EP4670402A1 - PRIORITY TRANSFER OF PARCEL - Google Patents

Abstract

A method performed by a UE. The method includes, adding a set of one or more PDUs to a queue for an LC. The method also includes determining that the set of PDUs is flagged with a PSI indicator. The method further includes prioritizing the LC based on the PSI indicator and/or prioritizing the transmission of the set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator.

Description

PRIORITIZED TRANSMISSION OF PACKETS

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] This disclosure relates to the prioritized transmission of protocol data units (PDUs), which are also referred to as “packets.”

BACKGROUND

[0002] 5G is the fifth generation of mobile communications, addressing a wide range of use cases from enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) to ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) to massive machine type communications (mMTC). 5G includes the New Radio (NR) access stratum interface and the 5G Core Network (5GC). The NR physical and higher layers are reusing parts of the LTE specification, and to that add needed components when motivated by new use cases.

[0003] Low-latency high-rate applications such as extended Reality (XR) and cloud gaming are important in 5G era. XR may refer to all real-and-virtual combined environments and human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables. It is an umbrella term for different types of realities including Virtual reality (VR), Augmented reality (AR), Mixed reality (MR), and the areas interpolated among them. The levels of virtuality range from partially sensory inputs to fully immersive VR.

[0004] 5G NR is designed to support applications demanding high rate and low latency in line with the requirements posed by the support of XR and cloud gaming applications in NR networks. 3GPP Release 17 contains a study item on XR Evaluations for NR [1], The main objectives are to identify the traffic model for each application of interest, the evaluation methodology and the key performance indicators of interest for relevant deployment scenarios, and to carry out performance evaluations accordingly in order to investigate possible standardization enhancements in potential follow-up SI/WI.

[0005] 1. Low-latency high-rate XR applications

[0006] The low-latency applications like XR and cloud gaming require bounded latency, not necessarily ultra-low latency. The end-to-end latency budget may be in the range of 20-80 ms, which needs to be distributed over several components including application processing latency, transport latency, radio link latency, etc. For these applications, short transmission time intervals (TTIs) or mini-slots targeting ultra-low latency may not be effective.

[0007] FIG. 1 shows an example of frame latency measured over radio access network (RAN), excluding application & core network latencies. It can be seen that there exist frame latency spikes in RAN. The sources for the latency spikes may include queuing delay, time-varying radio environments, time-varying frame sizes, among others. Tools that can help to remove latency spikes are beneficial to enable better 5G support for this type of traffic

[0008] In addition to bounded latency requirements, the applications like XR and cloud gaming also require high rate transmission. This can be seen from the large frame sizes originated from this type of traffic. The typical frame sizes may range from tens of kilobytes to hundreds of kilobytes. The frame arrival rates may be 60 or 120 frames per second (fps). As a concrete example, a frame size of 100 kilobytes and a frame arrival rate of 120 fps can lead to a rate requirement of 95.8 Mbps.

[0009] A large video frame is usually fragmented into smaller IP packets and transmitted as several transport blocks (TBs) over several TTIs in RAN. FIG. 2 shows an example of the cumulative distribution functions of the number of transport blocks required to deliver a video frame with size ranging from 20 KB to 300 KB. For example, FIG. 2 shows that for delivering the frames with a size of 200 KB each, the median number of needed TBs is 5.

[0010] The characteristics of XR traffic arrival are quite distinct from typical webbrowsing and VoIP traffic as shown in FIG. 3. It is well expected that the arrival time is quasi-periodic and largely predictable as VoIP. However, its data size is order of magnitude larger than VoIP, as discussed above. In addition, similar to web-browsing, the data size is different at every application protocol data unit (PDU) arrival instance due to dynamics of contents and human motion.

[0011] 2. Scheduling and Logical channel prioritization

[0012] When the network provides an uplink (UL) grant to a UE, the UE performs what so called “logical channel prioritization” (LCP) process to decide which Logical Channel IDs (LCID) qualify to transmit data given the current grant, and the amount of data to transmit from each of the selected LCIDs. This is explained in section 5.4.3 of 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.321 V17.3.0 (or “TS 38.321” for short) and this section provides a simplified version of the full procedure. The procedure is divided into 2 parts: the selection of the logical channels, and the allocation of resources.

[0013] The selection of a logical channel is based on the fulfillment of all the following conditions: the subcarrier spacing associated to the UL grant is listed in the IE ‘allowedSCS-List’ if this IE was configured; the PUSCH transmission duration associated to the UL grant is shorter than or equal to the value indicated in ‘maxPUSCH-Duration’, if this IE was configured; configuredGrantTypel Allowed, if configured, is set to true in case the UL grant is a Configured Grant Type 1; the cell information associated to the UL grant is listed in the IE ‘allowedServingCells’, if configured; allowedCG-List, if configured, includes the configured grant index associated to the UL grant, allowedPHY-Priority Index, if configured, includes the priority index associated to the dynamic UL grant.

[0014] The allocation of the resources is performed as follows: for the selected logical channels for the UL grant with Bj > 0 are allocated resources in a decreasing priority order (if the PBR of a logical channel is set to infinity, the MAC entity shall allocate resources for all the data that is available for transmission on the logical channel before meeting the PBR of the lower priority logical channel(s)); decrement Bj by the total size of MAC service data units (SDUs) served to logical channel j above; if any resources remain, all the selected logical channels are served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until either the data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal priority should be served equally.

[0015] Bj is a variable used and maintained for each logical channel, ‘j ’ is an index associated one Logical Channel Identity. Bj is initialized to zero when the logical channel is established. For each logical channel: Bj is incremented by the product (PBR x T) before every instance of the LCP procedure, where T is the time elapsed since Bj was last incremented; if the value of Bj is greater than the maximum bucket size (i.e. PBR x BSD), then set Bj to the maximum bucket size.

[0016] The priority of each of the configured logical channels is provided by RRC. Among others, the IES ‘priority’, Prioritized Bit Rate (PBR), and Bucket Size Duration (BSD) are indicated. The IE ‘priority’ provides the priority of a logical channel so that a larger value results a lower priority. This results in that value 1 indicates the highest priority.

[0017] 3. QoS framework in 5G [0018] FIG. 4 illustrates a basic QoS framework. 5G has introduced a new QoS model based on QoS flows. The QoS Flow is the finest granularity of QoS differentiation in the PDU Session and a is identified by a QoS Flow ID (QFI). Thus, a QFI is unique within a PDU session. A QoS Flow is associated with QoS requirements as specified by QoS parameters and QoS characteristics. A QoS Flow is controlled by the Session Management Function (SMF) and may be preconfigured, or established via the PDU Session Establishment procedure, or the PDU Session Modification procedure (see TS 23.502). User Plane traffic with the same QFI within a PDU Session receives the same traffic forwarding treatment such as, for instance, scheduling or admission control.

[0019] A QoS Flow is characterised by a QoS profile, one or more QoS rule(s) and optionally QoS Flow level QoS parameters, and one or more UL and DL Packet Detection Rules PDR(s). Each QoS profile has one corresponding QoS Flow identifier (QFI).

[0020] Any QoS profile for a flow needs to include the QoS parameters: 5G QoS Identifier (5QI); and Allocation and Retention Priority (ARP).

[0021] In addition, for a GBR QoS Flow only, the QoS profile shall also include the QoS parameters Guaranteed Flow Bit Rate (GFBR) (UL and DL) and Maximum Flow Bit Rate (MFBR) (UL and DL). Optionally, Notification control and Maximum Packet Loss Rate (UL and DL) may be also included.

[0022] On the other hand, for a non-GBR QoS Flow only, the QoS profile may also include the QoS parameter Reflective QoS Attribute (RQA).

[0023] A 5QI is a scalar that is used as a reference to 5G QoS characteristics. Standardized 5QI values have 1-to-l mapping to a standardized combination of QoS characteristics. These characteristics describe the packet forwarding treatment the corresponding QoS Flow receives edge-to-edge between the UE and the UPF in terms of the following performance characteristics: 1) Resource Type (GBR, Delay critical GBR or Non- GBR); 2) Priority Level; 3) Packet Delay Budget (including Core Network Packet Delay Budget); 4) Packet Error Rate; 5) Averaging window (for GBR and Delay-critical GBR resource type only); 6) Maximum Data Burst Volume (for Delay-critical GBR resource type only).

[0024] These QoS characteristics are used by the RAN to configure the different RAN nodes, protocols, and configurations to be able to meet these characteristics. However, these characteristics do not mandate any specific behavior or configuration in the RAN nodes.

[0025] 3.1 QoS enabler in RAN

[0026] FIG. 5 illustrates a QoS architecture. In RAN (Radio Access Network) NR (New Radio), a new layer, SDAP (Service Data Adaptation Protocol), was introduced as one enabler and part of the QoS model. The SDAP layer has as main functions marking and mapping each QoS flow into DRBs. To perform this, the RAN is provided with the QFI of a QoS flow in the encapsulation header on N3 (and N9). FIG. 6 illustrates a downlink (DL) SDAP Data PDU format with SDAP header.

[0027] In the downlink the RAN can decide how to perform the mapping of QFIs into DRBs and, if the RAN uses the SDAP layer, the QFI carried in the N3/N9 is then introduced in the SDAP header.

[0028] In the UL, however, the UE performs the classification and marking of UL user plane traffic based on QoS rules. These QoS rules may be explicitly provided to the UE through the PDU Session Establishment/Modification procedure, pre-configured in the UE or implicitly derived by the UE by applying Reflective QoS. A QoS rule contains among other things, the QFI of the associated QoS Flow and a Packet Filter Set.

[0029] 4. 3GPP standardization

[0030] During Release 18, RAN2 and SA2 has discussed what type of application information may be useful for the network. This would break the 5GC QoS framework in which all packets within a QFI should receive the same scheduling treatment.

[0031] One piece of information agreed by SA2 is the downlink (DL) PDU Set Importance (PSI) indicator. This indicator may provide a priority level for a PDU set. As used herein, a PDU set is composed of a set of one or more PDUs carrying the payload of a unit of information generated at the application level (e.g. a video frame or a video slice). The PSI indicator could be in the form of 1 bit, i.e. those PDU sets with the bit set (e.g. bit= 1) are considered higher priority than the ones without the bit set (e.g., bit=O). It could be that more bits are provided in which case, different importance levels could be provided. SUMMARY

[0032] Certain challenges presently exist. For example, the current RAN2 protocols treat all uplink (UL) PDUs having the same QFI in the same way, and, therefore, the RAN2 specifications do not consider the PSI indicator even when there is a need to prioritize UL PDU sets based on the PSI indicator.

[0033] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, this disclosure describes mechanisms to use the PSI indicator in a logical channel (LC) prioritization procedure.

[0034] Accordingly, on one embodiment there is provided a method performed by a UE. The method includes, adding a set of one or more PDUs to a queue for an LC. The method also includes determining that the set of PDUs is flagged with a PSI indicator. The method further includes prioritizing the LC based on the PSI indicator and/or prioritizing the transmission of the set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator.

[0035] In some aspects, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which when executed by processing circuitry of a UE causes the UE to perform any of the methods disclosed herein. In one embodiment, there is provided a carrier containing the computer program wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, and a computer readable storage medium. In another aspect there is provided an UE that is configured to perform the methods disclosed herein. The apparatus may include memory and processing circuitry coupled to the memory.

[0036] The embodiments described herein are advantageous in that they enable use the PSI indicator in the MAC to prioritize PDU sets according to their level of importance as indicated by the PSI indicator. For instance, a network node may provide to a UE new parameters to calculate a bucket size (B) for each LCID. Depending on the priority level of a selected LCID and the PSI level of the PDUs in the queue (i.e., the level of importance of the PDUs as indicated by the PSI indicator), and the priority of the other LCIDs and the PSI level of the PDUs in the queues of the other LCIDs, the UE may be allowed to transmit all the important PDUs within a selected LCID, a number of these PDUs limited by the bucket size for the said PSI level, or may not be allowed to transmit any of the buffered PDUs (a.k.a., queued PDUs) with the said PSI level. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] FIG. 1 shows an example of frame latency measured over radio access network (RAN).

[0038] FIG. 2 shows an example of the cumulative distribution functions of the number of transport blocks required to deliver a video frame with size ranging from 20 KB to 300 KB.

[0039] FIG. 3 shows that characteristics of XR traffic arrival are distinct from typical web-browsing and VoIP traffic.

[0040] FIG. 4 illustrates a basic QoS framework.

[0041] FIG. 5 illustrates a QoS architecture.

[0042] FIG. 6 illustrates a downlink (DL) SDAP Data PDU format with SDAP header.

[0043] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process according to an embodiment.

[0044] FIG. 8 shows an example of a communication system according to an embodiment.

[0045] FIG. 9 illustrates a UE according to an embodiment.

[0046] FIG. 10 illustrates a network node according to an embodiment.

[0047] FIG. 11 illustrates a host according to an embodiment.

[0048] FIG. 12 illustrates a virtualization environment according to an embodiment.

[0049] FIG. 13 illustrates a host communicating via a network node with a UE over a partially wireless connection.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0050] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0051] This disclosure make use of the PSI indication implicitly or explicitly in a SDAP SDU or PDCP SDU. For any given PDU set an application may set a PSI indicator for the PDU set. This could be done, for example, by the application setting such indication in each IP PDU (a.k.a., IP packet) belonging to the PDU set, or, as another example, by the application setting such PSI indictor in a single IP packet of the PDU set (e.g., the first IP packet of the said PDU set) in which case, all other IP packets associated to the PDU set would be considered with the same importance level.

[0052] In the context of this disclosure, when there are only two levels of importance (high and low or high and none), high importance corresponds to PDUs for which the PSI indicator has been set, and low importance (or no importance) corresponds to PDUs for which the PSI has not been set. Accordingly, in this scenario the PSI may be a one bit flag. But when there are more than two levels of importance (e g., high, medium, low), then the value of the PSI indicator corresponds to a higher or a lower importance level depending on the value. In this case, when no PSI has been set, the importance for that PDU is equivalent to a default value e g. the lowest level, or a mid-level.

[0053] Typically, a UE transmits packets in a queue on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) basis. But, when a particular PDU set is flagged as important by the PSI indicator, the UE may prioritize the transmission of the PDUs belonging to the particular PDU set over other PDUs (a.k.a., packets) having a no PSI indicator set or having lower importance, even where the other PDU are in the same QoS queue (i.e. the UE does not follow the FIFO strategy). For instance, the UE may prioritize the transmission of the PDUs belonging to the particular PDU set over other PDUs in the same queue when the UE is so configured by a network node (or “network” (NW) for short), or the NW did not indicate to the UE that the UE must transmit PDUs in order in which the PDUs were placed in the queue (e.g., the NW did not indicate that the UE must transmit the PDUs in a queue in the FIFO basis).

[0054] In a legacy system, when the UE performs a transmission for a certain Logical Channel (LC), which is identified by its LC identifier (LCID), the UE calculates a bucket size B for the LC. Assume Bj is the bucket size for the LC identified by LCID j. Bj is decreased by the same amount of data taken from the buffer (a.k.a., queue) of the LC identified by LCID j . When Bj becomes 0 or negative, the UE is not allowed to take more data from the LC identified by the LCID j. Bj is the product of Prioritized Bit Rate (PBR) and the bucket Size Duration (BSD). These values are provided for each LCID by RRC message.

Alternatively to decreasing the bucket size Bj until it becomes 0 or negative, an initial bucket size may be set to “0” and being increased after each transmission until it reaches the value of Bj- [0055] There are a number of possibilities how to utilize the PSI indicator in the priority procedures. The PSI indicator can impact: 1) how packets are selected between logical channels; 2) how the Bj is calculated; and/or 3) how the Bj is modified.

[0056] In one embodiment, a network node (or network (NW) for short) may provide to a UE specific Prioritized Bit Rate (PBR) and the bucket Size Duration (BSD) values in order to calculate the bucket size (B) for the LCID (j) Bj which would be applicable for queued PDU sets that are flagged with the PSI indicator (and not applicable for the other PDUs in the queue). If multiple importance levels can be indicated by the PSI indicator, one or more PBR and BSD values may be configured for each importance level. If the network does not provide these parameters, the UE would still use the legacy ones. In other words, there will be provided “new” PBR and/or BSD values to be used for the PDUs with PSI indicator and these new PBR/BSD values are different than the legacy PBR/BSD values. Accordingly, instead of the NW providing a single pair of PBR/BSD values for each LCID, the NW may provide more than one pair of PBR/BSD for one or more LCID where, for example, a first pair of PBR/BSD values are used to calculate a first bucket value for the LCID to be used with PDUs indicated as important (i.e., flagged with PSI indicator) and a second pair of PBR/BSD values are used to calculate a second bucket value for the LCID to be used for PDUs not indicated as being important. And as noted above, if three or more importance levels can be indicated by the PSI indicator, then, for each LCID, the NW may indicate to the UE three pairs of PBR/BSD values, one for importance level.

[0057] For example, assume that a PDU belonging to a PDU set flagged with the PSI indicator is stored in the queue for LCID j and assume that in the queue for LCID k there is not even a single PDU that is flagged with the PSI indicator. In this scenario, Bj would be calculated using a first set of PBR and BSD values (e.g., a set of PBR/BSD values selected based on the value of the PSI (PSI) indicator) while Bk would be calculated using a second set of PBR an BSD values. The PBR value in the first set may be different than the PBR value in the second set and/or the BSD value in the first set may be different than the BSD value in the second set. In this way, the LC identified by LCID j will have a different bucket size (e.g. a greater bucket size) than the LC identified by LCID k. In one embodiment, for a given LCID, once all of the PDUs flagged with PSI indicator have been removed from the queue for the given LCID, the UE may calculate a new bucket size for the given LCID using, for example, a default set of PBR and BSD values for the LCID. [0058] In some embodiments, if the UE has a PDU set flagged with the PSI indicator, the UE would be allowed to transmit the PDUs included in the flagged PDU set even if by doing so Bj becomes 0 or negative. In other words, the UE is allowed to transmit all PDUs flagged with PSI regardless of the bucket size value (i.e., the UE is allowed to ignore the bucket size limitation). This UE behavior could be preconfigured (e.g. hardcoded in the relevant specifications), or configured by the network via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0059] As an example, assume the following: B = X (bytes), the amount of priority data in the buffer is W bytes (i.e., the total size of the PDU set flagged with the PSI indicator is W bytes), the amount of non-priority data in the buffer is Z bytes, the grant size is M bytes, and (M>W>X); with these assumptions the UE would transmit all of the priority data in the buffer notwithstanding that W > B, but, the UE would not be allowed to transmit the non-priority data because B would be less than 0 (i.e , B-W < 0).

[0060] As another example, assume the following: B = X bytes, the amount of priority data in the buffer is W bytes, W < X, the amount of non-priority data in the buffer is Z bytes, the grant size is M bytes, and M > W; with these assumptions, the UE would transmit all of the priority data and reduce B such that B = B - W. Potentially, because B-W > 0, the UE may transmit the non-priority data afterwards until the size of the grant or the value Z (if smaller than the grant).

[0061] In some embodiments, when the PSI (PSI) indicator provides different levels of importance, the NW could have configured the UE with configuration information indicating the levels or importance, implicitly or explicitly, that are allowed to perform the behavior described above (i.e., allowed to transmit all PDUs flagged with the configured levels regardless of the bucket size value, or the bucket size value of associated to each level, if it was configured). For example, the NW could provide to the UE configuration information indicating that the UE may ignore the bucket size limitation for any LCID where the queue for the LCID stores a packet having a PSI level greater than or equal to a specified PSI level (i.e., can transmit packets from a queue even if the bucket size for the queue is zero or negative). This UE behavior could be hardcoded in the specs, or configured by the network via RRC. An explicit configuration of the PSI levels would correspond to that the NW provides explicitly all the levels. An implicit configuration of the levels would correspond to that the NW provides one level and other levels are known based on the first one. For example, the NW could provide level X and all levels above X would be implicitly assumed as allowed too.

[0062] In some embodiments, the UE is allowed to ignore the bucket size limitation (i.e., can transmit packets from a queue even if the bucket size for the queue is zero or negative) only if no other LCID has PDUs flagged with the PSI indicator or only if all other LCIDs have PDUs flagged with a lower PSI level or have no PDUs flagged.

[0063] In one embodiment, in response to receiving an UL grant, the UE performs a process that includes:

[0064] 1) selecting the LCID with highest priority (e.g. based on a legacy LC priority indicator);

[0065] 2) determining whether the selected LCID has a PDU set indicated by a PSI indicator as being of high importance (e.g., the PSI level is greater than or equal to an importance threshold);

[0066] 3) if the selected LCID has a PDU set indicated by a PSI indicator as being of high importance, then the UE prioritizes the transmission of the PDUs included in the PDU set (e g., one or more PDUs included in the PDU set are transmitted before other PDUs), otherwise the UE selects an LCID have the next highest priority and the process goes back to step 2; and

[0067] 4) if the PDUs prioritized based on the PSI indicator are not enough to fill the grant, then the UE selects an LCID have the next highest priority and the process goes back to step 2.

[0068] In some embodiments, when a PSI indicator provides different PSI levels, the NW could have configured the UE with a PSI level threshold, implicitly or explicitly, which would result in the UE is allowed to transmit all its PDU sets having a PSI level greater than or equal to the threshold, considering also whether other higher priority or lower priority LCIDs have PDU sets with a certain PSI level. For example, assume three PSI importance levels: 1, 2, and 3, where 3 is highest importance and 1 is lowest. If LCID X has PDUs flagged with a PSI level equal to 2 (i.e. medium importance), and all other LCIDs are flagged with PSI level 1 (i.e. low importance), the UE would transmit PDUs flagged with PSI indicator = 2 in LCID X when the NW configures the UE with PSI level 2 as the threshold. [0069] If the UE is not allowed to transmit all its important PDUs from the current LCID (e.g. there is another LCID having a flagged PDU with the PSI indicator), then after the bucket for the current LCID, Bj, becomes 0 (or negative), the UE would select the next LCID from which data is allowed to be transmitted, and has a flagged PDU with the “importance” indicator. LCID selection is typically done by priority order; thus, the UE would select the next LCID (i.e., the LCID having a lower priority than LCID j, but a higher priority than all of the other LCIDs) having a flagged PDU with the importance indicator. If there are no LCIDs with lower priority order having a flagged PDU with the importance indicator, the UE would start again with the highest priority LCID which has a flagged PDU with the importance indicator. If no LCID has any more PDUs flagged with the PSI indicator, then the UE would start transmitting not flagged PDUs, starting from the highest priority LCID, assuming the bucket for the corresponding LCID allowed it. Alternatively, when there are no more PDUs flagged with the PSI indicator, the UE would calculate a new Bj for the non-flagged PDUs i.e. using the corresponding PBR and BSD, and would start selecting data using legacy procedure.

[0070] In other words, in some embodiments, the UE selects a group of LCIDs that are allowed to transmit, where each LCID in this group has a priority, and the UE starts with the highest priority LCID (which then becomes the “current” LCID) and starts transmitting data from the current LCID (i.e., data buffered in the queue associated with the LCID). When the UE is done with the current LCID (for whatever the reason), then the UE selects the next highest priority LCID from the group (or same priority), which then becomes the “current” LCID. In this scenario, assume that the UE is limited by B to transmit not only the non-priority data, but also the priority data. Hence, for the current LCID, the UE uses B for the current LCID to choose the amount of priority data to transmit. When B becomes zero, the UE is not a allowed to transmit any more data from the current LCID, and, therefore, the UE selects another LCID to become the current LCID. This new current LCID will have the same or lower priority than each previous current LCID. In some embodiments, when the UE selects the group of LCIDs the UE includes in the group only those LCIDs that have priority data (e.g., one or more PDUs flagged with PSI indicator). When, there are no more LCIDs with priority data, the UE would start transmitting non-priority data if the grant size and B allows it. B could be specific for the non-priority data, or as in one of the other claim, one unique B for each LCID. [0071] As a specific example, consider a scenario where the UE receives an UL grant specifying a grant size of 200 bytes and the UE has the following four LCIDs that are allowed to transmit data: (1) LCID1 [Buffer Priority size (BPS) = 0; Buffer non-priority size (BnPS) = 200; and LC priority = 1 (highest priority)]; (2) LCID2 [BPS = 100; BnPS = 300; LC priority = 2 (2nd highest priority)]; (3) LCID3 [BPS = 0; BnPS = 300; LC priority = 3 (3rd highest priority)]; and (4) LCID4 [BPS = 50; BnPS = 300; LC priority = 4 (4th highest priority)]. In this example, while LCID1 has highest priority, it does not have any priority data so UE does not start with LCID1, but checks the next highest priority LCID (i.e., LCID2). LCID2 has priority data (i.e., 100 bytes of priority data). Because the grant size is greater than 100, the UE transmits all of the 100 bytes of priority data and then checks the next highest priority LCID (i.e., LCID3) to see if it has priority data. Because LCID3 does not have priority data, the UE then check the last LCID in the group (i.e., LCID4) to see if it has priority data. Because LCID4 has priority data (i.e., 50 bytes of priority data) and because the UE has not yet filled the grant (100 bytes remain), the UE transmits all of the 50 bytes of priority data from LCID4. Because no more priority data is found in any LCID in the group, the UE returns to LCID1 (i.e., the highest priority LCID in the group) and starts transmitting non-priority data. The amount of non-priority data transmitted from LCID1 will be limited by the B for LCID1 and the amount left in the grant. After transmitting the allowed non-prioirty data from LCID1, the UE will move to the next highest priority LCID if there is still room left in the grant. As noted previously, there could be one B for each LCID, or multiple B for each LCID e.g. 1 for non-priority data and another for priority data.

[0072] In some embodiments, when a PSI indicator provides different importance levels, if no LCID has any PDUs flagged with the highest PSI level, then the UE would start transmitting flagged PDUs with the next highest PSI level, starting from the highest priority LCID if the bucket for the highest priority LCID allowed it. Alternatively, when the next PSI level is selected, the UE would calculate a new bucket value for that level (e.g., the new bucket value is calculated using the PBR and BSD corresponding to that level), and would start selecting data starting with the highest priority LCID.

[0073] In some embodiments, for a certain LCID (denoted LCID j), the UE performs transmission of the packets belonging to the LC identified by LCID j (i.e., LC j) based on priority of the PSI indicator, i.e. start by transmitting the packets belonging to LC j (i.e., the packets in LC j’s buffer) that are indicated with high importance. The bucket value for LC j (i.e., Bj) can have been calculated either by new parameters or legacy parameters. What happens after transmission can be of different options. As in legacy, the UE may reduce Bj only by the size of the transmitted bits. Another option is to reduce the Bj value with another value other than the transmitted bits. One option is if there are only low importance packets left in the LC j ’ s buffer, then the UE may reduce Bj directly to 0. In this solution other LCs with B > 0 will take priority of transmission. If the UL scheduling grant from the NW is large enough, then the low priority packets in LC j ’ s buffer may still be transmitted if no other LC has B > 0 and the procedure start to fill the grant with data from LCs where B is 0.

[0074] In addition to reducing Bj to 0 when only low importance packets are left in the buffer for LC j, the UE could transfer the remaining bits in Bj to another variable Cj. This Cj variable is used in the same procedural way as Bj but only when there are no more LCs with B > 0. The variable Cj is reset to 0 before every transmission. When there are no more Cj > 0 the procedure continues as in legacy operation after all Bj = 0 for LCs with data.

[0075] In some embodiments, the UE may, in response to an UL grant, initially select a certain set of LCIDs (e g., very high prority LCIDs) regardless of whether or not those LCIDs have important PDUs (i.e., PDUs flagged with PSI indicator) and attempt to fill the grant using the PDUs from the set of initially selected LCIDs. Once the selected LCIDs no longer have any PDUs in their respective queues and the grant has not been filled, the UE will check the other non-initially selected LCIDs to see if any of them have important PDUs, i.e., transmitting data of importance in the order of the remaining LCID priority. The set of LCIDs that should be initially selected may be indicated by a network. In addition to the above, if the importance is also in a multiple level, the UE performs to the above rule in the order of the importance level.

[0076] In another embodiment, the UE first selects the LCID with the highest priority and transmits PDUs from that LCID in the order of the highest importance level to the lowest importance level. Once the queue for the LCID is empty, the UE moves to the next highest priority LCID that has one more important PDUs (i.e. PDUs flagged data with importance indication).

[0077] In another embodiment, in response to a grant the UE initially ignores the LCID priority and instead first transmits PDUs with the highest importance from one or more LCIDs and then moves to the PDUs with the second most important bits from one or more LCIDs. This will be continued until all PDUs with importance indication are transmitted (assuming the grant is large enough to handle all of the important PDUs). After that, and assuming the grant has not been filled, the UE transmits PDUs from the highest LCID without importance indication.

[0078] As indicated above, when PDU sets flagged as important by the PSI indicator, the UE may prioritize the transmission of these PDUs over other PDUs in the same queue having a lower priority, if the UE was configured by the network, or the NW did not indicate to transmit the PDUs in order of buffer arrival to the buffer.

[0079] In addition to that, the UE may report a buffer status report (BSR) to the network and it may indicate the buffer size considering to the PDUs flagged with PSI indicator in the corresponding LCID or in the LCG. It may also indicate the buffer size considering the PDUs not flagged. It may also include the total buffer size for the corresponding LCID or Logical Channel Group. Alternatively, the BSR may include the size for one or more of the PDUs flagged with PSI indicator in each LCID or LCG.

[0080] FIG. 8 shows an example of a communication system 800 in accordance with some embodiments. In the example, the communication system 800 includes a telecommunication network 802 that includes an access network 804, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 806, which includes one or more core network nodes 808. The access network 804 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 810a and 810b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 810), or any other similar 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non- 3 GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 802 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 802 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O- RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 802, including one or more network nodes 810 and/or core network nodes 808.

[0081] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the O- RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 810 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 812a, 812b, 812c, and 812d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 812) to the core network 806 over one or more wireless connections.

[0082] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 800 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 800 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

[0083] The UEs 812 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 810 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 810 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 812 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 802 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 802. [0084] In the depicted example, the core network 806 connects the network nodes 810 to one or more hosts, such as host 816. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 806 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 808) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 808. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0085] The host 816 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 804 and/or the telecommunication network 802, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 816 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0086] As a whole, the communication system 800 of FIG. 8 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0087] In some examples, the telecommunication network 802 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 802 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 802. For example, the telecommunications network 802 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)ZMassive loT services to yet further UEs

[0088] In some examples, the UEs 812 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 804 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 804.

Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multistandard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0089] In the example, the hub 814 communicates with the access network 804 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 812c and/or 812d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 810b). In some examples, the hub 814 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 814 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 806 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 814 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs.

Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 810, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 814. As another example, the hub 814 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 814 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 814 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 814 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 814 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0090] The hub 814 may have a constant/persi stent or intermittent connection to the network node 810b. The hub 814 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 814 and UEs (e.g., UE 812c and/or 812d), and between the hub 814 and the core network 806. In other examples, the hub 814 is connected to the core network 806 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 814 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 804 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 810 while still connected via the hub 814 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 814 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 810b. In other embodiments, the hub 814 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 810b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.

[0091] FIG. 9 shows a UE 900 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0092] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0093] The UE 900 includes processing circuitry 902 that is operatively coupled via a bus 904 to an input/output interface 906, a power source 908, a memory 910, a communication interface 912, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 9. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0094] The processing circuitry 902 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 910. The processing circuitry 902 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 902 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0095] In the example, the input/output interface 906 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 900. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0096] In some embodiments, the power source 908 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 908 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 908 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 900 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 908. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 908 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 900 to which power is supplied.

[0097] The memory 910 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 910 includes one or more application programs 914, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 916. The memory 910 may store, for use by the UE 900, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0098] The memory 910 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 910 may allow the UE 900 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 910, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0099] The processing circuitry 902 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 912. The communication interface 912 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 922. The communication interface 912 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 918 and/or a receiver 920 appropriate to provide network communications (e g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 918 and receiver 920 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 922) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0100] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 912 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/intemet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0101] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 912, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0102] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0103] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 900 shown in FIG. 9.

[0104] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0105] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0106] FIG. 10 shows a network node 1000 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NRNodeBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0107] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O- RAN access node) and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0108] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi- TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0109] The network node 1000 includes a processing circuitry 1002, a memory 1004, a communication interface 1006, and a power source 1008. The network node 1000 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 1000 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 1000 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 1004 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 1010 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 1000 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1000, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 1000.

[0110] The processing circuitry 1002 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1000 components, such as the memory 1004, to provide network node 1000 functionality.

[OHl] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1002 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1002 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1012 and baseband processing circuitry 1014. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1012 and the baseband processing circuitry 1014 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1012 and baseband processing circuitry 1014 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0112] The memory 1004 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 1002. The memory 1004 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 1002 and utilized by the network node 1000. The memory 1004 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1002 and/or any data received via the communication interface 1006. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1002 and memory 1004 is integrated.

[0113] The communication interface 1006 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 1006 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 1016 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 1006 also includes radio front-end circuitry 1018 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 1010. Radio front-end circuitry 1018 comprises filters 1020 and amplifiers 1022. The radio front-end circuitry 1018 may be connected to an antenna 1010 and processing circuitry 1002. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1010 and processing circuitry 1002. The radio front-end circuitry 1018 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 1018 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1020 and/or amplifiers 1022. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 1010. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1010 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1018. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1002. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

[0114] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 1000 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1018, instead, the processing circuitry 1002 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1010. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1012 is part of the communication interface 1006. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 1006 includes one or more ports or terminals 1016, the radio front-end circuitry 1018, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1012, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 1006 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1014, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0115] The antenna 1010 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1010 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1018 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 1010 is separate from the network node 1000 and connectable to the network node 1000 through an interface or port.

[0116] The antenna 1010, communication interface 1006, and/or the processing circuitry 1002 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1010, the communication interface 1006, and/or the processing circuitry 1002 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

[0117] The power source 1008 provides power to the various components of network node 1000 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 1008 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1000 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1000 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 1008. As a further example, the power source 1008 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0118] Embodiments of the network node 1000 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIG. 10 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 1000 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1000 and to allow output of information from the network node 1000. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1000.

[0119] FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a host 1100, which may be an embodiment of the host 816 of FIG. 8, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 1100 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and/or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 1100 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0120] The host 1100 includes processing circuitry 1102 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1104 to an input/output interface 1106, a network interface 1108, a power source 1110, and a memory 1112. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as FIGs. 9 and 10, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 1100.

[0121] The memory 1112 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 1114 and data 1116, which may include user data, e g., data generated by a UE for the host 1100 or data generated by the host 1100 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 1100 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 1114 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application programs 1114 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 1100 may select and/or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. The host application programs 1114 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0122] FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1200 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1200 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 1200 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface.

[0123] Applications 1202 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0124] Hardware 1204 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1206 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1208a and 1208b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1208), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1206 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1208.

[0125] The VMs 1208 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1206. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1202 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1208, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0126] In the context of NFV, a VM 1208 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1208, and that part of hardware 1204 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 1208 on top of the hardware 1204 and corresponds to the application 1202.

[0127] Hardware 1204 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1204 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1204 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 1210, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1202. In some embodiments, hardware 1204 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1212 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units. [0128] FIG. 13 shows a communication diagram of a host 1302 communicating via a network node 1304 with a UE 1306 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE 812a of FIG. 8 and/or UE 900 of FIG. 9), network node (such as network node 810a of FIG. 8 and/or network node 1000 of FIG. 10), and host (such as host 816 of FIG. 8 and/or host 1100 of FIG. 11) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 13.

[0129] Like host 1100, embodiments of host 1302 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 1302 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host 1302 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 1306 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1350 extending between the UE 1306 and host 1302. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 1350.

[0130] The network node 1304 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 1302 and UE 1306. The connection 1360 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 806 of FIG. 8) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0131] The UE 1306 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 1306 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 1306 with the support of the host 1302. In the host 1302, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 1350 terminating at the UE 1306 and host 1302. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1350 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 1350.

[0132] The OTT connection 1350 may extend via a connection 1360 between the host 1302 and the network node 1304 and via a wireless connection 1370 between the network node 1304 and the UE 1306 to provide the connection between the host 1302 and the UE 1306. The connection 1360 and wireless connection 1370, over which the OTT connection 1350 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 1302 and the UE 1306 via the network node 1304, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

[0133] As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 1350, in step 1308, the host 1302 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 1306. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 1306 that shares data with the host 1302 without explicit human interaction. In step 1310, the host 1302 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 1306. The host 1302 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 1306. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 1306 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 1306. The transmission may pass via the network node 1304, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 1312, the network node 1304 transmits to the UE 1306 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 1302 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1314, the UE 1306 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 1306 associated with the host application executed by the host 1302.

[0134] In some examples, the UE 1306 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 1302. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 1302. Accordingly, in step 1316, the UE 1306 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of the UE 1306. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 1306 initiates, in step 1318, transmission of the user data towards the host 1302 via the network node 1304. In step 1320, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 1304 receives user data from the UE 1306 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 1302. In step 1322, the host 1302 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1306. [0135] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1306 using the OTT connection 1350, in which the wireless connection 1370 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the data rate and latency for high priority traffic and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time for high priority services and/or better responsiveness.

[0136] In an example scenario, status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 1302. As another example, the host 1302 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 1302 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights) As another example, the host 1302 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host 1302 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 1302 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and/or transmitting data.

[0137] In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1350 between the host 1302 and UE 1306, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 1302 and/or UE 1306. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 1350 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 1350 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 1304. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host 1302. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 1350 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

[0138] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0139] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and/or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0140] FIG. 7 illustrates a process 700 (a.k.a., method 700) performed by a UE (e.g. UE 812a). The process 700 may begin with step s702. Step s702 comprises adding a first set of one or more protocol data units (PDUs) to a queue for a first logical channel (LC). Step s704 comprises determining that the first set of PDUs is flagged with a PDU Set Importance (PSI) indicator. Step s706 comprises prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator and/or prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator.

[0141] In some embodiments, the process comprises prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator, the process further comprising storing a bucket size value for the first LC, and prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator comprises transmitting one or more PDUs included in the first set of PDUs regardless of the bucket size value for the first LC.

[0142] In some embodiments the process further comprises, prior to transmitting each PDU included in the first set of PDUs regardless of the bucket size value for the first LC, receiving from a network node configuration information specifying that the UE is authorized to transmit each PDU included in the first set of PDUs regardless of the bucket size value for the first LC.

[0143] In some embodiments, the process comprises prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator, and prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator comprises transmitting each PDU included in the first set of PDUs prior to transmitting any other PDU included in the queue for the first LC.

[0144] In some embodiments, the process comprises prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator, and prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator comprises: obtaining one or more bucket size parameters (e.g., PBR and/or BSD) associated with the PSI indicator; and calculating a bucket size for the first LC using the obtained bucket size parameters, wherein the calculated bucket size sets a limit on the amount of data from the queue for the first LC that may be transmitted.

[0145] In some embodiments, the process comprises prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator, the process further comprises storing a first set of one or more bucket size parameters and a second set of one or more bucket size parameters, wherein the first set of bucket size parameters is associated with a first PSI indicator value and the second set of bucket size parameters is associated with a second PSI indicator value, the PSI indicator specifies a particular PSI indicator value, and prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator comprises: obtaining a set of bucket size parameters (e.g., PBR and/or BSD) associated with the particular PSI indicator value; and calculating a bucket size for the first LC using the obtained bucket size parameters, wherein the calculated bucket size sets a limit on the amount of data from the queue for the first LC that may be transmitted.

[0146] In some embodiments, the process comprises prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator. In such an embodiment, the process may further comprise adding a second set of one or more PDUs to a queue for a second LC, wherein none of the PDUs included in the queue for the second LC is flagged with a PSI indicator and further wherein the second LC has a higher LC priority than the first LC and has a non-zero bucket size, and prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator comprises: in response to receiving uplink, UL, grant transmitting at least one PDU from the first set of PDUs prior to transmitting any PDU included in the queue for the second LC.

[0147] In another aspect there is provided a UE, comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps described above; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0148] In another aspect the UE comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps described above; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

[0149] In another aspect there is provided a host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service. The host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data, and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps described above to transmit the user data to the host.

[0150] In some embodiments, the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the UE to the host.

[0151] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0152] In another aspect there is a process implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE) The process comprising: at the host, receiving user data transmitted to the host via the network node by the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps described above to transmit the user data to the host. In some embodiments, the process further includes, at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE. In some embodiments, the process further includes, at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

[0153] While various embodiments are described herein, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of this disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the disclosure unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.

[0154] As used herein transmitting a message “to” or “toward” an intended recipient encompasses transmitting the message directly to the intended recipient or transmitting the message indirectly to the intended recipient (i.e., one or more other nodes are used to relay the message from the source node to the intended recipient). Likewise, as used herein receiving a message “from” a sender encompasses receiving the message directly from the sender or indirectly from the sender (i.e., one or more nodes are used to relay the message from the sender to the receiving node). Further, as used herein “a” means “at least one” or “one or more.” [0155] Additionally, while the processes described above and illustrated in the drawings are shown as a sequence of steps, this was done solely for the sake of illustration. Accordingly, it is contemplated that some steps may be added, some steps may be omitted, the order of the steps may be re-arranged, and some steps may be performed in parallel.

Claims

1. A method (700) performed by a user equipment, UE, the method comprising: adding (s702) a first set of one or more protocol data units, PDUs, to a queue for a first logical channel, LC; determining (s704) that the first set of PDUs is flagged with a PDU Set Importance, PSI, indicator (s704); and prioritizing (s706) the first LC based on the PSI indicator and/or prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator, the method further comprises storing a bucket size value for the first LC, and prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator comprises transmitting one or more PDUs included in the first set of PDUs regardless of the bucket size value for the first LC.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, prior to transmitting each PDU included in the first set of PDUs regardless of the bucket size value for the first LC, receiving from a network node configuration information specifying that the UE is authorized to transmit each PDU included in the first set of PDUs regardless of the bucket size value for the first LC.

4. The method of any one of claims 1-3, wherein the method comprises prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator, and prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator comprises transmitting each PDU included in the first set of PDUs prior to transmitting any other PDU included in the queue for the first LC.

5. The method of any one of claims 1-4, wherein the method comprises prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator, and prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator comprises: obtaining one or more bucket size parameters associated with the PSI indicator; and calculating a bucket size for the first LC using the obtained bucket size parameters, wherein the calculated bucket size sets a limit on the amount of data from the queue for the first LC that may be transmitted.

6. The method of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the method comprises prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator, the method further comprises storing a first set of one or more bucket size parameters and a second set of one or more bucket size parameters, wherein the first set of bucket size parameters is associated with a first PSI indicator value and the second set of bucket size parameters is associated with a second PSI indicator value, the PSI indicator specifies a particular PSI indicator value, and prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator comprises: obtaining a set of bucket size parameters (e.g., PBR and/or BSD) associated with the particular PSI indicator value; and calculating a bucket size for the first LC using the obtained bucket size parameters, wherein the calculated bucket size sets a limit on the amount of data from the queue for the first LC that may be transmitted.

7. The method of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the method comprises prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises adding a second set of one or more PDUs to a queue for a second LC, wherein none of the PDUs included in the queue for the second LC is flagged with a PSI indicator and further wherein the second LC has a higher LC priority than the first LC and has a non-zero bucket size, and prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator comprises: in response to receiving uplink, UL, grant transmitting at least one PDU from the first set of PDUs prior to transmitting any PDU included in the queue for the second LC.

9. A computer program (914) comprising instructions which when executed by processing circuitry (902) of a user equipment, UE, causes the UE to perform the method of any one of claims 1-8.

10. A carrier containing the computer program of claim 9, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, and a computer readable storage medium (910).

11. A user equipment, UE (900), the UE being configured to perform a method comprising: adding (s702) a first set of one or more protocol data units, PDUs, to a queue for a first logical channel, LC; determining (s704) that the first set of PDUs is flagged with a PDU Set Importance, PSI, indicator (s704); and prioritizing (s706) the first LC based on the PSI indicator and/or prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator.

12. The UE of claim 11, wherein the method comprises prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator, the method further comprises storing a bucket size value for the first LC, and prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator comprises transmitting one or more PDUs included in the first set of PDUs regardless of the bucket size value for the first LC.

13. The UE of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises, prior to transmitting each PDU included in the first set of PDUs regardless of the bucket size value for the first LC, receiving from a network node configuration information specifying that the UE is authorized to transmit each PDU included in the first set of PDUs regardless of the bucket size value for the first LC.

14. The UE of any one of claims 11-13, wherein the method comprises prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator, and prioritizing the transmission of the first set of PDUs based on the PSI indicator comprises transmitting each PDU included in the first set of PDUs prior to transmitting any other PDU included in the queue for the first LC.

15. The UE of any one of claims 11-14, wherein the method comprises prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator, and prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator comprises: obtaining one or more bucket size parameters associated with the PSI indicator; and calculating a bucket size for the first LC using the obtained bucket size parameters, wherein the calculated bucket size sets a limit on the amount of data from the queue for the first LC that may be transmitted.

16. The UE of any one of claims 11-15, wherein the method comprises prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator, the method further comprises storing a first set of one or more bucket size parameters and a second set of one or more bucket size parameters, wherein the first set of bucket size parameters is associated with a first PSI indicator value and the second set of bucket size parameters is associated with a second PSI indicator value, the PSI indicator specifies a particular PSI indicator value, and prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator comprises: obtaining a set of bucket size parameters (e.g., PBR and/or BSD) associated with the particular PSI indicator value; and calculating a bucket size for the first LC using the obtained bucket size parameters, wherein the calculated bucket size sets a limit on the amount of data from the queue for the first LC that may be transmitted.

17. The UE of any one of claims 11-16, wherein the method comprises prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator.

18. The UE of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises adding a second set of one or more PDUs to a queue for a second LC, wherein none of the PDUs included in the queue for the second LC is flagged with a PSI indicator and further wherein the second LC has a higher LC priority than the first LC and has a non-zero bucket size, and prioritizing the first LC based on the PSI indicator comprises: in response to receiving uplink, UL, grant transmitting at least one PDU from the first set of PDUs prior to transmitting any PDU included in the queue for the second LC.