to indicate a port mapping capability of the TSN AF to, e.g., configure a static filtering entry to indicate one or more network-side ports (element 7110). In response, a TSN end STA connected to the UE may establish a set of network-side ports by transmission of an indication of a MAC address to indicate multiple network-side ports through which the bridge should transmit the TSN stream.

FIG. 7C illustrates an embodiment of a flowchart of a process 7200 to establish a TSN stream for UL from or DL to a TSN end STA such as the TSN end STA in FIG. 1A and the TSN end STA in FIG. 2. The process 7200 may begin with the bridge receiving a communication from a device side UE to establish a TSN stream (element 7205). The bridge logic circuitry may respond with a transmission of capabilities in an information element including one or more bits to indicate a port mapping capability of the NW-TT to, e.g., determine one or more network-side ports (element 7210) from a static filtering entry. In response, a TSN end STA connected to the UE may establish a set of network-side ports by transmission of an indication of a MAC address to indicate multiple networkside ports through which the bridge should transmit the TSN stream.

FIG. 8 depicts an embodiment of protocol entities 8000 that may be implemented in wireless communication devices, including one or more of a user equipment (UE) 8060, an access node (or base station) such as the access node in FIG. 2, which may be termed an evolved node B (eNB), or new radio node B (gNB) 8080, and a network function, which may be termed a mobility management entity (MME), or an access and mobility management function (AMF) 8094, according to some aspects.

According to some aspects, gNB 8080 may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macro-cell, a femto-cell or other suitable device, or in an alternative aspect, may be implemented as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of a virtual network termed a cloud radio access network (CRAN).

According to some aspects, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 8060, gNB 8080 and AMF 8094, may be described as implementing all or part of a protocol stack in which the layers are considered to be ordered from lowest to highest in the order physical layer (PHY), medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio resource control (RRC) and non-access stratum (NAS). According to some aspects, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 8060, gNB 8080 and AMF 8094, may communicate with a respective peer protocol entity that may be implemented on another device, using the services of respective lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication.

According to some aspects, UE PHY 8072 and peer entity gNB PHY 8090 may communicate using signals transmitted and received via a wireless medium. According to some aspects, UE MAC 8070 and peer entity gNB MAC 8088 may communicate using the services provided respectively by UE PHY 872 and gNB PHY 8090. According to some aspects, UE RLC 8068 and peer entity gNB RLC 8086 may communicate using the services provided respectively by UE MAC 8070 and gNB MAC 8088. According to some aspects, UE PDCP 8066 and peer entity gNB PDCP 8084 may communicate using the services provided respectively by UE RLC 8068 and 5GNB RLC 8086. According to some aspects, UE RRC 8064 and gNB RRC 8082 may communicate using the services provided respectively by UE PDCP 8066 and gNB PDCP 8084. According to some aspects, UE NAS 8062 and AMF NAS 8092 may communicate using the services provided respectively by UE RRC 8064 and gNB RRC 8082.

FIG. 9 illustrates embodiments of the formats of PHY data units (PDUs) that may transmitted by the PHY device via one or more antennas and be encoded and decoded by a MAC entity such as the processors 313 and 403 in FIGs. 3-4, the baseband module 1304 in FIGs. 13 and 14 according to some aspects. In several embodiments, higher layer frames such as a frame comprising an RRC layer information element may transmit from the access node (or base station), such as the access node in FIG. 2, to the UE or vice versa as one or more MAC Service Data Units (MSDUs) in a payload of one or more PDUs in one or more subframes of a radio frame.

According to some aspects, a MAC PDU 9100 may consist of a MAC header 9105 and a MAC payload 9110, the MAC payload consisting of zero or more MAC control elements 9130, zero or more MAC service data unit (SDU) portions 9135 and zero or one padding portion 9140. According to some aspects, MAC header 8105 may consist of one or more MAC sub-headers, each of which may correspond to a MAC payload portion and appear in corresponding order. According to some aspects, each of the zero or more MAC control elements 9130 contained in MAC payload 9110 may correspond to a fixed length sub-header 9115 contained in MAC header 9105. According to some aspects, each of the zero or more MAC SDU portions 9135 contained in MAC payload 9110 may correspond to a variable length sub-header 9120 contained in MAC header 8105. According to some aspects, padding portion 9140 contained in MAC payload 9110 may correspond to a padding subheader 9125 contained in MAC header 9105.

FIG. 10A illustrates an embodiment of communication circuitry 1000 such as the circuitry in the access node 400 and the user equipment 300 shown in FIGs. 3-4. The communication circuitry 1000 is alternatively grouped according to functions. Components as shown in the communication circuitry 1000 are shown here for illustrative purposes and may include other components not shown here in Fig. 10A.

The communication circuitry 1000 may include protocol processing circuitry 1005, which may implement one or more of medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio resource control (RRC) and non-access stratum (NAS) functions. The protocol processing circuitry 1005 may include one or more processing cores (not shown) to execute instructions and one or more memory structures (not shown) to store program and data information.

The communication circuitry 1000 may further include digital baseband circuitry 1010, which may implement physical layer (PHY) functions including one or more of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) functions, scrambling and/or descrambling, coding and/or decoding, layer mapping and/or de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol and/or bit metric determination, multi-antenna port pre-coding and/or decoding which may include one or more of space-time, spacefrequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation and/or detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation and/or detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

The communication circuitry 1000 may further include transmit circuitry 1015, receive circuitry 1020 and/or antenna array circuitry 1030.

The communication circuitry 1000 may further include radio frequency (RF) circuitry 1025. In an aspect of the invention, RF circuitry 1025 may include multiple parallel RF chains for one or more of transmit or receive functions, each connected to one or more antennas of the antenna array 1030.

In an aspect of the disclosure, the protocol processing circuitry 1005 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for one or more of digital baseband circuitry 1010, transmit circuitry 1015, receive circuitry 1020, and/or radio frequency circuitry 1025.

FIG. 10B illustrates an exemplary radio frequency circuitry 1025 in FIG. 10A according to some aspects. The radio frequency circuitry 1025 may include one or more instances of radio chain circuitry 1072, which in some aspects, may include one or more filters, power amplifiers, low noise amplifiers, programmable phase shifters and power supplies (not shown).

The radio frequency circuitry 1025 may include power combining and dividing circuitry 1074 such as a functional module illustrated in FIG. 2. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 1074 may operate bidirectionally, such that the same physical circuitry may be configured to operate as a power divider when the device is transmitting, and as a power combiner when the device is receiving. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 1074 may one or more include wholly or partially separate circuitries to perform power dividing when the device is transmitting and power combining when the device is receiving. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 1074 may include passive circuitry comprising one or more two-way power divider/combiners arranged in a tree. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 1074 may include active circuitry comprising amplifier circuits.

In some aspects, the radio frequency circuitry 1025 may connect to transmit circuitry 1015 and receive circuitry 1020 in FIG. 10A via one or more radio chain interfaces 1076 or a combined radio chain interface 1078. The combined radio chain interface 1078 may form a wide or very wide bandwidth.

In some aspects, one or more radio chain interfaces 1076 may provide one or more interfaces to one or more receive or transmit signals, each associated with a single antenna structure which may comprise one or more antennas.

In some aspects, the combined radio chain interface 1078 may provide a single interface to one or more receive or transmit signals, each associated with a group of antenna structures comprising one or more antennas.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a storage medium 1100 to store static filtering entries. Storage medium 1100 may comprise an article of manufacture. In some examples, storage medium 1100 may include any non-transitory computer readable medium or machine -readable medium, such as an optical, magnetic or semiconductor storage. Storage medium 1100 may store diverse types of computer executable instructions, such as instructions to implement logic flows and/or techniques described herein. Examples of a computer readable or machine -readable storage medium may include any tangible media capable of storing electronic data, including volatile memory or non-volatile memory, removable or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory, writeable or rewriteable memory, and so forth. Examples of computer executable instructions may include any suitable type of code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, object-oriented code, visual code, and the like.

FIG. 12 illustrates an architecture of a system 1200 of a network in accordance with some embodiments. The system 1200 is shown to include a user equipment (UE) 1201 and a UE 1202. The UEs 1201 and 1202 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touch screen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks) but may also comprise any mobile or non- mobile computing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs 1201 and 1202 can comprise an Internet of Things (loT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designed for low-power loT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An loT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or loT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An loT network describes interconnecting loT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The loT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the loT network.

The UEs 1201 and 1202 may to connect, e.g., communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN) - in this embodiment, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) 1210. The UEs 1201 and 1202 utilize connections 1203 and 1204, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, the connections 1203 and 1204 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

In this embodiment, the UEs 1201 and 1202 may further directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 1205. The ProSe interface 1205 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

The UE 1202 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 1206 via connection 1207. The connection 1207 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 1206 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP 1206 is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). The E-UTRAN 1210 can include one or more access nodes that enable the connections 1203 and 1204. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to as base stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next Generation NodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The E-UTRAN 1210 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macro-cells, e.g., macro RAN node 1211, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femto-cells or picocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macro-cells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node 1212.

Any of the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 1201 and 1202. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 can fulfill various logical functions for the E-UTRAN 1210 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

In accordance with some embodiments, the UEs 1201 and 1202 can be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency- Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 to the UEs 1201 and 1202, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 1201 and 1202. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs 1201 and 1202 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 1201 or 1202 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 1201 and 1202. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 1201 and 1202.

The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=l, 2, 4, or 8).

Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced the control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

The RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 may communicate with one another and/or with other access nodes in the E-UTRAN 1210 and/or in another RAN via an X2 interface, which is a signaling interface for communicating data packets between ANs. Some other suitable interface for communicating data packets directly between ANs may be used.

The E-UTRAN 1210 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network - in this embodiment, an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network 1220 via an SI interface 1213. In this embodiment the SI interface 1213 is split into two parts: the Sl-U interface 1214, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 and the serving gateway (S-GW) 1222, and the SI- mobility management entity (MME) interface 1215, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 and MMEs 1221.

In this embodiment, the EPC network 1220 comprises the MMEs 1221, the S-GW 1222, the Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 1223, and a home subscriber server (HSS) 1224. The MMEs 1221 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). The MMEs 1221 may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 1224 may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions. The EPC network 1220 may comprise one or several HSSs 1224, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 1224 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

The S-GW 1222 may terminate the SI interface 1213 towards the E-UTRAN 1210, and routes data packets between the E-UTRAN 1210 and the EPC network 1220. In addition, the SGW 1222 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

The P-GW 1223 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 1223 may route data packets between the EPC network 1223 and external networks such as a network including the application server 1230 (alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 1225. Generally, the application server 1230 may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 1223 is shown to be communicatively coupled to an application server 1230 via an IP communications interface 1225. The application server 1230 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs 1201 and 1202 via the EPC network 1220.

The P-GW 1223 may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 1226 is the policy and charging control element of the EPC network 1220. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF 1226 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 1230 via the P-GW 1223. The application server 1230 may signal the PCRF 1226 to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF 1226 may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server 1230.

FIG. 13 illustrates example components of a device 1300 in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the device 1300 may include application circuitry 1302, baseband circuitry 1304, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 1306, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 1308, one or more antennas 1310, and power management circuitry (PMC) 1312 coupled together at least as shown. The components of the illustrated device 1300 may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 1300 may include less elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry 1302, and instead include a processor/controller circuitry to process IP data received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device 1300 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (1/0) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations) .

The application circuitry 1302 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 1302 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors, and/or other processing circuitry. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 1300. In some embodiments, processors of application circuitry 1302 may process IP data packets received from an EPC.

The baseband circuitry 1304 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more singlecore or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 1304 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1306 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1306. Baseband processing circuitry 1304 may interface with the application circuitry 1302 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 1306. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1304 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 1304A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 1304B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 1304C, or other baseband processor(s) 1304D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 1304 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 1304A- D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 1306. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 1304A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory 1304G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 1304E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc.

In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1304 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1304 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1304 may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 1304F. The audio DSP(s) 1304F may be include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 1304 and the application circuitry 1302 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1304 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1304 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 1304 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry. The RF circuitry 1306 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 1306 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. The RF circuitry 1306 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1308 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 1304. The RF circuitry 1306 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 1304 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 1308 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1306 may include mixer circuitry 1306a, amplifier circuitry 1306b and filter circuitry 1306c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1306 may include filter circuitry 1306c and mixer circuitry 1306a. The RF circuitry 1306 may also include synthesizer circuitry 1306d for synthesizing a frequency, or component carrier, for use by the mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path may to downconvert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1308 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 1306d. The amplifier circuitry 1306b may amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 1306c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 1304 for further processing.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 1306d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 1308. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 1304 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 1306c.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1306a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1306a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1306a may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1306a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 1306 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 1304 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 1306.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1306d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional NIN+ I synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 1306d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 1306d may synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1306a of the RF circuitry 1306 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1306d may be a fractional NIN+ I synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be an output of a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be an output of either the baseband circuitry 1304 or the application circuitry 1302 depending on the desired output frequency. Some embodiments may determine a divider control input (e.g., N) from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the application circuitry 1302.

The synthesizer circuitry 1306d of the RF circuitry 1306 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+l (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1306d may generate a carrier frequency (or component carrier) as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a local oscillator (LO) frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 1306 may include an IQ/polar converter.

The FEM circuitry 1308 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 1310, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1306 for further processing. FEM circuitry 1308 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 1306 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 1310. In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 1306, solely in the FEM circuitry 1308, or in both the RF circuitry 1306 and the FEM circuitry 1308.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 1308 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 1306). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 1308 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 1306), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 1310).

In the present embodiment, the radio refers to a combination of the RF circuitry 1306 and the FEM circuitry 1308. The radio refers to the portion of the circuitry that generates and transmits or receives and processes the radio signals. The RF circuitry 1306 includes a transmitter to generate the time domain radio signals with the data from the baseband signals and apply the radio signals to subcarriers of the carrier frequency that form the bandwidth of the channel. The PA in the FEM circuitry 1308 amplifies the tones for transmission and amplifies tones received from the one or more antennas 1310 via the LNA to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for interpretation. In wireless communications, the FEM circuitry 1308 may also search for a detectable pattern that appears to be a wireless communication. Thereafter, a receiver in the RF circuitry 1306 converts the time domain radio signals to baseband signals via one or more functional modules such as the functional modules shown in the base station 201 and user equipment 211 illustrated in FIG. 2.

In some embodiments, the PMC 1312 may manage power provided to the baseband circuitry 1304. In particular, the PMC 1312 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMC 1312 may often be included when the device 1300 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE. The PMC 1312 may increase the power conversion efficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

While FIG. 13 shows the PMC 1312 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 1304. However, in other embodiments, the PMC 1312 may be additionally or alternatively coupled with, and perform similar power management operations for, other components such as, but not limited to, application circuitry 1302, RF circuitry 1306, or FEM circuitry 1308.

In some embodiments, the PMC 1312 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the device 1300. For example, if the device 1300 is in an RRC > Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device 1300 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power.

If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the device 1300 may transition off to an RRC Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 1300 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 1300 may not receive data in this state, in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC Connected state.

An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

The processors of the application circuitry 1302 and the processors of the baseband circuitry 1304 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry 1304, alone or in combination, may be used execute Eayer 3, Eayer 2, or Eayer I functionality, while processors of the application circuitry 1304 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Eayer 4 functionality (e.g., transmission communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control (RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer I may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

FIG. 14 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the baseband circuitry 1304 of FIG. 13 may comprise processors 1304A-1304E and a memory 1304G utilized by said processors. Each of the processors 1304A-1304E may include a memory interface, 1404A-1404E, respectively, to send/receive data to/from the memory 1304G.

The baseband circuitry 1304 may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memory interface 1412 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry 1304), an application circuitry interface 1414 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry 1302 of FIG. 13), an RF circuitry interface 1416 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 1306 of FIG. 13), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 1418 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Eow Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components), and a power management interface 1420 (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMC 1312.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine -readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine -readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 15 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 1500 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1510, one or more memory/storage devices 1520, and one or more communication resources 1530, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1540. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1502 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1500.

The processors 1510 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 1512 and a processor 1514. The memory/storage devices 1520 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1520 may include, but are not limited to any type of volatile or non-volatile memory such as dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), static randomaccess memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 1530 may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1504 or one or more databases 1506 via a network 1508. For example, the communication resources 1530 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

Instructions 1550 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 1510 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1550 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 1510 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1520, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 1550 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1500 from any combination of the peripheral devices 1504 or the databases 1506. Accordingly, the memory of processors 1510, the memory/storage devices 1520, the peripheral devices 1504, and the databases 1506 are examples of computer-readable and machine -readable media.

In embodiments, one or more elements of FIGs. 12, 13, 14, and/or 15 may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methods as described herein, or portions thereof. In embodiments, one or more elements of FIGs. 12, 13, 14, and/or 15 may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methods, or portions thereof, as described in the following examples.

As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality.

Various examples may be implemented using hardware elements, software elements, or a combination of both. In some examples, hardware elements may include devices, components, processors, microprocessors, circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic devices (PLD), digital signal processors (DSP), field programmable gate array (FPGA), memory units, logic gates, registers, semiconductor device, chips, microchips, chip sets, and so forth. In some examples, software elements may include software components, programs, applications, computer programs, application programs, system programs, machine programs, operating system software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces, application program interfaces (API), instruction sets, computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof. Determining whether an example is implemented using hardware elements and/or software elements may vary in accordance with any number of factors, such as desired computational rate, power levels, heat tolerances, processing cycle budget, input data rates, output data rates, memory resources, data bus speeds and other design or performance constraints, as desired for a given implementation.

Some examples may be described using the expression “in one example” or “an example” along with their derivatives. These terms mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example is included in at least one example. The appearances of the phrase “in one example” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same example.

Some examples may be described using the expression "coupled" and "connected" along with their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, descriptions using the terms “connected” and/or “coupled” may indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The term "coupled,” however, may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other.

In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single example for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed examples require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed example. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate example. In the appended claims, the terms "including" and "in which" are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms "comprising" and "wherein," respectively. Moreover, the terms "first," "second," "third," and so forth, are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects. Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some program code to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution. The term “code” covers a broad range of software components and constructs, including applications, drivers, processes, routines, methods, modules, firmware, microcode, and subprograms. Thus, the term “code” may be used to refer to any collection of instructions which, when executed by a processing system, perform a desired operation or operations.

Logic circuitry, devices, and interfaces herein described may perform functions implemented in hardware and also implemented with code executed on one or more processors. Logic circuitry refers to the hardware or the hardware and code that implements one or more logical functions such as processing circuitry, processor circuitry, one or more processors, one or more application specific integrated circuits, one or more state machines, one or more discrete logic components, and/or the like, and/or memory to support storage and access of code and data for the processing circuitry, processor circuitry, one or more processors, one or more application specific integrated circuits, and/or one or more state machines, one or more discrete logic components, and/or the like. Circuitry is hardware and may refer to one or more circuits. Each circuit may perform a particular function. A circuit of the circuitry may comprise discrete electrical components interconnected with one or more conductors, an integrated circuit, a chip package, a chip set, memory, or the like. Integrated circuits include circuits created on a substrate such as a silicon wafer and may comprise components. And integrated circuits, processor packages, chip packages, and chipsets may comprise one or more processors.

Processors may receive signals such as instructions and/or data at the input(s) and process the signals to generate the at least one output. While executing code, the code changes the physical states and characteristics of transistors that make up a processor pipeline. The physical states of the transistors translate into logical bits of ones and zeros stored in registers within the processor. The processor can transfer the physical states of the transistors into registers and transfer the physical states of the transistors to another storage medium. A processor may comprise circuits or circuitry to perform one or more sub-functions implemented to perform the overall function of the processor. One example of a processor is a state machine or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that includes at least one input and at least one output. A state machine may manipulate the at least one input to generate the at least one output by performing a predetermined series of serial and/or parallel manipulations or transformations on the at least one input.

Several embodiments have one or more potentially advantages effects. For instance, adding support for advertising capabilities of a port map in a static filtering entry advantageously increases conformance with time-sensitive networking standards such as IEEE 802. IQ and increases efficiency for distribution of TSN streams. Advertising capabilities of implementation of a static filtering entry by a NW-TT and/or a DS-TT, and for data structures for provision of a port map in a static filtering entry advantageously increases conformance with time-sensitive networking standards such as IEEE 802. IQ and increases efficiency for distribution of TSN streams. Identifying multiple outbound or egress ports for a MAC address such as a multicast (group) medium access control (MAC) address advantageously increases conformance with time-sensitive networking standards such as IEEE 802. IQ and increases efficiency for distribution of TSN streams. Identifying multiple outbound or egress ports based a broadcast MAC address and based on one or more static filtering entries for a TSN stream advantageously increases conformance with time-sensitive networking standards such as IEEE 802. IQ and increases efficiency for distribution of TSN streams.

EXAMPLES OF FURTHER EMBODIMENTS

The following examples pertain to further embodiments. Specifics in the examples may be used anywhere in one or more embodiments.

Example 1 may be an apparatus to implement static filtering entries with port map support, the apparatus may comprise: a radio frequency circuitry to receive a protocol data unit (PDU) of a time sensitive networking (TSN) stream via a device-side port, the PDU comprising a medium access control (MAC) address; and logic circuitry to identify a static filtering entry for the TSN stream based on the MAC address, the static filtering entry to comprise the MAC address and a port map, the port map comprising more than one port map entries, the more than one port map entries to identify more than one network-side ports associated with the MAC address; and to forward the PDU of the TSN stream via the more than one network-side ports.

In Example 2, the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the logic circuitry may implement logic of a network-side TSN translator (NW-TT) to forward the PDU of the TSN stream via the more than one network-side ports. In Example 3, the apparatus of Example 2, wherein the NW-TT may comprise capabilities to determine one or more network-side port values from the port map of the static filtering entry, the one or more network-side port values to identify the more than network-side ports one ports.

In Example 4, the apparatus of Example 2, wherein the apparatus is part of a fifth generation system (5GS) bridge, wherein the 5GS is a fifth generation radio access technology in accordance with third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications.

In Example 5, the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the logic circuitry may comprise a processor, a memory coupled with the processor, a radio frequency circuitry comprises a radio, the radio coupled with the processor, and one or more antennas coupled with the radio to receive the PDU.

In Example 6, the apparatus of any one or more of Examples 1-5, wherein the static filtering entry may comprise a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier, wherein the VID may comprise a hexadecimal value and the VID may comprise a value of zero to indicate a null VID, a value of 1 to indicate a default port VID (PVID) value used for classifying frames on ingress through a port of a bridge, or a value of FFF to indicate reserved for implementation use, wherein the bridge comprises the apparatus.

In Example 7, the apparatus of Example 6, wherein the static filtering entry may comprise a control element value and an optional connection identifier value, wherein the control element value is encoded as a binary zero if the VID value is to be forwarded, independently of any dynamic filtering information held by the filtering database (FDB); a binary 1 if the VID value is to be filtered, independently of any dynamic filtering information; a binary 2 if the VID value is to be forwarded or filtered on the basis of dynamic filtering information, or on the basis of the default group filtering behavior for the outbound port if no dynamic filtering information is present specifically for the MAC address.

In Example 8, the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the logic circuitry may support advertisement of a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN application function (AF) feature support information element and to support advertisement of a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN translator (TT) feature support information element.

Example 9 is a method to implement static filtering entries with port map support. The method may comprise: receiving, via a logic circuitry, a protocol data unit (PDU) of a time sensitive networking (TSN) stream via a device-side port, the PDU comprising a medium access control (MAC) address; identifying, via the logic circuitry, a static filtering entry for the TSN stream based on the MAC address, the static filtering entry to comprise the MAC address and a port map, the port map comprising more than one port map entries, the more than one port map entries to identify more than one network-side ports associated with the MAC address; and forwarding the PDU via the more than one network-side ports.

In Example 10, the method of Example 9, may further comprise advertising a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN application function (AF) feature support information element and advertising a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN translator (TT) feature support information element.

In Example 11, the method of Example 9, may implement logic of a network-side TSN translator (NW-TT) to forward the PDU of the TSN stream via the more than one network-side ports.

In Example 12, the method of Example 11, wherein the NW-TT may comprise capabilities to determine one or more network-side port values from the port map of the static filtering entry, the one or more network-side port values to identify the more than network-side ports one ports.

In Example 13, the method of any one or more of Examples 9-12, wherein the static filtering entry may comprise a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier, a control element value, and an optional connection identifier value.

Example 14 is a non-transitory machine-readable medium containing instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations to implement static filtering entries with port map support, the operations to: receive, via a logic circuitry, a protocol data unit (PDU) of a time sensitive networking (TSN) stream wirelessly via a device-side port, the PDU comprising a medium access control (MAC) address; identify, via the logic circuitry, a static filtering entry for the TSN stream based on the MAC address, the static filtering entry to comprise the MAC address and a port map, the port map comprising more than one port map entries, the more than one port map entries to identify more than one network-side ports associated with the MAC address; and forward the PDU via the more than one network-side ports.

In Example 15, the machine -readable medium of Example 14, the operations may further to advertise a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN application function (AF) feature support information element and advertise a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN translator (TT) feature support information element.

In Example 16, the machine -readable medium of Example 12, wherein the operations further implement logic of a network-side TSN translator (NW-TT) to forward the PDU of the TSN stream via the more than one network-side ports. In Example 17, the machine-readable medium of Example 12, wherein the NW-TT may comprise capabilities to determine one or more network-side port values from the port map of the static filtering entry, the one or more network-side port values to identify the more than network-side ports one ports.

In Example 18, the machine-readable medium of Example 12, wherein the static filtering entry may comprise a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier.

In Example 19, the machine -readable medium of any one or more of Examples 14-18, wherein the static filtering entry may comprise a control element value and an optional connection identifier value.

Example 20 is an apparatus to implement static filtering entries with port map support. The apparatus may comprise: a means for receiving, via a logic circuitry, a protocol data unit (PDU) of a time sensitive networking (TSN) stream via a device-side port, the PDU comprising a medium access control (MAC) address; a means for identifying a static filtering entry for the TSN stream based on the MAC address, the static filtering entry to comprise the MAC address and a port map, the port map comprising more than one port map entries, the more than one port map entries to identify more than one network-side ports associated with the MAC address; and a means for forwarding the PDU via the more than one network-side ports.

In Example 21 , the apparatus of Example 20, further comprising a means for advertising a perinstance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN application function (AF) feature support information element and a means for advertising a perinstance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN translator (TT) feature support information element.

In Example 22, the apparatus of Example 21, further comprising a means for implementing logic of a network-side TSN translator (NW-TT) to forward the PDU of the TSN stream via the more than one network-side ports.

In Example 23, the apparatus of Example 22, the NW-TT comprising capabilities to determine one or more network-side port values from the port map of the static filtering entry, the one or more network-side port values to identify the more than network-side ports one ports.

In Example 24, the apparatus of Example 20, wherein the static filtering entry comprises a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier.

In Example 25, the apparatus of any one or more of Examples 20-24, wherein the static filtering entry comprises a control element value and an optional connection identifier value.

Example 26 is a system to implement static filtering entries with port map support. The system may comprise: a memory comprising code; a processor circuitry coupled with the memory to execute code to identify a static filtering entry for the TSN stream based on the MAC address, the static filtering entry to comprise the MAC address and a port map, the port map comprising more than one port map entries, the more than one port map entries to identify more than one network-side ports associated with the MAC address; and a radio frequency circuitry comprising a radio coupled with the processor circuitry to forward the PDU of the TSN stream via the more than one network-side ports.

In Example 27, the system of Example 26, further comprising one or more antennas coupled with the radio to receive the PDU.

In Example 28, the system of Example 26, wherein the processor circuitry may implement logic of a network-side TSN translator (NW-TT) to forward the PDU of the TSN stream via the more than one network-side ports.

In Example 29, the system of Example 28, wherein the NW-TT may comprise capabilities to determine one or more network-side port values from the port map of the static filtering entry, the one or more network-side port values to identify the more than network-side ports one ports.

In Example 30, the system of Example 26, wherein the system is part of a fifth generation system (5GS) bridge, wherein the 5GS is a fifth generation radio access technology in accordance with third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications.

In Example 31 , the system of Example 30, wherein the static filtering entry may comprise a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier, wherein the VID may comprise a hexadecimal value and the VID may comprise a value of zero to indicate a null VID, a value of 1 to indicate a default port VID (PVID) value used for classifying frames on ingress through a port of a bridge, or a value of FFF to indicate reserved for implementation use, wherein the bridge comprises the apparatus.

In Example 32, the system of Example 26, wherein the static filtering entry may comprise a control element value and an optional connection identifier value, wherein the control element value is encoded as a binary zero if the VID value is to be forwarded, independently of any dynamic filtering information held by the filtering database (FDB); a binary 1 if the VID value is to be filtered, independently of any dynamic filtering information; a binary 2 if the VID value is to be forwarded or filtered on the basis of dynamic filtering information, or on the basis of the default group filtering behavior for the outbound port if no dynamic filtering information is present specifically for the MAC address.

In Example 33, the system of Example 26, wherein the processor circuitry may support advertisement of a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN application function (AF) feature support information element and to support advertisement of a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN translator (TT) feature support information element.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An apparatus to implement static filtering entries with port map support, the apparatus comprising: a radio frequency circuitry to receive a protocol data unit (PDU) of a time sensitive networking (TSN) stream via a device-side port, the PDU comprising a medium access control (MAC) address; and logic circuitry to identify a static filtering entry, of the static filtering entries with port map support, for the TSN stream based on the MAC address, the static filtering entry to comprise the MAC address and a port map, the port map comprising more than one port map entries, the more than one port map entries to identify more than one network-side ports associated with the MAC address; and to forward the PDU of the TSN stream via the more than one network-side ports.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the logic circuitry to implement logic of a network-side TSN translator (NW-TT) to forward the PDU of the TSN stream via the more than one network-side ports.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, the NW-TT comprising capabilities to determine one or more networkside port values from the port map of the static filtering entry, the one or more network-side port values to identify the more than network-side ports one ports.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the apparatus is part of a fifth generation system (5GS) bridge, wherein the 5GS is a fifth generation radio access technology in accordance with third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the logic circuitry comprises a processor, a memory coupled with the processor, a radio frequency circuitry comprises a radio, the radio coupled with the processor, and one or more antennas coupled with the radio to receive the PDU.

6. The apparatus of any one or more of claims 1-5, wherein the static filtering entry comprises a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier, wherein the VID may comprise a hexadecimal value and the VID may comprise a value of zero to indicate a null VID, a value of 1 to indicate a default port VID (PVID) value used for classifying frames on ingress through a port of a bridge, or a value of FFF to indicate reserved for implementation use, wherein the bridge comprises the apparatus.

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7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the static filtering entry comprises a control element value and an optional connection identifier value, wherein the control element value is encoded as a binary zero if the VID value is to be forwarded, independently of any dynamic filtering information held by a filtering database (FDB); a binary 1 if the VID value is to be filtered, independently of any dynamic filtering information; a binary 2 if the VID value is to be forwarded or filtered on the basis of dynamic filtering information, or on the basis of a default group filtering behavior for an outbound port if no dynamic filtering information is present specifically for the MAC address.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, the logic circuitry to support advertisement of a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN application function (AF) feature support information element and to support advertisement of a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN translator (TT) feature support information element.

9. A method to implement static filtering entries with port map support, comprising: receiving, via a logic circuitry, a protocol data unit (PDU) of a time sensitive networking (TSN) stream wirelessly via a device-side port, the PDU comprising a medium access control (MAC) address; identifying, via the logic circuitry, a static filtering entry, of the static filtering entries with port map support, for the TSN stream based on the MAC address, the static filtering entry to comprise the MAC address and a port map, the port map comprising more than one port map entries, the more than one port map entries to identify more than one network-side ports associated with the MAC address; and forwarding the PDU via the more than one network-side ports.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising advertising a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN application function (AF) feature support information element and advertising a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN translator (TT) feature support information element.

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11. The method of claim 9, implementing logic of a network-side TSN translator (NW-TT) to forward the PDU of the TSN stream via the more than one network-side ports.

12. The method of claim 11, the NW-TT comprising capabilities to determine one or more networkside port values from the port map of the static filtering entry, the one or more network-side port values to identify the more than network-side ports one ports.

13. The method of any one or more of claims 9-12, wherein the static filtering entry comprises a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier, a control element value, and an optional connection identifier value.

14. A non-transitory machine -readable medium containing instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations to implement static filtering entries with port map support, the operations to: receive, via a logic circuitry, a protocol data unit (PDU) of a time sensitive networking (TSN) stream wirelessly via a device-side port, the PDU comprising a medium access control (MAC) address; identify, via the logic circuitry, a static filtering entry, of the static filtering entries with port map support, for the TSN stream based on the MAC address, the static filtering entry to comprise the MAC address and a port map, the port map comprising more than one port map entries, the more than one port map entries to identify more than one network-side ports associated with the MAC address; and forward the PDU via the more than one network-side ports.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 14, the operations further to advertise a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN application function (AF) feature support information element and advertise a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN translator (TT) feature support information element.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the operations further implement logic of a network-side TSN translator (NW-TT) to forward the PDU of the TSN stream via the more than one network-side ports.

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17. The machine-readable medium of claim 12, the NW-TT comprising capabilities to determine one or more network-side port values from the port map of the static filtering entry, the one or more network-side port values to identify the more than network-side ports one ports.

18. The machine -readable medium of claim 12, wherein the static filtering entry comprises a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier.

19. The machine-readable medium of any one or more of claims 14-18, wherein the static filtering entry comprises a control element value and an optional connection identifier value.

20. An apparatus to implement static filtering entries with port map support, comprising: a means for receiving, via a logic circuitry, a protocol data unit (PDU) of a time sensitive networking (TSN) stream via a device-side port, the PDU comprising a medium access control (MAC) address; a means for identifying, via the logic circuitry, a static filtering entry, of the static filtering entries with port map support, for the TSN stream based on the MAC address, the static filtering entry to comprise the MAC address and a port map, the port map comprising more than one port map entries, the more than one port map entries to identify more than one network-side ports associated with the MAC address; and a means for forwarding the PDU via the more than one network-side ports.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a means for advertising a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN application function (AF) feature support information element and a means for advertising a per-instance capability and a capability to configure a stream filtering entry with a port map as part of a TSN translator (TT) feature support information element.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a means for implementing logic of a network-side TSN translator (NW-TT) to forward the PDU of the TSN stream via the more than one network-side ports.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, the NW-TT comprising capabilities to determine one or more networkside port values from the port map of the static filtering entry, the one or more network-side port values to identify the more than network-side ports one ports.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the static filtering entry comprises a virtual local area network

(VLAN) identifier.

25. The apparatus of any one or more of claims 20-24, wherein the static filtering entry comprises a control element value and an optional connection identifier value.