WO2021162627A1

WO2021162627A1 - Intra-ue uplink prioritization handling

Info

Publication number: WO2021162627A1
Application number: PCT/SE2021/050124
Authority: WO
Inventors: Abdulrahman ALABBASI; Torsten DUDDA; Zhenhua Zou; Henrik Enbuske; Bikramjit Singh; Robert Karlsson
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 2020-02-13
Filing date: 2021-02-12
Publication date: 2021-08-19

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed herein that related to intra-device prioritization of uplink traffic. In one embodiment, a method performed by a wireless communication device for intra-device prioritization of uplink traffic comprises receiving one or more configured uplink grants for uplink transmission in unlicensed spectrum and determining that the wireless communication device has both new data and a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) retransmission that are ready to be transmitted using the one or more configured uplink grants. The method further comprises prioritizing a select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission in a manner that takes into account a priority associated to the new data and a priority associated to the HARQ retransmission and transmitting the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission using a configured grant from among the one or more configured grants. In this manner, operation of the wireless communication device when there is a mixture of different traffic types (e.g., Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) traffic and enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) traffic) is provided.

Description

INTRA-UE UPLINK PRIORITIZA TION HANDLING

Related Applications

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application serial number 62/976,166, filed February 13, 2020, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a cellular communications network and, in particular, to uplink prioritization.

Background

In a newly defined Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) study item (RP-

193233, WID: Enhanced Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) and URLLC support), One of the objectives of this Work Item (WI) is:

2. Identify potential enhancements to ensure Release 16 feature compatibility with unlicensed band URLLC/IIoT operation in controlled environment [RANI, RAN2] a. Detailed objectives to be clarified at RAN#87 based on essential issues to be identified in RAN#87 (if any)

This objective aims at compatibility between 3GPP New Radio (NR) unlicensed operation and Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) / Industrial Internet of Things

(HOT) operation. In the IIoT work item (RP-190728, WID: Support of NR Industrial

Internet of Things (IoT)), NR technology enhancements are studied with the target of providing more deterministic low-latency delivery of data. This traffic is also referred to as time sensitive networking (TSN) traffic with typically periodic packet occurrences per cycle time.

Uplink (UL) traffic can be scheduled with dynamic UL grants or configured UL grants. In case of dynamic grants, the NR base station (gNB) provides an UL grant to the User Equipment (UE) for each UL transmission. Configured grants are pre^¬ allocated, i.e. provided once to the UE; thereafter, the configured UL grant is valid for usage for UL transmissions according to a configured periodicity. The UE does not need to transmit padding on those UL resources if no UL data is available for transmission, i.e. the UE may skip an UL transmission on such grants. A typical NR-IIoT device would handle communication for multiple service types, e.g. multiple periodic URLLC type robot control messages (also referred to as TSN-like traffic), URLLC type of occasional alarm signals for which periodic resources would need to be configured or relying on UE to send scheduling request for each occasional alarm message, occasional sensor data transmission which can be time-critical or non-time- critical, and other enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) / Mobile Broadband (MBB) best- effort type traffic such as occasional video transmissions or software updates. This would lead to a traffic mix to be multiplexed by the UE for UL transmissions, i.e. on Medium Access Control (MAC), multiple logical channels with different priorities would need to be configured. In such a traffic mix scenario, it is crucial to treat URLLC-type of traffic with high priority.

In the NR-IIoT Release 16 work item, intra-UE multiplexing/prioritization has been discussed and specified. In the UL, the MAC layer performs Logical Channel (LCH) and grant prioritization procedures based on a defined priority. For example, a detailed description of such prioritization procedures is in MAC Change Request (CR) in R2-

1916352. In short, the part of MAC specification describing NR-IIoT overlapping grants prioritization is reproduced below:

********** START OF EXCERPT FROM R2-1916352 **********

For the MAC entity configured with Ich-basedPrioritization, priority of an uplink grant is determined by the highest priority among priorities of the logical channels with data available that are multiplexed or can be multiplexed in the MAC PDU, according to the mapping restrictions as described in clause 5.4.3.1.2.

Editor’s Note: Priority determination considering MAC CE and configuredGrantTimer is FFS.

When the MAC entity is configured with Ich-basedPrioritization for each uplink grant: l>if this uplink grant is addressed to C-RNTI or CS-RNTE

2>if there is no overlapping PUSCH duration of a configured uplink grant whose priority is higher than the priority of the uplink grant; and

2>if there is no overlapping PUCCH resource with an SR transmission where the priority of the logical channel that triggered the SR is higher than the priority of the uplink grant:

3 > thi s uplink grant is a prioritized uplink grant;

3>the other overlapping uplink grant(s), if any, is a deprioritized uplink grant.

Editor’s Note: It is FFS whether an uplink grant addressed to CS-RNTI with NDI=1 (i.e. retransmission of a configured grant) is a configured grant or not. In this version of running CR, it is assumed that an uplink grant addressed to CS-RNTI with NDI=1 is considered as a dynamic grant.

Editor’s Note: It is FFS whether an uplink grant addressed to CS-RNTI with NDI=0 (i.e.

(re-)activation of type 2 CG) is a configured grant or not. In this version of running CR, it is not clearly captured. l>else if this uplink grant is a configured uplink grant:

2>if there is no overlapping PUSCH duration of another configured uplink grant whose priority is higher than the priority of the uplink grant; and

2>if there is no overlapping PUSCH duration of an uplink grant addressed to C-RNTI or CS-RNTI whose priority is higher than or equal to the priority of the uplink grant; and

3 > thi s uplink grant is a prioritized uplink grant;

NOTE: If there is overlapping PUSCH duration of at least two configured uplink grants whose priorities are equal, the prioritized uplink grant is determined by UE implementation.

Editor’s Note: It is FFS how UE handles the case that at least two uplink grants with different MAC PDUs overlap with an SR transmission.

********** END OF EXCERPT FROM R2-1916352 **********

In the current 3GPP work item "NR based access to unlicensed spectrum", a mechanism for autonomous retransmissions on configured grants is introduced. For an initial transmission on a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process using a configured grant, the UE starts a configuredGrantTimer (CGT) which prevents the UE from using the same HARQ process for initial transmissions until the CGT expires. At each transmission on a HARQ process using a configured grant, the UE starts a CG Retransmission Timer (CGRT) which prevents the UE from retransmitting the HARQ process until the CGRT expires.

Summary

In one embodiment, the one or more configured uplink grants comprises a single configured uplink grant, and both the new data and the HARQ retransmission can be mapped to the single configured uplink grant. In one embodiment, prioritizing the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing between a HARQ buffer in which the HARQ retransmission is stored and a Logical Channel (LCH) associated with the new data. In another embodiment, prioritizing the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing between a HARQ buffer in which the HARQ retransmission is stored and a LCH associated with the new data such that the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission is the new data if a priority of the LCH is greater than a priority of the HARQ buffer and is the HARQ retransmission if the priority of the HARQ buffer is greater than the priority of the LCH, wherein the priority of the HARQ buffer is a highest priority among one or more LCHs for which data is stored in the HARQ buffer.

In one embodiment, the one or more configured uplink grants comprises two or more overlapping configured uplink grants, the new data is associated with a particular logical channel, the HARQ retransmission is stored in a particular HARQ buffer, the new data can be mapped to a first one of the two or more overlapping configured grants, and the HARQ retransmission can be mapped to a second one of the two or more overlapping configured uplink grants. In one embodiment, prioritizing the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing between the new data and the HARQ retransmission based on a priority of the particular logical channel and a priority of the particular HARQ buffer, wherein the priority of the particular HARQ buffer is a highest priority among one or more LCHs for which data is stored in the particular HARQ buffer. In another embodiment, prioritizing the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing between the new data and the HARQ retransmission based on a priority of the particular logical channel and a priority of the particular HARQ buffer such that the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission is the new data if a priority of the particular logical channel is greater than a priority of the particular HARQ buffer and is the HARQ retransmission if the priority of the particular HARQ buffer is greater than the priority of the particular logical channel, wherein the priority of the particular HARQ buffer is a highest priority among one or more LCHs for which data is stored in the particular HARQ buffer. In another embodiment, prioritizing the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing between the particular logical channel and the particular HARQ buffer based on a priority of the particular logical channel, a priority of the particular HARQ buffer, and either Transport Block Sizes (TBSs) of the two or more overlapping configured grants, logical channel to configured grant mapping restrictions, or both the TBSs and the logical channel to configured grant mapping restrictions, wherein the priority of the particular HARQ buffer is a highest priority among one or more LCHs for which data is stored in the particular HARQ buffer. In another embodiment, prioritizing the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises determining that the priority associated to the new data is equal to the priority associated to the HARQ retransmission and prioritizing the HARQ retransmission responsive to determining that the priority associated to the new data is equal to the priority associated to the HARQ retransmission such that the HARQ transmission is the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises selecting one of the two or more overlapping configured grants to use for transmission of the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission. In one embodiment, selecting one of the two or more overlapping configured grants to use for transmission of the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission comprises selecting one of the two or more overlapping configured grants that has a transport block size that is equal to or exceeds an amount of data to be transmitted for the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission.

In one embodiment, configured grant timers are running for all HARQ processes at the wireless communication device where each of the HARQ processes is associated to a respective HARQ buffer, and prioritizing the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises comparing the priority associated to the new data to a priority associated to a lowest priority HARQ buffer from among the HARQ buffers at the wireless communication device and prioritizing the new data if the priority associated to the new data is greater than the priority of the lowest priority HARQ buffer. In one embodiment, the method further comprises, if the priority associated to the new data is greater than the priority of the lowest priority HARQ buffer, flushing the lowest priority HARQ buffer and using the lowest priority HARQ buffer for the new data. In one embodiment, the method further comprises prioritizing the HARQ retransmission if the priority associated to the new data is not greater than the priority associated to the lowest priority HARQ buffer, wherein the priority of a HARQ buffer is a highest priority among one or more LCHs for which data is stored in the HARQ buffer.

In one embodiment, the new data is new data associated to a HARQ process having a HARQ processing identity is one of a subset of all HARQ process identities, wherein only the subset can be used for initial transmission.

In one embodiment, prioritizing the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission comprises prioritizing the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission such that a HARQ process for which a configured grant timer is running for a particular logical channel can only be deprioritized a certain number of times. In one embodiment, the method further comprises receiving a flag that enables selection between rules in a set of rules, the set of rules comprising one or more rules that always prioritize HARQ retransmissions and one or more rules that prioritize based on both priority associated to HARQ retransmissions and priority associated to new data, wherein prioritizing the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission comprises prioritizing the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission based on one or more rules from the set of rules that are selected responsive to the flag.

In one embodiment, a re-attempt of an initial transmission due to Listen Before Talk (LBT) failure or Channel Occupancy Time (COT) failure is classified as a HARQ retransmission.

In one embodiment, the HARQ retransmission is an n-th retransmission attempt for a respective transmission, and the priority associated to the HARQ retransmission is based on a value of "n".

In one embodiment, uplink traffic from the wireless communication device comprises a mixture of two or more traffic types. In one embodiment, uplink traffic from the wireless communication device comprises a mixture of traffic comprising URLLC traffic and eMBB traffic.

In one embodiment, the one or more configured uplink grants are one or more configured grants for uplink transmission on a New Radio Unlicensed spectrum (NR-U) cell.

Corresponding embodiments of a wireless communication device are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a wireless communication device for intra-device prioritization of uplink traffic is adapted to receive one or more configured uplink grants for uplink transmission in unlicensed spectrum and determine that the wireless communication device has both new data and a HARQ retransmission that are ready to be transmitted using the one or more configured uplink grants. The wireless communication device is further adapted to prioritize a select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission in a manner that takes into account a priority associated to the new data and a priority associated to the HARQ retransmission and transmit the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission using a configured grant from among the one or more configured grants. In one embodiment, a wireless communication device for intra-device prioritization of uplink traffic comprises one or more transmitters, one or more receivers, and processing circuitry associated with the one or more transmitters and the one or more receivers. The processing circuitry is configured to cause the wireless communication device to receive one or more configured uplink grants for uplink transmission in unlicensed spectrum and determine that the wireless communication device has both new data and a HARQ retransmission that are ready to be transmitted using the one or more configured uplink grants. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the wireless communication device to prioritize a select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission in a manner that takes into account a priority associated to the new data and a priority associated to the HARQ retransmission and transmit the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission using a configured grant from among the one or more configured grants.

Embodiments of a computer program are also disclosed, wherein the computer program comprises instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method of operation of a wireless communication device in accordance with any of the embodiments described herein. In one embodiment, a carrier containing the computer program is provided, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

Figure 1 illustrates one example of a cellular communications system in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

Figure 2 illustrates an example scenario where critical transmissions are reserved over the Channel Occupancy Time (COT) and the non-critical transmissions moved over IDLE period (leading to its no transmission);

Figure 3 illustrates the operation of a wireless communication device and a network node for intra-wireless communication device prioritization of uplink traffic in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure; Figure 4 illustrates a procedure that may be performed by a wireless communication device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figures 5 through 7 are schematic block diagrams of example embodiments of a network node;

Figures 8 and 9 are schematic block diagrams of example embodiments of a wireless communication device;

Figure 10 illustrates an example embodiment of a communication system in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

Figure 11 illustrates example embodiments of the host computer, base station, and UE of Figure 10; and

Figures 12 and 13 are flow charts that illustrate example embodiments of methods implemented in a communication system such as that of Figure 10.

Detailed Description

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter 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 subject matter to those skilled in the art.

The embodiments set forth below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure.

Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. 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 methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. 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 any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features, and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

Radio Node: As used herein, a "radio node" is either a radio access node or a wireless communication device.

Radio Access Node: As used herein, a "radio access node" or "radio network node" or "radio access network node" is any node in a Radio Access Network (RAN) of a cellular communications network that operates to wirelessly transmit and/or receive signals. Some examples of a radio access node include, but are not limited to, a base station (e.g., a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB) in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fifth Generation (5G) NR network or an enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB) in a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) network), a high-power or macro base station, a low-power base station (e.g., a micro base station, a pico base station, a home eNB, or the like), a relay node, a network node that implements part of the functionality of a base station (e.g., a network node that implements a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) or a network node that implements a gNB Distributed Unit (gNB-DU)) or a network node that implements part of the functionality of some other type of radio access node.

Core Network Node: As used herein, a "core network node" is any type of node in a core network or any node that implements a core network function. Some examples of a core network node include, e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), or the like. Some other examples of a core network node include a node implementing an Access and Mobility Function (AMF), a UPF, a Session Management Function (SMF), an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF), a Network Exposure Function (NEF), a Network Function (NF) Repository Function (NRF), a Policy Control Function (PCF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), or the like. Communication Device: As used herein, a "communication device" is any type of device that has access to an access network. Some examples of a communication device include, but are not limited to: mobile phone, smart phone, sensor device, meter, vehicle, household appliance, medical appliance, media player, camera, or any type of consumer electronic, for instance, but not limited to, a television, radio, lighting arrangement, tablet computer, laptop, or Personal Computer (PC). The communication device may be a portable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or vehicle- mounted mobile device, enabled to communicate voice and/or data via a wireless or wireline connection.

Wireless Communication Device: One type of communication device is a wireless communication device, which may be any type of wireless device that has access to (i.e., is served by) a wireless network (e.g., a cellular network). Some examples of a wireless communication device include, but are not limited to: a User Equipment device (UE) in a 3GPP network, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, and an Internet of Things (IoT) device. Such wireless communication devices may be, or may be integrated into, a mobile phone, smart phone, sensor device, meter, vehicle, household appliance, medical appliance, media player, camera, or any type of consumer electronic, for instance, but not limited to, a television, radio, lighting arrangement, tablet computer, laptop, or PC. The wireless communication device may be a portable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted mobile device, enabled to communicate voice and/or data via a wireless connection.

Network Node: As used herein, a "network node" is any node that is either part of the radio access network or the core network of a cellular communications network/system.

Note that the description given herein focuses on a 3GPP cellular communications system and, as such, 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is oftentimes used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to a 3GPP system.

Note that, in the description herein, reference may be made to the term "cell"; however, particularly with respect to 5G NR concepts, beams may be used instead of cells and, as such, it is important to note that the concepts described herein are equally applicable to both cells and beams. The description provided herein is provided within the context of 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR) radio technology (3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.300 V15.2.0 (2018-06)). It is understood that the problems and solutions described herein are equally applicable to wireless access networks and user- equipments (UEs) implementing other access technologies and standards. NR is used as an example technology where the embodiments described herein are suitable, and using NR in the description therefore is particularly useful for understanding the problem and solutions solving the problem. In particular, the solution described herein is also applicable to 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), or 3GPP LTE and NR integration, also denoted as non-standalone NR.

There currently exist certain challenge(s). In the NR-Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) Release 16 work item, intra-UE multiplexing/prioritization has been discussed and specified. In the uplink (UL), the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer performs Logical Channel (LCH) and grant prioritization procedures based on a defined priority. For example, a detailed description of such prioritization procedures is in the MAC Change Request (CR) in R2-1916352, as described above. However, if NR-IIoT intra-UE prioritization is applied to unlicensed operation in NR Unlicensed (NR-U), some conflicting issues arise. For example, the following issues will arise:

1. One issue is that any configured grant can be considered as a retransmission grant in NR-U using the UE autonomous retransmission operation.

2. The main conflict is that NR-U considers that the retransmission Protocol Data Unit (PDU) is prioritized. As such, given a configured grant available for transmission, an NR-U UE will prioritize a retransmission of a de-prioritized PDU over new transmission all the time, without considering the priority of both. Certain aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to the aforementioned or other challenges. Systems and methods are disclosed herein for intra-UE UL prioritization (e.g., in the mixed services support of Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) and enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), etc.), e.g., in the NR-U operation.

Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). The present disclosure enables NR-U operation in controlled operation while considering multiplexing and prioritization of mixed URLLC and eMBB traffic in the UL intra-UE context. In this regard, Figure 1 illustrates one example of a cellular communications system 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In the embodiments described herein, the cellular communications system 100 is a 5G system (5GS) including a NR RAN. In this example, the RAN includes base stations 102- 1 and 102-2, which in 5G NR are referred to as gNBs, controlling corresponding (macro) cells 104-1 and 104-2. The base stations 102-1 and 102-2 are generally referred to herein collectively as base stations 102 and individually as base station 102. Likewise, the (macro) cells 104-1 and 104-2 are generally referred to herein collectively as (macro) cells 104 and individually as (macro) cell 104. The RAN may also include a number of low power nodes 106-1 through 106-4 controlling corresponding small cells 108-1 through 108-4. The low power nodes 106-1 through 106-4 can be small base stations (such as pico or femto base stations) or Remote Radio Heads (RRHs), or the like. Notably, while not illustrated, one or more of the small cells 108-1 through 108-4 may alternatively be provided by the base stations 102. The low power nodes 106-1 through 106-4 are generally referred to herein collectively as low power nodes 106 and individually as low power node 106. Likewise, the small cells 108-1 through 108-4 are generally referred to herein collectively as small cells 108 and individually as small cell 108. The cellular communications system 100 also includes a core network 110, which in the 5GS is referred to as the 5G core (5GC). The base stations 102 (and optionally the low power nodes 106) are connected to the core network 110.

The base stations 102 and the low power nodes 106 provide service to wireless communication devices 112-1 through 112-5 in the corresponding cells 104 and 108. The wireless communication devices 112-1 through 112-5 are generally referred to herein collectively as wireless communication devices 112 and individually as wireless communication device 112. In the following description, the wireless communication devices 112 are oftentimes UEs and as such sometimes referred to as UEs 112, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

Now a description of embodiments of the present disclosure is provided. These embodiments are described in relation to a number of "scenarios", which are described below. Further, the embodiments described below may be used in any desired combination unless explicitly stated or otherwise required.

Setup Scenarios:

• Scenario-1: o There is only a single grant available (no overlapping of grants) o UE 112 has data in LCH-x (call it L-x) and a PDU in HARQ buffer y (call it B-y).

• Scenario-2: o There are at least two overlapping grants available (e.g., as defined in NR- IIoT context), i.e., Grant 1 (Gl) and Grant 2 (G2). o Scenario-2.1: UE 112 has data in LCH-x (call it L-x) and a PDU in Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) buffer y (call it B-y). o Scenario-2.2: UE 112 has data in LCH-x (call it L-x) and LCH-y (L-y), where L-x can be mapped to Gl and L-y can be mapped to G2.

The prioritization is not the main focus of the present disclosure. Any desired prioritization scheme may be used. For example, the prioritization between B-y and L-x is determined by the priority of the LCH x and the highest priority of the LCHs in the PDU (B-y). In addition, MAC CE priority can also be considered.

In the above scenarios, in case when there is a PDU in the HARQ buffer, it means that it is for the retransmission of that PDU.

In one embodiment:

• In Scenario-1, the UE 112 prioritizes between B-y and L-x and then transmits the higher priority, if both L-x and B-y can be mapped to the grant. Thus, in other words, the PDU (i.e., HARQ retransmission) stored in B-y is prioritized if the priority of B-y is greater than that of L-x, and the new data for L-x is prioritized if the priority of L-x is greater than that of B-y.

• In Scenario-2.1, the UE 112 transmits based on one of the following rules:

A. Prioritize between L-x and B-y (if the associated Configured Grant (CG) Retransmission Timer (CGRT) is not running), based on higher LCH priority. Then, the UE 112 does grant selection based on which grant suits the selected LCH or PDU (either L-x or B-y).

B. The UE 112 considers similar priority to NR-IIoT. Then if both mapped priorities are equal, the UE 112 prioritizes the retransmission B-y.

C. The UE 112 prioritizes first based on priority of L-x and B-y, and then the UE 112 selects the suitable grant. a) Not based solely on grant's priority, but also based on the grant's Transport Block Size (TBS). Similar TBS is selected if B-y was selected. Higher TBS grant will be selected if L-x was selected. b) Taking LCH to CG mapping restrictions into account

• In Scenario-2.2: The UE 112 considers similar prioritization mechanism to NR- IIoT.

Follow-up embodiments: When a priority decision must be taken, e.g. when new LCH data is to be transmitted, if a configuredGrantTimer is running:

1. In one embodiment, if the configuredGrantTimer is running for all HARQ-IDs (where the UE 112 has one or more configured HARQ processes each having an associated HARQ-ID), the prioritization decision between the new LCH data and data already multiplexed for potential retransmission on HARQ buffers is carried out as follows. The LCH data priority of the new data is compared with the LCH data priority of the HARQ buffer data with lowest priority among the HARQ buffers. The UE 112 prioritizes the new LCH data transmission if its LCH priority is higher than the LCH priority of the HARQ buffer with the lowest HARQ buffer LCH priority. In one embodiment, the UE 112 flushes the HARQ buffer with the lowest priority in order to use it for the new transmission. Otherwise, the new data is not prioritized for transmission and, e.g., the HARQ buffer is not flushed but is, e.g., kept for a potential retransmission, autonomous or requested. i. If the HARQ buffer of that PDU is flushed, in one sub-embodiment, the MAC PDU is kept in another buffer and multiplexed on the next available configured grant resources. In another sub-embodiment, the MAC PDU is flushed from the UE memory and would rely on higher layer retransmission.

2. In another embodiment, if the associated configuredGrantTimer is running for all HARQ-IDs, then the UE 112 does not consider transmission of new data regardless of the priority.

3. In one embodiment, if the configuredGrantTimer is running for this HARQ-ID (i.e., the HARQ-ID associated with this particular configuredGrantTimer ), then UE considers new transmission on another HARQ ID for which its configuredGrantTimer is not running.

4. In another embodiment, only a subset of HARQ-IDs instead of all HARQ-IDs can be used for initial transmission. This subset of HARQ-IDs can be explicitly configured, e.g., by RRC. This subset of HARQ-IDs can also be implicitly deduced HARQ processes reserved for configured grants, e.g., from the HARQ process ID offset and the number of HARQ process per each configured grant, as similar in the current MAC running CR in R2-1916352.

5. In one embodiment, a HARQ process for which the configuredGrantTimer was running for LCHn can only be deprioritized n times, where n can be fixed (e.g., 1, alternatively indefinitely) or configured. This may, for example, allow higher priority data to override lower priority data at most n times.

Other Embodiments

1. In one embodiment, a flag can be introduced (e.g., DCI or RRC based) that enables selection between rules in a set of rules, where the set of rules includes the following rules: i. NR-U traditional prioritization rules (where retransmissions are always prioritized), or ii. Prioritization rules based on above embodiments (or likewise NR-based MAC prioritization rules).

2. In one embodiment, the re-attempt of initial transmission due to Listen-before Talk (LBT) failure or Channel Occupancy Time (COT) failure does not classify as re-transmission, and accordingly prioritization rules governing initial transmission will be applied.

3. In one embodiment, the re-attempt of initial transmission is classified as a retransmission and, accordingly, prioritization rules governing retransmissions will be applied.

4. In one embodiment, the transmission priority is deduced considering the n-th retransmission attempt and the LCH priority for the data (when initial transmission is attempted). For example, the as the number of re-transmission failures/attempts increases, the priority increases consecutively which restores the balance between traditional NR-U priority rules, e.g., in Release 16 (where retransmission is prioritized) and NR-based priority rules (where critical (high reliability) data is prioritized).

5. In one embodiment, the time incurred in IDLE period in Load Based Equipment (LBE) / Frame Based Equipment (FBE) mode can be excluded from configuredGrantTimer. 6. In one embodiment with a mix of URLLC-eMBB transmissions where their grants are overlapping with IDLE period in LBE/FBE mode, the critical transmission, e.g., URLLC transmission is prioritized in the COT.

7. In one embodiment, if the IDLE period coincides with high priority grant, the base station 102 (e.g., gNB) can allow another set of Fixed Frame Periods (FFPs) that falls over the IDLE period to enable "only" high-priority transmissions that otherwise would have prohibited over the IDLE periods during the same time, see Figure 2. Figure 2 illustrates an example scenario where critical transmissions are reserved over the COT and the non-critical transmissions moved over IDLE period (leading to its no transmission).

Figure 3 illustrates the operation of a wireless communication device 112 (e.g., a UE) and a network node (e.g., a base station 102) for intra-wireless communication device prioritization of uplink traffic in accordance with at least some of the embodiments described above. Optional steps are represented by dashed lines/boxes. As illustrated,

As illustrated, the wireless communication device 112 receives one or more configured uplink grants from the network node (300). The wireless communication device 112 determines that it has both new data and a HARQ retransmission that are ready to be transmitted using the one or more configured uplink grants (step 302). The wireless communication device 112 prioritizes a select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission in accordance with any of the embodiments described above (step 304). The wireless communication device 112 transmits the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission using a configured grant from among the one or more configured grants (306).

As described above, in some embodiments, the one or more configured uplink grants comprises a single configured uplink grant, and both the new data and the HARQ retransmission can be mapped to the single configured uplink grant. In this case, in some embodiments, the wireless communication device 112 performs the prioritizing between a HARQ buffer in which the HARQ retransmission is stored and a LCH associated with the new data (e.g., based on priorities assigned to the associated LCH and HARQ buffer).

As described above, in some other embodiments, the one or more configured uplink grants comprise two or more overlapping configured uplink grants, the new data is associated with a particular logical channel, the HARQ retransmission is stored in a particular HARQ buffer, and the new data and the HARQ retransmission can be mapped to the two or more overlapping configured uplink grants. Further, in some embodiments, the wireless communication device 112 performs the prioritizing by prioritizing between the particular logical channel and the particular HARQ buffer (if the associated CGRT is not running) based on a priority of the particular logical channel and a priority of the particular HARQ buffer (i.e., a priority of a LCH associated to the particular HARQ buffer). In some other embodiments, the wireless communication device 112 performs the prioritizing by prioritizing between the particular logical channel and the particular HARQ buffer based on a priority of the particular logical channel and a priority of the particular HARQ buffer, and further based on: TBS sizes of the two or more overlapping configured grants; LCH to configured grant mapping restrictions; or both the TBS sizes and the LCH to configured grant mapping restrictions. In some other embodiments, the wireless communication device 112 performs the prioritizing by determining a priority of the new data, determining a priority of the HARQ retransmission, determining that the priority of the new data is equal to the priority of the HARQ retransmission, and prioritizing the HARQ retransmission responsive to determining that the priority of the new data is equal to the priority of the HARQ retransmission such that the HARQ transmission is the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission. In some embodiments, once the prioritization is complete, the wireless communication device 112 selects one of the two or more overlapping configured grants to use for transmission of the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission, as described above (step 305). In some embodiments, the wireless communication device 112 selects one of the two or more overlapping configured grants that best suits the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission (e.g., has a TBS that is equal to or exceeds the amount of data to be transmitted, e.g., has the closest TBS among the grants that is equal to or exceeds the amount of data to be transmitted, etc.).

In some embodiments, the uplink traffic comprises a mixture of two or more traffic types.

In some embodiments, the uplink traffic comprises a mixture of traffic comprising

URLLC traffic and eMBB traffic. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device 112 transmits the uplink traffic on a NR-U cell.

It should be noted that embodiments described above as "Follow-Up Embodiments" and "Other Embodiments" are equally applicable to the procedure of Figure 3. In regard to step 304, the procedure of Figure 4 may be performed by the wireless communication device 112 if configured grant timers are running for all FIARQ processes (i.e., all FIARQ process IDs) configured at the wireless communication device 112, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in Figure 4, if configured grant timers are running for all FIARQ processes (i.e., all FIARQ process IDs) configured at the wireless communication device 112, the wireless communication device 112 compares the priority of the new LCH data to the priority of the data (retransmission) stored in the FIARQ buffer having the lowest priority among all of the FIARQ buffers (step 400). If the priority of the new LCH data is higher than the priority of the FIARQ buffer having the lowest priority (step 400, YES), then the wireless communication device 112 prioritizes the new LCH data (step 402). In one embodiment, the data (e.g., MAC PDU) stored in the lowest priority FIARQ buffer is flushed from that FIARQ buffer, and that FIARQ buffer is then used for the new LCH data (step 404). In one embodiment, the data flushed from the lowest priority FIARQ buffer is moved to another buffer. In another embodiment, the data flushed from the lowest priority FIARQ buffer is flushed from memory (i.e., deleted). If the priority of the new LCH data is not higher than the priority of the FIARQ buffer having the lowest priority (step 400, NO), then the wireless communication device 112 prioritizes the FIARQ retransmission (step 406).

In regard to step 304, the wireless communication device 112 prioritizes the FIARQ retransmission if configured grant timers are running for all FIARQ processes (i.e., all FIARQ process IDs) configured at the wireless communication device 112.

In one embodiment, if the configured grant timer is running for the FIARQ-ID for which new data is being considered for transmission, then the wireless communication device 112 considers new data for transmission on another FIARQ ID for which the respective configured grant timer is not running. In other words, in step 302, the wireless communication device 112 considers new data associated to a FIARQ process for which an associated configured grant timer is not running. In another embodiment, only a subset of HARQ-IDs instead of all HARQ-IDs can be used for initial transmission. This subset of HARQ-IDs can be explicitly configured, e.g., by RRC. This subset of HARQ-IDs can also be implicitly deduced HARQ processes reserved for configured grants, e.g., from the HARQ process ID offset and the number of HARQ process per each configured grant, as similar in the current MAC running CR in R2-1916352.

In one embodiment, a HARQ process for which the configuredGrantTimer was running for LCHn can only be deprioritized (e.g., flushed and used for another LCH) n times, where n can be fixed (e.g., 1, alternatively indefinitely) or configured.

In one embodiment, a flag can be introduced (e.g., DCI or RRC based) that enables selection between rules in a set of rules, where the set of rules includes the following rules: NR-U traditional prioritization rules (where retransmissions are always prioritized), or prioritization rules based on above embodiments disclosed herein (or likewise NR-based MAC prioritization rules). This flag can be included in the configured UL grants of step 300, for example. This flag control what rules are used for prioritization in step 304.

In one embodiment, the re-attempt of initial transmission due to LBT failure or COT failure does not classify as re-transmission, and accordingly prioritization rules governing initial transmission will be applied, e.g., in step 304.

In one embodiment, the re-attempt of initial transmission is classified as a retransmission and, accordingly, prioritization rules governing retransmissions will be applied, e.g., in step 304.

In one embodiment, in step 304, the transmission priority is deduced considering the n-th retransmission attempt and the LCH priority for the data (when initial transmission is attempted). For example, the as the number of re-transmission failures/attempts increases, the priority increases consecutively which restores the balance between traditional NR-U priority rules, e.g., in Release 16 (where retransmission is prioritized) and NR-based priority rules (where critical (high reliability) data is prioritized). Thus, in step 304, the HARQ retransmission may be the n-th retransmission attempt, and the priority of the HARQ retransmission is based on the value of "n".

In one-embodiment, the time incurred in IDLE period in LBE/FBE mode can be excluded from configuredGrantTimer. In one embodiment with a mix of URLLC-eMBB transmissions where their grants are overlapping with IDLE period in LBE/FBE mode, the critical transmission, e.g.,

URLLC transmission is prioritized in the COT (e.g., via the prioritization of step 304).

In one embodiment, if the IDLE period coincides with high priority grant, the base station 102 (e.g., gNB) can allow another set of FFPs that falls over the IDLE period to enable "only" high-priority transmissions that otherwise would have prohibited over the IDLE periods during the same time, see Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a schematic block diagram of a radio access node 500 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Optional features are represented by dashed boxes. The radio access node 500 may be, for example, a base station 102 or 106 or a network node that implements all or part of the functionality of the base station 102 or gNB described herein. As illustrated, the radio access node 500 includes a control system 502 that includes one or more processors 504 (e.g., Central Processing Units (CPUs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and/or the like), memory 506, and a network interface 508. The one or more processors 504 are also referred to herein as processing circuitry. In addition, the radio access node 500 may include one or more radio units 510 that each includes one or more transmitters 512 and one or more receivers 514 coupled to one or more antennas 516. The radio units 510 may be referred to or be part of radio interface circuitry. In some embodiments, the radio unit(s) 510 is external to the control system 502 and connected to the control system 502 via, e.g., a wired connection (e.g., an optical cable). However, in some other embodiments, the radio unit(s) 510 and potentially the antenna(s) 516 are integrated together with the control system 502.

The one or more processors 504 operate to provide one or more functions of a radio access node 500 as described herein. In some embodiments, the function(s) are implemented in software that is stored, e.g., in the memory 506 and executed by the one or more processors 504.

Figure 6 is a schematic block diagram that illustrates a virtualized embodiment of the radio access node 500 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. This discussion is equally applicable to other types of network nodes. Further, other types of network nodes may have similar virtualized architectures. Again, optional features are represented by dashed boxes. As used herein, a "virtualized" radio access node is an implementation of the radio access node 500 in which at least a portion of the functionality of the radio access node 500 is implemented as a virtual component(s) (e.g., via a virtual machine(s) executing on a physical processing node(s) in a network(s)). As illustrated, in this example, the radio access node 500 may include the control system 502 and/or the one or more radio units 510, as described above. The control system 502 may be connected to the radio unit(s) 510 via, for example, an optical cable or the like. The radio access node 500 includes one or more processing nodes 600 coupled to or included as part of a network(s) 602. If present, the control system 502 or the radio unit(s) are connected to the processing node(s) 600 via the network 602. Each processing node 600 includes one or more processors 604 (e.g., CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, and/or the like), memory 606, and a network interface 608.

In this example, functions 610 of the radio access node 500 described herein are implemented at the one or more processing nodes 600 or distributed across the one or more processing nodes 600 and the control system 502 and/or the radio unit(s) 510 in any desired manner. In some particular embodiments, some or all of the functions 610 of the radio access node 500 described herein are implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in a virtual environment(s) hosted by the processing node(s) 600. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, additional signaling or communication between the processing node(s) 600 and the control system 502 is used in order to carry out at least some of the desired functions 610. Notably, in some embodiments, the control system 502 may not be included, in which case the radio unit(s) 510 communicate directly with the processing node(s) 600 via an appropriate network interface(s).

In some embodiments, a computer program including instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to carry out the functionality of radio access node 500 or a node (e.g., a processing node 600) implementing one or more of the functions 610 of the radio access node 500 in a virtual environment according to any of the embodiments described herein is provided. In some embodiments, a carrier comprising the aforementioned computer program product is provided. The carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable medium such as memory). Figure 7 is a schematic block diagram of the radio access node 500 according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. The radio access node 500 includes one or more modules 700, each of which is implemented in software. The module(s) 700 provide the functionality of the radio access node 500 described herein. This discussion is equally applicable to the processing node 600 of Figure 6 where the modules 700 may be implemented at one of the processing nodes 600 or distributed across multiple processing nodes 600 and/or distributed across the processing node(s) 600 and the control system 502.

Figure 8 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication device 800 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated, the wireless communication device 800 includes one or more processors 802 (e.g., CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, and/or the like), memory 804, and one or more transceivers 806 each including one or more transmitters 808 and one or more receivers 810 coupled to one or more antennas 812. The transceiver(s) 806 includes radio-front end circuitry connected to the antenna(s) 812 that is configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna(s) 812 and the processor(s) 802, as will be appreciated by on of ordinary skill in the art. The processors 802 are also referred to herein as processing circuitry. The transceivers 806 are also referred to herein as radio circuitry. In some embodiments, the functionality of the wireless communication device 800 described above may be fully or partially implemented in software that is, e.g., stored in the memory 804 and executed by the processor(s) 802. Note that the wireless communication device 800 may include additional components not illustrated in Figure 8 such as, e.g., one or more user interface components (e.g., an input/output interface including a display, buttons, a touch screen, a microphone, a speaker(s), and/or the like and/or any other components for allowing input of information into the wireless communication device 800 and/or allowing output of information from the wireless communication device 800), a power supply (e.g., a battery and associated power circuitry), etc.

In some embodiments, a computer program including instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to carry out the functionality of the wireless communication device 800 according to any of the embodiments described herein is provided. In some embodiments, a carrier comprising the aforementioned computer program product is provided. The carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable medium such as memory).

Figure 9 is a schematic block diagram of the wireless communication device 800 according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. The wireless communication device 800 includes one or more modules 900, each of which is implemented in software. The module(s) 900 provide the functionality of the wireless communication device 800 described herein.

With reference to Figure 10, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunication network 1000, such as a 3GPP- type cellular network, which comprises an access network 1002, such as a RAN, and a core network 1004. The access network 1002 comprises a plurality of base stations 1006A, 1006B, 1006C, such as Node Bs, eNBs, gNBs, or other types of wireless Access Points (APs), each defining a corresponding coverage area 1008A, 1008B, 1008C. Each base station 1006A, 1006B, 1006C is connectable to the core network 1004 over a wired or wireless connection 1010. A first UE 1012 located in coverage area 1008C is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 1006C. A second UE 1014 in coverage area 1008A is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 1006A. While a plurality of UEs 1012, 1014 are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station 1006.

The telecommunication network 1000 is itself connected to a host computer 1016, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, or as processing resources in a server farm. The host computer 1016 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. Connections 1018 and 1020 between the telecommunication network 1000 and the host computer 1016 may extend directly from the core network 1004 to the host computer 1016 or may go via an optional intermediate network 1022. The intermediate network 1022 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private, or hosted network; the intermediate network 1022, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network 1022 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown). The communication system of Figure 10 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs 1012, 1014 and the host computer 1016. The connectivity may be described as an Over-the-Top (OTT) connection 1024. The host computer 1016 and the connected UEs 1012, 1014 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via the OTT connection 1024, using the access network 1002, the core network 1004, any intermediate network 1022, and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection 1024 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection 1024 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, the base station 1006 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from the host computer 1016 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE 1012. Similarly, the base station 1006 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 1012 towards the host computer 1016.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station, and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 11. In a communication system 1100, a host computer 1102 comprises hardware 1104 including a communication interface 1106 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 1100. The host computer 1102 further comprises processing circuitry 1108, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuitry 1108 may comprise one or more programmable processors, ASICs, FPGAs, or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The host computer 1102 further comprises software 1110, which is stored in or accessible by the host computer 1102 and executable by the processing circuitry 1108. The software 1110 includes a host application 1112. The host application 1112 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as a UE 1114 connecting via an OTT connection 1116 terminating at the UE 1114 and the host computer 1102. In providing the service to the remote user, the host application 1112 may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 1116.

The communication system 1100 further includes a base station 1118 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 1120 enabling it to communicate with the host computer 1102 and with the UE 1114. The hardware 1120 may include a communication interface 1122 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 1100, as well as a radio interface 1124 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 1126 with the UE 1114 located in a coverage area (not shown in Figure 11) served by the base station 1118. The communication interface 1122 may be configured to facilitate a connection 1128 to the host computer 1102. The connection 1128 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in Figure 11) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the embodiment shown, the hardware 1120 of the base station 1118 further includes processing circuitry 1130, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, ASICs, FPGAs, or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The base station 1118 further has software 1132 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

The communication system 1100 further includes the UE 1114 already referred to. The UE's 1114 hardware 1134 may include a radio interface 1136 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 1126 with a base station serving a coverage area in which the UE 1114 is currently located. The hardware 1134 of the UE 1114 further includes processing circuitry 1138, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, ASICs, FPGAs, or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE 1114 further comprises software 1140, which is stored in or accessible by the UE 1114 and executable by the processing circuitry 1138. The software 1140 includes a client application 1142. The client application 1142 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE 1114, with the support of the host computer 1102. In the host computer 1102, the executing host application 1112 may communicate with the executing client application 1142 via the OTT connection 1116 terminating at the UE 1114 and the host computer 1102. In providing the service to the user, the client application 1142 may receive request data from the host application 1112 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1116 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 1142 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

It is noted that the host computer 1102, the base station 1118, and the UE 1114 illustrated in Figure 11 may be similar or identical to the host computer 1016, one of the base stations 1006A, 1006B, 1006C, and one of the UEs 1012, 1014 of Figure 10, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in Figure 11 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of Figure 10.

In Figure 11, the OTT connection 1116 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host computer 1102 and the UE 1114 via the base station 1118 without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. The network infrastructure may determine the routing, which may be configured to hide from the UE 1114 or from the service provider operating the host computer 1102, or both. While the OTT connection 1116 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).

The wireless connection 1126 between the UE 1114 and the base station 1118 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1114 using the OTT connection 1116, in which the wireless connection 1126 forms the last segment.

A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency, and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1116 between the host computer 1102 and the UE 1114, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1116 may be implemented in the software 1110 and the hardware 1104 of the host computer 1102 or in the software 1140 and the hardware 1134 of the UE 1114, or both. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection 1116 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which the software 1110, 1140 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 1116 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the base station 1118, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station 1118. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating the host computer 1102's measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency, and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that the software 1110 and 1140 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or 'dummy' messages, using the OTT connection 1116 while it monitors propagation times, errors, etc.

Figure 12 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 10 and 11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 12 will be included in this section. In step 1200 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step 1202, the UE provides user data. In sub-step 1204 (which may be optional) of step 1200, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In sub-step 1206 (which may be optional) of step 1202, the UE executes a client application which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed client application may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE initiates, in sub-step 1208 (which may be optional), transmission of the user data to the host computer. In step 1210 of the method, the host computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.

Figure 13 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 10 and 11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 13 will be included in this section. In step 1300 (which may be optional), in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In step 1302 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step 1304 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station. Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include Digital Signal Processor (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

While processes in the figures may show a particular order of operations performed by certain embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that such order is exemplary (e.g., alternative embodiments may perform the operations in a different order, combine certain operations, overlap certain operations, etc.).

Some example embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows:

Group A Embodiments

Embodiment 1: A method performed by a wireless communication device for intra-wireless communication device prioritization of uplink traffic, the method comprising: receiving (300) one or more configured uplink grants; determining (302) that the wireless communication device has both new data and a HARQ retransmission that are ready to be transmitted using the one or more configured uplink grants; prioritizing (304) a select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission; and transmitting (306) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission using a configured grant from among the one or more configured grants. Embodiment 2: The method of embodiment 1 wherein the one or more configured uplink grants comprises a single configured uplink grant, and both the new data and the HARQ retransmission can be mapped to the single configured uplink grant.

Embodiment 3: The method of embodiment 2 wherein prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing between a HARQ buffer in which the HARQ retransmission is stored and a Logical Channel, LCH, associated with the new data.

Embodiment 4: The method of embodiment 1 wherein the one or more configured uplink grants comprises two or more overlapping configured uplink grants, the new data is associated with a particular logical channel, the HARQ retransmission is stored in a particular HARQ buffer, and both the new data and the HARQ retransmission can be mapped to the two or more overlapping configured uplink grants.

Embodiment 5: The method of embodiment 4 wherein prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing between the particular logical channel and the particular HARQ buffer based on a priority of the particular logical channel and a priority of the particular HARQ buffer.

Embodiment 6: The method of embodiment 4 wherein prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing between the particular logical channel and the particular HARQ buffer based on a priority of the particular logical channel, a priority of the particular HARQ buffer, and based on: TBS sizes of the two or more overlapping configured grants; LCH to configured grant mapping restrictions; or both the TBS sizes and the LCH configured to grant mapping restrictions.

Embodiment 7: The method of embodiment 4 wherein prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises: determining a priority of the new data; determining a priority of the HARQ retransmission; determining that the priority of the new data is equal to the priority of the HARQ retransmission; and prioritizing the HARQ retransmission responsive to determining that the priority of the new data is equal to the priority of the HARQ retransmission such that the HARQ transmission is the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission.

Embodiment 8: The method of any one of embodiments 5 to 7 further comprising selecting one of the two or more overlapping configured grants to use for transmission of the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission.

Embodiment 9: The method of embodiment 8 wherein selecting one of the two or more overlapping configured grants to use for transmission of the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission comprises selecting of the two or more overlapping configured grants that best suits the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission.

Embodiment 10: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein the uplink traffic comprises a mixture of two or more traffic types.

Embodiment 11: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein the uplink traffic comprises a mixture of traffic comprising URLLC traffic and eMBB traffic.

Embodiment 12: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 11, wherein the wireless communication device transmits the uplink traffic on a NR-U cell.

Embodiment 13: The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host computer via the transmission to the base station.

Group B Embodiments

Embodiment 14: A wireless communication device comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the wireless communication device.

Embodiment 15: A User Equipment, UE, comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE. Embodiment 16: A communication system including a host computer comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a User Equipment, UE; wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE's components configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

Embodiment 17: The communication system of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a base station configured to communicate with the UE.

Embodiment 18: The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the UE's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.

Embodiment 19: A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising: at the host computer, providing user data; and at the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

Embodiment 20: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the UE, receiving the user data from the base station.

Embodiment 21: A communication system including a host computer comprising: communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a User Equipment, UE, to a base station; wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE's processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

Embodiment 22: The communication system of the previous embodiment, further including the UE.

Embodiment 23: The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface configured to communicate with the UE and a communication interface configured to forward to the host computer the user data carried by a transmission from the UE to the base station. Embodiment 24: The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; and the UE's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data.

Embodiment 25: The communication system of the previous 4 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing request data; and the UE's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data in response to the request data.

Embodiment 26: A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising: at the host computer, receiving user data transmitted to the base station from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

Embodiment 27: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the UE, providing the user data to the base station.

Embodiment 28: The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising: at the UE, executing a client application, thereby providing the user data to be transmitted; and at the host computer, executing a host application associated with the client application.

Embodiment 29: The method of the previous 3 embodiments, further comprising: at the UE, executing a client application; and at the UE, receiving input data to the client application, the input data being provided at the host computer by executing a host application associated with the client application; wherein the user data to be transmitted is provided by the client application in response to the input data.

Embodiment 30: A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising: at the host computer, receiving, from the base station, user data originating from a transmission which the base station has received from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

Embodiment 31: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the base station, receiving the user data from the UE. Embodiment 32: The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising at the base station, initiating a transmission of the received user data to the host computer.

At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. If there is an inconsistency between abbreviations, preference should be given to how it is used above. If listed multiple times below, the first listing should be preferred over any subsequent listing(s).

• 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

• 5G Fifth Generation

• 5GC Fifth Generation Core

• 5GS Fifth Generation System

• AF Application Function

• AMF Access and Mobility Function

• AN Access Network

• AP Access Point

• ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit

• AUSF Authentication Server Function

• CPU Central Processing Unit

• DN Data Network

• DSP Digital Signal Processor

• eNB Enhanced or Evolved Node B

• EPS Evolved Packet System

• E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access

• FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array . gNB New Radio Base Station

• gNB-DU New Radio Base Station Distributed Unit

• HSS Flome Subscriber Server

• IoT Internet of Things

• IP Internet Protocol

• LTE Long Term Evolution

• MME Mobility Management Entity

• MTC Machine Type Communication NEF Network Exposure Function NF Network Function

NR New Radio

NRF Network Function Repository Function · NSSF Network Slice Selection Function

OTT Over-the-Top

PC Personal Computer

PCF Policy Control Function

P-GW Packet Data Network Gateway · QoS Quality of Service

RAM Random Access Memory

RAN Radio Access Network

ROM Read Only Memory

RRFI Remote Radio Flead · RTT Round Trip Time

SCEF Service Capability Exposure Function

SMF Session Management Function

UDM Unified Data Management

UE User Equipment · UPF User Plane Function

Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method performed by a wireless communication device (112) for intra-wireless communication device prioritization of uplink traffic, the method comprising: receiving (300) one or more configured uplink grants for uplink transmission in unlicensed spectrum; determining (302) that the wireless communication device (112) has both new data and a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, retransmission that are ready to be transmitted using the one or more configured uplink grants; prioritizing (304) a select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission in a manner that takes into account a priority associated to the new data and a priority associated to the HARQ retransmission; and transmitting (306) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission using a configured grant from among the one or more configured grants.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more configured uplink grants comprises a single configured uplink grant, and both the new data and the HARQ retransmission can be mapped to the single configured uplink grant.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing (304) between a HARQ buffer in which the HARQ retransmission is stored and a Logical Channel, LCH, associated with the new data.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing (304) between a HARQ buffer in which the HARQ retransmission is stored and a Logical Channel, LCH, associated with the new data such that the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission is the new data if a priority of the LCH is greater than a priority of the HARQ buffer and is the HARQ retransmission if the priority of the HARQ buffer is greater than the priority of the LCH, wherein the priority of the HARQ buffer is a highest priority among one or more LCHs for which data is stored in the HARQ buffer.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more configured uplink grants comprises two or more overlapping configured uplink grants, the new data is associated with a particular logical channel, the HARQ retransmission is stored in a particular HARQ buffer, the new data can be mapped to a first one of the two or more overlapping configured grants, and the HARQ retransmission can be mapped to a second one of the two or more overlapping configured uplink grants.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing (304) between the new data and the HARQ retransmission based on a priority of the particular logical channel and a priority of the particular HARQ buffer, wherein the priority of the particular HARQ buffer is a highest priority among one or more LCHs for which data is stored in the particular HARQ buffer.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing (304) between the new data and the HARQ retransmission based on a priority of the particular logical channel and a priority of the particular HARQ buffer such that the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission is the new data if a priority of the particular logical channel is greater than a priority of the particular HARQ buffer and is the HARQ retransmission if the priority of the particular HARQ buffer is greater than the priority of the particular logical channel, wherein the priority of the particular HARQ buffer is a highest priority among one or more LCHs for which data is stored in the particular HARQ buffer.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises prioritizing (304) between the particular logical channel and the particular HARQ buffer based on a priority of the particular logical channel, a priority of the particular HARQ buffer, and:

• Transport Block Sizes, TBSs, of the two or more overlapping configured grants;

• logical channel to configured grant mapping restrictions; or

• both the TBSs and the logical channel to configured grant mapping restrictions; wherein the priority of the particular HARQ buffer is a highest priority among one or more LCHs for which data is stored in the particular HARQ buffer.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises: determining that the priority associated to the new data is equal to the priority associated to the HARQ retransmission; and prioritizing the HARQ retransmission responsive to determining that the priority associated to the new data is equal to the priority associated to the HARQ retransmission such that the HARQ transmission is the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission.

10. The method of any of claims 5 to 9 further comprising selecting (305) one of the two or more overlapping configured grants to use for transmission of the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein selecting (305) one of the two or more overlapping configured grants to use for transmission of the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission comprises selecting (305) one of the two or more overlapping configured grants that has a transport block size that is equal to or exceeds an amount of data to be transmitted for the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission.

12. The method of any of claims 1 to 11 wherein configured grant timers are running for all HARQ processes at the wireless communication device (112) where each of the HARQ processes is associated to a respective HARQ buffer, and prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission comprises: comparing (400) the priority associated to the new data to a priority associated to a lowest priority HARQ buffer from among the HARQ buffers at the wireless communication device (112); prioritizing (402) the new data if the priority associated to the new data is greater than the priority of the lowest priority HARQ buffer.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising, if the priority associated to the new data is greater than the priority of the lowest priority HARQ buffer: flushing (404) the lowest priority HARQ buffer; and using (404) the lowest priority HARQ buffer for the new data.

14. The method of claim 12 or 13 further comprising prioritizing (404) the HARQ retransmission if the priority associated to the new data is not greater than the priority associated to the lowest priority HARQ buffer, wherein the priority of a HARQ buffer is a highest priority among one or more LCHs for which data is stored in the HARQ buffer.

15. The method of any of claims 1 to 11 wherein the new data is new data associated to a HARQ process having a HARQ processing identity is one of a subset of all HARQ process identities, wherein only the subset can be used for initial transmission.

16. The method of any of claims 1 to 15 wherein prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission comprises prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission such that a HARQ process for which a configured grant timer is running for a particular logical channel can only be deprioritized a certain number of times.

17. The method of any of claims 1 to 16 further comprising: receiving (300) a flag that enables selection between rules in a set of rules, the set of rules comprising one or more rules that always prioritize HARQ retransmissions and one or more rules that prioritize based on both priority associated to HARQ retransmissions and priority associated to new data; wherein prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission comprises prioritizing (304) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission based on one or more rules from the set of rules that are selected responsive to the flag.

18. The method of any of claims 1 to 17 wherein a re-attempt of an initial transmission due to Listen Before Talk, LBT, failure or Channel Occupancy Time, COT, failure is classified as a HARQ retransmission.

19. The method of any of claims 1 to 18 wherein the HARQ retransmission is an n-th retransmission attempt for a respective transmission, and the priority associated to the HARQ retransmission is based on a value of "n".

20. The method of any of claims 1 to 19 wherein uplink traffic from the wireless communication device (112) comprises a mixture of two or more traffic types.

21. The method of any of claims 1 to 19 wherein uplink traffic from the wireless communication device (112) comprises a mixture of traffic comprising Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency, URLLC, traffic and enhanced Mobile Broadband, eMBB, traffic.

22. The method of any of claims 1 to 21 wherein the one or more configured uplink grants are one or more configured uplink grants for uplink transmission on a New Radio Unlicensed spectrum, NR-U, cell.

23. A wireless communication device (112) for intra-wireless communication device prioritization of uplink traffic, the wireless communication device (112) adapted to: receive (300) one or more configured uplink grants for uplink transmission in unlicensed spectrum; determine (302) that the wireless communication device (112) has both new data and a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, retransmission that are ready to be transmitted using the one or more configured uplink grants; prioritize (304) a select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission in a manner that takes into account a priority associated to the new data and a priority associated to the HARQ retransmission; and transmit (306) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission using a configured grant from among the one or more configured grants.

24. The wireless communication device (112) of claim 23 wherein the wireless communication device (112) is further adapted to perform the method of any of claims 2 to 22.

25. A wireless communication device (112) for intra-wireless communication device prioritization of uplink traffic, the wireless communication device (112) comprising: one or more transmitters (808); one or more receivers (810); and processing circuitry (802) associated with the one or more transmitters (808) and the one or more receiver (810), the processing circuitry (802) configured to cause the wireless communication device (112) to: receive (300) one or more configured uplink grants for uplink transmission in unlicensed spectrum; determine (302) that the wireless communication device (112) has both new data and a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, retransmission that are ready to be transmitted using the one or more configured uplink grants; prioritize (304) a select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission for transmission in a manner that takes into account a priority associated to the new data and a priority associated to the HARQ retransmission; and transmit (306) the select one of the new data and the HARQ retransmission using a configured grant from among the one or more configured grants.

26. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of claims 1 to 22.

27. A carrier containing the computer program of claim 26, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium.