WO2020252616A1

WO2020252616A1 - Arrival triggered packet deprioritization

Info

Publication number: WO2020252616A1
Application number: PCT/CN2019/091492
Authority: WO
Inventors: Vinay Joseph; Prashanth Haridas Hande; Ruiming Zheng; Jay Kumar Sundararajan; Yeliz Tokgoz
Original assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date: 2019-06-17
Filing date: 2019-06-17
Publication date: 2020-12-24

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) may improve latency for applications having low latency requirements by deprioritizing old packets based on arrival of new packets for a flow. The UE may receive, at a protocol layer, a new packet from a higher layer. The new packet may be associated with a flow of packets. The UE may determine that the protocol layer is associated with one or more old packets for the flow of packets. The UE may deprioritize the one or more old packets in response to the receiving the new packet from the higher layer. A base station may improve latency by determining to process an out of order packet without waiting for additional packets to arrive based on a configuration of the UE to use arrival based deprioritization.

Description

ARRIVAL TRIGGERED PACKET DEPRIORITIZATION

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to uplink radio link control.

Introduction

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR) . 5G NR is part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with Internet of Things (IoT) ) , and other requirements. 5G NR includes services associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) , massive machine type communications (mMTC) , and ultra reliable low latency communications (URLLC) . Some aspects of 5G NR may be based on the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. There exists a need for further improvements in 5G NR technology. These improvements may also be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

The present application provides for an arrival based deprioritization of packets. That is, instead of or in addition to using a timer to determine that a packet is stale, the present disclosure provides for deprioritization of one or more old packets in a flow in response to receiving a new packet for the flow. A user equipment (UE) may receive, at a protocol layer of the UE, a new packet from a higher layer. The new packet may be associated with a flow of packets. The UE may determine that the protocol layer is associated with one or more old packets for the flow of packets. The UE may deprioritize the one or more old packets in response to the receiving the new packet from the higher layer. Deprioritizing the one or more old packets may include discarding the one or more old packets, scheduling a transmission of the one or more old packets after the new packet, or processing the one or more old packets after the new packet. Accordingly, the present disclosure may reduce latency by deprioritizing the old packets such that the new packet may be transmitted with lower latency.

In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus may receive, at a protocol layer, a new packet from a higher layer. The new packet may be associated with a flow of packets. The apparatus may determine that the protocol layer is associated with one or more old packets for the flow of packets. The apparatus may deprioritize the one or more old packets in response to the receiving the new packet from the higher layer.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus for a base station are provided. The apparatus may configure a user equipment (UE) for arrival based deprioritization of packets. The apparatus may receive a packet which is determined to be out of order at least in part based on a sequence number associated with the packet. The apparatus may determine, based on the configuration of the UE, to process the out of order packet without waiting for receiving additional packets.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communications system and an access network.

FIGs. 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D are diagrams illustrating examples of a first 5G/NR frame, DL channels within a 5G/NR subframe, a second 5G/NR frame, and UL channels within a 5G/NR subframe, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and user equipment (UE) in an access network.

FIG. 4 is a message diagram showing example messages and example processing between a base station and a user equipment.

FIG. 5 is diagram of an example protocol stack where deprioritization of packets may be implemented.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication for a UE.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the data flow between different means/components in an example UE.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a UE employing a processing system.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example method of wireless communication for a base station.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the data flow between different means/components in an example base station.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a base station employing a processing system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as “elements” ) . These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

By way of example, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented as a “processing system” that includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs) , central processing units (CPUs) , application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs) , reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems on a chip (SoC) , baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) , programmable logic devices (PLDs) , state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute software. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

Accordingly, in one or more example embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes computer storage media. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise a random-access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) , optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of the aforementioned types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communications system and an access network 100. The wireless communications system (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN) ) includes base stations 102, UEs 104, an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160, and another core network 190 (e.g., a 5G Core (5GC) ) . The base stations 102 may include macrocells (high power cellular base station) and/or small cells (low power cellular base station) . The macrocells include base stations. The small cells include femtocells, picocells, and microcells.

The base stations 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) ) may interface with the EPC 160 through backhaul links 132 (e.g., S1 interface) . The base stations 102 configured for 5G NR (collectively referred to as Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) ) may interface with core network 190 through backhaul links 184. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform one or more of the following functions: transfer of user data, radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity) , inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) , subscriber and equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM) , paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC 160 or core network 190) with each other over backhaul links 134 (e.g., X2 interface) . The backhaul links 134 may be wired or wireless.

The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, the small cell 102' may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macrocells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home Evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs) , which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG) . The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and the UEs 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 and/or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104. The communication links 120 may use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links may be through one or more carriers. The base stations 102 /UEs 104 may use spectrum up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL) . The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. A primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell) .

Certain UEs 104 may communicate with each other using device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use the DL/UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) , a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH) , a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) , and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) . D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communications systems, such as for example, FlashLinQ, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

The wireless communications system may further include a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 in communication with Wi-Fi stations (STAs) 152 via communication links 154 in a 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum. When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the STAs 152 /AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel is available.

The small cell 102' may operate in a licensed and/or an unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell 102' may employ NR and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102' , employing NR in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage to and/or increase capacity of the access network.

A base station 102, whether a small cell 102' or a large cell (e.g., macro base station) , may include an eNB, gNodeB (gNB) , or another type of base station. Some base stations, such as gNB 180 may operate in a traditional sub 6 GHz spectrum, in millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies, and/or near mmW frequencies in communication with the UE 104. When the gNB 180 operates in mmW or near mmW frequencies, the gNB 180 may be referred to as an mmW base station. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in the band may be referred to as a millimeter wave. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also referred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW /near mmW radio frequency band (e.g., 3 GHz –300 GHz) has extremely high path loss and a short range. The mmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming 182 with the UE 104 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range.

The base station 180 may transmit a beamformed signal to the UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 182' . The UE 104 may receive the beamformed signal from the base station 180 in one or more receive directions 182” . The UE 104 may also transmit a beamformed signal to the base station 180 in one or more transmit directions. The base station 180 may receive the beamformed signal from the UE 104 in one or more receive directions. The base station 180 /UE 104 may perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for each of the base station 180 /UE 104. The transmit and receive directions for the base station 180 may or may not be the same. The transmit and receive directions for the UE 104 may or may not be the same.

The EPC 160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) 170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. The MME 162 may be in communication with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the EPC 160. Generally, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through the Serving Gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN Gateway 172. The PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to the IP Services 176. The IP Services 176 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) , a PS Streaming Service, and/or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functions for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmission, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS Bearer Services within a public land mobile network (PLMN) , and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to the base stations 102 belonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service, and may be responsible for session management (start/stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.

The core network 190 may include a Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a Session Management Function (SMF) 194, and a User Plane Function (UPF) 195. The AMF 192 may be in communication with a Unified Data Management (UDM) 196. The AMF 192 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the core network 190. Generally, the AMF 192 provides QoS flow and session management. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through the UPF 195. The UPF 195 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The UPF 195 is connected to the IP Services 197. The IP Services 197 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) , a PS Streaming Service, and/or other IP services.

The base station may also be referred to as a gNB, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB) , an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS) , an extended service set (ESS) , a transmit reception point (TRP) , or some other suitable terminology. The base station 102 provides an access point to the EPC 160 or core network 190 for a UE 104. Examples of UEs 104 include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player) , a camera, a game console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor/actuator, a display, or any other similar functioning device. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking meter, gas pump, toaster, vehicles, heart monitor, etc. ) . The UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in certain aspects, the UE 104 may include a priority component 140 configured to prioritize a new packet for uplink transmission over one or more old packets in response to receiving the new packet for uplink transmission. For example, the priority component 140 may receive, at a protocol layer of the UE 104, a new packet from a higher layer, the new packet associated with a flow of packets. The priority component 140 may determine that the protocol layer is associated with one or more old packets for the flow of packets. The priority component 140 may deprioritize the one or more old packets in response to the receiving the new packet from the higher layer.

In another aspect, the base station 102 may include a receiver component 198 configured to receive uplink traffic where packets have been deprioritized. The receiver component 198 may configure the UE 104 for arrival based deprioritization of packets. The receiver component 198 may receive, at a protocol layer, a new packet from a lower layer that originated at the UE 104. The receiver component 198 may determine, based on the configuration of the UE 104, to process the new packet at a higher layer without waiting for a missing packet that is in order before the new packet.

Although the following description may be focused on 5G NR, the concepts described herein may be applicable to other similar areas, such as LTE, LTE-A, CDMA, GSM, and other wireless technologies.

FIG. 2A is a diagram 200 illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G/NR frame structure. FIG. 2B is a diagram 230 illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G/NR subframe. FIG. 2C is a diagram 250 illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G/NR frame structure. FIG. 2D is a diagram 280 illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G/NR subframe. The 5G/NR frame structure may be FDD in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth) , subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for either DL or UL, or may be TDD in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth) , subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for both DL and UL. In the examples provided by FIGs. 2A, 2C, the 5G/NR frame structure is assumed to be TDD, with subframe 4 being configured with slot format 28 (with mostly DL) , where D is DL, U is UL, and X is flexible for use between DL/UL, and subframe 3 being configured with slot format 34 (with mostly UL) . While

subframes

3, 4 are shown with slot formats 34, 28, respectively, any particular subframe may be configured with any of the various available slot formats 0-61. Slot formats 0, 1 are all DL, UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mix of DL, UL, and flexible symbols. UEs are configured with the slot format (dynamically through DL control information (DCI) , or semi-statically/statically through radio resource control (RRC) signaling) through a received slot format indicator (SFI) . Note that the description infra applies also to a 5G/NR frame structure that is TDD.

Other wireless communication technologies may have a different frame structure and/or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into 10 equally sized subframes (1 ms) . Each subframe may include one or more time slots. Subframes may also include mini-slots, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. Each slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the slot configuration. For slot configuration 0, each slot may include 14 symbols, and for slot configuration 1, each slot may include 7 symbols. The symbols on DL may be cyclic prefix (CP) OFDM (CP-OFDM) symbols. The symbols on UL may be CP-OFDM symbols (for high throughput scenarios) or discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (also referred to as single carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbols) (for power limited scenarios; limited to a single stream transmission) . The number of slots within a subframe is based on the slot configuration and the numerology. For slot configuration 0, different numerologies μ 0 to 5 allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 slots, respectively, per subframe. For slot configuration 1, different numerologies 0 to 2 allow for 2, 4, and 8 slots, respectively, per subframe. Accordingly, for slot configuration 0 and numerology μ, there are 14 symbols/slot and 2 ^μ slots/subframe. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length/duration are a function of the numerology. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2 ^μ*15 kHz, where μ is the numerology 0 to 5. As such, the numerology μ=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz and the numerology μ=5 has a subcarrier spacing of 480 kHz. The symbol length/duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. FIGs. 2A-2D provide an example of slot configuration 0 with 14 symbols per slot and numerology μ=0 with 1 slot per subframe. The subcarrier spacing is 15 kHz and symbol duration is approximately 66.7 μs.

A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs) ) that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs) . The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

As illustrated in FIG. 2A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for the UE. The RS may include demodulation RS (DM-RS) (indicated as R _x for one particular configuration, where 100x is the port number, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and channel state information reference signals (CSI- RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS) , beam refinement RS (BRRS) , and phase tracking RS (PT-RS) .

FIG. 2B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs) , each CCE including nine RE groups (REGs) , each REG including four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol. A primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of particular subframes of a frame. The PSS is used by a UE 104 to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity. A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of particular subframes of a frame. The SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier (PCI) . Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the locations of the aforementioned DM-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) , which carries a master information block (MIB) , may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) /PBCH block. The MIB provides a number of RBs in the system bandwidth and a system frame number (SFN) . The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs) , and paging messages.

As illustrated in FIG. 2C, some of the REs carry DM-RS (indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may transmit DM-RS for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and DM-RS for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) . The PUSCH DM-RS may be transmitted in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DM-RS may be transmitted in different configurations depending on whether short or long PUCCHs are transmitted and depending on the particular PUCCH format used. Although not shown, the UE may transmit sounding reference signals (SRS) . The SRS may be used by a base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.

FIG. 2D illustrates an example of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame. The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI) , such as scheduling requests, a channel quality indicator (CQI) , a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) , a rank indicator (RI) , and HARQ ACK/NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR) , a power headroom report (PHR) , and/or UCI. In an aspect, the PUSCH may carry data where one or more packets have been deprioritized by the priority component 140. That is, the PUSCH may carry new packets instead of or before older packets for a flow.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in communication with a UE 350 in an access network. In the DL, IP packets from the EPC 160 may be provided to a controller/processor 375. The controller/processor 375 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The controller/processor 375 provides RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) , RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release) , inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression /decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification) , and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer packet data units (PDUs) , error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs) , re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs) , demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

The transmit (TX) processor 316 and the receive (RX) processor 370 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) , quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) , M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK) , M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) ) . The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/or frequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318TX. Each transmitter 318TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

At the UE 350, each receiver 354RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 352. Each receiver 354RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the receive (RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processor 356 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350, they may be combined by the RX processor 356 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The RX processor 356 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) . The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the base station 310. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by the channel estimator 358. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 310 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to the controller/processor 359, which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

The controller/processor 359 can be associated with a memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 359 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the EPC 160. The controller/processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the DL transmission by the base station 310, the controller/processor 359 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression /decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification) ; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization. In an aspect, the priority component 140 may be implemented by the controller/processor 359 and operate at one or more layers between the RRC layer and the MAC layer. For example, the priority component 140 may operate on a flow of packets, which may include a quality of service (QoS) flow arriving at a SDAP layer, a data radio bearer arriving at the PDCP layer, or a logical channel arriving at the MAC layer.

Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator 358 from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 310 may be used by the TX processor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antenna 352 via separate transmitters 354TX. Each transmitter 354TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

The UL transmission is processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at the UE 350. Each receiver 318RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 320. Each receiver 318RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a RX processor 370.

The controller/processor 375 can be associated with a memory 376 that stores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 375 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 350. IP packets from the controller/processor 375 may be provided to the EPC 160. The controller/processor 375 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

At least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359 may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the priority component 140 of FIG. 1.

At least one of the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375 may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the receiver component 198 of FIG. 1.

Latency for wireless communications may be affected by uplink processing at a user equipment. In particular, as a transmission protocol stack at a user equipment (UE) receives packets from higher layer applications and generates transport blocks for wireless transmission, packets may be queued for processing. For low-latency communications such as URLLC, it is possible that packets queued for processing may become stale, for example, if there are transmission failures at lower layers or if there are no transmission opportunities (e.g., due to unavailability of uplink grants) . A stale packet may no longer be important or relevant to the receiver. Accordingly, latency may be improved by discarding stale packets.

While packets may be discarded in NR (and similarly LTE) utilizing a timer at a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer to trigger discard after a configurable amount of time, managing timers for discard may be complicated because each PDCP service data unit (SDU) may be associated with a different timer. Additionally, the configurable lengths of the timers may be limited and may not correspond to latency needs of a particular application.

Packet discard functionality is useful for URLLC since it reduces resources wasted on “late” uplink packets in UE. Late uplink packets in UE may refer to packets that have not been or cannot be transmitted by the UE within their latency target. The latency target may be determined based in part on associated packet delay budget, PDCP discard timer, etc. In some cases, late URLLC packets may not be useful. For example, in a motion control use case, commands and/or motor-state-information carried in packets may become stale after a certain time. As another example, in virtual reality or augmented reality applications, user tracking updates are such that older information is completely superseded by newer information. In either case, late packets can block new packets causing delay for the latter.

One current solution to late packets is defined in 5G NR and LTE standards. Generally, expiry of a PDCP discard timer for a PDCP SDU triggers discard of the SDU and associated PDU. However, the complexity of PDCP discard timer management including timers being set for each SDU, may limit the benefits of such a solution. Accordingly, many SDUs results in many timers. Additionally, PDCP discard timers may be selected from a limited set of values and this limited granularity/choice may force selection of a PDCP discard timer that is higher or lower than desired. An example of a set of possible PDCP discard timers may include: 10 ms, 20 ms, 30 ms, 40 ms, 50 ms, 60 ms, 75 ms, 100 ms, 150 ms, 200 ms, 250 ms, 300 ms, 500 ms, 750 ms, 1500 ms, and infinity. Accordingly, for latency targets that are not one of the defined values, the selected value may be too high or too low.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides arrival based deprioritization of older packets. Arrival of a new packet on a flow with older (buffered) packets triggers a de-prioritization of the older packets. The de-prioritization may include either discard of the older packets of the flow, or prioritization of the new packet (compared to the older packets) for earlier scheduling and/or processing (e.g., generation of associated PDU from an SDU) .

FIG. 4 is a message diagram showing example messages between a base station 102 and a UE 104 for performing arrival based deprioritization of older packets at the UE. The arrival may refer to arrival of a new packet at a protocol layer of the UE protocol stack for uplink transmission. Generally, the base station 102 may configure the UE 104 for the arrival based deprioritization of older packets and adapt a receiver based on the configuration. In an aspect, a protocol layer at a transmitting device (e.g., UE 104 for uplink) may include an interface to a lower or upper layer (e.g., a protocol layer may include a RLC entity and a logical channel interfacing the RLC entity to a MAC entity, or protocol layer may include a MAC entity and a logical channel interfacing the MAC entity to a RLC entity, or a PDCP entity and a DRB interfacing the PDCP entity to a SDAP entity) . In an aspect, a protocol layer at a transmitting device (e.g., UE 104 for uplink) may be implemented by an entity having a corresponding entity implementing a corresponding protocol layer at a receiving device (e.g., base station 102 for uplink) . A “packet” may refer to any unit of data sent between protocol layers or entities. The term “service data unit” or “SDU” may refer to an input packet at a protocol layer. The term “protocol data unit” or “PDU” may refer to an output packet at a protocol layer. Accordingly, a PDU generated by a higher layer protocol may be a SDU for a lower layer protocol.

For example, the base station 102 may configure the UE 104 for arrival based deprioritization by transmitting a deprioritization configuration 410 to the UE 104. The deprioritization configuration 410 may indicate one or more flows to which the UE 104 is to apply arrival based deprioritization. In an aspect, the deprioritization configuration 410 may be an RRC message 412 such as an RRC reconfiguration message. The RRC message 412 may include one or more information elements (IE) identifying a flow. For example, the RRC message 412 may include a logical channel (LCH) configuration IE 414 that may identify a logical channel, a data radio bearer (DRB) IE 416 that may identify a DRB, or a SDAP-configuration IE 418 that identifies a QoS flow.

The UE 104 may perform packet generation or reception 420 at one or more layers of a protocol stack. For example, higher layer applications may generate data packets for transmission. As another example, packets may be generated by an application executed outside of a modem or may be received via an Ethernet adaptor or serial connection. At each protocol layer, the layer or associated entity may receive one or more input packets and perform processing to generate one or more output packets. As discussed in further detail below, packet generation 420 may include performing operations such as QoS flow handling, header compression, security, segmentation and concatenation.

The UE 104 may perform old packet detection 430 at one or more layers of the protocol stack. For example, upon receiving a new input packet, a protocol layer may determine whether a flow of the new input packet includes one or more old packets, which may include unprocessed, partially processed or untransmitted packets.

The UE 104 may perform deprioritization 440 on one or more of the detected old packets. Generally, deprioritization 440 may include discarding the one or more old packets, scheduling a transmission of the one or more old packets after the new packet, or processing the one or more old packets after the new packet. Specific deprioritization may be performed at each protocol layer as discussed in further detail below.

The UE 104 may transmit a PUSCH 450. The PUSCH 450 may carry the new data packet and possibly one or more old data packets. The new data packet may be transmitted before the old data packets due to the deprioritization 440. The base station 102 may receive the PUSCH 450.

The base station 102 may perform processing 460 without reordering on the PUSCH 450. For example, one or more protocol layers at the base station 102 may receive an input packet and generate an output packet to send to a higher layer. The protocol layer at the base station 102 may send the output packet to the higher layer without waiting to reorder. Accordingly, if a new packet arrives before an old packet due to deprioritization 440, the higher layer may receive the new packet without latency due to the old packet.

FIG. 5 is a diagram including multiple protocol layers for an uplink protocol stack 500. The uplink protocol stack 500 may generally implement layer 2 processing as described above with respect to FIG. 3. Higher layer applications 560 may represent any higher layer applications (e.g., an operating system or software application executed by the UE 104) or protocols (e.g., transmission control protocol (TCP) /internet protocol (IP) ) . The uplink protocol stack 500 may include a SDAP layer 510, a PDCP layer 520, a RLC layer 530, and a MAC layer 540. The priority component 140 may be configured to operate on packets sent between layers, which may be associated with a flow.

The SDAP layer 510 may receive packets from higher layer applications 560. The packets may be associated with a Quality of Service (QoS) flow 512. For example, the QoS flow 512 may receive SDUs for the SDAP layer 510. The SDAP layer 510 may include QoS flow handling 514 that applies an SDAP header including a QoS flow identifier (QFI) to the SDU. The QoS flow handling 514 may associate the resulting SDAP PDU with a radio bearer 522 (e.g., a data radio bearer (DRB) ) and send the SDAP PDU to the PDCP layer 520.

The PDCP layer 520 may receive a SDAP PDU as a PDCP SDU associated with a radio bearer 522. The PDCP layer 520 may include robust header compression (ROHC) 524 that compresses headers and security 526 that performs ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, and integrity verification. The PDCP layer 520 may provide a PDCP PDU associated with an RLC channel 532 to the RLC layer 530,

The RLC layer 530 may receive the PDCP PDU associated with the RLC channel 532 as a RLC SDU. The RLC layer 530 may include segmentation automatic repeat request (ARQ) 534 that segments and or concatenates the RLC SDUs into RLC PDUs of a configured size. The RLC layer 530 may associate each RLC PDU with a logical channel 542.

The MAC layer 540 may receive the RLC PDUs and perform scheduling 544, multiplexing 446, and HARQ processing 548 to generate MAC transport blocks (TBs) . The MAC layer 540 may send the MAC TBs to the PHY layer 570 on transport channels 550.

The priority component 140 may operate on one or more flows between protocol layers. For example, a flow may refer to a QoS flow 512, a Radio Bearer 522, an RLC channel 532, or a logical channel 542. In an implementation, a flow may be a queue in memory that stores the packet until the packet is processed. In an aspect, priority component 140 may operate where a new packet from a higher layer arrives before processing of an old packet from the higher layer has finished processing. Deprioritization may not be applicable to the RLC channels 532 between the PDCP layer 520 and RLC layer 530 due to the nature of segmentation ARQ 534.

When a new data packet arrives at the QoS flows 512, the priority component 140 may deprioritize a previous SDU in a queue for the QoS flow handling 514, or deprioritize an associated SDAP PDU at the PDCP layer 520 (e.g., in a queue for a radio bearer 522) . In an aspect, the deprioritization of an associated SDAP PDU may be performed based on an SDAP header, for example, according to a QFI value in the SDAP header.

When a new data packet (e.g., an SDAP PDU) associated with a radio bearer 522 arrives at the PDCP layer 520, the priority component 140 may deprioritize one or more previous SDUs of the DRB 522; deprioritize PDUs associated with one or more previous SDUs of the DRB 522; or indicate discard to one or more layers lower than the PDCP layer 520 (e.g., RLC layer 530) if a PDU for a previous SDU of the DRB has been delivered to lower layers.

When a new data packet (e.g., new data) for a logical channel 542 arrives at the MAC layer 540, the priority component 140 may remove at least some of the previous data from the LCH; ensure that a MAC TB includes a portion of the previous data only if the new data is part of the MAC TB or has been included in a previous MAC TB; interrupt processing or transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) associated with a MAC TB including the previous data; or transmit a PUSCH (using a first transmission or a HARQ retransmission) associated with a MAC TB including the previous data after transmitting a PUSCH associated with the new data.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example method 600 for wireless communication. The method 600 may be performed by a UE (e.g., the UE 104; the apparatus 702/702' ; the processing system 814, which may include the memory 360 and which may be the entire UE 104 or a component of the UE 104 such as the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359. The method may improve the manner in which the UE transmits uplink packets.

At block 610, the method 600 may optionally include receiving a configuration from a base station for deprioritization. In an aspect, for example, the reception component 704 and the configuration component 706 may receive the configuration from a base station for deprioritization. For example, the reception component 704 may receive a PDSCH or PDCCH carrying the deprioritization configuration. For example, the deprioritization configuration may be transmitted as one or more of a RRC message, a NAS message, a message from SMF, a MAC-CE or a DCI indication. The reception component 704 may provide the deprioritization configuration to the configuration component 706. The deprioritization configuration may indicate one or more flows to which arrival based deprioritization is to be applied. For example, the deprioritization configuration may indicate one or more QoS flows 512, DRBs 522, or logical channels 542. The configuration component 706 may configure or activate one or more other components such as packet status component 714 or deprioritization component 716 based on the deprioritization configuration.

At block 620, the method 600 may optionally include receiving a configuration for a discard timer for the flow. In an aspect, for example, the configuration component 706 may receive a configuration for a discard timer for the flow. For example, the configuration for the discard timer may be received as an RRC message. The discard timer may be configured in addition to arrival based deprioritization. That is, the priority component 140 may deprioritize packets in response to receiving a new packet for a flow or in response to expiration of the configured discard timer (e.g., by discarding a PDCP SDU associated with the expired discard timer) .

At block 630, the method 600 may include receiving, at a protocol layer of a user equipment (UE) , a new packet from a higher layer, the new packet associated with a flow of packets. In an aspect, for example, the flow component 712 may receive, at a protocol layer of a user equipment (UE) , a new packet from a higher layer (e.g., upper layer component 708) . The new packet may be associated with a flow of packets. For example, the flow of packets may be QoS flows 512, DRBs 522, or logical channels 542. The flow component 712 may determine the flow associated with the new packet and send a flow ID to the packet status component 714.

At block 640, the method 600 may include determining that the protocol layer is associated with one or more old packets for the flow of packets. In an aspect, for example, the packet status component 714 may determine that the protocol layer is associated with one or more old packets for the flow of packets. For example, the packet status component 714 may compare the flow ID associated with the new packet to a flow ID of one or more packets at the protocol layer (e.g., stored in a queue) . The packet status component 714 may determine a packet ID of any old packets matching the flow ID of the new packet.

At block 650, the method 600 may include deprioritizing the one or more old packets in response to the receiving the new packet from the higher layer. In an aspect, for example, the deprioritization component 716 may deprioritize the one or more old packets in response to the receiving the new packet from the higher layer. The deprioritization component 716 may perform various operations to deprioritize the one or more old packets. The specific operation may be determined based on the deprioritization configuration, the protocol layer, and/or a higher layer application.

For example, at sub-block 652, the block 650 may include discarding the one or more old packets. In an aspect, for example, the deprioritization component 716 may provide the one or more old packets to the discard component 718 to discard the one or more old packets. For instance, where the flow is a LCH, the discard component 718 may remove at least some of the previous data from the LCH. As another example, where the flow is a DRB, the discard component 718 may discard a previous SDU of the DRB or a PDU associated with a previous SDU, or indicate discard to lower layers than the PDCP layer if a PDU for a previous SDU of the DRB has been delivered to the lower layers. As yet another example, where the flow is a QoS flow, the discard component 718 may discard one or more previous SDUs, or associated PDUs of the QoS flow at the PDCP layer 520.

At sub-block 654, the block 650 may include scheduling a transmission of the one or more old packets after the new packet. For example, the deprioritization component 716 may provide the new packet and the old packets to the transmission component 710 to schedule the transmission of the one or more old packets after the new packet. For instance, where the flow is a LCH, the deprioritization component 716 may ensure that a MAC TB includes a portion of the previous data only if the new data is part of the MAC TB or has been included in a previous MAC TB.

At sub-block 656, the block 650 may include processing the one or more old packets after the new packet. In an aspect, for example, the deprioritization component 716 may indicate to one or more of the QoS flow handling 514, ROHC 524, security 526, segmentation ARQ 534, scheduling 544, multiplexing 546, or HARQ processing 548 to process the one or more old packets after the new packet. In another aspect, where the old packets and new packet are in a queue, the deprioritization component 716 may move the new packet to the front of the queue.

At block 658, the block 650 may include interrupting processing or transmission of a PUSCH associated with a MAC TB carrying the one or more old packets. In an aspect, for example, the deprioritization component 716 may indicate to the transmission component 710 to interrupt processing or transmission of the PUSCH associated with the MAC TB carrying the one or more old packets.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual data flow diagram 700 illustrating the data flow between different means/components in an example apparatus 702. The apparatus may be an example of the UE 104. The apparatus 702 includes a reception component 704 that receives a deprioritization configuration and/or a discard timer configuration, e.g., as described in connection with blocks 610 and 620 above. The apparatus 702 includes a configuration component 706 that determines the deprioritization configuration and/or a discard timer configuration e.g., as described in connection with blocks 610 and 620 above. The apparatus 702 includes a upper layer component 708 that generates one or more packets, e.g., as described in connection with block 630 above. The apparatus 702 includes a flow component 712 that receives a new packet from a higher layer (e.g., the upper layer component 708) , e.g., as described in connection with block 630 above. The apparatus 702 includes a transmission component 710 that transmits at least the new packet and possibly one or more old packets based on deprioritization, e.g., as described in connection with block 650 above. The apparatus 702 includes a packet status component 714 that determines that the protocol layer is associated with one or more old packets for the flow of packets, e.g., as described in connection with block 640 above. The apparatus 702 includes a deprioritization component 716 that deprioritizes the one or more old packets in response to the receiving the new packet from the higher layer e.g., as described in connection with block 650 above, including

sub-blocks

652, 654, 656, and 658. The apparatus 702 includes a discard component 718 that discards one or more old packets e.g., as described in connection with block 650 above including sub-block 652.

The apparatus may include additional components that perform each of the blocks of the algorithm in the aforementioned flowchart of FIG. 6. As such, each block in the aforementioned flowchart of FIG. 6 may be performed by a component and the apparatus may include one or more of those components. The components may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

FIG. 8 is a diagram 800 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus 702' employing a processing system 814. The processing system 814 may be implemented with a bus architecture, represented generally by the bus 824. The bus 824 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the processing system 814 and the overall design constraints. The bus 824 links together various circuits including one or more processors and/or hardware components, represented by the processor 804, the

components

704, 706, 708, 710, 712, 714, 716, 718 and the computer-readable medium /memory 806. The bus 824 may also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further.

The processing system 814 may be coupled to a transceiver 810. The transceiver 810 is coupled to one or more antennas 820. The transceiver 810 provides a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. The transceiver 810 receives a signal from the one or more antennas 820, extracts information from the received signal, and provides the extracted information to the processing system 814, specifically the reception component 704. In addition, the transceiver 810 receives information from the processing system 814, specifically the transmission component 710, and based on the received information, generates a signal to be applied to the one or more antennas 820. The processing system 814 includes a processor 804 coupled to a computer-readable medium /memory 806. The processor 804 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium /memory 806. The software, when executed by the processor 804, causes the processing system 814 to perform the various functions described supra for any particular apparatus. The computer-readable medium /memory 806 may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor 804 when executing software. The processing system 814 further includes at least one of the

components

704, 706, 708, 710, 712, 714, 716, 718. The components may be software components running in the processor 804, resident/stored in the computer readable medium /memory 806, one or more hardware components coupled to the processor 804, or some combination thereof. The processing system 814 may be a component of the UE 350 and may include the memory 360 and/or at least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359. Alternatively, the processing system 814 may be the entire UE (e.g., see 350 of FIG. 3) .

In one configuration, the apparatus 702702' for wireless communication includes means for means for receiving, at a protocol layer of a user equipment (UE) , a new packet from a higher layer, the new packet associated with a flow of packets; means for determining that the protocol layer is associated with one or more old packets for the flow of packets; means for deprioritizing the one or more old packets in response to the receiving the new packet from the higher layer; and means for receiving a configuration from a base station for the deprioritization. The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned components of the apparatus 702 and/or the processing system 814 of the apparatus 702' configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described supra, the processing system 814 may include the TX Processor 368, the RX Processor 356, and the controller/processor 359. As such, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX Processor 368, the RX Processor 356, and the controller/processor 359 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method 900 of wireless communication. The method 900 may be performed by a base station 102 (e.g., the base station 102 the apparatus 1002/1002' ; the processing system 1114, which may include the memory 376 and which may be the entire base station 102 or a component of the base station 102 such as the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and/or the controller/processor 375) .

At block 910, the method 900 may include configuring a user equipment (UE) for arrival based deprioritization of packets. In an aspect, for example, the configuration component 1006 may configure a UE (e.g. UE 104 or apparatus 1050) for arrival based deprioritization of packets. For example, the configuration component 1006 may generate a deprioritization configuration indicating one or more flows to which the UE should apply arrival based deprioritization, for example, as described above with respect to method 600 in FIG. 6. For example, the deprioritization configuration may indicate one or more QoS flows 512, DRBs 522, or logical channels 542. The configuration component 1006 may configure or activate one or more other components such as reordering component 1008 based on the deprioritization configuration to process the configured flows without reordering.

At sub-block 912, the block 910 may include transmitting a RRC message indicating application of the arrival based deprioritization to one or more of: a logical channel, a data radio bearer (DRB) , or a quality of service (QoS) flow. For example, the transmission component 1010 may transmit the RRC message based on the deprioritization configuration generated by the configuration component 1006. In an aspect, the message indicating application of the arrival based deprioritization may be transmitting using one or more of the RRC message, a NAS message, a message from SMF, a MAC-CE or a DCI indication.

At block 920, the method 900 may include receiving a packet which is determined to be out of order at least in part based on a sequence number associated with the packet. In an aspect, for example, the reception component 1004 may receive a packet which is determined to be out of order at least in part based on a sequence number associated with the packet. For example, the sequence number may be a PDCP layer sequence number or a RLC layer sequence number. The reception component 1004 may receive a PUSCH and decode a MAC TB to obtain an RLC PDU having the sequence number. The reception component 1004 may pass the new packet to the reordering component 1008, which may determine that the sequence number of the new packet is out of order based on the sequence numbers of previously received packets.

At block 930, the method 900 may include determining, based on the configuration of the UE, to process the out of order packet without waiting for receiving additional packets. In an aspect, for example, the reordering component 1008 and/or the processing component 1012 may determine, based on the configuration of the UE, to process the out of order packet without waiting for receiving additional packets. For example, the reordering component 1008 may determine that a flow of the new packet has been configured for arrival based deprioritization. Accordingly, the reordering component 1008 may refrain from waiting for a missing packet and pass the out of order packet to the processing component 1012. Similarly, the processing component 1012 may expect out of order packets based on the configuration of the flow. Accordingly, the processing component 1012 may perform a processing operation (e.g., PDCP operations) on the out of order packet and pass resulting out of order data to the higher layer component 1014.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual data flow diagram 1000 illustrating the data flow between different means/components in an example apparatus 1002. The apparatus 1002 may be a base station. The apparatus 1002 includes a reception component 1004 that receives uplink data including a new packet, e.g., as described in connection with block 920. The apparatus includes a configuration component 1006 that configures a UE for arrival based deprioritization of packets, e.g., as described in connection with block 910. The apparatus includes a reordering component 1008 that determines whether a packet is out of order at least in part based on a sequence number associated with the packet, e.g., as described in connection with block 920. The apparatus includes a transmission component 1010 that transmits a message carrying a deprioritization configuration, e.g., as described in connection with block 910. The apparatus includes a processing component 1012 that determines , , based on the configuration of the UE, to process the out of order packet without waiting for receiving additional packets, e.g., as described in connection with block 930. The apparatus includes a higher layer component 1014 that receives processed out of order data, e.g., as described in connection with block 930.

The apparatus may include additional components that perform each of the blocks of the algorithm in the aforementioned flowcharts of FIG. 9. As such, each block in the aforementioned flowchart of FIG. 9 may be performed by a component and the apparatus may include one or more of those components. The components may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

FIG. 11 is a diagram 1100 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus 1002' employing a processing system 1114. The processing system 1114 may be implemented with a bus architecture, represented generally by the bus 1124. The bus 1124 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the processing system 1114 and the overall design constraints. The bus 1124 links together various circuits including one or more processors and/or hardware components, represented by the processor 1104, the

components

1004, 1006, 1008, 1010, 1012, 1014, and the computer-readable medium /memory 1106. The bus 1124 may also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further.

The processing system 1114 may be coupled to a transceiver 1110. The transceiver 1110 is coupled to one or more antennas 1120. The transceiver 1110 provides a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. The transceiver 1110 receives a signal from the one or more antennas 1120, extracts information from the received signal, and provides the extracted information to the processing system 1114, specifically the reception component 1004, In addition, the transceiver 1110 receives information from the processing system 1114, specifically the transmission component 1010, and based on the received information, generates a signal to be applied to the one or more antennas 1120. The processing system 1114 includes a processor 1104 coupled to a computer-readable medium /memory 1106. The processor 1104 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium /memory 1106. The software, when executed by the processor 1104, causes the processing system 1114 to perform the various functions described supra for any particular apparatus. The computer-readable medium /memory 1106 may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor 1104 when executing software. The processing system 1114 further includes at least one of the

components

1004, 1006, 1008, 1010, 1012, 1014. The components may be software components running in the processor 1104, resident/stored in the computer readable medium /memory 1106, one or more hardware components coupled to the processor 1104, or some combination thereof. The processing system _1114 may be a component of the base station 310 and may include the memory 376 and/or at least one of the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375. Alternatively, the processing system 1114 may be the entire base station (e.g., see 310 of FIG. 3) .

In one configuration, the apparatus 1002/1002' for wireless communication includes means for configuring a user equipment (UE) for arrival based deprioritization of packets; means for receiving a packet which is determined to be out of order at least in part based on a sequence number associated with the packet; and means for determining, based on the configuration of the UE, to process the out of order packet without waiting for receiving additional packets. The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned components of the apparatus 1002 and/or the processing system 1114 of the apparatus 1002' configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described supra, the processing system 1114 may include the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375. As such, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

In view of the foregoing, the present disclosure provides for deprioritization of old packets based on arrival of a new packet for a flow. The deprioritization may reduce the latency of the new packet. In an aspect, the deprioritization may be configured at one or more protocol layers and for one or more flows. Accordingly, flows with low-latency requirements may be configured to use arrival based deprioritization. In particular, flows where old data becomes stale or superseded by the arrival of new data may be configured for arrival based deprioritization to improve the latency of the most recent data. The disclosure also provides for configuration of a base station to process packets associated with flows that have been configured for arrival based deprioritization without waiting for receiving additional packets. Accordingly, the base station may reduce latency in processing of the new packets that have arrived before or instead of the deprioritized old packets.

It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes /flowcharts disclosed is an illustration of example approaches. Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes /flowcharts may be rearranged. Further, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more. ” The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration. ” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. Combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C, ” “one or more of A, B, or C, ” “at least one of A, B, and C, ” “one or more of A, B, and C, ” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” include any combination of A, B, and/or C, and may include multiples of A, multiples of B, or multiples of C. Specifically, combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C, ” “one or more of A, B, or C, ” “at least one of A, B, and C, ” “one or more of A, B, and C, ” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” may be A only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, where any such combinations may contain one or more member or members of A, B, or C. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. The words “module, ” “mechanism, ” “element, ” “device, ” and the like may not be a substitute for the word “means. ” As such, no claim element is to be construed as a means plus function unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for. ”

Claims

A method of wireless communication, comprising:

receiving, at a protocol layer of a user equipment (UE) , a new packet from a higher layer, the new packet associated with a flow of packets;

determining that the protocol layer is associated with one or more old packets for the flow of packets; and

deprioritizing the one or more old packets in response to the receiving the new packet from the higher layer.
The method of claim 1, wherein the deprioritizing comprises one or more of:

discarding the one or more old packets;

scheduling a transmission of the one or more old packets after the new packet;

processing the one or more old packets after the new packet; or

interrupting processing or transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) associated with a media access control transport block (MAC TB) carrying the one or more old packets.
The method of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the flow of packets comprises a logical channel (LCH) and the new packet comprises new data for the logical channel, wherein the deprioritizing comprises, one or more of:

removing at least some previous data from the LCH;

ensuring that a media access control (MAC) transport block (TB) includes a portion of the previous data only if the new data is part of the MAC TB or has been included in a previous MAC TB;

interrupting processing or transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) associated with a MAC TB including the previous data; or

transmitting a PUSCH associated with a MAC TB including the previous data after transmitting a PUSCH associated with the new data.
The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving a configuration from a base station indicating application of deprioritization to the logical channel.
The method of claim 4, wherein the configuration comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message including a logical channel configuration information element indicating the deprioritization.
The method of claim 1, wherein the flow of packets comprises a data radio bearer (DRB) and the new packet comprises a service data unit (SDU) at a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, wherein the deprioritizing includes one or more of:

deprioritizing one or more previous SDUs of the DRB;

deprioritizing PDUs associated with one or more previous SDUs of the DRB; or

indicating discard to lower layers than the PDCP layer if a PDU for a previous SDU of the DRB has been delivered to the lower layers.
The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving a configuration from a base station indicating application of deprioritization to the DRB.
The method of claim 7, wherein the configuration comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message including a DRB information element within a PDCP-Configuration information element indicating the deprioritization.
The method of claim 1, wherein the flow comprises a quality of service (QoS) flow and the new packet comprises a new service data unit (SDU) for the QoS flow in SDAP layer, wherein the deprioritizing includes one or more of a deprioritization of one or more previous service data units (SDUs) , or a deprioritization of associated PDUs of the QoS flow at a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer.
The method of claim 9, wherein the deprioritization of an associated PDU is performed based on a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) header.
The method of claim 10, wherein the deprioritization of the associated PDU is based at least in part on a QoS flow identifier (QFI) value in the SDAP header identifying the QoS flow of the PDU.
The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving a configuration from a base station indicating application of deprioritization to the QoS flow.
The method of claim 12, wherein the configuration comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message including a SDAP-Configuration information element indicating the deprioritization.
The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a configuration for a discard timer for the flow.
The method of claim 1, wherein reordering of received packets of the flow is disabled at a serving base station.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for receiving, at a protocol layer of a user equipment (UE) , a new packet from a higher layer, the new packet associated with a flow of packets;

means for determining that the protocol layer is associated with one or more old packets for the flow of packets; and

means for deprioritizing the one or more old packets in response to the receiving the new packet from the higher layer.
The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising means for receiving a configuration from a base station for the deprioritization.
The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the configuration comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message including a logical channel configuration information element indicating the deprioritization.
The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the configuration comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message including a DRB information element within a PDCP-Configuration information element indicating the deprioritization.
The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the configuration comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message including a SDAP-Configuration information element indicating the deprioritization.
The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for deprioritizing is configured to:

discard the one or more old packets;

schedule a transmission of the one or more old packets after the new packet;

process the one or more old packets after the new packet; or

interrupt processing or transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) associated with a media access control transport block (MAC TB) carrying the one or more old packets.
The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the flow of packets comprises a logical channel (LCH) and the new packet comprises new data for the logical channel, wherein the means for deprioritizing is configured to:

remove at least some previous data from the LCH;

ensure that a media access control (MAC) transport block (TB) includes a portion of the previous data only if the new data is part of the MAC TB or has been included in a previous MAC TB;

interrupt processing or transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) associated with a MAC TB including the previous data; or

transmit a PUSCH associated with a MAC TB including the previous data after transmitting a PUSCH associated with the new data.
The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the flow of packets comprises a data radio bearer (DRB) and the new packet comprises a service data unit (SDU) at a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, wherein the means for deprioritizing is configured to:

deprioritize one or more previous SDUs of the DRB;

deprioritize PDUs associated with one or more previous SDUs of the DRB; or

indicate discard to lower layers than the PDCP layer if a PDU for a previous SDU of the DRB has been delivered to the lower layers.
The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the flow comprises a quality of service (QoS) flow and the new packet comprises a new service data unit (SDU) for the QoS flow in SDAP layer, wherein the means for deprioritizing is configured to deprioritize of one or more previous service data units (SDUs) , or associated PDUs of the QoS flow at a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer.
The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the means for deprioritization is configured to deprioritize an associated PDU based on a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) header.
The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the means for deprioritization is configured to deprioritize the associated PDU based at least in part on a QoS flow identifier (QFI) value in the SDAP header identifying the QoS flow of the PDU.
The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for receiving the configuration is configured to receive a configuration for a discard timer for the flow.
The apparatus of claim 16, wherein reordering of received packets of the flow is disabled at a serving base station.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

receive, at a protocol layer of a user equipment (UE) , a new packet from a higher layer, the new packet associated with a flow of packets;

determine that the protocol layer is associated with one or more old packets for the flow of packets; and

deprioritize the one or more old packets in response to the receiving the new packet from the higher layer.
The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform the method of any of claims 2-15.
A computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, the code when executed by a processor causes the processor to:

receive, at a protocol layer of a user equipment (UE) , a new packet from a higher layer, the new packet associated with a flow of packets;

determine that the protocol layer is associated with one or more old packets for the flow of packets; and

deprioritize the one or more old packets in response to the receiving the new packet from the higher layer.
The computer-readable medium of claim 31, comprising code to perform the method of any of claims 2-15.
A method of wireless communication, comprising:

configuring a user equipment (UE) for arrival based deprioritization of packets;

receiving a packet which is determined to be out of order at least in part based on a sequence number associated with the packet; and

determining, based on the configuration of the UE, to process the out of order packet without waiting for receiving additional packets.
The method of claim 33, wherein the configuring comprises transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) message indicating application of the arrival based deprioritization to one or more of: a logical channel, a data radio bearer (DRB) , or a quality of service (QoS) flow.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for configuring a user equipment (UE) for arrival based deprioritization of packets;

means for receiving a packet which is determined to be out of order at least in part based on a sequence number associated with the packet; and

means for determining, based on the configuration of the UE, to process the out of order packet without waiting for receiving additional packets.
The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the means for configuring the UE is configured to transmit a radio resource control (RRC) message indicating application of the arrival based deprioritization to one or more of: a logical channel, a data radio bearer (DRB) , or a quality of service (QoS) flow.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

configure a user equipment (UE) for arrival based deprioritization of packets;

receive a packet which is determined to be out of order at least in part based on a sequence number associated with the packet; and

determine, based on the configuration of the UE, to process the out of order packet without waiting for receiving additional packets.
The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the processor is configured to transmit a radio resource control (RRC) message indicating application of the arrival based deprioritization to one or more of: a logical channel, a data radio bearer (DRB) , or a quality of service (QoS) flow.
A computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, the code when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

configure a user equipment (UE) for arrival based deprioritization of packets;

receive a packet which is determined to be out of order at least in part based on a sequence number associated with the packet; and

determine, based on the configuration of the UE, to process the out of order packet without waiting for receiving additional packets.
The computer-readable medium of claim 39, further comprising code to transmit a radio resource control (RRC) message indicating application of the arrival based deprioritization to one or more of: a logical channel, a data radio bearer (DRB) , or a quality of service (QoS) flow.