WO2018160117A1

WO2018160117A1 - Method and radio units for providing and receiving data in a control message

Info

Publication number: WO2018160117A1
Application number: PCT/SE2018/050161
Authority: WO
Inventors: Martin HESSLER; Jonas FRÖBERG OLSSON; Niclas Wiberg
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 2017-03-03
Filing date: 2018-02-20
Publication date: 2018-09-07

Abstract

The present disclosure relates in general to radio network communication. In one of its aspects, the technology presented herein concerns a method in a transmitting radio unit for providing data in a control message to a receiving radio unit. The data comprises a first data part that have stricter time requirements for decoding than a second data part of the data. The first data part is mapped to a first message part of the control message and the second data part is mapped to a second message part of the control message. The control message is encoded, so that the first message part is decoded prior to the second message part.

Description

Method and radio units for providing and receiving data in a control message

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to radio network nodes, wireless devices and methods performed therein, operating in a radio communications network. Computer programs and computer readable storage mediums are also provided herein. Particular embodiments relate to

managing efficient communication of the wireless device in a wireless communications network. For example, some aspects herein relate to methods for early HARQ reporting on polar control channel.

Background

In a typical wireless communications network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and/or user equipment (UE) , communicate via a Radio Access Network

(RAN) to one or more core networks (CN) . The RAN covers a geographical area and provides radio coverage over service areas or cell areas, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group, with each service area or beam being served or controlled by a radio network node such as a radio access node e.g., a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, a "NodeB" (NB) or "eNodeB"

(eNB) or "gNodeB" (gNB) . The radio network node

communicates over an air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless device within range of the radio network node. A Universal Mobile Telecommunications network (UMTS) is a third generation (3G) telecommunications network, which evolved from the second generation (2G) Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) . The UMTS

terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) is essentially a RAN using wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) and/or High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) for user

equipment. In a forum known as the Third Generation

Partnership Project (3GPP), telecommunications suppliers propose and agree upon standards for third generation networks, and investigate enhanced data rate and radio capacity. In some RANs, e.g. as in UMTS, several radio network nodes may be connected, e.g., by landlines or microwave, to a controller node, such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a base station controller (BSC) , which supervises and coordinates various activities of the plural radio network nodes connected thereto. This type of connection is sometimes referred to as a backhaul connection. The RNCs and BSCs are typically connected to one or more core networks .

Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) are frequently used in wireless systems to enable checks and/or error-correction of decoding results. For Long-Term Evolution LTE, CRCs are attached as decoding parity checks at the end of each Transport Block (TB) . Short TBs including the CRC bits are directly encoded to an encoded bit sequence while longer transport blocks are first segmented into code blocks where each code block has appended CRC bits. The CRC attachment and encoding procedure in LTE is

illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1 is a simplified

illustration of LTE CRC attachment and encoding procedure for "small" respectively "larger" TBs 110, 120. The LTE standard specifies a segmentation and code block CRC attachment procedure wherein the number of code block CRSs and code block sizes entirely depends on the size of the TB . The procedure is such that a smallest number of equal-sized code blocks is determined. This means that the procedure aims at keeping the code blocks as large as possible to achieve maximum decoding

performance. After encoding, the coded bits are mapped onto time-frequency resources wherein first coded bits are mapped onto first OFDM symbols and last coded bits are mapped onto last OFDM symbols.

In order to decode and re-assemble the received bit sequence into a TB the UE/RBS needs to know the mapping to time-frequency resources and the decoding check positions, the CRC positions. As the procedure is fully specified by the standard the UE needs only to know the size of the transport block which is communicated to the UE in a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message. Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ)

In many wireless communications systems HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) re-transmission is a method to mitigate un-predicable interference and channel

variations. For downlink, when a wireless device attempt to decod a data message it transmits an indicator to the transmitter indicating whether the decoding was

successful or not. When the transmitter receives an indicator indicating un-successful decoding the

transmitter typically performs a re-transmission of the data message which the receiver typically will combine with the original received transmission. The combining is known as soft combining where Chase and incremental redundancy are two well-known variants. The combining will greatly increase the probability of successful decoding .

In LTE, the indicator indicating the result of a decoding attempt is known as a HARQ-ACK. For LTE, up to two transport blocks (two data messages) may be

transmitted in each Transmission Time Interval (TTI), which mean that the HARQ-ACK may consist of 2 bits, where each bit indicating success or un-success of a respective transport block.

LTE is the latest standard in 3GPP family of wireless systems and highly optimized for Mobile

BroadBand (MBB) traffic. The TTI sub-frame has 1 ms duration and the HARQ-ACK is, for Frequency-division duplexing (FDD), transmitted in sub-frame n+4 for a data transmission in subframe n.

5G is currently being studied by 3GPP and is targeting a wide range of data services including MBB and Ultra- Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) . To enable optimized service, the HARQ retransmission delay is targeted to be minimal, i.e. retransmission in n+1 of a transmission in sub-frame n. In this most extreme use- case the retransmission delay is fractions of an OFDM symbol, as illustrated in Figure 2. The idea is that the retransmission can be precomputed a priori and hence can just be triggered by the HARQ feedback. In some other embodiments an active scheduling step and encoding step is envisioned were the retransmission is in sub-frame n+2. Furthermore, 3GPP has agreed that HARQ feedback with multiple bits per transport block should be supported in NR. This can be used to signal a HARQ ACK/NACK per code block (CB) , as a transport block (TB) , being sent in one TTI may consist of several CBs .

In information theory, a polar code is a linear block error correcting code. The code construction is based on a multiple recursive concatenation of a short kernel code which transforms the physical channel into virtual outer channels. When the number of recursions becomes large, the virtual channels tend to either have high reliability or low reliability (in other words, they polarize) , and the data bits are allocated to the most reliable channels. It is the first code with an explicit construction to provably achieve the channel capacity for symmetric binary-input, discrete, memoryless channels (B- DMC) with polynomial dependence on the gap to capacity. Notably, polar codes have modest encoding and decoding complexity 0(n\log n) , which renders them attractive for many applications.

Polar encoding of control channels

In 3GPP it has been agreed that the UL and DL control channels should use a polar code. Polar codes are the first discovered capacity achieving codes that have an explicit construction, that is not randomly generated, and have an efficient encoding and decoding algorithm. Apart from the capacity achieving property, which is valid when code-lengths tend to infinity, they have shown good performance for shorter code-lengths to the extent that they are competing with the today' s state-of-the-art and have been chosen for control channels in 3GPP. The decoding strategy for a polar code is to sequentially make decisions on the values of the information bits. The order in which the decoded bits are determined is denoted the bit order of the code. In a list decoder multiple such candidate sequences are chosen, of which a strategy for picking of the said list is included in the

definition of a list decoder. Some list decoders use a metric on a candidate, e.g. the probability, some list decoders include a CRC check to determine which of the candidates should be picked. The decoding time is often important since it can be a significant time of the overall processing time in the receiver. Generally, decoding time increases with the code block length.

Specialized hardware can be used to reduce the decoding time .

In 3GPP it is also agreed to support a range of different sizes of polar codes for the control channel. The exact upper bound is not determined, but likely values are 1024 or 2048 length mother-codes. Were, for example, the link adaptation and the amount of uplink control data determined the size of the code, e.g. a large channel-state information (CSI) report can increase the size of the control message. Summary

It is in view of the above background and other considerations that the various embodiments of the present disclosure have been made. In case of a short delay between the ACK/NACK transmission and the

retransmission, the decoding speed of the polar code should be short. If only ACK/NACK is included in the control message, the polar code can be relatively small, and the decoding time can easily be made short. In some cases, additional control information, such as channel- state information (CSI), may be sent together with the ACK/NACK, resulting in a larger polar code. This makes it more challenging to achieve a short decoding time for the time-critical ACK/NACK information, and may require expensive and energy-consuming specialized hardware. In case of flexible size of the polar code the timing requirement of the polar code will be determined by the largest supported size. Hence one option is to limit the size when using fast HARQ, but, for example, accurate CSI is very important in a 5G system hence this is not attractive. Hence an over dimensioned Polar decoding implementation is needed in the hardware, which is wasteful, for example, if a hardware accelerator is used as this accelerator will then idle most of the time.

In view of the above, it is therefore a general object of the aspects and embodiments described

throughout this disclosure to provide a solution for minimizing, or at least limiting the increase in,

decoding time in relation to the size of a control message .

This general object has been addressed by the appended independent claims. Advantageous embodiments are defined in the appended dependent claims.

According to a first aspect, there is provided a method in a transmitting radio unit for providing data in a control message to a receiving radio unit. The data comprises a first data part that has stricter time requirements for decoding than a second part of the data. The first data part is mapped to a first message part of the control message and the second data part is mapped to a second message part of the control message. The control message is encoded, so that the first message part is decoded prior to the second message part.

In one embodiment, the encoding is performed using polar codes.

In one embodiment, first data part transmission control information are included in the first message part. The first data part transmission control

information may be a CRC code.

In one embodiment, the first data part may be HARQ information .

According to a second aspect, there is provided a transmitting radio unit implementing the method according to the first aspect. The transmitting radio unit provides data in a control message to a receiving radio unit. The data comprises a first data part that has stricter time requirements for decoding than a second data part of the data .

The transmitting radio unit comprises a transceiver circuitry, a memory and a processing circuitry. The memory comprises instructions executable by the

processing circuitry whereby the transmitting radio unit is operative to map the first data part to a first message part of the control message. The transmitting radio unit is operative to map the second data part to a second message part of the control message, and the transmitting radio unit is operative to encode the control message, so that the first message part is decoded prior to the second message part.

In one embodiment, the memory comprises instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the transmitting radio unit is further operative to perform the encoding of the control message using polar codes.

In one embodiment, the memory comprises instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the transmitting radio unit is further operative to include first data part transmission control information in the first message part. The first data part transmission control information may be a CRC code.

In one embodiment, the first data part may be HARQ information .

According to a third aspect, there is provided a receiving radio unit for receiving data in a control message from a transmitting radio unit. The data

comprises a first data part, located in a fist message part in the control message, that has stricter time requirements for decoding than a second data part, located in a second message part in the control message.

The control message is received from the

transmitting radio unit. The first message part is decoded. The first data part is extracted from the first message part. The first data part is provided for further processing. The second data part of the control message is decoded.

In one embodiment, the decoding is performed using polar codes. In one embodiment, a validity of the first data part is verified by using first data part transmission control information included in the first message part. The first data part transmission control information may be a CRC code .

In one embodiment, the first data part may be HARQ information .

According to a fourth aspect, there is provided a receiving radio unit implementing the method according to the third aspect. The receiving radio unit receives data in a control message from a transmitting radio unit. The data comprises a first data part, located in a fist message part in the control message, that has stricter time requirements for decoding than a second data part, located in a second message part in the control message.

The receiving radio unit comprises a transceiver circuitry, a memory and a processing circuitry. The memory comprises instructions executable by the

processing circuitry whereby the receiving radio unit is operative to receive the control message from the

transmitting radio unit. The receiving radio unit is operative to decode the first message part, extract the first data part from the first message part and provide the first data part for further processing. The receiving radio unit is operative to decode the second data part of the control message.

In one embodiment, the memory comprises instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the receiving radio unit is further operative to perform the encoding of the control message using polar codes. In one embodiment, the memory comprises instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the receiving radio unit is further operative to verify a validity of the first data part by using first data part transmission control information included in the first message part. The first data part transmission control information may be a CRC code.

In one embodiment, the first data part may be HARQ information . According to a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed on a processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to carry out the method according to any of the first and third aspect. According to a sixth aspect, there is provided a carrier containing the computer program of the fifth aspect, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer

readable storage medium. It is to be noted that any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any

advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to the other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

Generally, all terms used herein are to be

interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical field, unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references to "a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc." are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless explicitly stated.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Various aspects of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, based on embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates the CRC attachment and encoding procedure in LTE;

Figure 2 illustrates fast HARQ with retransmission in n+1; Figure 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method in a

transmitting radio unit according to an example

embodiment ;

Figure 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method in a

receiving radio unit according to an example embodiment; Figure 5 shows the mapping of a first and second part of a control message according to an example embodiment;

Figure 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method in a

receiving device according to an example embodiment;

Figure 7 shows a control message according to an exampl embodiment ; Figure 8 shows a communication network;

Figure 9 shows a server according to an embodiment;

Figure 10 illustrates an example wireless communication network; and Figure 11 shows a user equipment according to one

embodiment .

Detailed Description

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of this disclosure and the invention should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the inventive concept to those skilled in the art.

According to some embodiments disclosed herein early decoding is enabled for the HARQ feedback by mapping the information bits carrying the HARQ feedback into a first part of the control message. In other embodiments additional bits are also included in the first part to help the decoder determine whether a decoded HARQ bit- sequence is correct, for example parity-check bits or CRC bits on at least the HARQ bits, or other bits with known values. According to other embodiments said first part contains an error check on at least the HARQ bits, e.g. a CRC, to determine if the HARQ bit-sequence is correct. This first part of the control message is mapped to the bit-order of the control message in such a way that the HARQ bits are decoded early and such that the list decoder can pick a candidate with correct CRC on the HARQ bits .

According to one embodiment a method in a radio unit for providing data to a receiving radio unit is

disclosed, wherein said data comprises a first data part having stricter time requirements for decoding than a second data part of said data. A flowchart for the embodiment is illustrated in Figure 3. The method

comprises the steps of mapping 310 said first data part to a first message part of said control message, mapping 320 said second data part to a second message part of said control message, and encoding 330 said control message, so that said first message part is decoded prior to said second message part. According to another embodiment a method in a radio unit for receiving data in a message from a transmitting radio unit is disclosed, wherein said data comprises a first data part, located in a fist message part in said message, having stricter time requirements for decoding than a second data part, located in a second message part in said message. A flowchart for the embodiment is illustrated in Figure 4. The method comprises the steps of receiving 410 said message from said transmitting radio unit, decoding 420 said first message part, extracting 430 said first data part from said first message part, providing 440 said first data part for further processing, and decoding 450 said second data part of said message.

According to a further embodiment the encoding and decoding are performed using polar codes. According to yet another embodiment the method comprises the further step of including 340 first data part transmission control information in said first message part, wherein said first data part transmission control information are used by the receiving radio unit to verify 460 the validity of said first data part.

According to another embodiment said first data part transmission control information is a CRC code.

According to a further embodiment said first data part is HARQ information.

According to at least some embodiments disclosed herein it is proposed to do mapping of a first and a second part 510, 520 of a control message 500 according to the bit-order of the polar code, as depicted in

Figure 5. The first part 510 is distinguished in that it contains the HARQ feedback and, according to at least one variant, contains a CRC check for the bits included in the first part 510 of the control message 500.

Figure 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method

performed by a receiving device implementing the

invention. In a first step 610 the wireless device receives a control information message encoded with a polar code. In the next step 620 the wireless device performs polar decoding according to the bit-order until a first part of the control message is decoded, possible into a set of alternative decodings in a list decoder. In a third step 630 a CRC check is performed on the set of at least 1 decoding candidates to validate the first part of the control message. The decoded sequence, i.e. the sequence with a correct CRC and the best metric if l6 multiple candidates with correct CRC are available. In the fourth step 640 the decoded sequence of the first part of the control message HARQ bits is extracted and retransmission is performed if necessary according to the set of bits.

The invention is envisioned to be used to minimize or at least limit the increase in decoding time in relation to the size of a control message. In some embodiments this may be done by using a fixed size first part 710 of a control message, as is illustrated in Error! Reference source not found. Figure 7. In this type of embodiments of the invention, the second part 720 is used to comprise (e.g. contain) additional control information not

contained in the first part. In some embodiments, when a CSI report is triggered, the second part 720 may be used to comprise (e.g. contain) the CSI report. When no additional control information is to be transmitted, a minimal control message can exclude the second part 720.

In some embodiments, the first part 710 of the control message may comprise control information that is delay sensitive or desired to be available for the receiving part as soon as possible. For Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) there may be a need for a super-fast Scheduling Requests (SR) . For example, a wireless device may transmit a SR in a sub-frame n, where the uplink grant may be transmitted already in next sub- frame n+1.

Further examples may be enhanced CSI where a first part 710 of the CSI report is comprised in the first part of the control message. For example, the first part 710 may be CSI information such as rank, CQI and pre-coder that can be used by scheduler (link adaption) immediately when it receives, while CSI information that require some processing by the receiver can be placed in the second part 720. In other examples, the first part may comprise instead CSI that require processing by the receiver. In such other examples, the processing may start early and the result after processing may be available for use at same time as that CSI do not require processing. Examples of CSI that may require processing may for example be spatial information such beam direction wherein the processing consists of determining a suitable code book.

Although the solutions described above may be implemented in any appropriate type of system using any suitable components, particular embodiments of the described solutions may be implemented in a network configuration such as the example communication network illustrated in Figure 8.

In the example embodiment disclosed in Figure 8, a connection is established between a server 850, such as a media server etcetera, and a wireless device 870, as is shown by the connection arrow 880, through and by a private/hosted network 840, a Core Network (CN) 830 and a cellular wireless access network 820 comprising several cells 860. The CN 830 and the access network 820 are indicated to be 3GPP compliant networks, however it should be noted that it is possible to establish

connectivity between the server 850 and the wireless device 870 using non-3GPP wireless networks such as for instance a WiFi network. In some embodiments the server 850 is configured to provide the wireless device 870 with data over the established connection, in other

embodiments the wireless device 870 provides the server l8

850 with data and in yet other embodiments the wireless device 870 and server 850 provide each other with data.

The data may be both user plane data and control plane data. Control plane data can be used by the wireless device and server for configuration, and user plane data are providing information from and to

respective part. Example of user plane data can for instance be voice, video or other type of data primarily used for consumption on either end. The communication system illustrated in Figure 8 is suitable for providing data transport between a service provider and a wireless device 870, such as a User

Equipment (UE) , an Internet of Things (IoT) device and several other types of devices utilizing the wireless connectivity provided in part by the wireless network and in part of the CN 830, private/hosted network 840 and server 850.

The communication system 800 provides a number of required and optional features for delivering secure, fast and flexible data transport such as Mobility,

Authentication, Charging, Low Latency, High Availability etcetera .

Although the solutions described above may be implemented in any appropriate type of system using any suitable components, particular embodiments of the described solutions may be at least partly implemented in a server illustrated in Figure 9.

The server 900 is provided with communications interface for sending and receiving data to and from the wireless device. The communications interface comprises in one embodiment at least one, but in some embodiment multiple receiver circuitry 980, transmitting circuitry 970 and processing circuitry 940 for controlling the transceiver. In other embodiments the communications interface is configured also for sending and receiving data over wired networks. Thus the term communications interface should be construed to include embodiments where communications is facilitated in wireless mode, in wired mode or in both wireless and wired mode. A

communication interface may consequently comprise

features supporting multiple simultaneous communication channels. The server 900 is further provided with

processing circuitry 940 coupled to memory circuitry 960 and the said transceiver circuitry for controlling the server 900 and executing software applications 920 running on the server 900, such as software application 920 implementing at least parts of the solutions

disclosed herein.

The server 900 may also be fitted with other

circuitry for performing various services, functions and processing as needed to fulfill and comply with the features required for providing the requested services. The application software 920 is running on the processing circuitry 940, controlling the memory 960 and

communications interface and will generate and send data to the wireless device as well as receive, analyze, store and consume data from the wireless device. In one

embodiment the software application 920 may be hosted in a cloud environment and will then share hardware with other software applications possibly from other

enterprises . The processing circuitry 940 may be configured to perform any determining operations described herein as being performed by a wireless device/network node.

Determining as performed by processing circuitry 940 may include processing information obtained by the processing circuitry 940 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the

obtained information or converted information to

information stored in the wireless device/network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.

The processing circuitry 940 may be configured to perform any comparison operations described herein as being performed by a wireless device/network node.

Comparison as performed by processing circuitry 940 may include processing information obtained by the processing circuitry 940 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information and information stored in the wireless device/network node wherein one of the obtained information or converted information and the information in the wireless device/network node is selected based on a criteria, such as being biggest or smallest, coming first or last, or being wherein the obtained information or converted information is sorted according to a

criteria, such as in biggest to smallest order, smallest to biggest order, or any other suitable order. Comparison as performed by processing circuitry 940 may include processing information obtained by the processing

circuitry 940 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, and setting a flag based on the obtained information or converted

information and information stored in the wireless device/network node wherein the flag indicates the result of the comparison.

The processing circuitry 940 may be configured to perform any matching operations described herein as being performed by a wireless device/network node. Matching as performed by processing circuitry 940 may include

processing information obtained by the processing

information and information stored in the wireless device/network node wherein the flag indicates if the matching was successful or not, that is if the obtained information or the converted information is equal to the information stored in the wireless device/network node according to a criteria. The criteria may for instance be if two numerical values are same, if a difference between two numerical values are smaller than a third value, if two alphanumeric values are same, if two arbitrarily long strings of alphanumeric values are same, if the first or last number of characters in two arbitrarily long strings are same, if two objects in an object oriented software language are of same type etcetera.

Although the solutions described above may be implemented in any appropriate type of system using any suitable components, particular embodiments of the described solutions may be implemented in a wireless network such as the example wireless communication network illustrated in Figure 10. In the example embodiment of Figure 10, the wireless communication network provides communication and other types of

services to one or more wireless devices 1010. In the illustrated embodiment, the wireless communication network includes one or more instances of network nodes 1000, 1000a that facilitate the wireless devices' 1010 access to and/or use of the services provided by the wireless communication network. The wireless

communication network may further include any additional elements suitable to support communication between wireless devices 1010 or between a wireless device 1010 and another communication device, such as a landline telephone .

Network 1020 may comprise one or more IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet data networks, optical networks, wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), wired networks, wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks to enable communication between devices.

The wireless communication network may represent any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio network or other type of system. In

particular embodiments, the wireless communication network may be configured to operate according to

specific standards or other types of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, particular embodiments of the wireless communication network may implement communication

standards, such as Global System for Mobile

Communications (GSM) , Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) , and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G standards; wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the IEEE 802.11

standards; and/or any other appropriate wireless

communication standard, such as the Worldwide

Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) , Bluetooth, and/or ZigBee standards.

Figure 10 illustrates a wireless network comprising a more detailed view of network node 1000 and wireless device (WD) 1010, in accordance with a particular

embodiment. For simplicity, Figure 10 only depicts network 1020, network nodes 1000 and 1000a, and WD 1010. Network node 1000 comprises processor 1002, storage 1003, interface 1001, and antenna 1001a. Similarly, WD 1010 comprises processor 1012, storage 1013, interface 1011 and antenna 1011a. These components may work together in order to provide network node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providing wireless connections in a wireless network. In different embodiments, the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, base stations,

controllers, wireless devices, relay stations, and/or any other components that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections.

As used herein, "network node" refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to

communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and/or with other equipment in the wireless communication network that enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs), in particular radio access points. A network node may represent base stations (BSs), such as radio base stations. Particular examples of radio base stations include Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and g Node Bs (gNBs) . Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and may then also be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base

stations. "Network node" also includes one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units

(RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads

(RRHs) . Such remote radio units may or may not be

integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base stations may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS) .

As a particular non-limiting example, a base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay .

Yet further examples of network nodes include multi- standard radio (MSR) radio equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base

transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points,

transmission nodes, Multi-cell/multicast Coordination Entities (MCEs), core network nodes (e.g., MSCs, MMEs),

0&M nodes, OSS nodes, SON nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs. More generally, however, network nodes may represent any suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to enable and/or provide a wireless device access to the wireless communication network or to provide some service to a wireless device that has accessed the wireless communication network.

As used herein, the term "radio node" is used generically to refer both to wireless devices and network nodes, as each is respectively described above.

In Figure 10, Network node 1000 comprises processor 1002, storage 1003, interface 1001, and antenna 1001a. These components are depicted as single boxes located within a single larger box. In practice however, a network node may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g., interface 1001 may comprise terminals for coupling wires for a wired connection and a radio transceiver for a wireless connection) . As another example, network node 1000 may be a virtual network node in which multiple different physically separate components interact to provide the functionality of network node 1000 (e.g., processor 1002 may comprise three separate processors located in three separate enclosures, where each

processor is responsible for a different function for a particular instance of network node 1000) . Similarly, network node 1000 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective processor, storage, and interface components. In certain scenarios in which network node 1000 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeB' s. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and BSC pair, may be a separate network node. In some embodiments, network node 1000 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs) . In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated

(e.g., separate storage 1003 for the different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 1001a may be shared by the RATs) .

Processor 1002 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 network node 1000 components, such as storage 1003, network node 1000 functionality. For example, processor 1002 may execute instructions stored in storage 1003. Such functionality may include providing various wireless features discussed herein to a wireless device, such as WD 1010, including any of the features or benefits disclosed herein.

Storage 1003 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM) , read-only memory (ROM) , removable media, or any other suitable local or remote memory component. Storage 1003 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including software and encoded logic, utilized by network node 1000. Storage 1003 may be used to store any calculations made by processor 1002 and/or any data received via interface 1001. Network node 1000 also comprises interface 1001 which may be used in the wired or wireless communication of signalling and/or data between network node 1000, network 1020, and/or WD 1010. For example, interface 1001 may perform any formatting, coding, or translating that may be needed to allow network node 1000 to send and receive data from network 1020 over a wired connection. Interface 1001 may also include a radio transmitter and/or receiver that may be coupled to or a part of antenna 1001a. The radio may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. The radio may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 1001a to the appropriate

recipient (e.g., WD 1010) .

Antenna 1001a may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals

wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna 1001a may comprise one or more omni-directional , sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receive radio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz. An omnidirectional antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals in any direction, a sector antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals from devices within a particular area, and a panel antenna may be a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in a relatively straight line.

As used herein, "wireless device" (WD) refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or another wireless device. Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic signals, radio waves, infrared signals, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information through air. In particular embodiments, wireless devices may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a wireless device may be designed to transmit information to a network on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the network.

Generally, a wireless device may represent any device capable of, configured for, arranged for, and/or operable for wireless communication, for example radio

communication devices. Examples of wireless devices include, but are not limited to, user equipment (UE) such as smart phones. Further examples include wireless cameras, wireless-enabled tablet computers, laptop- embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, and/or wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) .

As one specific example, a wireless device may represent a UE configured for communication in accordance with one or more communication standards promulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 3GPP's GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards. As used herein, a "user equipment" or "UE" may not necessarily have a "user" in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but that may not initially be associated with a specific human user. The wireless device may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, and may in this case be referred to as a D2D communication device. As yet another specific example, in an Internet of

Things (IoT) scenario, a wireless device may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such

monitoring and/or measurements to another wireless device and/or a network node. The wireless device may in this case be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as a machine-type

communication (MTC) device. As one particular example, the wireless device may be a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) standard.

Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters,

industrial machinery, or home or personal appliances, e.g. refrigerators, televisions, personal wearables such as watches etc. In other scenarios, a wireless device may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

A wireless device as described above may represent the endpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may be referred to as a wireless terminal.

Furthermore, a wireless device as described above may be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobile device or a mobile terminal. As depicted in Figure 10, WD 1010 may be any type of wireless endpoint, mobile station, mobile phone, wireless local loop phone, smartphone, user equipment, desktop computer, PDA, cell phone, tablet, laptop, VoIP phone or handset, which is able to wirelessly send and receive data and/or signals to and from a network node, such as network node 1000 and/or other WDs . WD 1010 comprises processor 1012, storage 1013, interface 1011, and antenna 1011a. Like network node 1000, the components of WD 1010 are depicted as single boxes located within a single larger box, however in practice a wireless device may comprises multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g., storage 1013 may comprise multiple discrete microchips, each microchip representing a portion of the total storage capacity) . Processor 1012 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 combination with other WD 1010 components, such as storage 1013, WD 1010 functionality. Such functionality may include providing various wireless features discussed herein, including any of the features or benefits disclosed herein.

Storage 1013 may be any form of volatile or non^¬ volatile 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. Storage 1013 may store any suitable data, instructions, or information, including software and encoded logic, utilized by WD 1010. Storage 1013 may be used to store any calculations made by processor 1012 and/or any data received via interface 1011. Interface 1011 may be used in the wireless

communication of signalling and/or data between WD 1010 and network node 1000. For example, interface 1011 may perform any formatting, coding, or translating that may be needed to allow WD 1010 to send and receive data from network node 1000 over a wireless connection. Interface 1011 may also include a radio transmitter and/or receiver that may be coupled to or a part of antenna 1011a. The radio may receive digital data that is to be sent out to network node 1001 via a wireless connection. The radio may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 1011a to network node 1000.

Antenna 1011a may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals

wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna 1011a may comprise one or more omni-directional , sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receive radio signals between 2 GHz and 66 GHz. For simplicity, antenna 1011a may be considered a part of interface 1011 to the extent that a wireless signal is being used.

As shown in Figure 11, user equipment 1100 is an example wireless device. UE 1100 includes an antenna 1105, radio front-end circuitry 1110, processing

circuitry 1115, and a computer-readable storage medium 1130. Antenna 1105 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and is configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected to radio front-end circuitry 1110. In certain alternative embodiments, wireless device 1100 may not include antenna 1105, and antenna 1105 may instead be separate from wireless device 1100 and be connectable to wireless device 1100 through an interface or port.

The radio front-end circuitry 1110 may comprise various filters and amplifiers, is connected to antenna 1105 and processing circuitry 1115, and is configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1105 and processing circuitry 1115. In certain alternative embodiments, wireless device 1100 may not include radio front-end circuitry 1110, and processing circuitry 1115 may instead be connected to antenna 1105 without radio front-end circuitry 1110.

Processing circuitry 1115 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry, baseband processing circuitry, and application processing

circuitry. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry, baseband processing circuitry, and application processing circuitry may be on separate chipsets. In alternative embodiments, part or all of the baseband processing circuitry and application processing circuitry may be combined into one chipset, and the RF transceiver circuitry may be on a separate chipset. In still

alternative embodiments, part or all of the RF

transceiver circuitry and baseband processing circuitry may be on the same chipset, and the application

processing circuitry may be on a separate chipset. In yet other alternative embodiments, part or all of the RF transceiver circuitry, baseband processing circuitry, and application processing circuitry may be combined in the same chipset. Processing circuitry 1115 may include, for example, one or more central processing units (CPUs), one or more microprocessors, one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and/or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) .

In particular embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being provided by a wireless device may be provided by the processing

circuitry 1115 executing instructions stored on a

computer-readable storage medium 1130. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry 1115 without

executing instructions stored on a computer-readable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be said to be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry 1115 alone or to other components of UE 1100, but are enjoyed by the wireless device as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally . Antenna 1105, radio front-end circuitry 310, and/or processing circuitry 1115 may be configured to perform any receiving operations described herein as being performed by a wireless device. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a network node and/or another wireless device. The processing circuitry 1115 may be configured to perform any determining operations described herein as being performed by a wireless device. Determining as performed by processing circuitry 1115 may include processing information obtained by the processing

circuitry 1115 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the

obtained information or converted information to

information stored in the wireless device, and/or

performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.

Antenna 1105, radio front-end circuitry 1110, and/or processing circuitry 1115 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a wireless device. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a network node and/or another wireless device.

Computer-readable storage medium 1130 is generally operable to store instructions, such as a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other

instructions capable of being executed by a processor. Examples of computer-readable storage medium 1130 include computer memory (for example, Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory (ROM)), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD) ) , and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non- transitory computer-readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry 1115. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1115 and computer-readable storage medium 1130 may be considered to be integrated.

Alternative embodiments of UE 1100 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 11 that may be responsible for providing certain aspects of the UE's functionality, including any of the

functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the solution described above. As just one example, UE 1100 may include input interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. Input interfaces, devices, and circuits are configured to allow input of information into UE 1100, and are connected to processing circuitry 1115 to allow processing circuitry 1115 to process the input

information. For example, input interfaces, devices, and circuits may include a microphone, a proximity or other sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display, one or more cameras, a USB port, or other input elements. Output interfaces, devices, and circuits are configured to allow output of information from UE 1100, and are connected to processing circuitry 315 to allow processing circuitry 1115 to output information from UE 1100. For example, output interfaces, devices, or circuits may include a speaker, a display, vibrating circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, or other output elements. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices, and

circuits, UE 1100 may communicate with end users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit from the functionality described herein.

As another example, UE 1100 may include power source 1135. Power source 1135 may comprise power management circuitry. Power source 1135 may receive power from a power supply, which may either be comprised in, or be external to, power source 1135. For example, UE 1100 may comprise a power supply in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power source 1135. Other types of power sources, such as photovoltaic devices, may also be used. As a further example, UE 1100 may be connectable to an external power supply (such as an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power supply supplies power to power source 1135. Power source 1135 may be connected to radio front-end circuitry 1110, processing circuitry 1115, and/or computer-readable storage medium 1130 and be configured to supply UE 1100, including processing circuitry 1115, with power for performing the

functionality described herein.

UE 1100 may also include multiple sets of processing circuitry 1115, computer-readable storage medium 1130, radio circuitry 1110, and/or antenna 1105 for different wireless technologies integrated into wireless device 1100, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chipsets and other components within wireless device 1100.

Any steps or features described herein are merely illustrative of certain embodiments. It is not required that all embodiments incorporate all the steps or

features disclosed nor that the steps be performed in the exact order depicted or described herein. Furthermore, some embodiments may include steps or features not illustrated or described herein, including steps inherent to one or more of the steps disclosed herein.

Any appropriate steps, methods, or functions may be performed through a computer program product that may, for example, be executed by the components and equipment illustrated in one or more of the figures above. For example, storage 1003 may comprise computer readable means on which a computer program can be stored. The computer program may include instructions which cause processor 1002 (and any operatively coupled entities and devices, such as interface 1001 and storage 1003) to execute methods according to embodiments described herein. The computer program and/or computer program product may thus provide means for performing any steps herein disclosed.

Any appropriate steps, methods, or functions may be performed through one or more functional modules. Each functional module may comprise software, computer

programs, sub-routines, libraries, source code, or any other form of executable instructions that are executed by, for example, a processor. In some embodiments, each functional module may be implemented in hardware and/or in software. For example, one or more or all functional modules may be implemented by processors 1012 and/or 1002, possibly in cooperation with storage 1013 and/or 1003. Processors 1012 and/or 1002 and storage 1013 and/or 1003 may thus be arranged to allow processors 1012 and/or 1002 to fetch instructions from storage 1013 and/or 1003 and execute the fetched instructions to allow the respective functional module to perform any steps or functions disclosed herein. Certain aspects of the inventive concept have mainly been described above with reference to a few embodiments. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art, embodiments other than the ones disclosed above are equally possible and within the scope of the

inventive concept. Similarly, while a number of

different combinations have been discussed, all possible combinations have not been disclosed. One skilled in the art would appreciate that other combinations exist and are within the scope of the inventive concept. Moreover, as is understood by the skilled person, the herein disclosed embodiments are as such applicable also to other standards and communication systems and any feature from a particular figure disclosed in connection with other features may be applicable to any other figure and or combined with different features.

Abbreviations

3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project eNB Enhanced NodeB

CQI Channel-Quality Indicator

CRS Cell-Specific Reference Symbol

CSI Channel-State Information

CSI-IM CSI Interference Measurement

CSI-RS CSI Reference Symbol

DCI Downlink Control Information

HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat-reQuest

LTE Long Term Evolution

MAC Medium Access Control

MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme

MI Mutual Information

MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

NDI New Data Indicator

(e)PDCCH (enhanced) Physical Downlink Control Channel

PDU Protocol Data Unit

PMI Pre-coding Matrix Indicator

PRB Physical Resource Block

RI Rank Indicator

RV Redundancy Version

RRC Radio Resource Control

TM Transmission Mode

TTI Transmission Time Interval

UE User Equipment

Claims

1. A method in a transmitting radio unit for providing data in a control message (500) to a receiving radio unit, wherein said data comprises a first data part having stricter time requirements for decoding than a second data part of said data, the method

comprising the steps of:

- mapping (310) said first data part to a first

message part (510) of said control message (500), - mapping (320) said second data part to a second message part (520) of said control message (500), and

- encoding (330) said control message (500), so

that said first message part (510) is decoded prior to said second message part (520) .

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the

encoding (330) is performed using polar codes. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises steps of:

- including (340) first data part transmission

control information in said first message part (510) .

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said first data part transmission control information is a CRC code . 5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 4,

wherein said first data part is HARQ information. A transmitting radio unit for providing data in a control message (500) to a receiving radio unit, wherein said data comprises a first data part having stricter time requirements for decoding than a second data part of said data, said transmitting radio unit comprising a transceiver circuitry, a memory and a processing circuitry, wherein said memory comprising instructions executable by said processing circuitry whereby said transmitting radio unit is operative to:

- map said first data part to a first message part (510) of said control message (500),

- map said second data part to a second message

part (520) of said control message (500), and

- encode said control message (500), so that said first message part (510) is decoded prior to said second message part (520) .

The transmitting radio unit according to claim 6, wherein said memory comprises instructions

executable by said processing circuitry whereby said transmitting radio unit is further operative to perform the encoding of said control message (500) using polar codes.

The transmitting radio unit according to claim 6 or 7, wherein said memory comprises instructions executable by said processing circuitry whereby said transmitting radio unit is further operative to:

- include first data part transmission control

information in said first message part (510) .

9. The transmitting radio unit according to claim 8, wherein said first data part transmission control information is a CRC code. 10. The transmitting radio unit according to any of

claims 6 to 9, wherein said first data part is HARQ information .

11. A method in a receiving radio unit for receiving data in a control message (500) from a transmitting radio unit, wherein said data comprises a first data part, located in a fist message part (510) in said control message (500), having stricter time

requirements for decoding than a second data part, located in a second message part (520) in said control message (500), the method comprising the steps of:

- receiving (410) said control message (500) from said transmitting radio unit,

- decoding (420) said first message part (510),

- extracting (430) said first data part from said first message part (510),

- providing (440) said first data part for further processing, and

- decoding (450) said second data part of said

control message (500) .

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the

decoding is performed using polar codes.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the method further comprises the step of:

- verifying (460) a validity of said first data

part by using first data part transmission control information included in said first message part (510) .

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein said first data part transmission control information is a CRC code .

15. The method according to any of claims 11 to 14,

wherein said first data part is HARQ information.

A receiving radio unit for receiving data in a control message (500) from a transmitting radio unit, wherein said data comprises a first data part, located in a fist message part (510) in said control message (500), having stricter time requirements for decoding than a second data part, located in a second message part (520) in said control message (500), said receiving radio unit comprising a transceiver circuitry, a memory and a processing circuitry, wherein said memory comprising

instructions executable by said processing circuitry whereby said receiving radio unit is operative to:

- receive said control message (500) from said

transmitting radio unit,

- decode said first message part (510),

- extract said first data part from said first

message part (510),

- provide said first data part for further

processing, and

- decode said second data part of said control

message ( 500 ) .

17. The receiving radio unit according to claim 16,

wherein said memory comprises instructions executable by said processing circuitry whereby said receiving radio unit is further operative to perform the encoding of said control message (500) using polar codes.

18. The receiving radio unit according to claim 16 or 17, wherein said memory comprises instructions executable by said processing circuitry whereby said receiving radio unit is further operative to:

- verify a validity of said first data part by

using first data part transmission control information included in said first message part (510) .

19. The receiving radio unit according to claim 18,

wherein said first data part transmission control information is a CRC code.

20. The receiving radio unit according to any of claims 16 to 19, wherein said first data part is HARQ information .

21. Computer program, comprising instructions which, when executed on a processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to carry out the method

according to any one of claims 1 to 5 and/or 11 to 15.

22. A carrier containing the computer program of the previous claim, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.