Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
  • H04L5/0001—Arrangements for dividing the transmission path
  • H04L5/0003—Two-dimensional division
  • H04L5/0005—Time-frequency
  • H04L5/0007—Time-frequency the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
  • H04L5/001—Time-frequency the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L1/00—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received
  • H04L1/12—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by using return channel
  • H04L1/16—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by using return channel in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals
  • H04L1/18—Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems
  • H04L1/1867—Arrangements specially adapted for the transmitter end
  • H04L1/1874—Buffer management
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L1/00—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received
  • H04L1/12—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by using return channel
  • H04L1/16—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by using return channel in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals
  • H04L1/18—Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems
  • H04L1/1867—Arrangements specially adapted for the transmitter end
  • H04L1/188—Time-out mechanisms
  • H04L1/1883—Time-out mechanisms using multiple timers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L47/00—Traffic control in data switching networks
  • H04L47/10—Flow control; Congestion control
  • H04L47/41—Flow control; Congestion control by acting on aggregated flows or links
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W16/00—Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures
  • H04W16/14—Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W28/00—Network traffic management; Network resource management
  • H04W28/02—Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
  • H04W28/08—Load balancing or load distribution

Definitions

• Wireless cellular telecommunication networks include Radio Access Networks (RANs) that enable User Equipment (UE), such as smartphones, tablet computers, laptop computers, etc., to connect to a core network.
• RANs Radio Access Networks
• UE User Equipment
• An example of a wireless telecommunications network may include an Evolved Packet System (EPS) that operates based on 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Communication Standards.
• EPS Evolved Packet System
• 3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
• UEs typically communicate with base stations using channels corresponding to a licensed spectrum of radio frequencies (e.g., a spectrum of radio frequencies designated for cellular network communications).
• LTE Long Term Evolution
• WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
• LWA Long Term Evolution
• a UE supporting both LTE and a WLAN technology such as WiFi may be configured by the network to utilize both links simultaneously.
• LWA provides techniques for using LTE in unlicensed spectrum without requiring hardware changes to the network infrastructure equipment and the UEs.
• LWA allows using both links for a single traffic flow and is generally efficient, due to coordination at lower protocol stack layers.
• Link aggregation for LWA was initially limited to downlink (DL) traffic aggregation (i.e., from the base station to the UE), but has recently been proposed for UL traffic.
• DL downlink
• UL uplink
• Fig. 1 illustrates an architecture of a system in accordance with some embodiments
• Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of LWA in the system of Fig. 1
• Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the use of separate discard timers for a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer
• PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol
• Fig. 4A is a flow chart illustrating an example process for providing PDCP status reports from a base station to User Equipment (UE);
• UE User Equipment
• Fig. 4B is a flow chart illustrating an example of another process for providing PDCP status reports from the base station to the UE;
• Fig. 5 is a diagram conceptually illustrating concepts consistent with the third embodiment
• Fig. 6 illustrates example components of a device in accordance with some embodiments
• Fig. 7 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments
• Fig. 8 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments.
• Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.
• a machine-readable or computer-readable medium e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium
• the LTE and WLAN links are aggregated at the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) level.
• PDCP provides a number of services, including the maintenance of sequence numbers (SNs) for service data units (SDUs).
• SDUs service data units
• the SNs may be used to correctly order SDUs received over the LTE and WLAN links.
• an overflow counter referred to as the hyper frame number (HFN)
• HFN hyper frame number
• the HFN should be synchronized between the UE and eNB.
• the PDCP SN has reach its maximum value, the PDCP SN will be restarted from 0 and the HFN increased by one.
• HFN desynchronization may occur when PDCP SDUs are discarded or transmitted without acknowledgement. It is desirable to eliminate the possibility of HFN desynchronization.
• PDCP discard timers are maintained for packets sent over the WLAN and LTE links.
• the discard timers may be independently set for the WLAN and LTE links.
• status reports may be sent by the eNB, and to the UE, indicating acknowledgement (ACK) and/or negative acknowledgement (NACK) of uplink PDCP SDUs.
• the status reports may be transmitted periodically or after a certain number of packets are transmitted.
• retransmission of PDCP SDUs after being sent once over the WLAN link may be disabled.
• the first and third embodiments may be used to simplify the logic and potentially reduce the memory requirements of the UE as PDCP SDUs sent over the WLAN link may only be needed to be buffered for a short period of time or not at all.
• the first and third embodiments may be particularly used as triggers to query the eNB to receive a status report from the eNB.
• the status report received from the eNB (e.g., as per the second embodiment) may act to mitigate or eliminate HFN desynchronization.
• Fig. 1 illustrates an architecture of a system 100 in accordance with some embodiments.
• the system 100 is shown to include a user equipment (UE) 101 and a UE 102.
• the UEs 101 and 102 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.
• PDAs Personal Data Assistants
• pagers pagers
• laptop computers desktop computers
• wireless handsets wireless handsets
• any of the UEs 101 and 102 can comprise an Internet of Things (IoT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections.
• An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to- machine (M2M) or machine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks.
• M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data.
• An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections.
• the IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network.
• the UEs 101 and 102 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN) 110—
• the RAN 110 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN.
• UMTS Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
• E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
• NG RAN NextGen RAN
• the UEs 101 and 102 utilize connections 103 and 104, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, the connections 103 and 104 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.
• GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
• CDMA code-division multiple access
• PTT Push-to-Talk
• POC PTT over Cellular
• UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
• LTE Long Term Evolution
• 5G fifth generation
• NR New Radio
• the UEs 101 and 102 may further directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 105.
• the ProSe interface 105 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a
• PSCCH Physical Sidelink Control Channel
• PSSCH Physical Sidelink Shared Channel
• PSDCH Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel
• PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel
• the UE 102 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 106 via connection 107.
• the connection 107 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 106 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®) router.
• WiFi® wireless fidelity
• the AP 106 is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below).
• the RAN 110 can include one or more access nodes that enable the connections 103 and
• the RAN 110 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RAN node 111, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node 112.
• BSs base stations
• eNBs evolved NodeBs
• gNB next Generation NodeBs
• RAN nodes and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell).
• the RAN 110 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RAN node 111, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells
• any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 101 and 102.
• any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN 110 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.
• RNC radio network controller
• the UEs 101 and 102 can be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency -Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
• OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.
• a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 to the UEs 101 and 102, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques.
• the grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot.
• a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation.
• Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively.
• the duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame.
• the smallest time- frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element.
• Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements.
• Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated.
• the physical downlink shared channel may carry user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 101 and 102.
• the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs 101 and 102 about the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel.
• downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 102 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 101 and 102.
• the downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 101 and 102.
• the PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information.
• CCEs control channel elements
• the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching.
• Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs).
• RAGs resource element groups
• QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
• the PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition.
• DCI downlink control information
• There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L l, 2, 4, or 8).
• Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts.
• some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission.
• the EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced the control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.
• EPCCH enhanced physical downlink control channel
• ECCEs enhanced the control channel elements
• each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an enhanced resource element groups (EREGs).
• EREGs enhanced resource element groups
• An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.
• the RAN 110 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 120— via an SI interface 113.
• the CN 120 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN.
• EPC evolved packet core
• NPC NextGen Packet Core
• the SI interface 113 is split into two parts: the Sl-U interface 114, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 111 and 112 and the serving gateway (S-GW) 122, and the S 1-mobility management entity (MME) interface 115, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 111 and 112 and MMEs 121.
• S-GW serving gateway
• MME S 1-mobility management entity
• the CN 120 comprises the MMEs 121, the S-GW 122, the Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 123, and a home subscriber server (HSS) 124.
• the MMEs 121 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN).
• the MMEs 121 may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management.
• the HSS 124 may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions.
• the CN 120 may comprise one or several HSSs 124, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc.
• the HSS 124 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.
• the S-GW 122 may terminate the SI interface 113 towards the RAN 110, and routes data packets between the RAN 110 and the CN 120.
• the S-GW 122 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter- 3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.
• the P-GW 123 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN.
• the P-GW 123 may route data packets between the EPC network 123 and external networks such as a network including the application server 130 (alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 125.
• the application server 130 may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.).
• PS UMTS Packet Services
• LTE PS data services etc.
• the P-GW 123 is shown to be communicatively coupled to an application server 130 via an IP communications interface 125.
• the application server 130 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group
• VoIP Voice-over-Internet Protocol
• the P-GW 123 may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection.
• Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 126 is the policy and charging control element of the CN 120.
• PCRF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function
• HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network
• IP-CAN Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network
• HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network
• V-PCRF Visited PCRF
• VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network
• the PCRF 126 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 130 via the P-GW 123.
• the application server 130 may signal the PCRF 126 to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters.
• the PCRF 126 may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server 130.
• PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function
• TFT traffic flow template
• QCI QoS class of identifier
• Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the implantation of LWA in the environment of system 100.
• the radio interfaces provided by both WiFi access point 106 (WLAN link) and eNB 111 (LTE link) may be used to provide an aggregated, high-throughput link between UE 102 and core network 120.
• the WLAN link may be used for both uplink and downlink traffic.
• PDCP may be used to communicate the user plane and control plane traffic between UE 102 and eNB 111.
• Each SDU of the traffic may be assigned a SN to allow UE 102 or eNB 111 to reassemble a stream of SDUs and guarantee that the correct order of the SDUs is maintained.
• an overflow counter may be used at UE 102 and at eNB 111 in order to limit the size of the SN values.
• the HFN should be synchronized between UE 102 and eNB 111 because the HFN is used as an input to the subsequent deciphering algorithm. A packet cannot be deciphered if the wrong HFN is associated with the packet. When a SN has reach its maximum value, the SN will be restarted from 0 and the HFN increased by one.
• the quantity of devices and/or networks, illustrated in Figs. 1 ,and 2, is provided for explanatory purposes only. In practice, there may be additional devices and/or networks; fewer devices and/or networks; different devices and/or networks; or differently arranged devices and/or networks than illustrated in Figs. 1 and/or 2. Alternatively, or additionally, one or more of the devices of system 100 may perform one or more functions described as being performed by another one or more of the devices of system 100.
• HFN desynchronization may occur when PDCP SDUs are discarded, lost, or transmitted without acknowledgement.
• UE 102 In the uplink direction, UE 102, after transmitting a PDCP SDU, may buffer the SDU in case UE 102 needs to retransmit the SDU to eNB 111.
• a discard timer value may be used by the eNB and the UE to assist in determining when a PDCP SDU can be discarded (i.e., deleted from the buffer).
• a discard timer value may be associated with each PDCP SDU.
• the discard timer may be started when a PDCP is received from an upper layer (e.g., the IP layer).
• the discard timer expires for the PDCP SDU, or the successful delivery of the PDCP SDU is otherwise confirmed, the UE can discard the PDCP SDU.
• Using a PDCP discard timer value that is too large can result in wasted resources (e.g., UE 102 needs to maintain a large buffer of the transmitted PDCP SDUs).
• Using a PDCP discard timer value that is too small can result in errors, such as HFN desynchronization.
• An appropriate value for a discard timer may be based on the bandwidth and latency of the corresponding radio link.
• separate PDCP discard timer values may be maintained for the WLAN and the LTE links.
• the PDCP discard timer applicable to PDCP SDUs sent over the LTE link may be different than the discard timer applicable to
• the network may configure different (or same) discard timers based on the estimated round trip time of individual links.
• the discard timer for the WLAN may be considered as a PDCP buffer protection timer which may be beneficial for avoiding PDCP buffer overflow.
• Fig. 3 is a diagram conceptually illustrating logical and/or physical elements associated
• UE 102 may maintain WLAN discard timer 310, LTE discard timer 320, and PDCP buffer 330.
• WLAN discard timer 310 may be used when determining whether to discard uplink SDUs, that are stored in PDCP buffer 330 and that are transmitted by a UE, over the WLAN link (e.g., using WiFi).
• a second discard timer labeled as LTE discard timer 320, may be used when determining whether to discard uplink SDUs that are transmitted by the UE, over the LTE link.
• Timers 310 and 320 may be independently used by the UE. In some implementations, the expiration of a discard timer may be used to trigger the generation of a status report.
• a number of techniques may be used to set the value of the discard timers, including WLAN discard timer 310.
• dedicated Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling or broadcast RRC signaling may be used.
• RRC Radio Resource Control
• in-band signaling i.e., over the WLAN link
• MAC Media Access Control
• CE Control Element
• PDCP control data units or additional header information using LTE- WLAN Aggregation Adaptation Protocol (LWAAP) or other data units, may be used.
• LTE- WLAN Aggregation Adaptation Protocol LTE- WLAN Aggregation Adaptation Protocol
• dedicated RRC signaling e.g., made over the
• IE PDCP configuration Information Element
• Table I illustrates an example of a PDCP-Configuration message.
• the PDCP-Configuration message may be based on the disclosure of 3GPP TS 36.331, sub-clause 6.3.2, where bold text in Table I is used to illustrate features not in the existing 3GPP standards.
• statusPDU-TypeForPolling-rl3 ENUMERATED ⁇ typel, type2 ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need ON statusPDU-Periodicity-Typel-rl3 ENUMERATED ⁇
• DisardTimerWLAN may indicate the discard timer value for packets (e.g., SDUs) sent over the WLAN link as an LWA bearer as specified in 3 GPP TS 36.323. The values are indicated in milli-seconds (ms). A value of ms50 means 50 ms, a value of mslOO means 100 ms, etc.
• the SetupLWA field may be a mandatory field that is present in case of setup of or reconfiguration of an LWA DRB. This field may be optionally present upon reconfiguration of a LWA DRB; otherwise the field may not be present.
• PDCP status reports may be provided from the eNB to the UE.
• the status reports may include an acknowledgement of the uplink PDCP SDUs that were received.
• the UE may discard (i.e., no longer buffer) the PDCP SDUs that are indicated, in the status reports, as being received.
• Fig. 4A is a flow chart illustrating an example process 400 for providing PDCP status reports from the eNB to the UE.
• Process 400 may be implemented by, for example, eNB 111.
• Process 400 may include, for an LWA uplink bearer (block 410 - Yes), determining whether a periodic status report timer has expired (block 420).
• the eNB may provide a status report, to the UE associated with the bearer.
• the status report may include an indication of uplink PDCP SDUs that were successfully received (ACK), and/or an indication of uplink PDCP SDUs that were not successfully received (NACK).
• the status report may be a PDCP or LWA type status report.
• the UE may discard/delete the PDCP SDUs, that are indicated in the status report as being successfully received, from the buffer of the UE.
• the UE may resend PDCP SDUs that are indicated in the status report as not being successfully received. In this manner (i.e., by periodically transmitting a status report), PDCP SDUs that are lost during transmission on the WLAN link will not lead to HFN desynchronization between the eNB and the UE.
• Fig. 4B is a flow chart illustrating an example of another process, process 450, for providing PDCP status reports from the eNB to the UE.
• Process 450 may be implemented by, for example, eNB 111.
• Process 450 may include, for an LWA uplink bearer (block 460 - Yes), determining whether a certain number (N, where N is an integer) of SDUs have been sent since the last status report was transmitted to the UE (block 470).
• N a certain number
• the eNB may provide a status report, to the UE associated with the bearer.
• the N SDUs may be PDCP packets.
• the status report may include an indication of uplink PDCP SDUs that were successfully received or not received.
• the status report may be a PDCP or LWA type status report.
• the UE may discard/delete the PDCP SDUs, that are indicated in the status report as being successfully received, from the buffer of the UE. In this manner, PDCP SDUs that are lost during transmission on the WLAN link will not lead to HFN desynchronization between the eNB and the UE.
• the expiration of a re-ordering timer, at the eNB can trigger a PDCP or LWA status report from the eNB to the UE.
• the expiration of the PDCP discard timer, at the UE can be used to trigger the UE to request that the eNB send a PDCP or LWA status report.
• processes 400 and 450 a number of potential techniques may be used to communicate the parameters associated with processes 400 and 450 (e.g., the value of the periodic status report timer (process 400) and the value of N (process 450)).
• the network e.g., CN 120
• the values for the periodic status report timer and/or N may be provisioned as part of the initial setup of the eNB or dynamically determined by the eNB based on the operational state of the eNB (e.g., network load, etc.).
• the UE may be configured to not retransmit PDCP packets over the WLAN link, or to not at all retransmit PDCP packet that has been sent once on the WLAN link.
• the third embodiment may be useful for PDCP buffer management at the UE and to assist the UE in determining packets it should retransmit.
• the PDCP buffer would not be maintained, by the UE, for uplink PDCP SDUs that are sent over the WLAN link. Instead, the UE may only need to maintain the buffer for uplink SDUs sent over the LTE link.
• a re-ordering window may not need to be separately maintained for PDCP SDUs received over the WLAN link.
• WLAN feedback e.g., WLAN status reports
• Fig. 5 is a diagram conceptually illustrating concepts consistent with the third embodiment.
• UL PDCP SDUs may be concurrently transmitted over both the LTE and the WLAN link.
• UE 101 may maintain buffer, labeled as LTE PDCP buffer 520, for PDCP SDUs transmitted over the LTE link.
• LTE PDCP buffer 520 For the WLAN link, however, the UE may forgo the possibility of retransmitting PDCP SDUs. Accordingly, a buffer is not needed for the WLAN link (illustrated by a "crossed-out" WLAN PDCP buffer).
• feedback such as status reports, indicating the SNs of PDCP SDUs that were received (or not received) may be transmitted, for the LTE link, to UE 101. However, such feedback is not necessary for the WLAN link.
• a PDCP re-order window 510 may be maintained to ensure the received SDUs are in the correct order.
• the UE may be configured to maintain a minimum PDCP SDU rate on the LTE link, even when other considerations would normally cause all of the PDCP data to be transmitted over the WLAN link. For example, the UE may ensure that PDCP SDUs are periodically sent over the LTE link. The reception of packets over the LTE link may cause the eNB to acknowledge that it has received the packets (e.g., via a status report). In this implementation, the UE essentially "tricks" the eNB into sending an LWA and/or PDCP status report.
• multiple ones of the embodiments may be concurrently used by a UE/eNB.
• independent WLAN and LTE discard timers, as well as periodic transmission of status reports, may be used.
• circuitry may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality.
• ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit
• the circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules.
• circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware.
• Fig. 6 illustrates example components of a device 600 in accordance with some embodiments.
• the device 600 may include application circuitry 602, baseband circuitry 604, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 606, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 608, one or more antennas 610, and power management circuitry (PMC) 612 coupled together at least as shown.
• the components of the illustrated device 600 may be included in a UE or a RAN node.
• the device 600 may include less elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry 602, and instead include a processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC).
• the device 600 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory /storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface.
• additional elements such as, for example, memory /storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface.
• the components described below may be included in more than one device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations).
• C-RAN Cloud-RAN
• the application circuitry 602 may include one or more application processors.
• the application circuitry 602 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors.
• the processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.).
• the processors may be coupled with or may include memory /storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory /storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 600.
• processors of application circuitry 602 may process IP data packets received from an EPC.
• the baseband circuitry 604 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors.
• the baseband circuitry 604 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606.
• Baseband processing circuity 604 may interface with the application circuitry 602 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 606.
• the baseband circuitry 604 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 604A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 604B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 604C, or other baseband processor(s) 604D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.).
• the baseband circuitry 604 e.g., one or more of baseband processors 604A-D
• 3G third generation
• 4G fourth generation
• 5G fifth generation
• 6G sixth generation
• baseband processors 604A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory 604G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 604E.
• the radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc.
• signal modulation/demodulation e.g., a codec
• encoding/decoding e.g., a codec
• radio frequency shifting e.g., radio frequency shifting, etc.
• modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 604 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality.
• FFT Fast-Fourier Transform
• encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 604 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality.
• LDPC Low-Density Parity Check
• the baseband circuitry 604 may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 604F.
• the audio DSP(s) 604F may be include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.
• Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments.
• some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 604 and the application circuitry 602 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).
• SOC system on a chip
• the baseband circuitry 604 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies.
• the baseband circuitry 604 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN).
• EUTRAN evolved universal terrestrial radio access network
• WMAN wireless metropolitan area networks
• WLAN wireless local area network
• WPAN wireless personal area network
• multi-mode baseband circuitry Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 604 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol.
• RF circuitry 606 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium.
• the RF circuitry 606 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium.
• the RF circuitry may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium.
• RF circuitry 606 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network.
• RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 604.
• RF circuitry 606 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 608 for transmission.
• the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 may include mixer circuitry 606a, amplifier circuitry 606b and filter circuitry 606c.
• the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606 may include filter circuitry 606c and mixer circuitry 606a.
• RF circuitry 606 may also include synthesizer circuitry 606d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path.
• the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 606d.
• the amplifier circuitry 606b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 606c may be a low- pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals.
• Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 604 for further processing.
• the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement.
• mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
• the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 606d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 608.
• the baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 606c.
• the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively.
• the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection).
• the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively.
• the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.
• the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
• the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals.
• the RF circuitry 606 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 604 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 606.
• ADC analog-to-digital converter
• DAC digital-to-analog converter
• a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
• the synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable.
• synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.
• the synthesizer circuitry 606d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606a of the RF circuitry 606 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a fractional N/N+l synthesizer.
• frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement.
• VCO voltage controlled oscillator
• Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 604 or the applications processor 602 depending on the desired output frequency.
• a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 602.
• Synthesizer circuitry 606d of the RF circuitry 606 may include a divider, a delay -locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator.
• the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DP A).
• the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+l (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio.
• the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop.
• the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.
• synthesizer circuitry 606d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other.
• the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO).
• the RF circuitry 606 may include an IQ/polar converter.
• FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 610, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 606 for further processing.
• FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 610.
• the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 606, solely in the FEM 608, or in both the RF circuitry 606 and the FEM 608.
• the FEM circuitry 608 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation.
• the FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path.
• the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 606).
• the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 606), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 610).
• PA power amplifier
• the PMC 612 may manage power provided to the baseband circuitry 604.
• the PMC 612 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion.
• the PMC 612 may often be included when the device 600 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE.
• the PMC 612 may increase the power conversion efficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.
• Fig. 6 shows the PMC 612 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 604.
• the PMC 6 12 may be additionally or alternatively coupled with, and perform similar power management operations for, other components such as, but not limited to, application circuitry 602, RF circuitry 606, or FEM 608.
• the PMC 612 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the device 600. For example, if the device 600 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device 600 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power.
• DRX Discontinuous Reception Mode
• the device 600 may transition off to an RRC Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc.
• the device 600 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again.
• the device 600 may not receive data in this state, in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC Connected state.
• An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.
• Processors of the application circuitry 602 and processors of the baseband circuitry 604 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack.
• processors of the baseband circuitry 604 alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry 604 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmission communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers).
• Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control (RRC) layer, described in further detail below.
• RRC radio resource control
• Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, described in further detail below.
• Layer 1 may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.
• Fig. 7 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments.
• the baseband circuitry 604 of Fig. 6 may comprise processors 604A-504E and a memory 604G utilized by said processors.
• processors 604A-504E may comprise processors 604A-504E and a memory 604G utilized by said processors.
• processors 604A-504E may comprise processors 604A-504E and a memory 604G utilized by said processors.
• 604A-504E may include a memory interface, 704A-604E, respectively, to send/receive data to/from the memory 604G.
• the baseband circuitry 604 may further include one or more interfaces to
• a memory interface 712 e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry 604
• an application circuitry interface 714 e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry 602 of Fig. 6
• an RF circuitry interface 716 e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 606 of Fig. 6
• a wireless hardware connectivity interface 718 e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC) components
• Bluetooth® components e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy
• Wi-Fi® components and other communication components
• a power management interface 720 e.g., an interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMC 612.
• RF circuitry interface 716 may particularly include a first interface to a radio designed to communicate via an LTE link and a second interface to a radio designed to communicate via a WLAN (e.g., WiFi) link.
• WLAN e.g., WiFi
• Fig. 8 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments.
• a control plane 800 is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE 101 (or alternatively, the UE 102), the RAN node 111 (or alternatively, the RAN node 112), and the MME 121.
• the PHY layer 801 may transmit or receive information used by the MAC layer 802 over one or more air interfaces.
• the PHY layer 801 may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial
• the PHY layer 801 may still further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing.
• FEC forward error correction
• MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output
• the MAC layer 802 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC service data units (SDUs) from one or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to PHY via transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered from the PHY via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), and logical channel prioritization.
• SDUs MAC service data units
• TB transport blocks
• HARQ hybrid automatic repeat request
• the RLC layer 803 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including:
• the RLC layer 803 may execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers.
• the RLC layer 803 may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment.
• the PDCP layer 804 may execute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).
• security operations e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.
• the main services and functions of the RRC layer 805 may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in Master Information Blocks (MIBs) or System Information Blocks (SIBs) related to the non-access stratum (NAS)), broadcast of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and E-UTRAN (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, security functions including key management, inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting.
• SIBs may comprise one or more information elements (IEs), which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures.
• the UE 101 and the RAN node 111 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer 801, the MAC layer 802, the RLC layer 803, the PDCP layer 804, and the RRC layer 805.
• a Uu interface e.g., an LTE-Uu interface
• the non-access stratum (NAS) protocols 806 form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE 101 and the MME 121.
• the NAS protocols 806 support the mobility of the UE 101 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 101 and the P-GW 123.
• the SI Application Protocol (Sl-AP) layer 815 may support the functions of the SI interface and comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs).
• An EP is a unit of interaction between the RAN node 111 and the CN 120.
• the Sl-AP layer services may comprise two groups: UE- associated services and non UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.
• E-RAB E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer
• RIM RAN Information Management
• the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer) 814 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 111 and the MME 121 based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP layer 813.
• the L2 layer 812 and the LI layer 811 may refer to communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) used by the RAN node and the MME to exchange information.
• the RAN node 111 and the MME 121 may utilize an SI -MME interface to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the LI layer 811, the L2 layer 812, the IP layer 813, the SCTP layer 814, and the Sl-AP layer 815.
• a protocol stack comprising the LI layer 811, the L2 layer 812, the IP layer 813, the SCTP layer 814, and the Sl-AP layer 815.
• Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.
• Fig. 9 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 900 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 910, one or more memory /storage devices 920, and one or more communication resources 930, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 940.
• node virtualization e.g., NFV
• a hypervisor 902 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 900
• the processors 910 may include, for example, a processor 912 and a processor 914.
• CPU central processing unit
• RISC reduced instruction set computing
• CISC complex instruction set computing
• GPU graphics processing unit
• DSP digital signal processor
• ASIC application specific integrated circuit
• RFIC radio-frequency integrated circuit
• the memory /storage devices 920 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof.
• the memory /storage devices 920 may include, but are not limited to any type of volatile or non-volatile memory such as dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), static random-access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.
• DRAM dynamic random-access memory
• SRAM static random-access memory
• EPROM erasable programmable read-only memory
• EEPROM electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
• Flash memory solid-state storage, etc.
• he communication resources 930 may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 904 or one or more databases 906 via a network 908.
• the communication resources 930 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.
• wired communication components e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)
• cellular communication components e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)
• NFC components e.g., NFC components
• Bluetooth® components e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy
• Wi-Fi® components e.g., Wi-Fi® components
• Instructions 950 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 910 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.
• the instructions 950 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 910 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), the memory /storage devices 920, or any suitable combination thereof.
• any portion of the instructions 950 may be transferred to the hardware resources 900 from any combination of the peripheral devices 904 or the databases 906.
• the memory of processors 910, the memory /storage devices 920, the peripheral devices 904, and the databases 906 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.
• an apparatus of a baseband processor for User Equipment may comprise a first interface to radio frequency (RF) circuitry configured to communicate via a cellular radio; a second interface to radio frequency (RF) circuitry configured to communicate via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) radio; and one or more processors that are controlled to implement a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer for link aggregation using Long Term Evolution (LTE) WLAN Aggregation (LWA), the one or more processors to: control uplink transmission, using the second interface, of PDCP service data units (SDUs) to an Evolved NodeB (eNB); implement a retransmission buffer to buffer the transmitted PDCP SDUs; process an LWA status report, received via the first or second interface, to determine selected ones of the PDCP SDUs that are to be discarded from the retransmission buffer; and discard, based on the LWA status report, the selected ones of the PDCP SDUs.
• RF radio frequency
• RF radio frequency
• example 2 the subject matter of example 1, wherein the one or more processors are further to: control uplink retransmission, based on the LWA status report and using the retransmission buffer, of PDCP SDUs, to the eNB.
• example 3 the subject matter of example 1, or any of the preceding claims wherein the one or more processors are further to include sequence numbers in the PDCP SDUs.
• the retransmission buffer is implemented as a first retransmission buffer for the first interface and a second retransmission buffer for the second interface, and wherein the one or more processors are further to: maintain a first discard timer for the first retransmission buffer;
• the buffer is implemented as a first buffer for the WLAN radio and a second buffer for the cellular radio
• the one or more processors are further to: maintain a first discard timer for the first buffer; maintain a second discard timer for the second buffer; and delete the PDCP SDUs from the first and second buffers based on the first and second discard timers, respectively.
• a User Equipment (UE) apparatus comprises a computer-readable medium containing program instructions; and one or more processors to execute the program instructions to: transmit, using a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) radio, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) service data units (SDUs) to an Evolved NodeB (eNB); buffer the transmitted PDCP SDUs; retransmit selected ones of the PDCP SDUs, to the eNB, based on feedback from the eNB relating to the transmitted PDCP SDUs; process a Long Term Evolution (LTE) WLAN Aggregation (LWA) status report, received via the WLAN radio or via a cellular radio, to determine selected ones of the PDCP SDUs that are to be discarded from the buffer; and discard, based on the LWA status report, the selected ones of the PDCP SDUs.
• WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
• LTE Long Term Evolution
• LWA WLAN Aggregation
• example 7 the subject matter of example 1 or 6, or any of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more processors are further to: process the status report to determine those of the PDCP SDUs that are to be retransmitted.
• the status report includes negative acknowledgements (NACKs) of the selected ones of the PDCP SDUs that are to be retransmitted.
• NACKs negative acknowledgements
• example 10 the subject matter of example 1 or 6, or any of the preceding claims, wherein the status report is received, from the eNB, after a predetermined number of PDCP SDUs have been communicated over the WLAN.
• an apparatus of a baseband processor for User Equipment may comprise a first interface to radio frequency (RF) circuitry configured to communicate via a cellular radio; a second interface to radio frequency (RF) circuitry configured to communicate via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) radio; a memory; and one or more processors that are controlled to implement a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer for link aggregation using Long Term Evolution (LTE) WLAN Aggregation (LWA), the one or more processors to: implement, using the memory, a first buffer to store first PDCP data units that were transmitted, to an Evolved NodeB (eNB), via the first interface and using the cellular radio; implement, using the memory, a second buffer to store second PDCP data units that were transmitted, to the eNB, via the second interface and using the WLAN radio; implement a first discard timer, for the first PDCP data units; implement a second discard timer, for the second PDCP data units; discard the first
• RF radio frequency
• the one or more processors are further to: process Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages, received via the first interface and from the eNB, to determine a value of the second discard timer.
• RRC Radio Resource Control
• the one or more processors are further to: determine a value of the second discard timer based on messages received, from the eNB, via the second interface.
• the one or more processors are further to: process an LWA status report, received from the eNB, to determine selected ones of the second PDCP data units, that were transmitted using the
• WLAN radio that are to be discarded from the second buffer; and discard, based on the LWA status report, the selected ones of the second PDCP SDUs.
• example 19 the subject matter of example 17, or any of the preceding claims, wherein the status report is received, from the eNB, after a predetermined number of PDCP SDUs have been communicated using the WLAN radio.
• a computer-readable medium contains instructions, that when executed by processors of User Equipment (UE), cause the UE to: control uplink transmission of PDCP service data units (SDUs) to an Evolved NodeB (eNB) as part of a Packet Data
• UE User Equipment
• SDUs PDCP service data units
• eNB Evolved NodeB
• PDCP Convergence Protocol
• LTE Long Term Evolution
• WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
• LWA Layer
• LWA Wireless Local Area Network
• the one or more processors are further to: control uplink retransmission, based on the LWA status report and using the retransmission buffer, of PDCP SDUs, to the eNB.
• the retransmission buffer is implemented as a first retransmission buffer for the first interface and a second retransmission buffer for the second interface, and wherein the one or more processors are further to: maintain a first discard timer for the first retransmission buffer;
• the buffer is implemented as a first buffer for the WLAN radio and a second buffer for the cellular radio
• the one or more processors are further to: maintain a first discard timer for the first buffer; maintain a second discard timer for the second buffer; and delete the PDCP SDUs from the first and second buffers based on the first and second discard timers, respectively.
• example 25 the subject matter of example 20, or any of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more processors are further to: process the status report to determine those of the PDCP SDUs that are to be retransmitted.
• the status report includes negative acknowledgements (NACKs) of the selected ones of the PDCP SDUs that are to be retransmitted.
• NACKs negative acknowledgements
• example 27 the subject matter of example 20, or any of the preceding claims, wherein the status report is periodically received from the eNB.
• the status report is received, from the eNB, after a predetermined number of PDCP SDUs have been communicated over the WLAN.
• a 29 th example includes a method, implemented by User Equipment (UE), comprising: controlling uplink transmission of PDCP service data units (SDUs) to an Evolved NodeB (eNB) as part of a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer for link aggregation using Long Term Evolution (LTE) Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Aggregation (LWA);
• UE User Equipment
• SDUs PDCP service data units
• eNB Evolved NodeB
• PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol
• LTE Long Term Evolution
• WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
• LWA Layer Aggregation
• implementing a retransmission buffer to buffer the transmitted PDCP SDUs; processing an LWA status report, received from the eNB, to determine selected ones of the PDCP SDUs that are to be discarded from the retransmission buffer; and discarding, based on the LWA status report, the selected ones of the PDCP SDUs.
• example 30 the subject matter of example 29, or any of the preceding claims, controlling uplink retransmission, based on the LWA status report and using the retransmission buffer, of PDCP SDUs, to the eNB.
• example 31 the subject matter of example 29, or any of the preceding claims, further comprising including sequence numbers in the PDCP SDUs.
• the retransmission buffer is implemented as a first retransmission buffer for the first interface and a second retransmission buffer for the second interface
• the method further comprises: maintaining a first discard timer for the first retransmission buffer; maintaining a second discard timer for the second retransmission buffer; and deleting the PDCP SDUs from the first and second retransmission buffers based on the first and second discard timers, respectively.
• example 33 the subject matter of example 29, or any of the preceding claims, further comprising: processing the status report to determine those of the PDCP SDUs that are to be retransmitted.
• the status report includes negative acknowledgements (NACKs) of the selected ones of the PDCP SDUs that are to be retransmitted.
• NACKs negative acknowledgements
• example 35 the subject matter of example 29, or any of the preceding claims, wherein the status report is periodically received from the eNB.
• a User Equipment (UE) device comprises: means for controlling uplink transmission of PDCP service data units (SDUs) to an Evolved NodeB (eNB) as part of a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer for link aggregation using Long Term Evolution (LTE) Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Aggregation (LWA); means for implementing a retransmission buffer to buffer the transmitted PDCP SDUs; means for processing an LWA status report, received from the eNB, to determine selected ones of the PDCP SDUs that are to be discarded from the retransmission buffer; and means for discarding, based on the LWA status report, the selected ones of the PDCP SDUs.
• SDUs Packet Data Convergence Protocol
• LTE Long Term Evolution
• WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
• example 37 the subject matter of example 36, or any of the preceding claims, further comprising: means for controlling uplink retransmission, based on the LWA status report and using the retransmission buffer, of PDCP SDUs, to the eNB.
• example 38 the subject matter of example 37, or any of the preceding claims, further comprising means for including sequence numbers in the PDCP SDUs.
• the retransmission buffer is implemented as a first retransmission buffer for the first interface and a second retransmission buffer for the second interface
• the UE further comprises: means for maintaining a first discard timer for the first retransmission buffer; means for maintaining a second discard timer for the second retransmission buffer; and means for deleting the PDCP SDUs from the first and second retransmission buffers based on the first and second discard timers, respectively.
• example 40 the subject matter of example 37, or any of the preceding claims, further comprising: means for processing the status report to determine those of the PDCP SDUs that are to be retransmitted.
• non-dependent signals may be performed in parallel.

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• 2017
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