WO2022040966A1

WO2022040966A1 - Voice over new radio with time-division duplexing in dual connectivity

Info

Publication number: WO2022040966A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/111295
Authority: WO
Inventors: Nan Zhang
Original assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date: 2020-08-26
Filing date: 2020-08-26
Publication date: 2022-03-03

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for voice over new radio (VONR) in dual connectivity with time division duplexing (TDD). A method that may be performed by a user equipment (UE) includes receiving a configuration for transmission of packets on a first quality of service (QoS) flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network. The method generally includes sending the packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow.

Description

VOICE OVER NEW RADIO WITH TIME-DIVISION DUPLEXING IN DUAL CONNECTIVITY

BACKGROUND

Field of the Disclosure

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to techniques for enhancing voice over new radio (VONR) in dual connectivity (DC) by time-division duplexing (TDD) .

Description of Related Art

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, etc. These wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc. ) . Examples of such multiple-access systems include 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE Advanced (LTE-A) systems, code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems, to name a few.

These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. New radio (e.g., 5G NR) is an example of an emerging telecommunication standard. NR is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by 3GPP. NR is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the downlink (DL) and on the uplink (UL) . To these ends, NR supports beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.

However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, there exists a need for further improvements in NR and LTE technology. Preferably, these improvements should be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.

SUMMARY

The systems, methods, and devices of the disclosure each have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of this disclosure as expressed by the claims which follow, some features will now be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled “Detailed Description” one will understand how the features of this disclosure provide advantages that include improved voice over new radio (VONR) reliability and latency in NR-NR dual connectivity (DC) .

Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE) . The method generally includes receiving a configuration for transmission of packets on a first quality of service (QoS) flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network. The method generally includes sending the packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow.

Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a method for wireless communication by a network entity. The method generally includes scheduling a UE for transmission of packets on a first QoS flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network. The method generally includes receiving the packets from the UE via at least one of the first QoS flow or the second QoS flow.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide means for, apparatus, processors, and computer-readable mediums for performing the methods described herein.

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

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above-recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example wireless communication network, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a design of an example a base station (BS) and user equipment (UE) , in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is an example frame format for certain wireless communication systems (e.g., new radio (NR) ) , in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a call flow diagram illustrating an example voice over NR (VONR) session in NR-NR dual connectivity with a single quality of service (QoS) flow.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations for wireless communication by a UE, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations for wireless communication by a BS, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a call flow diagram illustrating example VONR session in NR-NR dual connectivity with two QoS flows using time division duplexing (TDD) , in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates a communications device that may include various components configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates a communications device that may include various components configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one aspect may be beneficially utilized on other aspects without specific recitation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer readable mediums for optimizing reliability and latency of voice over new radio (VONR) in dual connectivity (DC) .

With a single quality-of-service (QoS) used for a VONR in dual connectivity, a voice call may be dropped if a radio link failure (RLF) occurs on the single QoS flow.

Accordingly, to improve reliability and latency of VONR in DC, voice packets for a voice call may be sent using more than one QoS flow using time-division duplexing (TDD) . In this case, even if RLF occurs for one of the QoS flow, voice packets can still be transmitted on the other QoS flow. Thus, some voice packets may be dropped, however, the VONR voice call is not dropped.

The following description provides examples of VONR in DC with TDD in communication systems, and is not limiting of the scope, applicability, or examples set forth in the claims. Changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements discussed without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Various examples may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to some examples may be combined in some other examples. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method which is practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to, or other than, the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim. The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration. ” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular radio access technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, an air interface, etc. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a subcarrier, a frequency channel, a tone, a subband, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area in order to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs.

The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless networks and radio technologies. While aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with 3G, 4G, and/or new radio (e.g., 5G NR) wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure can be applied in other generation-based communication systems.

NR access may support various wireless communication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth, millimeter wave mmW, massive machine type communications MTC (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC techniques, and/or mission critical targeting ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) . These services may include latency and reliability requirements. These services may also have different transmission time intervals (TTI) to meet respective quality of service (QoS) requirements. In addition, these services may co-exist in the same subframe.

The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided, based on frequency/wavelength, into various classes, bands, channels, etc. In 5G NR two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz –7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz –52.6 GHz) . The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “Sub-6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. A similar nomenclature issue sometimes occurs with regard to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, despite being different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz –300 GHz) which is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as a “millimeter wave” band.

With the above aspects in mind, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term “sub-6 GHz” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Further, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term “millimeter wave” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, or may be within the EHF band.

NR supports beamforming and beam direction may be dynamically configured. MIMO transmissions with precoding may also be supported. MIMO configurations in the DL may support up to 8 transmit antennas with multi-layer DL transmissions up to 8 streams and up to 2 streams per UE. Multi-layer transmissions with up to 2 streams per UE may be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells may be supported with up to 8 serving cells.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication network 100 in which aspects of the present disclosure may be performed. For example, the wireless communication network 100 may be an NR system (e.g., a 5G NR network) . As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless communication network 100 may be in communication with a core network 132. The core network 132 may in communication with one or more base station (BSs) 110110a-z (each also individually referred to herein as BS 110 or collectively as BSs 110) and/or user equipment (UE) 120a-y (each also individually referred to herein as UE 120 or collectively as UEs 120) in the wireless communication network 100 via one or more interfaces.

According to certain aspects, the BSs 110 and UEs 120 may be configured for VONR in DC with TDD. As shown in FIG. 1, the BS 110a includes a QoS flow manager 112 that schedules a UE for transmission of packets on a first QoS flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network, and receives the packets from the UE via at least one of the first QoS flow or the second QoS flow, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The UE 120a includes a QoS flow manager 122 that receives a configuration for transmission of packets on a first QoS flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network, and sends the packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

A BS 110 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area, sometimes referred to as a “cell” , which may be stationary or may move according to the location of a mobile BS 110. In some examples, the BSs 110 may be interconnected to one another and/or to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in wireless communication network 100 through various types of backhaul interfaces (e.g., a direct physical connection, a wireless connection, a virtual network, or the like) using any suitable transport network. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the

BSs

110a, 110b and 110c may be macro BSs for the

macro cells

102a, 102b and 102c, respectively. The BS 110x may be a pico BS for a pico cell 102x. The BSs 110y and 110z may be femto BSs for the

femto cells

102y and 102z, respectively. A BS may support one or multiple cells.

The BSs 110 communicate with UEs 120 in the wireless communication network 100. The UEs 120 (e.g., 120x, 120y, etc. ) may be dispersed throughout the wireless communication network 100, and each UE 120 may be stationary or mobile. Wireless communication network 100 may also include relay stations (e.g., relay station 110r) , also referred to as relays or the like, that receive a transmission of data and/or other information from an upstream station (e.g., a BS 110a or a UE 120r) and sends a transmission of the data and/or other information to a downstream station (e.g., a UE 120 or a BS 110) , or that relays transmissions between UEs 120, to facilitate communication between devices.

A network controller 130 may be in communication with a set of BSs 110 and provide coordination and control for these BSs 110 (e.g., via a backhaul) . In aspects, the network controller 130 may be in communication with a core network 132 (e.g., a 5G Core Network (5GC) ) , which provides various network functions such as Access and Mobility Management, Session Management, User Plane Function, Policy Control Function, Authentication Server Function, Unified Data Management, Application Function, Network Exposure Function, Network Repository Function, Network Slice Selection Function, etc.

FIG. 2 illustrates example components of BS 110a and UE 120a (e.g., the wireless communication network 100 of FIG. 1) , which may be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure.

At the BS 110a, a transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 and control information from a controller/processor 240. The control information may be for the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) , physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH) , physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH) , physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) , group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH) , etc. The data may be for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) , etc. A medium access control (MAC) -control element (MAC-CE) is a MAC layer communication structure that may be used for control command exchange between wireless nodes. The MAC-CE may be carried in a shared channel such as a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) , a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) , or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) .

The processor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols, such as for the primary synchronization signal (PSS) , secondary synchronization signal (SSS) , PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) , and channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) . A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) in transceivers 232a-232t. Each modulator in transceivers 232a-232t may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc. ) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Downlink signals from the modulators in transceivers 232a-232t may be transmitted via the antennas 234a-234t, respectively.

At the UE 120a, the antennas 252a-252r may receive the downlink signals from the BS 110a and may provide received signals to the demodulators (DEMODs) in transceivers 254a-254r, respectively. Each demodulator in transceivers 254a-254r may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc. ) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all the demodulators in transceivers 254a-254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 120a to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information to a controller/processor 280.

On the uplink, at UE 120a, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data (e.g., for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) ) from a data source 262 and control information (e.g., for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) from the controller/processor 280. The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal (e.g., for the sounding reference signal (SRS) ) . The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by the modulators in transceivers 254a-254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc. ) , and transmitted to the BS 110a. At the BS 110a, the uplink signals from the UE 120a may be received by the antennas 234, processed by the demodulators in transceivers 232a-232t, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 120a. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to the controller/processor 240.

The

memories

242 and 282 may store data and program codes for BS 110a and UE 120a, respectively. A scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

Antennas 252,

processors

266, 258, 264, and/or controller/processor 280 of the UE 120a and/or antennas 234,

processors

220, 230, 238, and/or controller/processor 240 of the BS 110a may be used to perform the various techniques and methods described herein. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the controller/processor 240 of the BS 110a has an QoS manager 241 that schedules a UE for transmission of packets on a first QoS flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network, and receives the packets from the UE via at least one of the first QoS flow or the second QoS flow, according to aspects described herein. As shown in FIG. 2, the controller/processor 280 of the UE 120a has an QoS manager 281 that receives a configuration for transmission of packets on a first QoS flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network, and sends the packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow, according to aspects described herein. Although shown at the controller/processor, other components of the UE 120a and BS 110a may be used to perform the operations described herein.

NR may utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the uplink and downlink. NR may support half-duplex operation using time division duplexing (TDD) . OFDM and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) partition the system bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. Modulation symbols may be sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers may be dependent on the system bandwidth. The minimum resource allocation, called a resource block (RB) , may be 12 consecutive subcarriers. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover multiple RBs. NR may support a base subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 15 KHz and other SCS may be defined with respect to the base SCS (e.g., 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz, etc. ) .

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a frame format 300 for NR. The transmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink may be partitioned into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may have a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) and may be partitioned into 10 subframes, each of 1 ms, with indices of 0 through 9. Each subframe may include a variable number of slots (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, …slots) depending on the SCS. Each slot may include a variable number of symbol periods (e.g., 7, 12, or 14 symbols) depending on the SCS. The symbol periods in each slot may be assigned indices. A sub-slot structure may refer to a transmit time interval having a duration less than a slot (e.g., 2, 3, or 4 symbols) . Each symbol in a slot may be configured for a link direction (e.g., DL, UL, or flexible) for data transmission and the link direction for each subframe may be dynamically switched. The link directions may be based on the slot format. Each slot may include DL/UL data as well as DL/UL control information.

In NR, a synchronization signal block (SSB) is transmitted. In certain aspects, SSBs may be transmitted in a burst where each SSB in the burst corresponds to a different beam direction for UE-side beam management (e.g., including beam selection and/or beam refinement) . The SSB includes a PSS, a SSS, and a two symbol PBCH. The SSB can be transmitted in a fixed slot location, such as the symbols 0-3 as shown in FIG. 3. The PSS and SSS may be used by UEs for cell search and acquisition. The PSS may provide half-frame timing, the SS may provide the CP length and frame timing. The PSS and SSS may provide the cell identity. The PBCH carries some basic system information, such as downlink system bandwidth, timing information within radio frame, SS burst set periodicity, system frame number, etc. The SSBs may be organized into SS bursts to support beam sweeping. Further system information such as, remaining minimum system information (RMSI) , system information blocks (SIBs) , other system information (OSI) can be transmitted on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in certain subframes. The SSB can be transmitted up to sixty-four times, for example, with up to sixty-four different beam directions for mmWave. The multiple transmissions of the SSB are referred to as a SS burst set. SSBs in an SS burst set may be transmitted in the same frequency region, while SSBs in different SS bursts sets can be transmitted at different frequency regions.

As mentioned above, aspects of the present disclosure relate to VONR in DC with TDD.

Voice over NR (VONR) is an Internet Protocol (IP) multimedia system (IMS) calling service that uses the 5G NR network as a source of IP voice processing. In VONR, the UE camps on the 5G NR network and voice/video communication and data services are carried on the 5G NR network. When the UE moves to an area where the NR signal coverage is poor, a coverage based handover may be initiated to implement interworking with a 4G network. Then the UE can handover to the LTE network and Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) network service can be provided.

Currently, a single quality of service (QoS) flow is used for VONR. Where as in LTE, QoS is enforced at the evolved packet system (EPS) bearer level, in 5G, QoS is enforced at the QoS flow level. For example, LTE uses EPS bearers assigned an EPS bearer ID, and 5G uses 5G QoS flows each identified by a QoS flow ID (QFI) . 5G supports guaranteed bit rate (GBR) and non-GBR flows, along with a new delay-critical GBR. 5G also introduces reflective QoS.

The QoS flow may be the lowest level of granularity of QoS differentiation in a protocol data unit (PDU) session within the 5G system. The QoS flow is where policy and charging are enforced. One or more service data flows (SDFs) may be transported in the same QoS flow, if they share the same policy and charging rules. All traffic within the same QoS flow receives the same treatment. Within the 5G system (5GS) , a QoS flow is controlled by the 5G session management function (SMF) and may be preconfigured, or established via the PDU session establishment procedure or the PDU session modification procedure. A QoS flow is characterized by a QoS profile provided by the SMF, one or more QoS rules (and optionally QoS flow level QoS parameters associated with the QoS rules) , and one or more uplink and downlink packet delivery ratio (PDR) . A QoS flow associated with the default QoS rule is established for a PDU session and remains established throughout the lifetime of the PDU session.

5G QoS identifier (5QI) values provide QoS characteristics (e.g., resource type, priority level, delay budge, packet error rate, default maximum data burse volume, default averaging window, example services) . An illustrative example of 5QI values mapped to QoS characteristics is provided in Table 5.7.4-1 of 3GPP TS 23.501.

The UE may be configured for VONR service in a multi-RAT dual connectivity (MR-DC) scenario. In MR-DC, the Master RAN node may function as the controlling entity, utilizing a Secondary RAN for additional data capacity. Example MR-DC configurations include E-UTRA –NR DC (EN-DC) , NR-DC, NG-RAN –E-UTRA DC (NGEN-DC) , NR –E-UTRA DC (NE-DC) , and NR-NR DC.

NR-NR DC uses the 5GC, where both master and secondary RAN nodes are 5G gNBs. For UEs configured for NR-NR DC, the single QoS flow may be scheduled with either a single dedicated radio bearer (DRB) or split DRBs of a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG) .

FIG. 4 illustrates example signaling for VONR using a single QoS flow. As shown in FIG. 4, at 412, the 5G core network (5GC) , such as the core network 132, assigns a single VONR QoS flow with a 5QI (e.g., and optionally additional QoS parameters) to the 5G new-generation radio access network 402 (NG-RAN) , such as to a BS 110a. At 414, the NG-RAN 402 schedules the UE 120a with the QoS flow following the 5QI (and other QoS parameters) . For example, the NG-RAN 402 may schedule VONR communications for the UE 120a. At 416, the UE 120 may transmit voice packets for the VONR session on the single QoS flow. However, if a radio link failure (RLF) or beam failure happens (at 418) , the voice call will be dropped (at 420) .

In NR-NR dual connectivity, duplicate packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocol data units (PDUs) in the MCG and the SCG may enhance application reliability and VONR reliability, however, duplicate PDCP PDUs may use twice as many radio resources and may impact the latency of VONR as the UE may wait for both duplicate PDUs packets to arrive.

Accordingly, what is needed are techniques and apparatus for improving VONR service in NR-NR dual connectivity, such as with improved reliability and reduced latency.

Example VONR with TDD in NR-NR DC

Aspects of the present disclosure provide voice over new radio (VONR) enhancements via time division duplexing (TDD) in dual connectivity using multiple quality-of-service (QoS) flows.

According to certain aspects, dual independent QoS flows may be created for a single VONR session. A user equipment (UE) involved in a VONR call, can transmit on the flows using time division duplexing (TDD) . For example, the UE can transmit on the flows in alternating time intervals. For example, the UE can transmit on a first QoS flow associated with a master cell group (MCG) , or primary cell (PCell) , in a time interval, and in the next time interval the UE can transmit on a second QoS flow associated with a secondary cell group (SCG) , or a secondary cell (e.g., a primary secondary cell (PSCell) ) . By transmitting on multiple (e.g., at least two) QoS flows, packets lost on one of the QoS flow do not affect the packets transmitted on the other QoS flow. Accordingly, multiple QoS flows increase VONR reliability and other VONR metrics (e.g., latency) .

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 500 for wireless communication, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The operations 500 may be performed, for example, by a UE (e.g., such as the UE 120a in the wireless communication network 100) . The operations 500 may be implemented as software components that are executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor 280 of FIG. 2) . Further, the transmission and reception of signals by the UE in operations 500 may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., antennas 252 of FIG. 2) . In certain aspects, the transmission and/or reception of signals by the UE may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor 280) obtaining and/or outputting signals.

The operations 500 may begin, at 502, by receiving a configuration for transmission of packets on a first QoS flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network. The first network may be NR and the second network may be NR. The first QoS flow may be associated with a first dedicated radio bearer (DRB) and the second QoS flow may be associated with a second DRB. The first DRB and second DRB may be associated with a single VONR session. The first QoS flow may be associated with a first 5G QoS identifier (5QI) and the second QoS flow may be associated with a second 5QI.

In some aspects, the UE receives scheduling for the first QoS flow on a first cell in a MCG using a first DRB and the second QoS flow on a second cell in a SCG using a second DRB.

At 504, the UE sends the packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow. The UE may send the voice packet using TDD on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 600 for wireless communication, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The operations 600 may be performed, for example, by a BS (e.g., such as the BS 110a in the wireless communication network 100) . The operations 600 may be complimentary to the operations 500 performed by the UE. The operations 600 may be implemented as software components that are executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor 240 of FIG. 2) . Further, the transmission and reception of signals by the BS in operations 600 may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., antennas 234 of FIG. 2) . In certain aspects, the transmission and/or reception of signals by the BS may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor 240) obtaining and/or outputting signals.

The operations 600 may begin, at 602, by scheduling a UE for transmission of packets on a first QoS flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network. The first network may be NR and the second network may be NR. The first QoS flow may be associated with a first DRB and the second QoS flow may be associated with a second DRB. The first QoS flow may be associated with a first cell in a MCG using a first DRB and the second QoS flow with a second cell in a SCG using a second DRB. The first DRB and second DRB may be associated with a single VONR session. The first QoS flow may be associated with a first 5QI and the second QoS flow may be associated with a second 5QI.

In some aspects, the network sends a configuration for the transmission of the voice packets on the first QoS flow and on the second QoS flow.

At 604, the network entity receives the packets from the UE via at least one of the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow. The network entity may receive the packets using TDD on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow. The network may receive packets from the UE via the first or second QoS in a first time interval, and then receive packets from the UE via the same QoS flow in a third time interval, after a second time interval.

FIG. 7 is a call flow illustrating example signaling 700 between a UE 120a, a 5G new-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) 702 (e.g., such two BSs 110a which may be gNBs) , and the 5G core (5GC) network, such as the core network 132. As described above with respect to the call flow illustrated in FIG. 4, at 712, the 5GC 712 sends a QoS configuration to the NR-RAN 702. The QoS configuration configures dual independent QoS flows for a VONR session. The QoS configuration may include a 5QI or two 5QIs, and may also assign other QoS parameters..

At 714, the NG-RAN 702 schedules the dual QoS flows for the UE 120a in accordance with the QoS configuration. The NG-RAN 702 may schedule the UE 120a to transmit on the QoS flows using TDD. The UE 120a sends VONR packets on a first QoS flow, at 716, in a first time interval. The first QoS flow may be associated with the MCG 704 (e.g., configured with a first DRB and associated with a first NR network and a first gNB) . The UE 120a sends VONR packets on a second QoS flow, at 718, in a second time interval. The second QoS flow may be associated with the SCG 706 (e.g., configured with a second DRB and associated with a second NR network and a second gNB) . The UE 120a may send the VONR packets on the QoS flows according to a TDD configuration. The TDD configuration may be configured by the NG-RAN 702.

At 720, VONR packets on one of the QoS flows (e.g., the first QoS flow in FIG. 7) may fail to reach the NG-RAN 702 due to RLF or beam failure (or some other reason) . However, unlike in the case of a single QoS flow in which the VONR call would be dropped, the UE may still send packets on the other QoS flow (e.g., the second QoS flow in FIG. 7) , at 722.

As mentioned, according to aspects of the present disclosure, multiple independent QoS flows (e.g., a first QoS flow, a second QoS flow) may be created for a single VONR session. In such aspects, a UE may transmit packets into the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow using time division duplexing. For example, for each voice encoding sample time interval (e.g., 20 ms) , the UE may switch between transmitting the voice packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow. In the example, the UE sends voice packets in the first QoS flow for a first 20ms interval, and then the UE sends voice packets in the second QoS flow for a second 20ms interval. Accordingly, the UE may continue switching between the QoS flows when sending the voice packets.

In certain aspects, the NG-RAN may schedule the first QoS flow in a MCG and the second QoS flow in a SCG using different separate DRBs. If the PCell of the MCG or PSCell of the SCG encounters issues (e.g., RLF) , one QoS Flow may fail, and the UE may still successfully transmit voice packets on the other QOS flow. In some examples, the UE may decode voice packets coming from an “alive” QoS flow (i.e., the QoS flow not having RLF) . Because some voice packets may have been lost on the QoS experiencing radio link failure, the VONR voice quality may be damaged, but the end users may still be able to hear the voice call clearly. Furthermore, if UE has good signal quality for NR-NR dual connectivity, the VONR latency may be improved by parallel transmission.

Thus, aspects of the invention increase VONR reliability and generates little to no network radio resource waste. Also, aspects of the present disclosure benefit VONR latency.

FIG. 8 illustrates a communications device 800 that may include various components (e.g., corresponding to means-plus-function components) configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations illustrated in FIG. 5. The communications device 800 includes a processing system 802 coupled to a transceiver 808 (e.g., a transmitter and/or a receiver) . The transceiver 808 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device 800 via an antenna 810, such as the various signals as described herein. The processing system 802 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device 800, including processing signals received and/or to be transmitted by the communications device 800.

The processing system 802 includes a processor 804 coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory 812 via a bus 806. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory 812 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that when executed by the processor 804, cause the processor 804 to perform the operations illustrated in FIG. 5, or other operations for performing the various techniques discussed herein for enhancing VONR in DC by TDD. In certain aspects, computer-readable medium/memory 812 stores code 814 for receiving a configuration for transmission of packets on a first QoS flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and code 816 for sending the packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS. The computer-readable medium/memory 812 may also store code 818 for receiving scheduling for the first QoS flow on a first cell in a MCG using a first DRB and the second QoS flow on a second cell in a SCG using the second DRB. In certain aspects, the processor 804 has circuitry configured to implement the code stored in the computer-readable medium/memory 812. The processor 804 includes circuitry 824 for receiving a configuration for transmission of packets on a first QoS flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and circuitry 826 for sending the packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS. The processor 804 may also include circuitry 828 for receiving scheduling for the first QoS flow on a first cell in a MCG using a first DRB and the second QoS flow on a second cell in a SCG using the second DRB.

For example, means for transmitting (or means for outputting for transmission) may include a transmitter and/or an antenna (s) 234 or the BS 110a or the transmitter unit 254 and/or antenna (s) 252 of the UE 120a illustrated in FIG. 2 and/or circuitry 826 for sending packets on QoS flows of the communication device 800 in FIG. 8. Means for receiving (or means for obtaining) may include a receiver and/or an antenna (s) 234 of the BS 110a or a receiver and/or antenna (s) 252 of the UE 120a illustrated in FIG. 2 and/or circuitry 824 for receiving a configuration for transmission of packets of the communication device 800 in FIG. 8 and/or circuitry 830 for receiving a scheduling for the QoS flows of the communication device 800 in FIG. 8. Means for communicating may include a transmitter, a receiver or both. Means for generating, means for performing, means for determining, means for taking action, means for determining, means for coordinating may include a processing system, which may include one or more processors, such as the transmit processor 220, the TX MIMO processor 230, the receive processor 238, and/or the controller/processor 240 of the BS 110a or the receive processor 258, the transmit processor 264, the TX MIMO processor 266, and/or the controller/processor 280 of the UE 120a illustrated in FIG. 2 and/or the processing system 802 of the communication device 800 in FIG. 8.

FIG. 9 illustrates a communications device 900 that may include various components (e.g., corresponding to means-plus-function components) configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations illustrated in FIG. 6. The communications device 900 includes a processing system 902 coupled to a transceiver 908 (e.g., a transmitter and/or a receiver) . The transceiver 908 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device 900 via an antenna 910, such as the various signals as described herein. The processing system 902 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device 900, including processing signals received and/or to be transmitted by the communications device 900.

The processing system 902 includes a processor 904 coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory 912 via a bus 906. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory 912 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that when executed by the processor 904, cause the processor 904 to perform the operations illustrated in FIG. 6, or other operations for performing the various techniques discussed herein for enhancing VONR in DC by TDD. In certain aspects, computer-readable medium/memory 912 stores code 914 for scheduling a UE for transmission of packets on a first QoS flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and code 916 for receiving the packets from the UE via at least one of the first QoS flow or the second QoS flow. The computer-readable medium/memory 912 may also store code 918 for sending a configuration for the transmission of the packets in the first QoS flow on a first cell in a MCG using a first DRB and the second QoS flow on a second cell in a SCG using the second DRB. In certain aspects, the processor 904 has circuitry configured to implement the code stored in the computer-readable medium/memory 912. The processor 904 includes circuitry 924 for scheduling a UE for transmission of packets on a first QoS flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and circuitry 926 for receiving the packets from the UE via at least one of the first QoS flow or the second QoS flow. The processor 804 may also include circuitry 828 for sending a configuration for the transmission of the packets in the first QoS flow on a first cell in a MCG using a first DRB and the second QoS flow on a second cell in a SCG using the second DRB.

For example, means for transmitting (or means for outputting for transmission) may include a transmitter and/or an antenna (s) 234 or the BS 110a or the transmitter unit 254 and/or antenna (s) 252 of the UE 120a illustrated in FIG. 2 and/or circuitry 928 for sending a configuration for transmission of packets of the communication device 900 in FIG. 9. Means for receiving (or means for obtaining) may include a receiver and/or an antenna (s) 234 of the BS 110a or a receiver and/or antenna (s) 252 of the UE 120a illustrated in FIG. 2 and/or circuitry 926 for receiving the packets via the QoS flows of the communication device 900 in FIG. 9. Means for communicating may include a transmitter, a receiver or both. Means for generating, means for performing, means for determining, means for taking action, means for determining, means for coordinating may include a processing system, which may include one or more processors, such as the transmit processor 220, the TX MIMO processor 230, the receive processor 238, and/or the controller/processor 240 of the BS 110a or the receive processor 258, the transmit processor 264, the TX MIMO processor 266, and/or the controller/processor 280 of the UE 120a illustrated in FIG. 2 and/or the processing system 902 of the communication device 900 in FIG. 9.

Example Aspects

In a first aspect, a method for wireless communication by a user equipment, includes receiving a configuration for transmission of packets on a first quality of service (QoS) flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and sending the packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow.

In second aspect, in combination with the first aspect, the first network is NR and the second network is NR.

In a third aspect, in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, the first QoS flow is associated with a first dedicated radio bearer (DRB) and the second QoS flow is associated with a second DRB.

In a fourth aspect, in combination with the third aspects, the method further comprises receiving signaling scheduling for the first QoS flow on a first cell in a master cell group (MCG) using the first DRB and the second QoS flow on a second cell in a secondary cell group (SCG) using the second DRB.

In a fifth aspect, in combination with one or more of the third and fourth aspects, the first DRB and second DRB are associated with a single voice over new radio (VoNR) session.

In a sixth aspect, in combination with one or more of the first through fifth aspects, sending the packets comprises sending the packets using time division multiplexing (TDM) on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow.

In a seventh aspect, in combination with one or more of the first through sixth aspects, the first QoS flow is associated with a first 5G QoS identifier (5GI) and the second QoS flow is associated with a second 5GI.

In an eighth aspect, a method for wireless communication by a network entity, includes scheduling a user equipment (UE) for transmission of packets on a first quality of service (QoS) flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and receiving the packets from the UE via the at least one of first QoS flow or the second QoS flow.

In a ninth aspect, in combination with the eighth aspect, the first network is NR and the second network is NR.

In a tenth aspect, in combination with one or more of the eighth and ninth aspects, the first QoS flow is associated with a first dedicated radio bearer (DRB) and the second QoS flow is associated with a second DRB.

In an eleventh aspect, in combination with the tenth aspect, the method further comprises sending a configuration for the transmission of the packets in the first QoS flow on a first cell in a master cell group (MCG) using the first DRB and the second QoS flow on a second cell in a secondary cell group (SCG) using the second DRB.

In a twelfth aspect, in combination with one or more of the tenth and eleventh aspect, the first DRB and second DRB are associated with a single voice over new radio (VoNR) session.

In a thirteenth aspect, in combination with one of more of the eighth through twelfth aspects, receiving the packets comprises receiving the packets using time division duplexing (TDD) on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow.

In a fourteenth aspect, in combination with one or more of eighth through thirteenth aspects, the first QoS flow is associated with a first 5G QoS identifier (5GI) and the second QoS flow is associated with a second 5GI.

The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication technologies, such as NR (e.g., 5G NR) , 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , code division multiple access (CDMA) , time division multiple access (TDMA) , frequency division multiple access (FDMA) , orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) , single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) , time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) , and other networks. The terms “network” and “system” are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) , cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) . An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as NR (e.g. 5G RA) , Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA) , Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) , IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) , IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) , IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) . LTE and LTE-A are releases of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A and GSM are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP) . cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2) . NR is an emerging wireless communications technology under development.

In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to a coverage area of a Node B (NB) and/or a NB subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NR systems, the term “cell” and BS, next generation NodeB (gNB or gNodeB) , access point (AP) , distributed unit (DU) , carrier, or transmission reception point (TRP) may be used interchangeably. A BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and/or other types of cells. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) , UEs for users in the home, etc. ) . A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS.

A UE may also be referred to as a mobile station, a terminal, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a station, a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) , a cellular phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet computer, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, an appliance, a medical device or medical equipment, a biometric sensor/device, a wearable device such as a smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, a smart wrist band, smart jewelry (e.g., a smart ring, a smart bracelet, etc. ) , an entertainment device (e.g., a music device, a video device, a satellite radio, etc. ) , a vehicular component or sensor, a smart meter/sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device that is configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium. Some UEs may be considered machine-type communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., that may communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., remote device) , or some other entity. A wireless node may provide, for example, connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as Internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, which may be narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices.

In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled. A scheduling entity (e.g., a BS) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. The scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communication, subordinate entities utilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity. Base stations are not the only entities that may function as a scheduling entity. In some examples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity and may schedule resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs) , and the other UEs may utilize the resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communication. In some examples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, and/or in a mesh network. In a mesh network example, UEs may communicate directly with one another in addition to communicating with a scheduling entity.

The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or actions for achieving the methods. The method steps and/or actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and/or use of specific steps and/or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.

As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination with multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or any other ordering of a, b, and c) .

As used herein, the term “determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, “determining” may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database or another data structure) , ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining” may include receiving (e.g., receiving information) , accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing and the like.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more. ” Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112 (f) unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or, in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase “step for. ”

The various operations of methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. The means may include various hardware and/or software component (s) and/or module (s) , including, but not limited to a circuit, a digital signal processor (DSP) , an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , or a processor (e.g., a general purpose or specifically programmed processor) . Generally, where there are operations illustrated in figures, those operations may have corresponding counterpart means-plus-function components with similar numbering.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD) , discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration may comprise a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented with a bus architecture. The bus may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the processing system and the overall design constraints. The bus may link together various circuits including a processor, machine-readable media, and a bus interface. The bus interface may be used to connect a network adapter, among other things, to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement the signal processing functions of the PHY layer. In the case of a user terminal (see FIG. 1) , a user interface (e.g., keypad, display, mouse, joystick, etc. ) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further. The processor may be implemented with one or more general-purpose and/or special-purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuitry that can execute software. Those skilled in the art will recognize how best to implement the described functionality for the processing system depending on the particular application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

If implemented in software, the functions may be stored or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer readable medium. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. The processor may be responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including the execution of software modules stored on the machine-readable storage media. A computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to a processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. By way of example, the machine-readable media may include a transmission line, a carrier wave modulated by data, and/or a computer readable storage medium with instructions stored thereon separate from the wireless node, all of which may be accessed by the processor through the bus interface. Alternatively, or in addition, the machine-readable media, or any portion thereof, may be integrated into the processor, such as the case may be with cache and/or general register files. Examples of machine-readable storage media may include, by way of example, RAM (Random Access Memory) , flash memory, ROM (Read Only Memory) , PROM (Programmable Read-Only Memory) , EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) , EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) , registers, magnetic disks, optical disks, hard drives, or any other suitable storage medium, or any combination thereof. The machine-readable media may be embodied in a computer-program product.

A software module may comprise a single instruction, or many instructions, and may be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across multiple storage media. The computer-readable media may comprise a number of software modules. The software modules include instructions that, when executed by an apparatus such as a processor, cause the processing system to perform various functions. The software modules may include a transmission module and a receiving module. Each software module may reside in a single storage device or be distributed across multiple storage devices. By way of example, a software module may be loaded into RAM from a hard drive when a triggering event occurs. During execution of the software module, the processor may load some of the instructions into cache to increase access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into a general register file for execution by the processor. When referring to the functionality of a software module below, it will be understood that such functionality is implemented by the processor when executing instructions from that software module.

Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) , or wireless technologies such as infrared (IR) , radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD) , laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD) , floppy disk, and

disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Thus, in some aspects computer-readable media may comprise non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media) . In addition, for other aspects computer-readable media may comprise transitory computer-readable media (e.g., a signal) . Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

Thus, certain aspects may comprise a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may comprise a computer-readable medium having instructions stored (and/or encoded) thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein, for example, instructions for performing the operations described herein and illustrated in FIG. 5 and/or FIG. 6.

Further, it should be appreciated that modules and/or other appropriate means for performing the methods and techniques described herein can be downloaded and/or otherwise obtained by a user terminal and/or base station as applicable. For example, such a device can be coupled to a server to facilitate the transfer of means for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, various methods described herein can be provided via storage means (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage medium such as a compact disc (CD) or floppy disk, etc. ) , such that a user terminal and/or base station can obtain the various methods upon coupling or providing the storage means to the device. Moreover, any other suitable technique for providing the methods and techniques described herein to a device can be utilized.

It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components illustrated above. Various modifications, changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the scope of the claims.

Claims

A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE) , the method comprising:

receiving a configuration for transmission of packets on a first quality of service (QoS) flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and

sending the packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow.
The method of claim 1, wherein the first network is NR and the second network is NR.
The method of any of claims 1-2, wherein the first QoS flow is associated with a first dedicated radio bearer (DRB) and the second QoS flow is associated with a second DRB.
The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving signaling scheduling the first QoS flow on a first cell in a master cell group (MCG) using the first DRB and scheduling the second QoS flow on a second cell in a secondary cell group (SCG) using the second DRB.
The method of any of claims 3-4, wherein the first DRB and second DRB are associated with a single voice over new radio (VoNR) session.
The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein sending the packets comprises sending the packets using time division multiplexing (TDM) on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow.
The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the first QoS flow is associated with a first 5G QoS identifier (5GI) and the second QoS flow is associated with a second 5GI.
A method for wireless communications by a network entity, the method comprising:

scheduling a user equipment (UE) for transmission of packets on a first quality of service (QoS) flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and

receiving packets from the UE via at least one of the first QoS flow or the second QoS flow.
The method of claim 8, wherein the first network is NR and the second network is NR.
The method of any of claims 8-9, wherein the first QoS flow is associated with a first dedicated radio bearer (DRB) and the second QoS flow is associated with a second DRB.
The method of claim 10, further comprising sending a configuration for the transmission of the packets in the first QoS flow on a first cell in a master cell group (MCG) using the first DRB and the second QoS flow on a second cell in a secondary cell group (SCG) using the second DRB.
The method of any of claims 10-11, wherein the first DRB and second DRB are associated with a single voice over new radio (VoNR) session.
The method of any of claims 8-12, wherein receiving the packets comprises receiving the packets using time division duplexing (TDD) on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow.
The method of any of claims 8-13, wherein the first QoS flow is associated with a first 5G QoS identifier (5GI) and the second QoS flow is associated with a second 5GI.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory comprising code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to:

receive a configuration for transmission of voice packets on a first quality of service (QoS) flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and

send the voice packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory comprising code executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to:

schedule a user equipment (UE) for transmission of packets on a first quality of service (QoS) flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and

receive the packets from the UE via at least one of the first QoS flow or the second QoS flow.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for receiving a configuration for transmission of packets on a first quality of service (QoS) flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and

means for sending the packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for scheduling a user equipment (UE) for transmission of packets on a first quality of service (QoS) flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and

means for receiving the packets from the UE via at least one of the first QoS flow or the second QoS flow.
A computer readable medium storing computer executable code thereon for wireless communications, comprising:

code for receiving a configuration for transmission of packets on a first quality of service (QoS) flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and

code for sending the packets on the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow.
A computer readable medium storing computer executable code thereon for wireless communications, comprising:

code for scheduling a user equipment (UE) for transmission of packets on a first quality of service (QoS) flow associated with a first network and a second QoS flow associated with a second network; and

code for receiving the packets from the UE via at least one of the first QoS flow or the second QoS flow.