EP4684491A1

EP4684491A1 - Selective duplication

Info

Publication number: EP4684491A1
Application number: EP23927960.7A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Chunli Wu; Benoist Pierre Sebire
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2023-03-20
Filing date: 2023-03-20
Publication date: 2026-01-28
Also published as: CN120898391A; WO2024192643A1

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to communication for duplication. In one aspect, a first device receives, from a second device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer. If the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, the first device determines the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets, and duplicates the PDUs belonging to the determined group of at least one PDU set. In this way, finer control for duplication within a radio bearer may be achieved. Thus, it is ensured that QoS is met without consuming too much resource.

Description

SELECTIVE DUPLICATION

FIELD

Various example embodiments relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to a method, device, apparatus and computer readable storage medium for selective duplication.

BACKGROUND

Conventionally, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) duplication is configured per data radio bearer (DRB) . However, it may be inefficient to duplicate all protocol data units (PDUs) for a DRB considering a very high data rate for extended reality (XR) traffic.
SUMMARY
In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of communication for duplication.
In a first aspect, there is provided a first device. The first device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to: receive, from a second device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer; in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, determine the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets; and duplicate the PDUs belonging to the determined group of at least one PDU set.
In a second aspect, there is provided a second device. The second device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second device at least to: transmit, to a first device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer; and in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, transmit, to the first device, an indication for activating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set.
In a third aspect, there is provided a method for communication. The method comprises: receiving, at a first device and from a second device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer; in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, determining the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets; and duplicating the PDUs belonging to the determined group of at least one PDU set.
In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method for communication. The method comprises: transmitting, at a second device and to a first device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer; and in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, transmitting, to the first device, an indication for activating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set.
In a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus for communication. The apparatus comprises: means for receiving, at a first device and from a second device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer; means for, in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, determining the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets; and means for duplicating the PDUs belonging to the determined group of at least one PDU set.
In a sixth aspect, there is provided an apparatus for communication. The apparatus comprises: means for transmitting, at a second device and to a first device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer; and means for, in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, transmitting, to the first device, an indication for activating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set.
In a seventh aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third or fourth aspect.
In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third or fourth aspect.
It is to be understood that the summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:
Fig. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;
Fig. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of activation or deactivation of duplication in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;
Fig. 3 illustrates a diagram illustrating a process of communication for duplication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 4 illustrates a diagram illustrating an example medium access control control element (MAC CE) according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a first device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a second device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 7 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure; and
Fig. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.
In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.
References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.
It shall be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof. As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.
As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:
(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and
(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :
(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and
(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and
(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.
This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.
As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) , the future sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.
As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a new radio (NR) next generation NodeB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. An RAN split architecture comprises a gNB-CU (Centralized unit, hosting RRC, SDAP and PDCP) controlling a plurality of gNB-DUs (Distributed unit, hosting RLC, MAC and PHY) .
The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.
Although functionalities described herein can be performed, in various example embodiments, in a fixed and/or a wireless network node, in other example embodiments, functionalities may be implemented in a user equipment apparatus (such as a cell phone or tablet computer or laptop computer or desktop computer or mobile IoT device or fixed IoT device) . This user equipment apparatus can, for example, be furnished with corresponding capabilities as described in connection with the fixed and/or the wireless network node (s) , as appropriate. The user equipment apparatus may be the user equipment and/or or a control device, such as a chipset or processor, configured to control the user equipment when installed therein. Examples of such functionalities include the bootstrapping server function and/or the home subscriber server, which may be implemented in the user equipment apparatus by providing the user equipment apparatus with software configured to cause the user equipment apparatus to perform from the point of view of these functions/nodes.
XR refers to all real-and-virtual combined environments and associated human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables. XR includes representative forms such as augmented reality (AR) , mixed reality (MR) , and virtual reality (VR) and the areas interpolated among them. The main XR related video traffic characteristics in uplink (UL) may be summarized as follows: a non-integer periodicity (e.g., 16.6ms for 60fps) ; a packet delay budget (PDB) requirement of 30ms as baseline and 10ms and 15ms as optional; a varying video frame size with mean 20.8kBytes for 60fps and 10Mbit/s following Truncated Gaussian distribution. In addition to video in UL, pose or control information can be sent with the following main characteristics: a periodicity of 4ms; a stringent PDB requirement of 10ms; a frame size of 100bytes.
Recently, it is proposed to specify the following enhancements for XR awareness: provisioning by a core network (CN) of semi-static information per quality of service (QoS) flow (e.g., PDU set QoS parameters) , dynamic information per PDU set (PDU set information and identification) and End of Data Burst indication; identifying by UE of PDU sets, data bursts and PDU set importance (PSI) ; provisioning by UE of XR traffic assistance information.
In XR, the same QoS flow may carry PDU sets of difference importance. The importance of a PDU set may be conveyed dynamically by PSI. In downlink (DL) , PSI is part of a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol (GTP) header and in UL, UE is assumed to be able to know PSI of each PDU set.
When a QoS flow is mapped to one radio bearer (RB) and then in one LCH in a radio access network (RAN) , all PDU sets will be processed in the same way. It may be inefficient to duplicate everything for the RB/LCH considering a very high data rate for XR traffic.
In view of this, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of communication for duplication to overcome the above and other potential issues. In the solution, a first device receives, from a second device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer. If the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, the first device determines the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets, and duplicates the PDUs belonging to the determined group of at least one PDU set.
In this way, finer control for duplication within an RB/LCH may be achieved. Thus, it is ensured that QoS is met without consuming too much resource.
Principles and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the figures.
Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example communication environment 100 in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in Fig. 1, the communication environment 100 may include a first device 110 and a second device 120 serving the first device 110. For illustration, the first device 110 is shown as a terminal device and the second device 120 is shown as a network device.
It is to be understood that the number of first and second devices in Fig. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations to the present disclosure. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of first devices and/or second devices adapted for implementing implementations of the present disclosure.
Merely for illustration purposes and without suggesting any limitations as to the scope of the present disclosure, some embodiments will be described in the context where the first device 110 is a terminal device and the second device 120 is a network device. It is to be understood that, in other embodiments, the first device 110 may be a network device and the second device 120 may be a terminal device. In other words, the principles and spirit of the present disclosure may be applied to both uplink and downlink transmissions.
As shown in Fig. 1, the first device 110 and the second device 120 may communicate with each other via a wireless communication channel. The communications within the communication environment 100 may conform to any suitable standard including, but not limited to, LTE, LTE-evolution, LTE-advanced (LTE-A) , wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) , code division multiple access (CDMA) and global system for mobile communications (GSM) and the like. Furthermore, the communications may be performed according to any generation communication protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the communication protocols include, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) or the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols.
In some embodiments, the second device 120 may configure, to the first device 110, one or more radio bearers for data transmission. In some embodiments, the one or more radio bearers may comprise one or more DRBs. In some embodiments, the one or more radio bearers may comprise one or more signaling radio bearers (SRBs) .
In some embodiments, the second device 120 may configure, to the first device 110, duplication for the one or more radio bearers. FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram 200 of activation or deactivation of duplication in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented.
As shown in FIG. 2, when duplication is activated or configured for the first device 110, a PDU from a higher-layer entity 201 of the first device 110 may be repeatedly submitted to a plurality of lower-layer entities (in this example, only two lower-layer entities 211 and 212 are shown for illustration) of the first device 110 via respective lower-layer bearer or channels. The higher-layer entity 201 may be associated with a QoS flow or a radio bearer. The lower-layer entities in the plurality of lower-layer entities may correspond to different LCHs. The PDU may be transmitted to the second device 120 via the LCHs. Lower-layer entities 221 and 222 of the second device 120 may submit received PDUs to a higher-layer entity 202 of the second device 120 associated with the QoS flow or radio bearer.
When duplication is deactivated or not configured for the first device 110, a PDU from the higher-layer entity 201 of the first device 110 may be submitted to a single lower-layer entity (for example, the lower-layer entity 211) of the first device 110 via a respective lower-layer bearer or channel. The higher-layer entity 201 may be associated with a QoS flow or radio bearer. The PDU may be transmitted to the second device 120 via a LCH corresponding to the lower-layer entity 221. The lower-layer entity 221 of the second device 120 may submit a received PDU to the higher-layer entity 202 of the second device 120 associated with the QoS flow or radio bearer.
In some embodiments, a higher-layer entity may be a PDCP entity, and a lower-layer entity may be an RLC entity. In this case, the duplication is performed in a PDCP layer. In some embodiments, a higher-layer entity may be an RLC entity, and a lower-layer entity may be an MAC entity. In this case, the duplication is performed in an RLC layer. In some embodiments, a higher-layer entity may be an MAC entity, and a lower-layer entity may be a PHY entity. In this case, the duplication is performed in an MAC layer.
Conventionally, when a QoS flow is mapped to one radio bearer in RAN, all PDU sets will be processed in the same way. It may be inefficient to duplicate everything for the LCH considering a very high data rate for XR traffic.
Thus, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for selective PDU duplication. More details will be described below in connection with Fig. 3.
Fig. 3 illustrates a flowchart illustrating a diagram illustrating a process 300 of communication for duplication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the process 300 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. The process 300 may involve the first device 110 and the second device 120 as illustrated in Fig. 1. It is assumed that the first device 110 is served by the second device 120.
As shown in Fig. 3, the second device 120 may transmit 310, to the first device 110, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer. In an embodiment, the configuration may indicate to the first device 110 when to activate the duplication and/or what is/are the criterion/criteria for activating the duplication. In an embodiment the criterion/criteria for activation may be implicit, as will be described later. In other words, only when the duplication is configured/enabled, the first device 110 is able to activate the duplication.
In some embodiments, the group of at least one PDU set may comprise all the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer. In some embodiments, the group of at least one PDU set may not comprise all the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer. In other words, the group of at least one PDU set comprises part of the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer.
In some embodiments, a PDU associated with a radio bearer may not belong to any PDU set. In this case, the group of at least one PDU set does not comprise all PDUs associated with the radio bearer. In other words, the group of at least one PDU set comprises part of the PDUs associated with the radio bearer. In some embodiments, the radio bearer may be a DRB. In some embodiments, the radio bearer may be an SRB.
In some embodiments, the second device 120 may only configure, to the first device 110, the duplication based on the information of the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer. In some embodiments, the second device 120 may also transmit 311, to the first device 110, a configuration indicating that a duplication of all PDUs associated with the radio bearer is enabled for the radio bearer. That is, the second device 120 may configure, to the first device 110, both the duplication based on the information of the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer and the duplication (i.e., legacy duplication) of all PDUs associated with the radio bearer.
Continue to refer to Fig. 3, upon reception of the configuration, the first device 110 may determine 320 whether the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. In some embodiments, the first device 110 may determine, based on an indication from the second device 120, whether the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. In some embodiments, the determination of activation may be implicit without any indication from the second device 120, e.g. based on detecting a predetermined event or situation. The activation for the for the group of at least one PDU set may denote that only the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is activated, but the activation of all PDUs associated with the radio bearer, which may comprise also PDUs not belonging to the group, is not activated.
With reference to Fig. 3, the second device 120 may determine 321 whether the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. In some embodiments where the duplication of all PDUs associated with the radio bearer is also configured for the first device 110, the second device 120 may determine whether the duplication is to be activated for the group of at least one PDU set or for all the PDUs. In some embodiments, the second device 120 may perform the determination based on at least one of channel quality between the first device 110 and the second device 120 or load of the second device 120.
In some embodiments, if the channel quality is below first predetermined threshold quality and the load is above predetermined threshold load, the second device 120 may determine that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. In other words, if the channel quality is poor and the load is high, the second device 120 may determine that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. This may mean that the duplication based on the information of the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer is activated, but a (general) activation for duplicating all PDUs is not activated. In an embodiment, the information of all the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer is such that the duplication is performed for all PDU sets. However, in more typical scenario, only a few PDU set (s) associated with the radio bearer fulfill the duplication criteria/criterion (i.e. only a few PDU set (s) comprise or is associated with such information that they needs to be duplicated, while other PDU sets associated with the radio bearer or PDUs not belonging to any PDU set are not duplicated) .
In some embodiments, if the channel quality is above the first predetermined threshold quality and below second predetermined threshold quality, wherein the second predetermined threshold quality is higher than the first predetermined threshold quality, and the load is below the predetermined threshold load, the second device 120 may determine that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. In other words, if the channel quality is moderate and the load is low, the second device 120 may determine that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. This may mean that the duplication based on the information of the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer is activated, but the (general) activation for duplicating all PDUs is not activated.
In some embodiments, if the channel quality is below the first predetermined threshold quality and the load is below the predetermined threshold load, the second device 120 may determine that the duplication for all PDUs associated with the radio bearer is to be activated. In other words, if the channel quality is poor and the load is low, the second device 120 may determine that the duplication for all PDUs associated with the radio bearer is to be activated.
In some embodiments, if the channel quality is above the second predetermined threshold quality, the second device 120 may transmit an indication for deactivating the duplication. In other words, if the channel quality is good, the second device 120 may determine that the duplication for the radio bearer is to be deactivated.
In an embodiment, if the channel quality is good enough (e.g. above a predetermined quality threshold) , the second device may determine to deactivate the duplication regardless of the load. In another embodiment, if the channel quality is too low (e.g. below a predetermined quality threshold) , the second device may determine to activate the duplication regardless of the load.
It is to be understood that the determination 321 may be dependent on network implementation and any other suitable ways are also feasible.
With reference to Fig. 3, if the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, the second device 120 may transmit 322 an indication for activating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set. In some embodiments, if the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be deactivated, the second device 120 may transmit an indication for deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set.
In some embodiments where the duplication of all PDUs associated with the radio bearer is also configured for the first device 110, if the duplication for all PDUs is to be activated, the second device 120 may transmit an indication for activating the duplication for all PDUs associated with the radio bearer. In some embodiments, if the duplication for all PDUs is to be deactivated, the second device 120 may transmit an indication for deactivating the duplication for all PDUs associated with the radio bearer.
An embodiment, where the first device 110 is configured with both the duplication of only the group of at least one PDU set and the duplication of all PDUs associated with the radio bearer, enables the second device 120 to quickly and resource efficiently activate (or deactivate) either the duplication of only the group of at least one PDU set or the duplication of all PDUs associated with the radio bearer.
In some embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit, via an MAC CE, the indication for activating or deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set or all PDUs associated with the radio bearer. In some embodiments where both the duplication based on information of PDU sets and the duplication for all PDUs are configured, a first MAC CE may be used for activating or deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set, and a second MAC CE may be used for activating or deactivating the duplication for all PDUs. That is, it is separately controlled whether PDUs belonging to the group of at least one PDU set are duplicated or whether all PDUs associated with the radio bearer are to be duplicated.
In some embodiments, the second MAC CE may be an existing, legacy, MAC CE for activation or deactivation of the duplication for all PDUs. In some embodiments, the first MAC CE may be a newly defined MAC CE for activation or deactivation of the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set. Comparison with the legacy MAC CE, the newly defined MAC CE may have a different logic channel identity (LCID) and the same bitmap structure. Fig. 4 illustrates a diagram illustrating an example bitmap structure of an MAC CE 400 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 4, the MAC CE 400 may comprise a bitmap (D₀ to D₇) of radio bearers. A bit in the bitmap may indicate duplication for a corresponding RB is activated or deactivated. For example, a first value of the bit may indicate the activation of the duplication and a second value of the bit may indicate the deactivation for the duplication.
In some embodiments, a LCID of the newly defined MAC CE (i.e., the first MAC CE) may be set as any of 35 to 46, while a LCID of the legacy MAC CE (i.e., the second MAC CE) may be set as 56.
In some embodiments where only the duplication based on information of PDU sets is configured and the duplication for all PDUs is not configured, a legacy MAC CE may be reused for activating or deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set. For example, an MAC CE for activating or deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set may have the similar bitmap structure as shown in Fig. 4 and have a LCID of 56.
It is to be understood that the second device 120 may also transmit the indication of activation or deactivation of the duplication via any other suitable ways.
In some embodiments, if the indication for activating or deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is received, the first device 110 may determine that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated or deactivated, respectively. In some embodiments, if the indication for activating or deactivating the duplication for all the PDU sets is received, the first device 110 may determine that the duplication for all the PDU sets is to be activated or deactivated, respectively.
Continue to refer to Fig. 3, in some embodiments, the first device 110 may determine 323, without an indication from the second device 120, whether the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated (e.g. implicit activation determination based on detecting a predetermined event or situation) . In some embodiments, if a transmission resource is available but no data is to be transmitted, the first device 110 may determine that that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. In some embodiments, if a retransmission grant or a negative acknowledgement (NACK) is received for a transport block (TB) containing data from the radio bearer configured with the duplication of the group of at least one PDU set, the first device 110 may determine that that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. In some embodiments, if a retransmission grant or a NACK is received for a TB containing data of the group of at least one PDU set, the first device 110 may determine that that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. In an embodiment, in these implicit activation -based embodiments, only the group-based duplication may be activated, not the duplication of all PDUs associated with the radio bearer.
Continue to refer to Fig. 3, upon determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, the first device 110 may determine 330 the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets.
In some embodiments, the information of the PDU sets may comprise PSI of the PDU sets. In some embodiments, each PDU set is characterized with a PSI. In some embodiments, the PSI for the PDU set is defined by a higher layer, such as an application layer. In some embodiments, the first device 110 may determine 331 the group of at least one PDU set based on a predetermined threshold level.
In some embodiments, if a PDU set is identified with a level of PSI equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold level, the first device 110 may cause the PDU set to be comprised in the group of at least one PDU set. In some embodiments, the predetermined threshold level may be configured per DRB or LCH to distinguish high priority and low priority PDU sets. For example, PDU sets with a PSI level equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold level may be considered as having a high priority, and PDU sets with a PSI level lower than the predetermined threshold level may be considered as having a low priority. The group of at least one PDU set may comprise the high priority PDU sets.
In the context of the present application, a level of PSI may refer to a priority of a PDU set with the PSI for duplication. The term “a level of PSI” may be interchangeably used with “a priority level of PSI” or “a priority of PSI” .
In some embodiments, the first device 110 may receive, from the second device 120, an indication of the predetermined threshold level. In some embodiments, the second device 120 may dynamically configure the predetermined threshold level via a MAC CE. In some embodiments, the predetermined threshold level may be configured via the MAC CE indicating the activation of the duplication based on information of PDU sets. In some embodiments, the second device 120 may semi-statically configure the predetermined threshold level via an RRC signaling. It is to be understood that the predetermined threshold level may be determined in any other suitable ways. In this way, the group of at least one PDU set may be selected from the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer based on the predetermined threshold level.
In some embodiments, the first device 110 may receive 332, from the second device 120, an indication of a set of levels of PSI. Duplication is to be performed for those at least one PDU set that is identified with a PSI that is comprised in the received set of levels of PSI. Based on the set of levels of PSI, the first device 110 may determine 333 the group of at least one PDU set from the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer. In this way, PSI for which the duplication is to be performed may be explicitly signaled.
In some embodiments, the second device 120 may dynamically configure the set of levels of PSI via a MAC CE. In some embodiments, the set of levels of PSI may be configured via the MAC CE indicating the activation of the duplication based on information of PDU sets. In some embodiments, the second device 120 may semi-statically configure the set of levels of PSI via an RRC signaling.
In some embodiments, the information of the PDU sets may comprise a PDU set integrated handling indication (PSIHI) of the PDU sets. In some embodiments, each PDU set is characterized with a PSIHI. In some embodiments, the PSIHI for the PDU set is defined by a higher layer, such as an application layer. In some embodiments, the first device 110 may determine 334 the group of at least one PDU set based on the PSIHI of the PDU sets.
In the context of the present disclosure, a PSIHI may indicate whether all PDUs of a PDU set are needed for the usage of the PDU set by an application layer. In some embodiments, if a PDU set is identified with the PSIHI, the first device 110 may cause the PDU set to be comprised in the group of at least one PDU set. In other words, all PDUs in the PDU set may always be duplicated when PSIHI for the PDU set is set.
It is to be understood that the PSI and the PSIHI may also be used in combination for determination of the group of at least one PDU set. For example, both of the above-mentioned PSI and PSIHI related criterion need to be fulfilled in order for the PDU set to be included in the group of PDU set (s) that is to be supplicated. In another embodiment, only one of the above-mentioned PSI and PSIHI related criterion need to be fulfilled in order for the PDU set to be included in the group of PDU set (s) that is to be supplicated.
Continue to refer to Fig. 3, upon determination of the group of at least one PDU set, the first device 110 may duplicate 340 the PDUs belonging to the determined group of at least one PDU set. In some embodiments, the duplication may be performed on a PDCP layer. In some embodiments, the duplication may be performed on an RLC layer. In some embodiments, the duplication may be performed on an MAC layer.
So far, the process of communication for duplication is described. With the process 300, finer control for duplication within a radio bearer may be achieved. Thus, it is ensured that QoS is met without consuming too much resource.
It is to be noted that the above process 300 is merely an example, and may have additional or less operations. It is also to be noted that operations of the above process 300 may be carried out separately or in any suitable combination.
Corresponding to the above process, example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide methods of communication. Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 500 implemented at a first device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described with reference to Fig. 1.
At block 510, the first device 110 receives, from the second device 120, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer. In other words, the duplication based on the information of PDU sets is enabled for the radio bearer. In some embodiments, the group of at least one PDU set does not comprise all the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer. That is, the group of at least one PDU set may comprise part of the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer.
At block 520, the first device 110 determines that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. In some embodiments, the first device 110 may receive, from the second device 120, an indication for activating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets. Based on the indication, the first device 110 may determine that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated.
In some embodiments, the first device 110 may receive, from the second device 120, an indication for activating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets. Based on the indication, the first device 110 may determine that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated.
In some embodiments, the first device 110 may receive, from the second device 120, an indication for deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets. Based on the indication, the first device 110 may determine that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be deactivated.
In some embodiments, the first device 110 may receive, from the second device 120, a further configuration indicating that a duplication of all PDUs is enabled for the radio bearer. In some embodiments, if an indication for activating or deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is received from the second device 120, the first device 110 may determine that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated or deactivated. In some embodiments, if an indication for activating or deactivating the duplication for the all PDUs is received from the second device 120, the first device 110 may determine that the duplication for the all PDUs is to be activated or deactivated.
In some embodiments, any of the indications for activating or deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set or the PDUs associated with the radio bearer may be carried in a MAC CE. It is to be understood that any other suitable ways are also feasible. In this way, the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set may be activated or deactivated based on an indication from the network.
In some embodiments, if a transmission resource is available but no data is to be transmitted, the first device 110 may determine that that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. In some embodiments, if a retransmission grant or a NACK is received for a TB containing data from the radio bearer configured with the duplication of the group of at least one PDU set, the first device 110 may determine that that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. In some embodiments, if a retransmission grant or a NACK is received for a TB containing data of the group of at least one PDU set, the first device 110 may determine that that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated. In this way, the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set may be activated without an indication from the network.
At block 530, the first device 110 determines the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets. In some embodiments, the information of the PDU sets may comprise PSI of the PDU sets.
In some embodiments, if a PDU set is identified with a level of PSI equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold level, the first device 110 may cause the PDU set to be comprised in the group of at least one PDU set. In some embodiments, the first device 110 may receive an indication of the predetermined threshold level from the second device 120. In some embodiments, the first device 110 may receive the indication of the predetermined threshold level via at least one of an RRC signaling or an MAC CE.
In some embodiments, the first device 110 may receive, from the second device, an indication of a set of levels of PDU set importance. Duplication is to be performed for those at least one PDU set that is identified with a PDU set importance that is comprised in the received set of levels of PDU set importance. The first device 110 may determine the group of at least one PDU set from the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer based on the set of levels of PDU set importance. In this way, a high importance PDU set may be duplicated. In some embodiments, the first device 110 may receive the indication of the set of levels of PDU set importance via at least one of an RRC signaling or an MAC CE.
In some embodiments, the information of the PDU sets may comprise a PSIHI of the PDU sets. In some embodiments, if a PDU set is identified with the PDU set integrated handling indication, the first device 110 may cause the PDU set to be comprised in the group of at least one PDU set. In this way, a PDU set requiring integrated handling may be duplicated.
At block 540, the first device 110 duplicates the PDUs belonging to the determined group of at least one PDU set. In some embodiments, the duplication may be performed on at least one of the following: a PDCP layer, an RLC layer; or an MAC layer.
With the method 500, duplication for a group of at least one PDU set may be performed based on information of PDU sets. Finer control for duplication within a LCH may be achieved. Thus, it is ensured that QoS is met without consuming too much resource.
Fig. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at a second device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described with reference to Fig. 1.
At block 610, the second device 120 transmits, to the first device 110, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer. In some embodiments, the group of at least one PDU set does not comprise all the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer.
In some embodiments, the information of the PDU sets may comprise PSI of the PDU sets. In some embodiments, the information of the PDU sets may comprise PSIHI of the PDU sets.
At block 620, the second device 120 determines the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated.
In some embodiments, the second device 120 may determine that the duplication only for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated or deactivated based on at least one of channel quality between the first device 110 and the second device 120 or load of the second device 120.
In some embodiments, if channel quality between the first device 110 and the second device 120 is below first predetermined threshold quality and load of the second device 120 is above predetermined threshold load, the second device 120 may determine that the duplication only for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated.
In some embodiments, if the channel quality is above the first predetermined threshold quality and below second predetermined threshold quality higher than the first predetermined threshold quality and that the load is below the predetermined threshold load, the second device 120 may determine that the duplication only for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated.
At block 630, the second device 120 transmits, to the first device 110, an indication for activating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set.
In some embodiments, the second device 120 may also transmit, to the first device 110, a further configuration indicating that a duplication of all PDUs is enabled for the radio bearer. If the duplication for the all PDUs is to be activated, the second device 120 may transmit, to the first device 110, an indication for activating the duplication for the all PDUs associated with the radio bearer.
In some embodiments, the second device 120 may determine that the duplication for the all PDUs associated with the radio bearer is to be activated or deactivated based on at least one of channel quality between the first device 110 and the second device 120 or load of the second device 120.
In some embodiments, if the channel quality is below the first predetermined threshold quality and the load is below the predetermined threshold load, the second device 120 may determine that the duplication for the all PDUs associated with the radio bearer is to be activated.
In some embodiments, if the channel quality is above the second predetermined threshold quality, the second device 120 may transmit, to the first device 110, an indication for deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set or the duplication for the all PDUs associated with the radio bearer.
In some embodiments where the information of the PDU sets comprises PSI of the PDU sets, the second device 120 may transmit, to the first device 110, an indication of a predetermined threshold level. Duplication is to be performed for those at least one PDU set that is identified with a PSI that is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold level. In some embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit the indication of the predetermined threshold level via at least one of an RRC signaling or an MAC CE.
In some embodiments where the information of the PDU sets comprises PSI of the PDU sets, the second device 120 may transmit, to the first device 110, an indication of a set of levels of PSI. Duplication is to be performed for those at least one PDU set that is identified with a PSI that is comprised in the transmitted set of levels of PSI. In some embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit the indication of the set of levels of PSI via at least one of an RRC signaling or an MAC CE.
In some embodiments, the duplication may be performed on at least one of the following: a PDCP layer; an RLC layer; or an MAC layer.
In an embodiment, the second device, as a network device, may apply the same PSI/PSIHI related criterion when determining whether or not to duplicate a group of at least one PDU set in downlink communication to the first device.
With the method 600, finer control for duplication within a radio bearer may be facilitated, and it is ensured that QoS is met without consuming too much resource.
It is to be noted that the operations of the methods 500 to 600 correspond to that described in connection with Fig. 3, and thus other details are not repeated here for conciseness.
Example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide the corresponding apparatus. In some embodiments, an apparatus (for example, the first device 110) capable of performing the method 500 may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 500. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.
In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for receiving, from a second device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer; means for, in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, determining the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets; and means for duplicating the PDUs belonging to the determined group of at least one PDU set.
In some embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for receiving, from the second device, an indication for activating or deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets; and means for determining that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated or deactivated.
In some embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for receiving, from the second device, a further configuration indicating that a duplication of all PDUs is enabled for the radio bearer. In some embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for, in accordance with a determination that an indication for activating or deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is received from the second device, determining that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated or deactivated; or means for, in accordance with a determination that an indication for activating or deactivating the duplication for the all PDUs is received from the second device, determining that the duplication for the all PDUs is to be activated or deactivated.
In some embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for, in accordance with a determination that a transmission resource is available but no data is to be transmitted, determining that that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated; or means for, in accordance with a determination that a retransmission grant or a negative acknowledgement is received for a transport block containing data from the radio bearer configured with the duplication of the group of at least one PDU set, determining that that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated; or means for, in accordance with a determination that a retransmission grant or a negative acknowledgement is received for a transport block containing data of the group of at least one PDU set, determining that that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated.
In some embodiments, the information of the PDU sets comprises PDU set importance of the PDU sets.
In some embodiments, the means for determining the group of at least one PDU set comprises: means for, in accordance with a determination that a PDU set is identified with a level of PDU set importance equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold level, causing the PDU set to be comprised in the group of at least one PDU set. In some embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for receiving an indication of the predetermined threshold level from the second device. In some embodiments, the means for receiving the indication of the predetermined threshold level may comprise means for receiving the indication of the predetermined threshold level via at least one of an RRC signaling or an MAC CE.
In some embodiments, the means for determining the group of at least one PDU set may comprise: means for receiving, from the second device, an indication of a set of levels of PDU set importance, wherein duplication is to be performed for those at least one PDU set that is identified with a PDU set importance that is comprised in the received set of levels of PDU set importance; and means for determining the group of at least one PDU set from the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer based on the set of levels of PDU set importance. In some embodiments, the means for receiving the indication of the set of levels of PDU set importance may comprise means for receiving the indication of the set of levels of PDU set importance via at least one of an RRC signaling or an MAC CE.
In some embodiments, the information of the PDU sets comprises a PDU set integrated handling indication of the PDU sets.
In some embodiments, the means for determining the group of at least one PDU set may comprise: means for, in accordance with a determination that a PDU set is identified with the PDU set integrated handling indication, causing the PDU set to be comprised in the group of at least one PDU set.
In some embodiments, the duplication is performed on at least one of the following: a packet data convergence protocol layer; a radio link control layer; or a medium access control layer. In some embodiments, the group of at least one PDU set does not comprise all the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer.
In some embodiments, an apparatus (for example, the second device 120) capable of performing the method 600 may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.
In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for transmitting, to a first device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of PDUs belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer; and means for, in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, transmitting, to the first device, an indication for activating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set.
In some embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for transmitting, to the first device, a further configuration indicating that a duplication of all PDUs is enabled for the radio bearer; and means for, in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the all PDUs is to be activated, transmitting, to the first device, an indication for activating the duplication for the all PDUs associated with the radio bearer.
In some embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for determining that the duplication only for the group of at least one PDU set or the duplication for all PDUs associated with the radio bearer is to be activated or deactivated based on at least one of the following: channel quality between the first device and the second device; or load of the second device.
In some embodiments, the means for determining that the duplication only for the group of at least one PDU set or the duplication for the all PDUs is to be activated or deactivated may comprise at least one of the following: means for, in accordance with a determination that the channel quality is below first predetermined threshold quality and the load is above predetermined threshold load, determining that the duplication only for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated; means for, in accordance with a determination that the channel quality is above the first predetermined threshold quality and below second predetermined threshold quality higher than the first predetermined threshold quality and that the load is below the predetermined threshold load, determining that the duplication only for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated; means for, in accordance with a determination that the channel quality is below the first predetermined threshold quality and the load is below the predetermined threshold load, determine that the duplication for the all PDUs associated with the radio bearer is to be activated; or means for, in accordance with a determination that the channel quality is above the second predetermined threshold quality, determining that the duplication is to be deactivated.
In some embodiments, the information of the PDU sets comprises PDU set importance of the PDU sets. In some embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for transmitting, to the first device, an indication of a predetermined threshold level, wherein duplication is to be performed for those at least one PDU set that is identified with a PDU set importance that is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold level.
In some embodiments, the means for transmitting the indication of the predetermined threshold level may comprise means for transmitting the indication of the predetermined threshold level via at least one of an RRC signaling or an MAC CE.
In some embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for transmitting, to the first device, an indication of a set of levels of PDU set importance, wherein duplication is to be performed for those at least one PDU set that is identified with a PDU set importance that is comprised in the received set of levels of PDU set importance.
In some embodiments, the means for transmitting the indication of the set of levels of PDU set importance may comprise means for transmitting the indication of the set of levels of PDU set importance via at least one of an RRC signaling or an MAC CE.
In some embodiments, the information of the PDU sets comprises a PDU set integrated handling indication of the PDU sets. In some embodiments, the duplication is performed on at least one of the following: a packet data convergence protocol layer; a radio link control layer; or a medium access control layer. In some embodiments, the group of at least one PDU set does not comprise all the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer.
Fig. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 700 may be provided to implement the communication device, for example the first device 110 or the second device 120 as shown in Fig. 1. As shown, the device 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 720 coupled to the processor 710, and one or more communication modules 740 coupled to the processor 710.
The communication module 740 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 740 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements.
The processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 700 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.
The memory 720 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 724, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.
A computer program 730 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 710. The program 730 may be stored in the ROM 720. The processor 710 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 730 into the RAM 720.
The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 730 so that the device 700 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to Figs. 1 to 6. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.
In some embodiments, the program 730 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 700 (such as in the memory 720) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 700. The device 700 may load the program 730 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 722 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any types of tangible non-volatile storage, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. Fig. 8 shows an example of the computer readable medium 800 in form of CD or DVD. The computer readable medium has the program 730 stored thereon.
Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.
The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the method 500 or 600 as described above with reference to Figs. 5 to 6. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.
Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.
In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.
The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .
Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.
Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

A first device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to:

receive, from a second device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of protocol data units (PDUs) belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer;

in accordance with a determination that the duplication forthe group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, determine the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets; and

duplicate the PDUs belonging to the determined group of at least one PDU set.
The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

receive, from the second device, an indication for activating or deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU setbased on the information of the PDU sets; and

determine that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated or deactivated.
The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

receive, from the second device, a further configuration indicating that a duplication of all PDUs is enabled for the radio bearer.
The first device of claim 3, wherein the first device is further caused to:

in accordance with a determination that an indication for activating or deactivating the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is received from the second device, determine that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated or deactivated; or

in accordance with a determination that an indication for activating or deactivating the duplication for the all PDUs is received from the second device, determine that the duplication for the all PDUs is to be activated or deactivated.
The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

in accordance with a determination that a transmission resource is available but no data is to be transmitted, determine that that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated; or

in accordance with a determination that a retransmission grant or a negative acknowledgement is received for a transport block containing data from the radio bearer configured with the duplication of the group of at least one PDU set, determine that that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated; or

in accordance with a determination that a retransmission grant or a negative acknowledgement is received for a transport block containing data of the group of at least one PDU set, determine that that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated.
The first device of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the information of the PDU sets comprises PDU set importance of the PDU sets.
The first device of claim 6, wherein the first device is caused to determine the group of at least one PDU set by:

in accordance with a determination that a PDU set is identified with a level of PDU set importance equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold level, causing the PDU set to be comprised in the group of at least one PDU set.
The first device of claim 7, wherein the first device is further caused to:

receive an indication of the predetermined threshold level from the second device.
The first device of claim 8, wherein the first device is caused to receive the indication of the predetermined threshold level via at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a medium access control control element (MAC CE) .
The first device of claim 6, wherein the first device is caused to determine the group of at least one PDU set by:

receiving, from the second device, an indication of a set of levels of PDU set importance, wherein duplication is to be performed for those at least one PDU set that is identified with a PDU set importance that is comprised in the received set of levels of PDU set importance; and

determining the group of at least one PDU set from the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer based on the set of levels of PDU set importance.
The first device of claim 10, wherein the first device is caused to receive the indication of the set of levels of PDU set importance via at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a medium access control control element (MAC CE) .
The first device of any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the information of the PDU sets comprises a PDU set integrated handling indication of the PDU sets.
The first device of claim 12, wherein the first device is caused to determine the group of at least one PDU set by:

in accordance with a determination that a PDU set is identified with the PDU set integrated handling indication, causing the PDU set to be comprised in the group of at least one PDU set.
The first device of any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the duplication is performed on at least one of the following:

a packet data convergence protocol layer;

a radio link control layer; or

a medium access control layer.
The first device of any of claims 1 to 14, wherein the group of at least one PDU set does not comprise all the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer.
A second device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second device at least to:

transmit, to a first device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of protocol data units (PDUs) belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer; and

in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, transmit, to the first device, an indication for activating the duplication forthe group of at least one PDU set.
The second device of claim 16, wherein the second device is further caused to:

transmit, to the first device, a further configuration indicating that a duplication of all PDUs is enabled for the radio bearer; and

in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the all PDUs is to be activated, transmit, to the first device, an indication for activating the duplication for the all PDUs associated with the radio bearer.
The second device of claim 16 or 17, wherein the second device is further caused to:

determine that the duplication only for the group of at least one PDU set or the duplication for all PDUs associated with the radio bearer is to be activated or deactivated based on at least one of the following:

channel quality between the first device and the second device; or

load of the second device.
The second device of claim 18, wherein the second device is caused to determine that the duplication only for the group of at least one PDU set or the duplication for the all PDUs is to be activated or deactivated by at least one of the following:

in accordance with a determination that the channel quality is below first predetermined threshold quality and the load is above predetermined threshold load, determining that the duplication only for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated;

in accordance with a determination that the channel quality is above the first predetermined threshold quality and below second predetermined threshold quality higher than the first predetermined threshold quality and that the load is below the predetermined threshold load, determining that the duplication only for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated;

in accordance with a determination that the channel quality is below the first predetermined threshold quality and the load is below the predetermined threshold load, determine that the duplication for the all PDUs associated with the radio bearer is to be activated; or

in accordance with a determination that the channel quality is above the second predetermined threshold quality, determining that the duplication is to be deactivated.
The second device of any of claims 16 to 19, wherein the information of the PDU sets comprises PDU set importance of the PDU sets.
The second device of claim 20, wherein the second device is further caused to:

transmit, to the first device, an indication of a predetermined threshold level, wherein duplication is to be performed for those at least one PDU set that is identified with a PDU set importance that is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold level.
The second device of claim 21, wherein the second device is caused to transmit the indication of the predetermined threshold level via at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a medium access control control element (MAC CE) .
The second device of claim 20, wherein the second device is further caused to:

transmit, to the first device, an indication of a set of levels of PDU set importance, wherein duplication is to be performed for those at least one PDU set that is identified with a PDU set importance that is comprised in the received set of levels of PDU set importance.
The second device of claim 23, wherein the second device is caused to transmit the indication of the set of levels of PDU set importance via at least one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a medium access control control element (MAC CE) .
The second device of any of claims 16 to 24, wherein the information of the PDU sets comprises a PDU set integrated handling indication of the PDU sets.
The second device of any of claims 16 to 25, wherein the duplication is performed on at least one of the following:

a packet data convergence protocol layer;

a radio link control layer; or

a medium access control layer.
The second device of any of claims 16 to 26, wherein the group of at least one PDU set does not comprise all the PDU sets associated with the radio bearer.
A method of communication comprising:

receiving, at a first device and from a second device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of protocol data units (PDUs) belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer;

in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, determining the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets; and

duplicating the PDUs belonging to the determined group of at least one PDU set.
A method of communication comprising:

transmitting, at a second device and to a first device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of protocol data units (PDUs) belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer; and

in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, transmitting, to the first device, an indication for activating the duplication forthe group of at least one PDU set.
An apparatus of communication comprising:

means for receiving, at a first device and from a second device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of protocol data units (PDUs) belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer;

means for, in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, determining the group of at least one PDU set based on the information of the PDU sets; and

means for duplicating the PDUs belonging to the determined group of at least one PDU set.
An apparatus of communication comprising:

means for transmitting, at a second device and to a first device, a configuration indicating that a duplication of protocol data units (PDUs) belonging to a group of at least one PDU set is enabled for a radio bearer based on information of PDU sets associated with the radio bearer; and

means for, in accordance with a determination that the duplication for the group of at least one PDU set is to be activated, transmitting, to the first device, an indication for activating the duplication forthe group of at least one PDU set.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method according to claim 28 or 29.