WO2017167538A1

WO2017167538A1 - Technique for scheduled radio access

Info

Publication number: WO2017167538A1
Application number: PCT/EP2017/054876
Authority: WO
Inventors: Niklas Andgart; Gustav WIKSTRÖM; Henrik Sahlin; Helka-Liina Määttanen
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 2016-03-31
Filing date: 2017-03-02
Publication date: 2017-10-05

Abstract

A technique for transmitting data from a wireless device to a network node of a radio access network is described. As to a method aspect of the technique, one or more pieces of control information related to the transmission of data are received in a step (302) at the wireless device. The wireless device starts processing a transport block including the data in a step (304). The processing is based on at least one of the one or more pieces of control information. In a step (306), a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data is received. At least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information are indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval for the transmission of the data. The data is transmitted in a step (308) according to the scheduling grant within the transmission time interval using the processed transport block.

Description

Technique for scheduled radio access

Technical Field

The present disclosure generally relates to a technique for transmitting data in a radio access network. More specifically, and without limitation, methods and devices are provided for transmitting data from a wireless device to a network node of the radio access network.

Background

Data packet latency is one of the performance metrics that vendors and operators of radio access infrastructure, and also end-users by means of speed test applications, regularly measure. The latency of radio access is measured in all phases of system lifetime, e.g., when deploying a system, when the system is in commercial operation, and when verifying a recently installed control software release or system component.

Data packet latency is important not only for the perceived responsiveness of the system. Latency can indirectly influence data throughput of the system, e.g., due to higher layers of a communication protocol. For example, the Transport Control Protocol (TCP) is ubiquitous in wireless data traffic, e.g., in applications using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that builds upon TCP. According to the HTTP Archive (http://httparchive.org/trends.php), a typical size of data in HTTP -based transactions over the Internet is in the range of 10 kilobyte to 1 megabyte. In this size range, the TCP slow start period (i.e., when a TCP congestion window is gradually increased in response to each TCP acknowledgment) is a significant part of the data transport period of the packet stream. Due to the reciprocal signaling, round-trip time and data throughput are limited by latency in the TCP slow start period. Hence, reduced latency improves the average throughput, e.g., for at least some types of TCP-based data transactions.

Moreover, latency reductions can increase radio resource efficiency in at least certain situations. Less latency allows more data transmissions within a certain delay bound. Hence, Block Error Rate (BLER) targets may be increased for the data transmissions so that higher- order modulation and coding can use the available channel capacity more efficiently.

One attempt addresses the transport time for data and control signaling as a cause of latency by reducing the duration of a transmission time interval (TTI). In existing radio access networks that implement 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE), one TTI corresponds to one subframe (SF) of 1 millisecond (ms) duration according to 3 GPP Release 8 (e.g., document 3 GPP TS 36.211, Version 8.9.0, Sections 4 and 5.2) and later Releases. Each TTI includes 14 transmit symbols in the case of a normal cyclic prefix and 12 transmit symbols in the case of an extended cyclic prefix. For 3GPP LTE Release 13, a study item was started with the goal of specifying data transmissions with TTIs that are shorter than the TTI duration defined since the 3 GPP LTE Release 8. Summary

However, as the TTI duration is reduced, the execution time of some operations for data transmission may not scale with input block length. In addition, the timing advance caused by radio propagation may not scale with the TTI duration but may depend on a cell radius.

As some steps of data transmission may not scale with TTI duration, the remaining time for the other steps has to be scaled down even faster than the TTI reduction. Particularly, the time available for data processing may shorten disproportionately, which requires faster signal processing hardware, thus increasing costs and power consumption of the wireless device.

Accordingly, there is a need for a data transmission technique that allows reducing latency or round-trip times.

As to one aspect, a method of transmitting data from a wireless device to a network node of a radio access network (RAN) is provided. The method comprises or triggers a step of receiving one or more pieces of control information related to the transmission of data from the wireless device to the network node; a step of starting to process a transport block including the data, wherein the processing is based on at least one of the one or more pieces of control information; a step of receiving a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information are indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the transmission of the data; and a step of transmitting the data according to the scheduling grant within the TTI using the processed transport block.

At least some embodiments may start processing the transport block independently of the reception of the scheduling grant. By decoupling the start of processing the transport block from the point in time when the scheduling grant is received, the duration of the TTI can be reduced, e.g., without increasing requirements on the processing speed in at least some embodiments. The RAN and/or the network node may be configured to schedule and/or grant radio access with different transmission time intervals (TTIs). Faster uplink transmissions can be implemented using shorter TTIs.

The TTI duration may be shortened to below 1 millisecond (ms). Each of the shortened TTIs may comprise radio resources on one or a number of transmission symbols within a subframe of duration 1 ms. The duration of the TTI may correspond to one or a few transmit symbols.

Alternatively or in addition, less demanding requirements on the processing resources can reduce manufacturing costs and/or improve energy-efficiency of the wireless device.

In at least some embodiments, a flexible or reduced duration of the TTI allows assigning radio resources more flexibly and rapidly to the wireless device according to the scheduling grant. TTI duration reduction may be implemented to decrease latency and/or round-trip time (RTT). At least some of the processing delays in the wireless device may not affect latency and/or RTT. By virtue of decoupling the start of the processing and the reception of the scheduling grant, the reduction in latency and/or RTT can scale with the reduction of the TTI duration.

The latency achievable by embodiments can be less than the latency achieved by implementations of existing 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) Radio Access

Technologies (RAT). The shorter latency can provide faster access to the Internet and less data latencies compared to existing generations of mobile RATs.

The wireless device may be a user equipment or a device for machine -type communication (MTC). The network node may be a base station, e.g., a Node B (NB) or an evolved Node B (eNB) of the RAN.

Any of the pieces of control information and/or the scheduling grant may be received from the RAN. The one or more pieces of control information and/or the scheduling grant may be received from the network node to which the data is transmitted or from another network node of the RAN, e.g., in a Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) operation of the RAN.

The TTI may relate to a duration for the transmission. Optionally, the TTI may relate to a specific time (e.g., one or more radio resources in the time domain, and/or a specific transmit symbol or a specific group of transmit symbols) for the transmission.

For different wireless systems or Radio Access Technologies (RAT), the TTI can refer to different things. For example, in the 3 GPP New Radio (NR) of 5G, slots and mini-slots are used. The normal slot is there, depending on configuration, proposed to be between 6 and 14 symbols, and the slot may correspond to a subframe in the terminology used herein. The mini-slot, having a length between one symbol and slot length- 1 symbol, may correspond to a TTI in the terminology used herein.

Each of the one or more pieces of control information may be (e.g., partially or

completely) indicative of a configuration for transmitting the data. Herein, any piece of control information may be indicative of information (e.g., a command, an instruction or the

configuration) by expressly including the information or by implying the information. The information may be implied by including an indicator in the piece of control information. The indicator may refer to a table. The table may be stored at the wireless device and/or the network node. The table may be specified by a standard of the RAN.

At least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information may be included in one or more pieces of Downlink Control Information (DCI) on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) of the RAN. Some of the DCI may be received at the beginning of a subframe. Such DCI may be valid for the corresponding subframe. Some of the DCI may be received within the subframe in a TTI prior to the TTI for the transmission. Such DCI may be valid (e.g., only) for the TTI of the transmission.

A time difference (or a maximum of the time difference) between receiving the scheduling grant and transmitting the data may be defined in terms of the TTI. The time difference (or the maximum) may be defined in units of a duration of the TTI. The time difference (or the maximum) may be defined as a (e.g., integer) multiple of the TTI duration. The time difference (or the maximum) may be defined for the RAN, e.g., according to a standard of the RAN and/or a communication protocol. Alternatively or in addition, the at least one piece of control information may be indicative of the time difference (or the maximum).

By reducing the TTI duration, the time difference (or the maximum) can be reduced, which can reduce the latency and/or the RTT in the RAN in at least some embodiments. Data throughput in the RAN can be increased, e.g., in latency-limited transport links. By decoupling the time for the processing from the time difference, the latency, the round-trip time and/or the data throughput can be improved without increasing the processing requirements.

A time domain structure defined for the RAN may include a plurality of subframes in a radio frame. The duration of the TTI may be shorter than the duration of one subframe.

Each of the subframes may include a plurality of transmit symbols. The duration of the TTI may corresponds to the duration of one or two transmit symbols. The TTI duration may correspond to an integer number of transmit symbols, e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 transmit symbols (e.g., each including a duration of a cyclic prefix).

The step of starting to process the transport block may include generating the transport block. The at least one piece of control information may be indicative of a size of the transport block (TBS). The TBS may be computed based on the at least one piece of control information underlying the start of the processing.

The at least one piece of control information may be indicative of a transport protocol. The transport protocol may determine or imply a time-dependency and/or a sequence of sizes for the transport block (TBS sequence). The TBS may change, e.g., from one transmission of data to another transmission of data. The TBS may be modified, e.g., gradually increased. The at least one piece of control information may be indicative of the TBS modification.

Alternatively or in addition, the TBS may be derived from the received pieces of control information (which may also be referred to as control information history) and/or based on the transport protocol. One of the pieces of control information (e.g., the at least one piece of control information) may be indicative of a rule. The rule may be stored at the wireless device. By applying the indicated rule, the TBS and/or the TBS sequence may be derived at the wireless device. By way of example, both the network node and the wireless device may synchronously increase the TBS (e.g., without exchanging control information expressly indicating each TBS in the TBS sequence) according to a Transport Control Protocol (TCP), e.g., according to a TCP slow start.

The TBS may be increased so as to accommodate an increasing payload of a TCP data transmission, e.g., during the TCP slow start period. Performing the TCP slow start may comprise a step of maintaining a TCP congestion window at the wireless device for the data to be transmitted. Performing the TCP slow start may further comprise a step of gradually increasing the TCP congestion window, e.g., in response to each reception of a TCP

acknowledgment. The transport block may be processed based on the one or more pieces of control information, e.g., prior to receiving the scheduling grant. For example, a significant part of the processing may have been completed at the time the scheduling grant is received.

Receiving the one or more pieces of control information may include receiving a further piece of control information. The further piece of control information may relate to the same transmission of the data. The further piece of control information may be received after reception of the at least one piece of control information. Alternatively or in addition, the further piece of control information may be received after starting the processing and/or prior to the

transmission. The method may further comprise or trigger a step of processing the transport block based on the further piece of control information.

At least one of the pieces of control information may be indicative of the duration of the TTI. The TTI may be pre-defined for the RAN (e.g., by an initial piece of control information). The (e.g., initial) piece of control information may specify the TTI persistently and/or for a plurality of scheduling grants including the scheduling grant of the method.

The transmission may be a radio transmission in the RAN. Each piece of control information may be indicative of a part of a configuration (e.g., a format, a mode and/or a scheme) of the radio transmission. Each piece of control information may be indicative of at least one of TBS, channel coding, modulation and/or frequency allocation. The combination of the at least one piece of control information and the further piece of control information may be indicative of a configuration for the transmission.

The method may be implemented in a medium access layer and/or a physical layer of a protocol stack. The wireless device may perform the method. The configuration may specify an operation of a baseband unit and/or a radio unit of the wireless device.

The one or more pieces of control information may include a first piece of control information and a second piece of control information. The first piece of control information may be received prior to receiving the second piece of control information. The first piece of control information may include, or may be derived from, a control information history. The second piece of control information may be received after receiving or deriving the first piece of control information.

The first piece of control information may trigger the start of the processing. The processing may be started solely based on the first piece of control information. The second piece of control information may be complementary to the first piece of control information. The first piece of control information may correspond to the at least one piece of control information. The second piece of control information may correspond to the further piece of control information.

The first piece of control information may be applied to (or may be valid for) multiple TTIs including the TTI of the transmission and/or multiple scheduling grants including the scheduling grant for the transmission. The second piece of control information may be applied to (or may be valid for) the TTI of the transmission and/or to the scheduling grant for the transmission.

The first piece of control information may relate to one of the sub frames. The second piece of control information may apply to one or two TTIs within the one sub frame. Alternatively or in addition, the one or more pieces of control information may be indicative of different configurations for different TTIs within the one subframes.

The processing of the transport block may include storing two or more differently processed transport blocks. Each of the differently processed transport blocks may relate to the same transmission of data. The differently processed transport blocks may be stored

preemptively. Each of the differently processed transport blocks may be processed based on the first piece of control information. Each of the differently processed transport blocks may be consistent with the first piece of control information. By way of example, the stored transport blocks may differ in the presence or number of reference signals, e.g., sounding reference signals (SRS) or demodulation reference signals (DMRS).

The method may further comprise or trigger a step of selecting one of the differently processed transport blocks for the transmission. The selection may depend on at least one of the second piece of control information and the scheduling grant. By way of example, the second piece of control information or the scheduling grant may include a request for SRS or DMRS.

The first piece of control information may be applied to (or may be valid for) multiple wireless devices including the wireless device transmitting the data. The second piece of control information may be dedicated to (or specific for) the wireless device.

The first control information may be indicative of a transport block size. The processing, e.g., a first part of processing the transport block, may be based on the first control information. The first part may comprise channel coding. The channel coding may include applying a turbo code to the data. The transport block may be processed into a code block.

The second control information may be indicative of a transmission format. The processing, e.g., a second part of processing the transport block, may be based on the second control information. The second part may comprise rate matching. The transmission format may include a modulation and coding scheme (MCS). The second control information may further be indicative of the duration of the TTI. The transport block may be processed into a codeword.

The one or more pieces of control information and the scheduling grant may be received in one control message. The further piece of control information or all of the one or more pieces of control information may be received together with the scheduling grant, e.g., in the same DCI.

In one variant, a time difference between receiving the at least one control information and the transmission may be greater than a pre-defined processing time. In another variant, a time difference between receiving the one control message and the transmission may be greater than a pre-defined processing time. In any variant, the control information and/or the scheduling may be early enough to allow for the processing at the wireless device. The pre-defined processing time may be independent of the duration of the TTI. The method may further comprise or trigger a step of further processing the transport block after receiving the scheduling grant and before the transmission. The further processing may include multiplexing the data with uplink control information. The transport block may be further processed into transmit symbols, e.g., Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or Single-Carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbols.

The step of starting the processing of the transport block may include generating the transport block for a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) retransmission after the wireless device has performed a HARQ transmission and before a Negative- Acknowledgement, NACK, for the HARQ transmission is received. The NACK may be received in one of the pieces of control information or another message.

After a previous HARQ transmission, the transport block for the retransmission may be generated preemptively. The transport block may be generated using the same data included in the previous HARQ transmission. The transport block may be generated using a redundancy version other than the redundancy version used for the previous HARQ transmission.

As to another aspect, a method of receiving data from a wireless device at a network node of a radio access network (RAN) is provided. The method comprises or triggers a step of sending one or more pieces of control information related to a transmission of data from the wireless device to the network node, wherein at least one of the one or more pieces of control information enables the wireless device to start processing a transport block including the data; a step of sending a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information are indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the transmission of the data; and a step of receiving the data according to the scheduling grant within the TTI based on the processed transport block.

The method of receiving data from a wireless device may, alternatively or in addition, be referred to as a method of preparing a transmission of data from a wireless device.

The method may further comprise any feature disclosed in the context of the one method aspect and/or one or more steps corresponding to any of the steps of the one method aspect.

As to a further aspect, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product comprises program code portions for performing any one of the steps of the method aspects disclosed herein when the computer program product is executed by one or more computing devices. The computer program product may be stored on a computer-readable recording medium. The computer program product may also be provided for download via a data network, e.g., the RAN and/or the Internet.

As to one device aspect, a device for transmitting data from a wireless device to a network node of a radio access network (RAN) is provided. The device may be configured to perform the one method aspect. Alternatively or in addition, the device comprises a receiving unit configured to receive one or more pieces of control information related to the transmission of data from the wireless device to the network node; a processing unit configured to start processing a transport block including the data, wherein the processing is based on at least one of the one or more pieces of control information; the receiving unit further configured to receive a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information are indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the transmission of the data; and a transmitting unit configured to transmit the data according to the scheduling grant within the TTI using the processed transport block.

As to another device aspect, a device for receiving data from a wireless device at a network node of a radio access network (RAN) is provided. The device may be configured to perform the other method aspect. Alternatively or in addition, the device comprises a sending unit configured to send one or more pieces of control information related to a transmission of data from the wireless device to the network node, wherein at least one of the one or more pieces of control information enables the wireless device to start processing a transport block including the data; the sending unit further configured to send a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information are indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the transmission of the data; and a receiving unit configured to receive the data according to the scheduling grant within the TTI based on the processed transport block.

The device for receiving data from a wireless device may, alternatively or in addition, be referred to as a device for preparing a transmission of data from a wireless device.

As to one further aspect, a wireless device is provided. The wireless device is wirelessly connected or connectable to a radio access network (RAN). The wireless device may comprise the device according to the one device aspect or may be configured to perform the one method aspect. Alternatively or in addition, the wireless device comprises a scheduling reception module for receiving one or more pieces of control information related to a transmission of data from the wireless device to a network node; a data process module for starting to process a transport block including the data, wherein the processing is based on at least one of the one or more pieces of control information; the scheduling reception module for receiving a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information are indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the transmission of the data; and a data transmission module for transmitting the data according to the scheduling grant within the TTI using the processed transport block.

As to another further aspect, a network node for providing wireless connectivity in a radio access network (RAN) is provided. The network node may comprise the device according to the other device aspect or may be configured to perform the other method aspect. Alternatively or in addition, the network node comprises a scheduling control module for sending one or more pieces of control information related to a transmission of data from a wireless device to the network node, wherein at least one of the one or more pieces of control information enables the wireless device to start processing a transport block including the data; a scheduling grant module for sending a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information are indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the transmission of the data; and a data reception module for receiving the data according to the scheduling grant within the TTI based on the processed transport block.

The devices and/or the network node may further include any feature disclosed in the context of the method aspects. Particularly, any one of the units and modules, or a dedicated unit or module, may be configured to perform one or more of the steps of any one of the method aspects.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Further details of embodiments of the technique are described with reference to the enclosed drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a device for transmitting data from a wireless device to a network node of a radio access network, which is implementable at the wireless device;

Fig. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of a device for receiving data from a wireless device at a network node of a radio access network, which is implementable at the network node;

Fig. 3 shows a flowchart for a method of transmitting data from a wireless device to a network node of a radio access network, which is implementable by the device of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 shows a flowchart for a method of receiving data from a wireless device at a network node of a radio access network, which is implementable by the device of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 shows a first example of a signaling diagram for a radio communication involving the devices of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 6 shows a second example of a signaling diagram for a radio communication involving the devices of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 7 shows a third example of a signaling diagram for a radio communication involving the devices of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 8 shows a flowchart for a first implementation of the method of Fig. 3;

Fig. 9 shows a flowchart for a second implementation of the method of Fig. 3;

Fig. 10 shows a time sequence for a radio communication involving the devices of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 11 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a wireless device for performing the method of Fig. 3;

Fig. 12 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a network node for performing the method of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 13 schematically illustrates an example for a network environment including the embodiments of Figs. 11 and 12. Detailed Description

In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth, such as a specific network environment in order to provide a thorough

understanding of the technique disclosed herein. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the technique may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details. Moreover, while the following embodiments are primarily described for a Long Term Evolution (LTE) implementation or a successor thereof, it is readily apparent that the technique described herein may also be implemented in any other wireless communication network, including a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) according to the standard family IEEE 802.11 (e.g., IEEE 802.1 la, g, n or ac) and/or a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) according to the standard family IEEE 802.16.

Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the functions, steps, units and modules explained herein may be implemented using software functioning in conjunction with a programmed microprocessor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field

Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) or a general purpose computer, e.g., including an Advanced RISC Machine (ARM). It will also be appreciated that, while the following embodiments are primarily described in context with methods and devices, the invention may also be embodied in a computer program product as well as in a system comprising a computer processor and memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory is encoded with one or more programs that may perform the functions and steps or implement the units and modules disclosed herein.

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a device 100 for transmitting data from a wireless device to a network node of a radio access network (RAN). The device 100 comprises a scheduling reception module 102 for receiving downlink control information (DCI) and scheduling grants from the network node, a data process module 104 for processing the data to be transmitted and a data transmission module 106 for transmitting the processed data.

The device 100 may be embodied by the wireless device.

Fig. 2 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a device 200 for receiving data from a wireless device at a network node of a RAN. The device 200 comprises a scheduling control module 202 for sending DCI to the wireless device in preparation for a data transmission, a scheduling grant module 204 for sending a scheduling grant to the wireless device and a data reception module 206 for receiving the data processed according to the DCI in the transmission according to the scheduling grant.

The device 200 may be embodied by the network node

Fig. 3 shows a method 300 of transmitting data from a wireless device to a network node of a RAN. In a step 302, one or more pieces of control information related to the transmission of data from the wireless device to the network node are received at the wireless device. The wireless device starts processing a transport block including the data in a step 304. The processing is based on at least one of the one or more pieces of control information. If further pieces of control information are received (other than the at least one used for starting the processing), these further pieces of control information may be received later, e.g., when the processing has already started.

In a step 306, a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data is received. The scheduling grant and/or any of the one or more pieces of control information is indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the transmission of the data. The data is transmitted according to the scheduling grant within the TTI using the processed transport block in a step 308.

The method 300 may be performed by the device 100, e.g., at the wireless device. For example, the module 102 may perform the steps 302 and 306. The modules 104 and 106 may perform the steps 304 and 308, respectively.

Fig. 4 shows a flowchart for a method 400 of receiving data from a wireless device at a network node of a RAN. In a step 402, one or more pieces of control information related to a transmission of data from the wireless device to the network node are sent to the wireless device. At least one of the one or more pieces of control information enables the wireless device to start processing a transport block that includes the data.

In a step 404, a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data is sent to the wireless device. The scheduling grant and/or any of the one or more pieces of control information is indicative of a duration of a TTI for the transmission of the data. The data is received according to the scheduling grant within the TTI based on the processed transport block in a step 406.

The method 400 may be performed by the device 200, e.g., at the network node. For example, the modules 202, 204 and 206 may perform the steps 402, 404 and 406, respectively.

The network node may be a base station. The wireless device may be a user equipment (UE). In a 3GPP LTE implementation of the RAN, the network node may be an evolved Node B (eNB).

As part of the pieces of control information, the network node, e.g. an eNB, signals to the wireless device, e.g. a UE, the size of the transport block, e.g. by providing time duration, frequency allocation and/or a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) related to (e.g., applicable to) one or more future uplink (UL) grants including the scheduling grant for the data

transmission in the steps 308 and 406. By way of example, the pieces of control information are provided in the steps 302 and 402 already before the UE is being scheduled in the steps 306 and 404.

Having the control information at hand, the UE prepares the UL transmission in the step 304, e.g., before having received the UL grant in the step 306. For example, the step 304 includes encoding information bits of the data. When later receiving the UL grant in the step 306, the data is already ready to be sent in the step 308. Hence, a processing delay between grant reception and data transmission is limited or essentially eliminated, thereby leading to less latency and shorter round-trip times (RTTs). The technique can be implemented to control latency over a wide range by controlling the TTI duration (which is also referred to as a TTI length), e.g., by the scheduling control module 202. In existing RANs according to LTE Release 8 and onwards, a timing requirement for UL transmission is defined in terms of subframes, wherein one subframe corresponds to one TTI. That is, the transmission shall take place 4 subframes or TTIs after the grant reception.

By way of example, the UE shall upon detection on a given serving cell of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) or an enhanced PDCCH (EPDCCH) with DCI format 0/4 and/or a Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator (PHICH) transmission in subframe n intended for the UE, adjust the corresponding PUSCH transmission in subframe n+4 according to the

PDCCH/EPDCCH and PHICH information (cf. 3 GPP document TS 36.213, Version 12.6, Section 8.0).

As the TTI duration is reduced, e.g., down to one or two transmit symbols, a corresponding timing requirement for the UL transmission may be hard to fulfill, e.g., if the time difference between scheduling reception and data transmission is defined in units of the TTI duration. For example, a consistent timing requirement may require the time difference to correspond to 4 TTIs.

A difficulty faced when reducing the TTI duration can be due to that not all parts of a processing chain or steps of the processing scale in the same way. Herein, scaling may refer to the processing time consumed by a particular step performed by a given hardware as a function of the input block length for said step.

The data to be transmitted at once in the step 308 may scale with the TTI duration. But the time consumed by some processing steps does not necessarily scale with input block length. Some processing steps, e.g., a Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) and an inverse FFT (IFFT), require by definition a full input symbol before the first output sample corresponding to the input symbol is output. This implies a buffering of all input samples before the first output sample, so there is no linear relationship between processing time and input block length. There may also be coding, interleaving and other parts of the processing chain that do not (or not easily) scale. In addition, some steps of the data transmission do not scale at all such as the timing advance caused by the finite group velocity of radio propagation. The timing advance does not scale with the TTI duration, but is instead dependent on size and cellular structure of the RAN, e.g., the cell radius.

By way of example, each of timing advance, FFT processing and (typically) buffering in general implies or contributes a constant time in the processing chain. For instance, the processing time per TTI may be equal or proportional to

1 + M / k,

wherein "1 " is time unit required for buffering 1 transmit symbol at the FFT, and the

denominator k is the factor for reducing (or down scaling) the TTI length. The numerator M represents a processing time. E.g., M represents a total time budget for processing a subframe comprising 14 transmit symbols in 4 layers (i.e., 14 · 4 transmit symbols) in a legacy LTE system, so that the numerator M is equal to or on the order of 50. Hence, if M » k, the processing time per TTI is

1 + M / k ~ M / k.

That is, the processing time scales (or "scales well") with the TTI length reduced by the factor k. But if k is not small compared to M, the "1 " time unit for the buffering is significant compared to the subsequent processing, so that the processing time does not scale linearly with the TTI length.

By causally coupling the steps 302 and 304, and decoupling the grant reception in the step 306 so as not to be a requirement for the step 304, the processing steps that do not scale with the TTI duration can be given sufficient processing time to be completed before the step 308, even as the TTI duration is reduced.

Fig. 5 shows a first example for a signaling diagram 500 resulting from the interaction of the devices 100 and 200 performing the methods 300 and 400, respectively.

Two pieces of control information are sent by the base station according to the step 402. A first piece of control information is indicative of the transport block size (TBS). A second piece of control information is indicative of TTI duration and transmission (TX) format. As the first piece of control information is received and decoded according to the step 302 at the UE, the UE starts processing the data that is to be transmitted according to the step 304. The transport block is generated according to the indicated TBS and subjected to channel coding for forward error correction, resulting in encoded code blocks.

The second piece of control information is received in a substep 502 of the step 302 at the UE. The received and decoded second piece of control information allows further processing the encoded code blocks in a substep 504 of the step 304 at the UE, e.g., by rate matching each of the code blocks and concatenating the code blocks, resulting in a codeword.

One of the pieces of control information is indicative of the frequency allocation. For example, the TX format may include or imply the frequency allocation. The frequency allocation may specify a width and a position of the frequency allocation in the frequency domain. The width defines a number of resources to be used in the transmission. Based on the width, the channel coding and the rate matching are performed.

The TX format may further include or imply the MCS. The further processing in the substep 504 includes modulating the codeword for a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) used in the transmission, e.g., according to QPSK, 16QAM or 64QAM, according to the MCS. The modulation symbols resulting from the modulation are optionally mapped to different spatial layers (or streams). The processing in the substep 504 further includes mapping the modulation symbols to resource elements, e.g., by means of the IFFT, according to the frequency position of the frequency allocation.

Based on the preparatory processing in the step 304 (including the substep 504), the processed data is rapidly transmitted in the step 308 responsive to receiving the scheduling grant in the step 306 (including a substep 506 for decoding the scheduling grant). To this end, the processing is finalized in a step 508. Finalizing the processing may include multiplexing and/or interleaving the data processed in the step 304 with uplink control signals. A processing time for the step 508 may scale with the TTI duration. That is, as the TTI is reduced, the time consumed by the step 508 is reduced.

Alternatively or in addition, the processing time of the step 508 may be short compared to the preparatory processing steps 304 and 504. Since the preparatory steps do not contribute to the delay between grant reception and data transmission, the delay may be over-proportionally reduced by implementing the technique.

Fig. 6 shows a second example for a signaling diagram 500 resulting from the interaction of the devices 100 and 200 performing the methods 300 and 400, respectively.

In the second example, a first piece of control information, e.g., indicative of the TTI duration, is received at an initial radio access of the UE. The first piece of control information may apply to a plurality of transmissions from the UE to the base station. The first piece of control information does not trigger the processing according to the step 304 until a second piece of control information is indicative of the TBS.

As illustrated for the second example of Fig. 6, the scheduling grant is sent from the eNB in the step 404 together with a further piece of control information according to the step 402. The further piece of control information may be indicative of the TX format. Based on all the received pieces of control information, the data processing is finalized by the UE in the step 508.

Fig. 7 shows a third example for a signaling diagram 500 resulting from the interaction of the devices 100 and 200 performing the methods 300 and 400, respectively.

In the third example, the control information and the scheduling grant are sent according to the steps 402 and 404 in a single control message. The single control message is received at the UE in realization of both the step 302 and the step 306.

Using a part of the control information, the processing starts, e.g., by channel coding, in the step 304. The scheduling grant is sent from the eNB in the step 404 sufficiently ahead of the scheduled transmission time. Further scheduling options 510, e.g., for sending the scheduling grant according to the first and second examples, are not used in the third example. Hence, there is sufficient processing time for finalizing the data processing in the step 508 at the UE.

The pieces of control information in the steps 302 and 402 and the scheduling grant in the steps 306 and 404 may use existing control channels or control channels dedicated for controlling and scheduling UL transmissions in short TTIs.

The existing physical layer downlink control channels include a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and an enhanced PDCCH (ePDCCH), which are used to carry the DCI, such as scheduling decisions and power control commands. Both PDCCH and ePDCCH are transmitted once per 1 ms SF.

The pieces of control information may use existing DCI formats (also referred to as slow DCI formats) or dedicated formats for the transmissions in short TTIs (also referred to as short or fast DCI formats). A number of different DCI formats are defined for the existing control channels (e.g., in the 3GPP document TS 36.212, Version 13.0.0, Section 5.3.3.1) for uplink and downlink resource assignments. Uplink scheduling grants use either DCI format 0 or DCI format 4. The latter is added in 3 GPP Release 10 for supporting uplink spatial multiplexing.

The control information for the UL scheduling grant may include resource allocation information, e.g., a carrier indicator field (CIF) for cross-carrier scheduling in carrier

aggregation, a resource allocation type and a resource block allocation (specifying the position and the width in the frequency domain).

The control information may further include information related to reference signals and the data, e.g., the MCS as part of the TX format, a new data indicator, a cyclic shift of the uplink demodulation reference signals (DMRS), precoding information and transmit power control.

Other pieces of the control information may include a sounding reference signal (SRS) request, a channel state information (CSI) request, an UL index for time division duplex (TDD), padding and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled with a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the wireless device.

The control information according to dedicated formats for the transmissions in short TTIs may, alternatively or additionally, include a DMRS request and a TTI index (e.g., for TTI duration and DMRS position).

To be able to reduce the overhead of DMRS in the UL, the eNB may schedule DMRS in the same way as SRS in a short TTI. This can be done by either an indicator flag in the UL DCI or in the form of a TTI index coding for a TTI of a certain duration with a DMRS at a certain position, or without DMRS.

Any of above pieces of information may be exchanged according to the steps 302 and 402 in any sub-combination.

Reducing the transmission TTI can reduce the latency. Instead of assigning resources with time duration of 1 ms, the control information and the scheduling grant can assign radio resources with shorter duration, such as one or a number of OFDM or SC-FDMA symbols.

Furthermore, the scheduling control module 202 may control a dynamic switching between different TTI durations. The TTI duration may be set by the control information in a range between 1 ms and shorter TTIs, in order to optimize the spectral efficiency, since shorter TTIs may incur higher overhead and/or worse demodulation performance.

The control information for setting the TTI duration and/or the TX format may be valid for different time periods so that the transmission using short TTI durations is efficiently configured. The data processing in the step 304 and the data transmission in the step 308 may be statically configured, configured for the entire radio resource control (RRC) connection between UE and eNB or configured with the PDCCH once per ms. It is even possible to change the TTI duration within a subframe. A short downlink control channel (sPDCCH), which is transmitted more frequently than the existing control channels (e.g., more often than once each millisecond), may be defined for the transmissions in short TTIs. The different TTI durations may be indicated on the sPDCCH (e.g., by means of one or several fast DCIs) for each SF. For example, in one SF, one transmission instance of the sPDCCH may indicate the lengths of different TTIs in the SF. Alternatively or in addition, in one SF, each of several transmission instances of the sPDCCH indicates the TTI length for one TTI.

Since scheduling and control information is transmitted more often when using short TTIs, the amount of control information that is sent on the fast timescale is reduced to reduce the overhead of the control signaling. Therefore, a first part of the control information may be transmitted on a slower timescale, and can also be directed to (e.g., valid for) a group of UEs using or supporting short TTIs. Two pieces of DCI may be defined for each short TTI transmission: A slow DCI that is valid for one full subframe (or more), and a UE-specific fast DCI. The slow DCI can be either UE-specific or non-UE specific. For addressing a non-UE specific slow DCI, a R TI may be used to identify a group of UEs that are using or supporting short TTIs.

Similarly, the DL and UL data channels for short TTI transmission (i.e., less than one subframe) may be referred to as short PDSCH (sPDSCH) and short PUSCH (sPUSCH).

Fig. 8 shows a flowchart for a first implementation of the method 300. The flowchart in Fig. 8 focuses on the data processing, while the steps 306 and 308 are not shown for clarity. The data processing steps may be implemented according to 3GPP document TS 36.212, Version 13.0.0, Section 5.2.

The initial processing in the step 304 may include adding a CRC value to the transport block, segmenting the transport block into code blocks, attaching CRC values to each of the code blocks, and performing channel coding of the data (and, optionally, the UL control information).

The further processing in the substep 504 may include rate matching and code block concatenation.

The step 508 of finalizing the data processing may include multiplexing of the data and the encoded UL control information, and performing channel interleaving.

The method 300 may be implemented as an extension to the flowchart of 3 GPP document TS 36.212, Version 13.0.0, Figure 5.2.2-1, e.g., by introducing breakpoints at the beginning of each of the steps 304, 504 and 508. The step 304 is triggered by the reception of the first piece of control information in the step 302. The step 504 is triggered by the reception of the second piece of control information in the step 502. The steps 508 and 308 are triggered by the reception of the scheduling grant in the step 306.

The processing chain of Fig. 8 may be applied to each transport block. The data arrives from a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer in the form of one or two transport blocks every TTI per UL cell.

Fig. 9 shows a flowchart for a second implementation of the method 300, which may be combined with the first implementation. To be able to put tight timing requirement on a UE, and for the UE to be able to achieve the timing requirement with less processing complexity or less processing resources, as much as possible of the data processing is prepared by the step 304 in advance of the data transmission 308. The UE has received prior input about the duration of the short TTI, e.g., through the slow DCI (e.g., according to the second example shown in Fig. 6). In order to start with the processing according to the step 304, the UE receives in the step 302 the TBS that will be used in the UL transmission of the step 308. It is not necessary that the UE expressly receives the TBS. To know the TBS, the UE may be provided with, at least approximately, the number of resource elements (REs) that will be used for the data transmission and the number of information bits that can be coded onto these REs.

If information about the TX format is received, and this TX format is changed compared to a previous one (step 302), the UE updates an internal TX format in step 902. Otherwise, if there is no change in the TX format, processing proceeds with step 904 where the UE determines if the data to be transmitted already is encoded according to the TX format or not. If not, the UE encodes the data with the TX format in step 304, otherwise step 304 is not needed.

The UE is thus able to prepare a number of data bits in advance in the step 304 (including the substep 504), by running the channel coder (e.g., a turbo encoder including two

convolutional encoders and a turbo interleaver) prior to having received a UL scheduling grant. In that way, when the scheduling grant arrives in the step 306, the UE can quickly transfer the coded data from the TX buffer for the transmission.

The TX format control information, as defined herein, may be indicative of one or more of the above-mentioned items for the slow DCI formats and/or the short DCI formats. By way of example, the TX format control information received in the step 302 may be indicative of the TBS, the duration of the TTI, the resource block allocation, the MCS, the precoding information as well as layer and codeword information.

In a variant compatible with all implementations, the UE analyses the received

configuration information for a scheduled SRS transmission and adapts (or updates) in the step 302 a previous TX format to give room (in the REs) for the OFDM symbol including the SRS.

Depending on the control information sent by the eNB, the steps 302 and 304 are carried out multiple times prior to receiving the UL scheduling grant in the step 306. In one

embodiment, the steps 304 and 504 up to code block concatenation are carried out prior to the reception of the UL grant, and the control and data multiplexing is done in the step 508 after receiving the UL scheduling grant in the step 306, e.g., according to the first implementation shown in Fig. 8.

In a variant compatible with all embodiments and implementations, a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) retransmission is being prepared in the step 304 already before reception of a NACK or retransmission grant in the step 306. In that way, when the NACK or retransmission grant arrives in the step 306, the retransmission can be done in the step 308 with less delay.

The TX format control information (e.g., a setting command) in the step 302 and the UL grant in the step 306 may be provided in one control message (e.g., a joint control message) from the RAN (e.g., the eNB), as illustrated in Fig. 7, or in two separate control messages, as illustrated in each of Figs. 5 and 6.

Preferably, the joint control message is sent in the steps 402 and 404 such that the UL scheduling grant in the joint control message refers to a TTI close in time, so that the time different between grant reception and data transmission is minimized. The TX format control information in the joint control message does not become effective as it is received. TX format control information refers to one or more future UL transmissions after the scheduled TTI.

Fig. 10 shows an example time sequence 1000 including such a joint control message at TTI number 2. The TX format control information included in the joint control message at TTI number 2 applies to both the transmission at TTI number 6 and the transmission at TTI number 8 (as indicted by the dashed line), since no other TX format control information has been received up until TTI number 6.

The UL scheduling grants apply to UL transmissions 2 TTIs ahead of time. The TX format control information requires a minimum processing time difference of at least 4 TTIs to become effective. As exemplified in Fig. 10, when no TX format control information is received, the TX format setting previously stored in the step 302 is used. Hence, both the transmissions at TTI number 6 and TTI number 8 use the same TX format setting.

In one embodiment compatible with any other embodiment, a slow DCI in PDCCH carries a frequency allocation for short TTIs, the duration of the short TTIs as well as the TX format for (e.g., potential) UL transmissions. The slow DCI is applicable for the whole subframe. In that way, the UE knows, already after reception of the slow DCI, the coding format and the TBSs for (e.g., potential) scheduling grants in the short TTIs during the subframe.

In another embodiment compatible with any other embodiment, the UE processes the data according to two (or more) different TX formats. For example, the TX formats differ by one OFDM symbol. A first TX buffer entry is prepared for the case of DMRS. A second TX buffer entry is prepared in the step 304 without DMRS. When receiving the UL scheduling grant, the UE is prepared for both options.

In a variant, the UE inserts the DMRS in the TX buffer entry (prepared without DMRS) when a DMRS timer (that is triggered by the last DMRS transmission from the UE) expires. In this case, the eNB does not need to indicate the DMRS insertion in the UL scheduling grant. The UE prepares the TX buffer entry according to the TX format either with or without DMRS depending on the state of the DMRS timer.

The step 304 of processing the data may further depend on the control information (e.g., settings of modulations, coding rate, precoding, etc.) used in one or more previous uplink transmissions 308. These settings can be kept between two uplink transmissions, e.g., under the assumption of a slowly varying link budget.

In a variant compatible with any embodiment, the TBS is modified (e.g., increased) compared to the previous uplink transmission based on a predefined rule. This increase in TBS may follow a rule motivated or derived from a transport layer protocol, e.g., specified based on increase in payload in a slow start of TCP.

The technique can be implemented with a short delay between UL scheduling grant reception 306 and uplink transmission 308, if the UE has preprocessed the data according to the step 304 (e.g., if the UE is following a preconfigured TBS, coding rate, etc.). The short delay is shorter as compared to a delay between grant reception and data transmission if the UE has not performed the step 304 (i.e., if the UE is not preconfigured for the transmission). The short delay may be indicated in the UL scheduling grant.

Fig. 11 shows a schematic block diagram for an embodiment of a wireless device 1100. The wireless device 1100 comprises a radio interface 1102 for radio communication with a network node, one or more processor circuits 1104 for performing the method 300 and memory 1106 coupled to the processor circuits 1104. The memory 1106 is encoded with instructions that implement each of the modules 102, 104 and 106.

The one or more processor circuits 1104 may be 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 wireless device components, such as the memory 1106, wireless device 1100 functionality. For example, the one or more processor circuits 1104 may execute instructions stored in the memory 1106. Such functionality may include providing various wireless features discussed herein, including any of the features or benefits disclosed herein.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic block diagram for an embodiment of a network node 1200. The network node 1200 comprises a radio interface 1202 for providing radio access in a radio access network, one or more processor circuits 1204 for performing the method 400 and memory 1206 coupled to the processor circuits 1204. The memory 1206 is encoded with instructions that implement each of the modules 202, 204 and 206.

The one or more processor circuits 1204 may be 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 wireless device components, such as the memory 1206, network node 1200 functionality. For example, the one or more processor circuits 1204 may execute instructions stored in the memory 1206. Such functionality may include providing various wireless features discussed herein to a wireless device, such as the wireless device 1100, including any of the features or benefits disclosed herein.

The memory 1106 and the memory 1206, respectively, may be any form of volatile or nonvolatile memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), removable media, or any other suitable local or remote memory component. The memory 1106 may store any suitable data, instructions, or information, including software and encoded logic, utilized by the wireless device 1100. The Memory 1206 may store any suitable data, instructions, or information, including software and encoded logic, utilized by the network node 1200.

Fig. 13 schematically illustrates a network environment 1300 for embodiments of the wireless device 1100 and the network node 1200. The wireless device 1100 and the network node 1200 are in wireless communication 1302 for interacting according to the methods 300 and 400, respectively. Multiple instances of the network node 1200 may be connected through a backhaul network 1304.

As has become apparent from above description of exemplary embodiments, at least some embodiments of the technique allow reducing latency and shorter round-trip times, since a delay between grant reception and data transmission is reduced or limited by using preprocessed data for the transmission.

Short TTIs can be flexibly configured by the RAN or can be pre-defined in the system. A signaling overhead can be reduced by reusing control information of a previous transmission in the absence of an updating control message.

The technique can be implemented to reduce manufacturing costs of wireless devices by avoiding fast processing hardware, even as the TTI duration is reduced.

Many advantages of the present invention will be fully understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the units and devices without departing from the scope of the disclosure and/or without sacrificing all of its advantages. Since the techniques can be varied in many ways, it will be recognized that the disclosure should be limited only by the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A method (300) of transmitting data from a wireless device (1100) to a network node (1200) of a radio access network, RAN, the method comprising or triggering the following steps performed by the wireless device:

receiving (302) one or more pieces of control information related to the transmission of data from the wireless device to the network node;

starting (304) to process a transport block including the data, wherein the processing is based on at least one of the one or more pieces of control information;

receiving (306) a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information are indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval, TTI, for the transmission of the data; and

transmitting (308) the data according to the scheduling grant within the TTI using the processed transport block.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information is included in one or more pieces of Downlink Control

Information, DCI, of the RAN.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein a time difference between receiving the scheduling grant and transmitting the data is defined in units of the TTI.

4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a time domain structure defined for the RAN includes a plurality of subframes in a radio frame, and wherein the duration of the TTI is shorter than the duration of one sub frame.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each of the subframes includes a plurality of symbols, and wherein the duration of the TTI corresponds to the duration of one or two symbols.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the step of starting the processing of the transport block includes generating the transport block.

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the at least one piece of control information is indicative of a size of the transport block.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the at least one piece of control information is indicative of a transport protocol that determines a sequence of sizes of the transport block.

9. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the transport block is processed based on the one or more pieces of control information prior to receiving the scheduling grant.

10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein receiving the one or more pieces of control information includes receiving a further piece of control information related to the transmission of the data after starting the processing and prior to the transmission.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising or triggering the step of:

further processing the transport block based on the further piece of control information.

12. The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein the combination of the at least one piece of control information and the further piece of control information is indicative of a configuration for the transmission.

13. The method of any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the one or more pieces of control information include a first piece of control information and a second piece of control information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first piece of control information is received prior to receiving the second piece of control information.

15. The method of claim 13 or 14, wherein the first piece of control information applies to multiple TTIs including the TTI of the transmission and/or to multiple scheduling grants including the scheduling grant for the transmission.

16. The method of any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the second piece of control information applies to the TTI of the transmission and/or to the scheduling grant for the transmission.

17. The method of any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the processing of the transport block includes storing two or more differently processed transport blocks, wherein each of the differently processed transport blocks is consistent with the first piece of control information.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising or triggering the step of:

selecting one of the differently processed transport blocks for the transmission.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the selection depends on at least one of the second piece of control information and the scheduling grant.

20. The method of any one of claims 13 to 19, wherein the first piece of control information applies to multiple wireless devices including the wireless device transmitting the data.

21. The method of any one of claims 13 to 20, wherein the first control information is indicative of a transport block size and the processing of the transport block based on the first control information includes channel coding.

22. The method of any one of claims 13 to 21, wherein the second control information is indicative of a transmission format and the processing of the transport block based on the second control information includes rate matching.

23. The method of any one of claims 1 to 22, wherein the one or more pieces of control information and the scheduling grant are received in one control message.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein a time difference between receiving the one control message and the transmission is greater than a pre-defined processing time.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the pre-defined processing time is independent of the duration of the TTI.

26. The method of any one of claims 1 to 25, further comprising or triggering the step of: further processing the transport block after receiving the scheduling grant and before the transmission.

27. The method of any one of claims 1 to 26, wherein the step of starting the processing of the transport block includes generating the transport block for a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, retransmission after a HARQ transmission and before one of the received pieces of control information includes a Negative -Acknowledgement, NACK, for the HARQ transmission.

28. A method (400) of receiving data from a wireless device (1100) at a network node (1200) of a radio access network, RAN, the method comprising or triggering the following steps performed by the network node:

sending (402) one or more pieces of control information related to a transmission of data from the wireless device to the network node, wherein at least one of the one or more pieces of control information enables the wireless device to start processing a transport block including the data; sending (404) a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information are indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval, TTI, for the transmission of the data; and

receiving (406) the data according to the scheduling grant within the TTI based on the processed transport block.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information is included in one or more pieces of Downlink Control

Information, DCI, of the RAN.

30. The method of claim 28 or 29, wherein a time difference between sending the scheduling grant and receiving the data is defined in units of the TTI.

31. The method of any one of claims 28 to 30, wherein a time domain structure defined for the RAN includes a plurality of subframes in a radio frame, and wherein the duration of the TTI is shorter than the duration of one sub frame.

32. The method of claim 31 , wherein each of the subframes includes a plurality of symbols, and wherein the duration of the TTI corresponds to the duration of one or two symbols.

33. The method of any one of claims 28 to 32, wherein the at least one piece of control information is indicative of a size of the transport block.

34. The method of any one of claims 28 to 33, wherein the at least one piece of control information is indicative of a transport protocol that determines a sequence of sizes of the transport block.

35. The method of any one of claims 28 to 34, wherein the one or more pieces of control information enable the wireless device to start processing the transport block prior to receiving the scheduling grant.

36. The method of any one of claims 28 to 35, wherein sending the one or more pieces of control information includes sending a further piece of control information related to the transmission of the data after the start of the processing has been enabled and prior to the receiving the data.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the combination of the at least one piece of control information and the further piece of control information is indicative of a configuration for the transmission.

38. The method of any one of claims 28 to 37, wherein the one or more pieces of control information include a first piece of control information and a second piece of control information.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the first piece of control information is sent prior to sending the second piece of control information.

40. The method of claim 38 or 39, wherein the first piece of control information applies to multiple TTIs including the TTI of the transmission and/or to multiple scheduling grants including the scheduling grant for the transmission.

41. The method of any one of claims 38 to 40, wherein the second piece of control information applies to the TTI of the transmission and/or to the scheduling grant for the transmission.

42. The method of any one of claims 38 to 41, wherein the first piece of control information applies to multiple wireless devices including the wireless device transmitting the data.

43. The method of any one of claims 38 to 42, wherein the first control information is indicative of a transport block size and enables the processing of the transport block based on the first control information by channel coding.

44. The method of any one of claims 38 to 43, wherein the second control information is indicative of a transmission format and enables the processing of the transport block based on the second control information by rate matching.

45. The method of any one of claims 28 to 44, wherein the one or more pieces of control information and the scheduling grant are sent in one control message.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein a time difference between sending the one control message and the reception of the data is greater than a pre-defined processing time.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the pre-defined processing time is independent of the duration of the TTI.

48. The method of any one of claims 28 to 47, wherein the scheduling grant enables to further process the transport block before the transmission.

49. A computer program product comprising program code portions for performing the steps of any one of the claims 1 to 48 when the computer program product is executed on one or more computing devices (1104; 1204).

50. The computer program product of claim 49, stored on a computer-readable recording medium (1106; 1206).

51. A device (100) for transmitting data from a wireless device (1100) to a network node (1200) of a radio access network, RAN, the device being configured to perform or trigger:

52. The device of claim 51 , further configured to perform or trigger the steps of any one of the claims 2 to 27.

53. A device (200) for receiving data from a wireless device (1100) at a network node (1200) of a radio access network, RAN, the device being configured to perform or trigger:

sending (402) one or more pieces of control information related to a transmission of data from the wireless device to the network node, wherein at least one of the one or more pieces of control information enables the wireless device to start processing a transport block including the data;

sending (404) a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information are indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval, TTI, for the transmission of the data; and

54. The device of claim 53, further configured to perform or trigger the steps of any one of the claims 29 to 48.

55. A wireless device (1100) wirelessly connected or connectable to a radio access network, RAN, the wireless device comprising: a scheduling reception module (102) for receiving one or more pieces of control information related to a transmission of data from the wireless device to a network node (1200); a data process module (104) for starting to process a transport block including the data, wherein the processing is based on at least one of the one or more pieces of control information; the scheduling reception module (102) for receiving a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information are indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval, TTI, for the transmission of the data; and

a data transmission module (106) for transmitting the data according to the scheduling grant within the TTI using the processed transport block.

56. The wireless device of claim 55, further comprising one or more modules for performing the steps of any one of the claims 1 to 27.

57. A network node (1200) for providing wireless connectivity in a radio access network, RAN, the network node comprising:

a scheduling control module (202) for sending one or more pieces of control information related to a transmission of data from a wireless device (1100) to the network node, wherein at least one of the one or more pieces of control information enables the wireless device to start processing a transport block including the data;

a scheduling grant module (204) for sending a scheduling grant for the transmission of the data, wherein at least one of the scheduling grant and the one or more pieces of control information are indicative of a duration of a transmission time interval, TTI, for the transmission of the data; and

a data reception module (206) for receiving the data according to the scheduling grant within the TTI based on the processed transport block.

58. The network node of claim 57, further configured to perform or trigger the steps of any one of the claims 28 to 48.