WO2022154716A1 - Ue and method for initiating data to be transmitted according to a transmission configuration - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method performed by a UE (105) for initiating data to be transmitted in a communications system (100). The UE (105) determines that the UE (105) has data to transmit. The UE (105) obtains one or more parameters associated with the UE's coverage and/or link quality. The UE (105) compares the one or more parameters with one or more thresholds. The UE (105) selects, based on a result of the comparing, a transmission configuration from a plurality of candidate transmission configurations to be used when transmitting the data. The UE (105) initiates the data to be transmitted according to the selected transmission configuration.

Description

LIE AND METHOD FOR INITIATING DATA TO BE TRANSMITTED ACCORDING TO A TRANSMISSION CONFIGURATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to a User Equipment (UE) and a method performed by the UE. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to initiating data to be transmitted in a communication system and according to a transmission configuration. The disclosure relates to coverage adaptive New Radio (NR) small data transmission (SDT).

BACKGROUND

In Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 8, the Evolved Packet System (EPS) was specified. EPS is based on the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio network and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). It was originally intended to provide voice and Mobile Broadband (MBB) services but has continuously evolved to broaden its functionality. Since Release 13, Narrowband- Internet of Things (NB-loT) and LTE for Machine type communication (LTE-M) are part of the LTE specifications and provide connectivity to massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC) services.

In 3GPP Release 15, the first release of the Fifth Generation (5G) System (5GS) was specified. This is a new generation’s radio access technology intended to serve use cases such as enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC) and mMTC. 5G comprises the New Radio (NR) access stratum interface and the 5G Core Network (5GC). The NR physical and higher layers are reusing at least some parts of the LTE specification, and to that add needed components when motivated by new use cases. One such component is the introduction of a sophisticated framework for beam forming and beam management to extend the support of the 3GPP technologies to a frequency range going beyond 6 GHz.

In 3GPP, there is ongoing work on NR small data transmissions in INACTIVE mode with the focus of optimizing the transmission for small data payloads by reducing the signaling overhead. INACTIVE mode may be referred to as INACTIVE state. One objective of the ongoing work is to support Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) data transmission for UEs in Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive mode based on an earlier configured grant. Below is some information of the ongoing work for the RRCJNACTIVE state:

Uplink (UL) small data transmissions for Random Access Channel (RACH)-based schemes, i.e. 2-step and 4-step RACH: o General procedure to enable User Plane (UP) data transmission for small data packets from INACTIVE state, e.g. using Message A (MsgA) or Message 3 (Msg3). o Enable flexible payload sizes larger than the Rel-16 Common Control Channel (CCCH) message size that is possible currently for INACTIVE state for MsgA and Msg3 to support UP data transmission in UL, actual payload size can be up to network configuration. o Context fetch and data forwarding, with and without anchor relocation, in INACTIVE state for RACH-based solutions.

- Transmission of UL data on pre-configured Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) resources, i.e. reusing the configured grant type 1 , when Timing Advance (TA) is valid. o General procedure for small data transmission over configured grant type 1 resources from INACTIVE state. o Configuration of the configured grant typel resources for small data transmission in UL for INACTIVE state.

The above means that at least two main tracks of solutions will be specified for Small Data: RA-based SDT and configured-grant SDT. Herein, mainly RA-based SDT, i.e. based on the 4-step RA or 2-step RA procedure will be discussed. RA is short for Random Access.

SDT is associated with transmission of small data, i.e. a small data packet. A data transmission may be small in the sense that the data amount is below a threshold, in the sense that the data is sent without any need for a radio resource control connection setup process etc. SDT may be performed by a UE such as an loT UE, an MTC UE or similar. The small data may be referred to as loT data, MTC data, etc. For NB-loT and LTE-M, similar signaling optimizations for small data have been introduced through Rel-15 Early Data Transmission (EDT) and Rel-16 Preconfigured Uplink Resources (PUR). Somewhat similar solutions may be expected for NR with the difference that the Rel-17 NR Small Data is only to be supported for RRC INACTIVE state only, making the 4-step RA SDT solution similar to the UP-EDT, i.e. EDT with user-plane optimization. Further differences are that SDT includes also 2-step RACH based small data, and that it should also include regular complexity MBB UEs. SDT support Mobile Originated (MO) traffic only.

2-step RACH

In NR Rel-16, a new procedure for random access was introduced; 2-step RACH which has reduced signaling exchange, and hence latency, compared to the conventional 4-step RACH supported in Rel-15 and in LTE. Simplified, the 2-step RACH procedure can be said to group Msg1 and Msg3 of 4-step RACH to a new MsgA, and group Msg2 and Msg4 in to a new MsgB. Fig. 1 is a signaling diagram illustrating the 2-step RACH which comprises at least one of the following steps, which steps may be performed in any suitable order than described below:

Step 1001

The UE 105 sends a preamble to the gNB 101. The preamble may be comprised in msg A.

Step 1002

The UE 105 sends a PUSCH message to the gNB 101 . The PUSCH may be comprised in msg A.

Step 1003

The gNB 101 sends a Random Access Response (RAR) message to the UE 105. The RAR may be comprised in msg B.

Step 1004

The gNB 101 sends a Contention resolution and RRC release message to the UE 105. The contention resolution and RRC release may be comprised in msg B. Note that the gNB 101 is used in fig. 1 as an example of a network node, and that any other network node may be applicable.

The 2-step RACH creates a mapping between the preamble used and the PUSCH used for MsgA transmission. Since no feedback to the UE is possible, providing a Timing Advance (TA) to the UE for uplink resource allocation is not possible before the PUSCH transmission. Therefore TA=0 is assumed, and the out-of-sync is covered by the cyclic prefix of the PUSCH transmission. Optionally guard time and guard bands are optionally configurable, e.g. to support larger cell sizes.

SDT agreements made

Some agreements regarding SDT has been made. Below are some of these agreements:

• Small data transmission with RRC message is supported as baseline for RA- based and Cell Group (CG) based schemes.

• RRC-less can be studied for limited use cases, e.g. same serving cell and/or for CG with lower priority.

• Context fetch and data forwarding with anchor re-location and without anchor relocation will be considered.

• Stored configuration in the UE Context is used for the Radio Link Control (RLC) bearer configuration for any SDT mechanism, e.g. RACH and CG.

• The 2-step RACH or 4-step RACH should be applied to RACH based uplink small data transmission in RRCJNACTIVE.

• The uplink small data can be sent in MsgA of 2-step RACH or msg3 of 4-step RACH.

• Small data transmission is configured by the network on a per Data Radio Bearer (DRB) basis.

• Data volume threshold is used for the UE to decide whether to do SDT or not. An additional SDT specific Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) threshold may or may not be further used to determine whether the UE should do SDT. The data volume may be calculated using any suitable method.

• UL/DL transmission following UL SDT without transitioning to RRC_CONNECTED is supported. • When UE is in RRCJNACTIVE state, it should be possible to send multiple UL and DL packets as part of the same SDT mechanism and without transitioning to RRC_CONNECTED state on dedicated grant. An indication to network may or may not be needed.

Some further agreements may be as follows:

• For small data, for RACH and CG based solutions when the UE receives RRC release with Suspend config, the UE at least performs the following actions, i.e. same action as in legacy: o Medium Access Control (MAC) is reset and default MAC cell group configuration is released. o RLC entities for Signaling Radio Bearer 1 (SRB1 ) are re-established. o SRBs and DRBs are suspended except SRBO.

• For both RACH and CG based solutions, upon initiating RESUME procedure for SDT initiation, i.e. for first SDT transmission, the UE shall re-establish at least the SDT PDCP entities and resume the SDT DRBs that are configured for small data transmission, along with the SRB1 .

• The first UL message, i.e. Msg3 for 4-step RACH, MsgA payload for 2-step RACH and the CG transmission for CG, may comprise at least the following contents, depending on the size of the message: o Common Control Channel (CCCH) message. Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) can be used to determine to priority of the content below that may be comprised: o DRB data from one or more DRBs which are configured by the network for small data transmission. o MAC Control Elements (MAC CE), e.g. Buffer Status Report (BSR). o Padding bits.

It may or may not be ensured that SDT data only is comprised, and this may depend on whether the UE initiates legacy/normal resume.

• For RACH and CG, the existing Unified Access Control (UAC) procedure to determine whether access attempt is allowed, will be reused for SDT.

• SDT is transparent to Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer, i.e. NAS generates one of the existing resume causes and Application Server (AS) decides SDT vs. non- SDT access. • In case of RRC-based solution, for both RACH and CG based solutions, the COCH message comprises Resume MAC-1 generated using the stored security key for RRC integrity protection - i.e. same as Rel-16.

• For both RACH and CG based solutions, new keys are generated using the stored security context and the NCC value received in the previous RRC Release message, i.e. same as legacy procedure, and these new keys are used for generating the data of DRBs that are configured for SDT.

• For RACH based solutions, upon successful completion of contention resolution, the DE shall monitor the Cell- Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI).

• The coreset/search space for the C-RNTI may be it common or dedicated.

• As a baseline, the RACH resource i.e. RACH Occasion (RO)+preamble combination is different between SDT and non-SDT.

• If ROs for SDT and non SDT are different, preamble partitioning between SDT and non SDT is not needed.

• If ROs for SDT and non-SDT are same, preamble partitioning is needed.

• Common configuration may or may not be allowed.

• If the RACH resource, i.e. RO+preamble combination, is different between SDT and non-SDT then there is no further need for any differentiation between Msg2/MsgB for SDT vs. non-SDT.

• RACH based SDT is supported with and without UE context relocation,

• An RLC configuration is stored in UE Context.

• UE SDT data handling impact including using a stored RLC configuration.

• A new timer. The timer may have the same definition as T319, or it may be restarted every UL/DL.

• The configuration of configured grant resource for UE uplink small data transfer is contained in the RRC Release message. Other dedicated messages may configure CG in INACTIVE CG. Configuration is only type 1 CG with no contention resolution procedure for CG.

• The configuration of configured grant resource can include one type 1 CG configuration. Multiple configured CGs may or may not be allowed.

• A new TA timer for TA maintenance specified for configured grant based small data transfer in RRC INACTIVE state should be introduced. The TA timer is configured together with the CG configuration in the RRCRelease message. • The configuration of configured grant resource for UE small data transmission is valid only in the same serving cell. There may be other CG validity criteria, e.g. timer, UL/SUL aspect, etc.

• The UE can use configured grant based small data transfer if at least the following criteria is fulfilled (1 ) user data is smaller than the data volume threshold; (2) configured grant resource is configured and valid; (3) UE has valid TA. Other criteria may be a candidate beam criterion.

• An association between CG resources and Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSB) is required for CG-based SDT. The association is configured or provided to the UE using any suitable method. An option for making the association may be based on explicit configuration with RRC Release message.

• A Synchronization Signal-Reference Signal Received Power (SS-RSRP) threshold is configured for SSB selection. UE selects one of the SSB with SS- RSRP above the threshold and selects the associated CG resource for UL data transmission.

For RA-based SDT, the user-plane payload is to be comprised in Msg3 or MsgA, at which point both the UE and its channel quality is essentially unknown. This means that the scheduling for the Msg3/MsgA transmission needs to be dimensioned for the worst possible coverage/radio link quality in the cell. i.e. the cell-edge. Due to this, the SDT gain diminishes compared to the baseline solution where the user-plane transmission takes place when a connection has been setup and there is full linkadaptation. That is, without link-adaptation the data transmission may be suboptimal for all UEs except those on the cell-edge.

Therefore, there is a need to at least mitigate or solve this issue.

SUMMARY

An object of the present disclosure may be to obviate at least one of the above disadvantages and to provide improved data transmission, it provides improved selection of transmission configuration, it provides improved handling of small data transmission etc. According to a first aspect, the object is achieved by a method performed by a UE for initiating data to be transmitted in a communications system. The UE determines that the UE has data to transmit. The UE obtains one or more parameters associated with the UE’s coverage and/or link quality. The UE compares the one or more parameters with one or more thresholds. The UE selects, based on a result of the comparing, a transmission configuration from a plurality of candidate transmission configurations to be used when transmitting the data. The UE initiates the data to be transmitted according to the selected transmission configuration.

According to a second aspect, the object is achieved by a UE for initiating data to be transmitted in a communications system. The UE is configured to determine that the UE has data to transmit. The UE is configured to obtain one or more parameters associated with the UE’s coverage and/or link quality, and to compare the one or more parameters with one or more thresholds. The UE is configured to select, based on a result of the comparing, a transmission configuration from a plurality of candidate transmission configurations to be used when transmitting the data. The UE is configured to initiate the data to be transmitted according to the selected transmission configuration.

Thanks to having different transmission configurations for data transmission for different zones corresponding to different UE coverage and/or link quality, the data transmission is improved. The UE is enabled to, based on the one or more parameters, select the appropriate transmission configuration and thereby the associated scheduling parameters such as modulation and coding scheme (MCS), number or resource blocks, and other scheduling parameters.

The present disclosure herein affords many advantages, of which a non-exhaustive list of examples follows:

An advantage of the present disclosure is that SDT scheduling is better adapted to the UEs radio conditions, and the data transmission becomes more effective.

The present disclosure is not limited to the features and advantages mentioned above. A person skilled in the art will recognize additional features and advantages upon reading the following detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will now be described in more detail by way of example only in the following detailed description by reference to the appended drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a signaling diagram illustrating a 2-step RACH procedure.

Fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a communications system.

Fig. 3 is a schematic illustration of coverage zones.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method.

Fig. 6a is a schematic drawing illustrating a UE.

Fig. 6b is a schematic drawing illustrating a UE.

Fig. 7 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer.

Fig. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a host computer communicating via a base station with a UE over a partially wireless connection.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart depicting a method in a communications system comprising a host computer, a base station and a UE.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart depicting a method in a communications system comprising a host computer, a base station and a UE.

Fig. 1 1 is a flowchart depicting a method in a communications system comprising a host computer, a base station and a UE.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart depicting a method in a communications system comprising a host computer, a base station and a UE.

The drawings are not necessarily to scale, and the dimensions of certain features may have been exaggerated for the sake of clarity. Emphasis is instead placed upon illustrating the principle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to having different configurations for data transmissions such as Small Data Transmission (SDT), Early Data Transmission (EDT) etc., for different zones corresponding to different UE coverage and/or link quality. UEs, based on RSRP measurement, select the appropriate SDT configuration and thereby the associated MGS, number or resource blocks, and other scheduling parameters. Fig. 2 depicts a non-limiting example of a communications system 100, which may be a wireless communications system, sometimes also referred to as a wireless communications network, cellular radio system, or cellular network, in which the present disclosure may be implemented. The communications system 100 may be a 5G system, 5G network, NR-ll or Next Gen system or network. The communications system 100 may alternatively be a younger system or older system than a 5G system, such as e.g. a 2G system, a 3G system, a 4G system, a 6G system, a 7G system etc. The communications system 100 may support other technologies such as, for example, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced/LTE-Advanced Pro, e.g. LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), LTE Half-Duplex Frequency Division Duplex (HD-FDD), LTE operating in an unlicensed band, NB-loT. Thus, although terminology from 5G/NR and LTE may be used in this disclosure to exemplify, this should not be seen as limiting to only the aforementioned systems.

The communications system 100 comprises one or a plurality of network nodes, whereof a first network node 101a and a second network node 101 b are depicted in the nonlimiting example of fig. 2. Any of the first network node 101a, and the second network node 101b may be a radio network node, such as a radio base station, or any other network node with similar features capable of serving a user equipment, such as a wireless device or a machine type communication device, in the communications system 100. The first network node 101 a may be an eNB and the second network node 101b may be a gNB. The first network node 101 a may be a first eNB, and the second network node 101b may be a second eNB. The first network node 101 a may be a first gNB, and the second network node 101 b may be a second gNB. The first network node 101 a may be a MeNB and the second network node 101 b may be a gNB. Any of the first network node 101a and the second network node 101b may be co-localized, or they may be part of the same network node. The first network node 101 a may be referred to as a source node or source network node, whereas the second network node 101b may be referred to as a target node or target network node. When the reference number 101 is used herein without the letters a or b, it refers to a network node in general, i.e. it refers to any of the first network node 101 a or second network node 101 b. The communications system 100 covers a geographical area which may be divided into cell areas, wherein each cell area may be served by a network node, although, one network node may serve one or several cells. In fig. 2, the communications system 100 comprises a first cell 103a and a second cell 103b. Note that two cells are exemplified in fig. 1 only as an example, and that any n number of cells may be comprised in the communication system 100, where n is any positive integer. A cell is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the network node at a network node site. Each cell is identified by an identity within the local network node area, which is broadcast in the cell. In fig. 2, first network node 101 a serves the first cell 103a, and the second network node 101b serves the second cell 103b. Any of the first network node 101 a and the second network node 101 b may be of different classes, such as, e.g., macro base station (BS), home BS or pico BS, based on transmission power and thereby also cell size. Any of the first network node 101 a and the second network node 101 b may be directly connected to one or more core networks, which are not depicted in fig. 2 for the sake of simplicity. Any of the first network node 101 a and the second network node 101 b may be a distributed node, such as a virtual node in the cloud, and it may perform its functions entirely on the cloud, or partially, in collaboration with another network node. The first cell 103a may be referred to as a source cell, whereas the second cell 103b may be referred to as a target cell. When the reference number 103 is used herein without the letters a or b, it refers to a cell in general, i.e. it refers to any of the first cell 103a or second cell 103b.

One or a plurality of UEs 105 is comprised in the communication system 100. Only one DE 105 is exemplified in fig. 2 for the sake of simplicity. A DE 105 may also be referred to simply as a device. The UE 105, e.g. an LTE UE or a 5G/NR DE, may be a wireless communication device which may also be known as e.g., a wireless device, a mobile terminal, wireless terminal and/or mobile station, a mobile telephone, cellular telephone, or laptop with wireless capability, just to mention some examples. The UE 105 may be a device by which a subscriber may access services offered by an operator’s network and services outside operator’s network to which the operator’s radio access network and core network provide access, e.g. access to the Internet. The UE 105 may be any device, mobile or stationary, enabled to communicate over a radio channel in the communications system 100, for instance but not limited to e.g. UE, mobile phone, smart phone, sensors, meters, vehicles, household appliances, medical appliances, media players, cameras, Machine to Machine (M2M) device, Internet of Things (IOT) device, terminal device, communication device or any type of consumer electronic, for instance but not limited to television, radio, lighting arrangements, tablet computer, laptop or Personal Computer (PC). The UE 105 may be portable, pocket storable, hand held, computer comprised, or vehicle mounted devices, enabled to communicate voice and/or data, via the radio access network, with another entity, such as another UE, a server, a laptop, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or a tablet, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) device, device equipped with a wireless interface, such as a printer or a file storage device, modem, or any other radio network unit capable of communicating over a radio link in the communications system 100.

The UE 105 is enabled to communicate wirelessly within the communications system 100. The communication may be performed e.g. between two UEs 105, between a UE 105 and a regular telephone, between the UE 105 and a network node, between network nodes, and/or between the UE 105 and a server via the radio access network and possibly one or more core networks and possibly the internet.

The first network node 101 a may be configured to communicate in the communications system 100 with the UE 105 over a first communication link 108a, e.g., a radio link. The second network node 101 b may be configured to communicate in the communications system 100 with the UE 105 over a second communication link 108b, e.g., a radio link. The first network node 101 a may be configured to communicate in the communications system 100 with the second network node 101 b over a third communication link 108c, e.g., a radio link or a wired link, although communication over more links may be possible. When the reference number 108 is used herein without the letters a, b or c, it refers to a communication link in general, i.e. it refers to any of the first communication link 108a, the second communication link 108b and the third communication link 108c.

It should be noted that the communication links 108 in the communications system 100 may be of any suitable kind comprising either a wired or wireless link. The link may use any suitable protocol depending on type and level of layer, e.g. as indicated by the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, as understood by the person skilled in the art. Different transmission configurations, e.g. RA-based SDT configurations, are provided in the cell for different LIE coverage and/or link quality. Alternatively, a part of the transmission configurations may be divided in several parts for different UE coverage and/or link quality. E.g. the transmission configurations may be common, apart from the Information Elements (lEs) related to link-adaptation and the scheduling of the UE 105, i.e. MGS, number of PRBs, etc. which would be separated into a number of coverage zones. This is schematically illustrated in fig. 3, but note that the zones may take shadow fading, multi-path, and other effects into account and would therefore not simply depend on the distance to the network node 101 as shown in fig. 3. Fig. 3 illustrates MSC0, MSC1 and MSC2. The network node 101 is exemplified to be comprised in MSC2 and the UE 105 is exemplified to be comprised in MCS0.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by the UE 105. Fig. 4 illustrates an example where the data to be transmitted is small data and the data transmission configuration is SDT configuration, but the method is equally applicable to other data and data transmission configurations, such as for example early data or other types of data, EDT configuration and other types of data transmission configuration. The method illustrated in fig. 4 comprises at least one of the following steps, which step may be performed in any suitable order than described below:

Step 401

The UE 105 determines that it has user plane data to be transmitted.

Step 402

The UE 105 compares one or more parameter with a first threshold. The one or more parameter is exemplified with RSRP in fig. 4, and the first threshold is exemplified with threshold_2 in fig. 4, but any other suitable parameters and threshold may be applicable.

If the one or more parameter exceeds the first threshold, then the method proceeds to step 403, as indicated with “yes” in fig. 4.

If the one or more parameters does not exceed the first threshold, then the method proceeds to step 405, as indicated with “no” in fig. 4. Step 403

This step may be performed if the one or more parameter exceeds the first threshold, for example, if the RSRP>Thr_2. The UE 105 selects a transmission configuration based on the result of the comparing in step 402, e.g. a transmission configuration associated with the first threshold or a transmission configuration in which the first threshold is comprised or configured. For example, the UE 105 may select STD configuration 2. After step 403 has been performed, the UE 105 may perform step 404.

Step 404

This step may be performed after step 403, after step 406 or after step 407. The UE 105 may transmit data according to the selected transmission configuration.

Step 405

This step may be performed if the one or more parameter which was checked in step 402 did not exceeds the first threshold. In step 405, the UE 105 may compare the one or more parameter with another threshold, e.g. a second threshold such as Thr_1 .

The one or more parameter is exemplified with RSRP in fig. 4, and the second threshold is exemplified with threshold_1 in fig. 4, but any other suitable parameters and threshold may be applicable.

If the one or more parameter exceeds the second threshold, then the method proceeds to step 406, as indicated with “yes” in fig. 4.

If the one or more parameters does not exceed the one or more threshold, then the method proceeds to step 407, as indicated with “no” in fig. 4.

Step 406

This step may be performed if the one or more parameter does not exceed the first threshold, but it exceeds the second threshold. The UE 105 selects a transmission configuration based on the result of the comparing in step 405, e.g. a transmission configuration associated with the second threshold or a transmission configuration in which the second threshold is comprised or configured. For example, the UE 105 may select STD configuration 1 . After step 406 has been performed, the DE 105 may perform step 404.

Step 407

This step may be performed if the one or more parameter neither exceed the first threshold nor the second threshold. The UE 105 selects a transmission configuration based on the result of the comparing in step 405, e.g. a default transmission configuration or any other suitable transmission configuration. Thus, if none of the thresholds are exceeded, a default transmission configuration may be selected. For example, the UE 105 may select STD configuration 0. After step 407 has been performed, the UE 105 may perform step 404.

A UE 105 initiating the data transmission may select the scheduling parameters from the coverage zone determined by one or more parameters, e.g. the UE RSRP measurement as in fig. 4. That is, RSRP as measured by the UE 105 is compared to configurable thresholds provided in the transmission configuration, and the appropriate coverage zone scheduling parameters are determined from that. As an alternative, the coverage zones and the thresholds may be based on some other UE measurement, e.g. RSRQ.

The method described above will now be described seen from the perspective of the UE 105. Fig. 5 is a flowchart describing the present method in the UE 105 for initiating data to be transmitted. The method comprises at least one of the following steps to be performed by the UE 105, which steps may be performed in any suitable order than described below:

Step 501

This step corresponds to step 401 in fig. 4. The UE 105 determines that the UE 105 has data to transmit.

The data may be user plane data. The data may be small data. The small data may be referred to as a small data packet. Data may be small in the sense that the data amount is below a threshold, in the sense that the data is sent without any need for a radio resource control connection setup process etc. The small data may be referred to as loT data, MTC data, etc. The data may be referred to as early data, NR small data etc. The small data may be described as data included in an early data transmission before the UE’s coverage situation is known to the network node 101 such that the UE 105 itself selects the configuration to use.

The data may be to be transmitted or broadcasted to one or more network nodes 101 , to one or more other UEs 105 or to any other node(s) comprised in the communications system 100.

Step 502

The UE 105 obtains one or more parameters associated with the UE’s coverage and/or link quality. The term and/or indicates that it may either be the coverage or the link quality, or that may be both the coverage and the link quality, i.e. at least one of the coverage and the link quality. The link refers to the communication link on which the UE 105 is adapted to transmit the data.

The one or more parameters may be associated with one or more of the following:

• Reference Signal Received Power, RSRP.

• Reference Signal Received Quality, RSRQ.

• Received Signal Strength Indicator, RSSL

• Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio, SINR.

• Signal to Noise plus Interference Ratio, SNIR.

• Signal to Noise Ratio, SNR.

• Or any other suitable parameter.

• Or any suitable combination of the above parameters.

The one or more parameters may be obtained by that the UE 105 performs measurement(s) that results in the one or more parameters, by that the UE 105 receives the one or more parameters from another node, e.g. upon request, on a regular basis, or at any other time or triggered by any suitable triggering means.

Step 503

This step corresponds to steps 402 and 405 in fig. 4. The UE 105 compares the one or more parameters with one or more thresholds. The purpose of the comparing is to determine whether the one or more parameters exceeds the one or more thresholds or not.

Step 503 may comprise one or both of the following sub steps:

- comparing the one or more parameters with a first threshold, e.g. Thr_2 in fig. 4; and/or

- comparing the one or more parameters with a second threshold, e.g. Thr_1 in fig. 4.

Comparing with the first threshold may be performed first, e.g. as default. If a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters does not exceed the first threshold, then the comparing with the second threshold may be performed.

The one or more thresholds may be comprised in or associated with one or more of the candidate transmission configurations.

Step 504

This step corresponds to steps 403, 406 and 407 in fig. 4. The UE 105 selects, based on a result of the comparing, a transmission configuration from a plurality of candidate transmission configurations to be used when transmitting the data.

If a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters exceeds the first threshold, then a first transmission configuration is selected.

If a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters exceeds the second threshold, then a second transmission configuration is selected.

If a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters does not exceed the second threshold, then a third transmission configuration is selected. In other words, if none of the thresholds are exceeded, then the third transmission configuration is selected. The third transmission configuration may be a default transmission configuration.

The transmission configuration may be an SDT configuration, an EDT configuration, a NR SDT configuration etc. The candidate transmission configurations may be RA-based transmission configurations, e.g. RA-based SDT configurations.

The candidate transmission configurations may be provided in a cell for different UE coverage and/or link quality.

A part of the candidate transmission configurations may be divided in the several parts for different UE coverage and/or link quality.

The candidate transmission configurations may be common apart from the information elements (lEs) related to link-adaptation and the scheduling of the UE, e.g. one or more of MCS, number of PRBs, etc. which may be separated into a number of coverage zones.

The coverage zones may take shadow fading, multi-path, and other effects into account and would therefore not simply depend on the distance to the network node.

Step 505

This step corresponds to steps 403, 406 and 407 in fig. 4. The UE 105 may select at least one scheduling parameter associated with the selected transmission configuration, wherein the scheduling parameters may be at least one of e.g. MCS, a number or resource blocks, and/or other scheduling parameter(s).

The scheduling parameters may be selected from the coverage zone determined by the one or more parameters.

Step 506

This step corresponds to step 404 in fig. 4. The UE 105 initiates the data to be transmitted according to the selected transmission configuration. The selected at least one scheduling parameter associated with the selected transmission configuration from step 505 may be used in the data transmission. To perform the method steps shown in fig. 4 and fig. 5 for initiating data to be transmitted in a communications system the UE 105 may comprises an arrangement as shown in one or both of fig. 6a and fig. 6b. Fig. 6a and fig. 6b depict two different examples in panels a) and b), respectively, of the arrangement that the UE 105 may comprise. The UE 105 may comprise the following arrangement depicted in fig 6a.

The UE 105 is arranged to, e.g. by means of a determining module 130, determine that the UE 105 has data to transmit. The data may be user plane data. The data may be small data. The data may be to be transmitted or broadcasted to one or more network nodes (101), to one or more other UEs 105 or to any other node(s) comprised in the communications system 100. The determining module 130 may also be referred to as a determining unit, a determining means, a determining circuit, means for determining etc. The determining module 130 may be a processor 1001 of the UE 105 or comprised in the processor 1001 of the UE 105.

The UE 105 is arranged to, e.g. by means of an obtaining module 133, obtain one or more parameters associated with the UE’s coverage and/or link quality. The one or more parameters may be associated with one or more of the following:

• Reference Signal Received Power, RSRP.

• Reference Signal Received Quality, RSRQ.

• Received Signal Strength Indicator, RSSL

• Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio, SINR.

• Signal to Noise plus Interference Ratio, SNIR.

• Signal to Noise Ratio, SNR.

• Or any other suitable parameter.

• Or any suitable combination of the above parameters.

The UE 105 may be configured to obtain the one or more parameters by being configured to perform measurement(s) that results in the one or more parameters, by being configured to receive the one or more parameters from another node, e.g. upon request, on a regular basis, or at any other time or triggered by any suitable triggering means. The obtaining module 133 may also be referred to as an obtaining unit, an obtaining means, an obtaining circuit, means for obtaining etc. The obtaining module 133 may be the processor 1001 of the UE 105 or comprised in the processor 1001 of the UE 105.

The UE 105 is arranged to, e.g. by means of a comparing module 135, compare the one or more parameters with one or more thresholds. The one or more thresholds may be comprised in or associated with one or more of the candidate transmission configurations. The comparing module 135 may also be referred to as a comparing unit, a comparing means, a comparing circuit, means for comparing etc. The comparing module 135 may be the processor 1001 of the UE 105 or comprised in the processor 1001 of the UE 105.

The UE 105 is arranged to, e.g. by means of a selecting module 138, select, based on a result of the comparing, a transmission configuration from a plurality of candidate transmission configurations to be used when transmitting the data. The candidate transmission configurations may be RA-based transmission configurations, e.g. RA- based SDT configurations. The candidate transmission configurations may be provided in a cell for different UE coverage and/or link quality. A part of the candidate transmission configurations may be divided in the several parts for different UE coverage and/or link quality. The transmission configuration may be an SDT configuration. The candidate transmission configurations may be common apart from the lEs related to linkadaptation and the scheduling of the UE, e.g. one or more of MCS, number of PRBs, etc. which may be separated into a number of coverage zones. The coverage zones may take shadow fading, multi-path, and other effects into account and would therefore not simply depend on the distance to the network node. The selecting module 138 may also be referred to as a selecting unit, a selecting means, a selecting circuit, means for selecting etc. The selecting module 138 may be the processor 1001 of the UE 105 or comprised in the processor 1001 of the UE 105.

The UE 105 is arranged to, e.g. by means of an initiating module 140, initiate the data to be transmitted according to the selected transmission configuration. The initiating module 140 may also be referred to as an initiating unit, an initiating means, an initiating circuit, means for initiating etc. The initiating module 140 may be the processor 1001 of the DE 105 or comprised in the processor 1001 of the LIE 105.

The UE 105 may be configured to, e.g. by means of the comparing module 135, configured to compare the one or more parameters with a first threshold.

The UE 105 may be configured to, e.g. by means of the comparing module 135, compare the one or more parameters with a second threshold, e.g. if a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters does not exceed the first threshold.

If a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters exceeds the first threshold, then a first transmission configuration may be selected.

If a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters exceeds the second threshold, then a second transmission configuration may be selected.

If a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters does not exceed the second threshold, then a third transmission configuration may be selected.

The UE 105 may be configured to, e.g. by means of the selecting module 138, select at least one scheduling parameter associated with the selected transmission configuration, wherein the scheduling parameters may be at least one of e.g. MCS, a number or resource blocks, and/or other scheduling parameter(s). The scheduling parameters may be selected from the coverage zone determined by the one or more parameters.

The present disclosure related to the UE 105 may be implemented through one or more processors, such as a processor 1001 in the UE 105 depicted in fig. 6a, together with computer program code for performing the functions and actions described herein. A processor, as used herein, may be understood to be a hardware component. The program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the present disclosure when being loaded into the UE 105. One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the DE 105.

The UE 105 may comprise a memory 1003 comprising one or more memory units. The memory 1003 is arranged to be used to store obtained information, store data, configurations, schedulings, and applications etc. to perform the methods herein when being executed in the UE 105.

The UE 105 may receive information from, e.g. the network node 101 , through a receiving port 1005. The receiving port 1005 may be, for example, connected to one or more antennas in UE 105. The UE 105 may receive information from another structure in the communications system 100 through the receiving port 1005. Since the receiving port 1005 may be in communication with the processor 1001 , the receiving port 1005 may then send the received information to the processor 1001 . The receiving port 1005 may also be configured to receive other information.

The processor 1001 in the UE 105 may be configured to transmit or send information to e.g. network node 101 or another structure in the communications system 100, through a sending port 1008, which may be in communication with the processor 1001 , and the memory 1003.

The UE 105 may comprise the determining module 130, the obtaining module 133, the comparing module 135, the selecting module 138, the initiating module 140, other module(s) 144 etc.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the determining module 130, the obtaining module 133, the comparing module 135, the selecting module 138, the initiating module 140, other module(s) 144 etc. described above may refer to a combination of analogue and digital circuits, and/or one or more processors configured with software and/or firmware, e.g., stored in memory, that, when executed by the one or more processors such as the processor 1001 , perform as described above. One or more of these processors, as well as the other digital hardware, may be comprised in a single Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or several processors and various digital hardware may be distributed among several separate components, whether individually packaged or assembled into a System-on-a-Chip (SoC).

The different modules 130-144 described above may be implemented as one or more applications running on one or more processors such as the processor 1001.

Thus, the methods described herein for the UE 105 may be respectively implemented by means of a computer program 1010 product, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor 1001 , cause the at least one processor 1001 to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the UE 105. The computer program 1010 product may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium 1013. The computer-readable storage medium 1013, having stored thereon the computer program 1010, may comprise instructions which, when executed on at least one processor 1001 , cause the at least one processor 1001 to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the UE 105. The computer-readable storage medium 1013 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as a CD ROM disc, or a memory stick. The computer program 1010 product may be stored on a carrier containing the computer program 1010 just described, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or the first computer-readable storage medium 508, as described above.

The UE 105 may comprise a communication interface configured to facilitate communications between the UE 105 and other nodes or devices, e.g., the network node 101 , or another structure. The interface may comprise a transceiver configured to transmit and receive radio signals over an air interface in accordance with a suitable standard.

The UE 105 may comprise the following arrangement depicted in fig. 100b. The UE 105 may comprise a processing circuitry 1101 , e.g., one or more processors such as the processor 1001 , in the UE 105 and the memory 1003. The UE 105 may also comprise a radio circuitry 1103, which may comprise e.g., the receiving port 1005 and the sending port 1008. The processing circuitry 1101 may be configured to, or operable to, perform the method actions according to fig. 4 and fig. 5, in a similar manner as that described in relation to fig. 6a. The radio circuitry 1103 may be configured to set up and maintain at least a wireless connection with the UE 105. Circuitry may be understood herein as a hardware component.

Hence, the present disclosure also relates to the UE 105 operative to operate in the communications system 100. The UE 105 may comprise the processing circuitry 1101 and the memory 1003. The memory 1003 comprises instructions executable by said processing circuitry 1001. The UE 105 is operative to perform the actions described herein in relation to the UE 105, e.g., in fig. 4 and fig. 5

Further Extensions and Variations

A telecommunication network may be connected via an intermediate network to a host computer.

With reference to fig. 7, a communication system comprises telecommunication network 3210 such as the communications system 100, for example, a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network 3211 , such as a radio access network, and core network 3214. Access network 3211 comprises a plurality of network nodes 105. For example, base stations 3212a, 3212b, 3212c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 3213a, 3213b, 3213c. Each base station 3212a, 3212b, 3212c is connectable to core network 3214 over a wired or wireless connection 3215. A plurality of user equipments, such as the UE 105 may be comprised in the communications system 100. In fig. 7, a first UE 3291 located in coverage area 3213c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 3212c. A second UE 3292 in coverage area 3213a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 3212a. While a plurality of UEs 3291 , 3292 are illustrated in this example, it is 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 3212. Any of the UEs 3291 , 3292 may be considered examples of the UE 105.

Telecommunication network 3210 is itself connected to host computer 3230, 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. Host computer 3230 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 3221 and 3222 between telecommunication network 3210 and host computer 3230 may extend directly from core network 3214 to host computer 3230 or may go via an optional intermediate network 3220. Intermediate network 3220 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network 3220, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, intermediate network 3220 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system of fig. 7 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs 3291 , 3292 and host computer 3230. The connectivity may be described as an Over-The-Top (OTT) connection 3250. Host computer 3230 and the connected UEs 3291 , 3292 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection 3250, using access network 3211 , core network 3214, any intermediate network 3220 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTT connection 3250 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection 3250 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, base station 3212 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from host computer 3230 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE 3291 . Similarly, base station 3212 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 3291 towards the host computer 3230.

In relation to figs. 8-12 which are described next, it may be understood that the base station may be considered an example of the network node 101 .

Fig. 8 illustrates an example of host computer communicating via a network node 101 with a UE 105 over a partially wireless connection.

The UE 105 and the network node 101 , e.g., a base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to fig. 8. In communication system 3330, such as the communications system 100, host computer 3310 comprises hardware 3315 comprising communication interface 3316 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system 3300. Host computer 3310 comprises processing circuitry 3318, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. In particular, processing circuitry 3318 may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Host computer 3310 comprises software 3311 , which is stored in or accessible by host computer 3310 and executable by processing circuitry 3318. Software 3311 comprises host application 3312. Host application 3312 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE 3330 connecting via OTT connection 3350 terminating at UE 3330 and host computer 3310. In providing the service to the remote user, host application 3312 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTT connection 3350.

Communication system 3300 comprises the network node 101 exemplified in fig. 8 as a base station 3320 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 3325 enabling it to communicate with host computer 3310 and with UE 3330. Hardware 3325 may comprise communication interface 3326 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system 3300, as well as radio interface 3327 for setting up and maintaining at least wireless connection 3370 with the UE 105, exemplified in fig. 330 as a UE 3330 located in a coverage area served by base station 3320. Communication interface 3326 may be configured to facilitate connection 3360 to host computer 3310. Connection 3360 may be direct, or it may pass through a core network (not shown in fig. 330) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. Hardware 3325 of base station 3320 comprises processing circuitry 3328, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Base station 3320 has software 3321 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

Communication system 3300 comprises UE 3330 already referred to. It’s hardware 3335 may comprise radio interface 3337 configured to set up and maintain wireless connection 3370 with a base station serving a coverage area in which UE 3330 is currently located. Hardware 3335 of UE 3330 comprises processing circuitry 3338, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. UE 3330 comprises software 3331 , which is stored in or accessible by UE 3330 and executable by processing circuitry 3338. Software 3331 comprises client application 3332. Client application 3332 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 3330, with the support of host computer 3310. In host computer 3310, an executing host application 3312 may communicate with the executing client application 3332 via OTT connection 3350 terminating at UE 3330 and host computer 3310. In providing the service to the user, client application 3332 may receive request data from host application 3312 and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection 3350 may transfer both the request data and the user data. Client application 3332 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

It is noted that host computer 3310, base station 3320 and UE 3330 illustrated in fig. 8 may be similar or identical to host computer 3230, one of base stations 3212a, 3212b, 3212c and one of UEs 3291 , 3292 of fig. 7, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in fig. 8 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of fig. 7.

In fig. 8, OTT connection 3350 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between host computer 3310 and UE 3330 via base station 3320, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from UE 3330 or from the service provider operating host computer 3310, or both. While OTT connection 3350 is active, the network infrastructure may take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing, e.g. based on load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network.

There may be a wireless connection 3370 between UE 3330 and base station 3320. The present disclosure improves the performance of OTT services provided to UE 3330 using OTT connection 3350, in which wireless connection 3370 forms the last segment. The present disclosure may improve the spectrum efficiency, and latency, and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time, better responsiveness and extended battery lifetime.

A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the present disclosure improves. There may be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 3350 between host computer 3310 and UE 3330, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 3350 may be implemented in software 3311 and hardware 3315 of host computer 3310 or in software 3331 and hardware 3335 of UE 3330, or both. Sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which OTT connection 3350 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 software 3311 , 3331 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of OTT connection 3350 may comprise message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect base station 3320, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to base station 3320. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. Measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating host computer 3310’s measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that software 3311 and 3331 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or dummy messages, using OTT connection 3350 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

Fig. 9 illustrates an example of methods implemented in a communication system comprising a host computer, a base station and a UE 105. Fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system. The communication system comprises a host computer, a base station and a UE 105 which may be those described with reference to fig. 7 and fig. 8. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to fig. 9 will be comprised in this section. In step 3410, the host computer provides user data. In substep 3411 (which may be optional) of step 3410, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 3420, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In step 3430 (which may be optional), the base station transmits, to the UE 105, the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer initiated. In step 3440 (which may also be optional), the DE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

Fig. 10 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system comprising a host computer, a base station and a UE 105. Fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system. The communication system comprises a host computer, a base station and a UE 105 which may be those described with reference to fig. 7 and fig. 8. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to fig. 10 will be comprised in this section. In step 3510 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown) the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 3520, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE 105. The transmission may pass via the base station. In step 3530 (which may be optional), the UE 105 receives the user data carried in the transmission.

Fig. 11 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system comprising a host computer, a base station and a UE 105. Fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system. The communication system comprises a host computer, a network node 101 and a UE 105 which may be those described with reference to fig. 7 and fig. 8. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to fig. 11 will be comprised in this section. In step 3610 (which may be optional), the UE 105 receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally, or alternatively, in step 3620, the UE 105 provides user data. In substep 3621 (which may be optional) of step 3620, the UE 105 provides the user data by executing a client application. In substep 3611 (which may be optional) of step 3610, the UE 105 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 consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific way the user data was provided, the UE 105 initiates, in substep 3630 (which may be optional), transmission of the user data to the host computer. In step 3640 of the method, the host computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE 105. Fig. 12 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system comprising a host computer, a base station and a LIE 105. Fig. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system. The communication system comprises a host computer, a base station and a UE 105 which may be those described with reference to fig. 7 and fig. 8. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to fig. 12 will be comprised in this section. In step 3710 (which may be optional), the base station receives user data from the UE 105. In step 3720 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step 3730 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

The present disclosure may be summarized as follows:

A base station is configured to communicate with a UE 105. The base station comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the network node 101 .

A communication system 100 comprises a host computer, and the communication system 100 comprises:

• processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and

• a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a UE 105,

• wherein the cellular network comprises a network node 101 having a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station’s processing circuitry configured to perform one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the network node 101 .

The communication system 100 may comprise the network node 101 .

The communication system 100 may comprise the UE 105. The UE 105 is configured to communicate with the network node 101 .

The communication system 101 , wherein: • the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and

• the UE 105 comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.

A method implemented in a network node 101 . The method comprises one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the network node 101 .

A method implemented in a communication system 100 comprising a host computer, a base station and a UE 105, 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

105 via a cellular network comprising the network node 101 , wherein the network node 101 performs one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the network node 101.

The method may comprise:

• at the network node 101 , transmitting the user data.

The user data may be provided at the host computer by executing a host application, and the method may comprise:

• at the UE 105, executing a client application associated with the host application.

A UE 105 configured to communicate with a network node 101 . The UE 105 comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the UE 105.

A communication system 100 comprises a host computer. The communication system 100 comprises:

• processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and

• a communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a UE 105, • wherein the UE 105 comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE’s processing circuitry configured to perform one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the UE 105.

The communication system 100 may comprise the UE 105.

The communication system 100, wherein the cellular network comprises a network node 101 configured to communicate with the UE 105.

The communication system 100, 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.

A method implemented in a UE 105, comprising one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the UE 105.

A method implemented in a communication system 100 comprising a host computer, a network node 101 and a UE 105, 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 105 via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the UE 105 performs one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the UE 105.

The method may comprise:

• at the UE 105, receiving the user data from the network node 101 .

A UE 105 configured to communicate with a network node 101 , the UE 105 comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the UE 105.

A communication system 100 comprising a host computer comprising: • a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a UE 105 to a network node 101 ,

• wherein the UE 105 comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE’s processing circuitry configured to: perform one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the UE 105.

The communication system 100 may comprise the UE 105.

The communication system 100 may comprise the network node 101 , wherein the network node 101 comprises a radio interface configured to communicate with the UE 105 and a communication interface configured to forward to the host computer the user data carried by a transmission from the UE 105 to the base station.

The communication system 100, 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.

The communication system 100, 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.

A method implemented in a UE 105, comprising one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the UE 105.

The method may comprise:

• providing user data; and

• forwarding the user data to a host computer via the transmission to the network node 101. A method implemented in a communication system 100 comprising a host computer, a network node 101 and a LIE 105, the method comprising:

• at the host computer, receiving user data transmitted to the network node 101 from the DE 105, wherein the UE 105 performs one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the UE 105.

The method may comprise:

• at the UE 105, providing the user data to the network node 101 .

The method may comprise:

• at the UE 105, 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.

The method may comprise:

• at the UE 105, executing a client application; and

• at the UE 105, 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.

A network node 101 configured to communicate with a UE 105, the network node 101 comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the network node 101 .

A communication system 100 comprising a host computer comprising a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a UE 105 to a base station, wherein the network node 101 comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station’s processing circuitry configured to perform one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the network node 101 .

The communication system 100 may comprise the network node 101 . The communication system 100 may comprise the UE 105, wherein the LIE 105 is configured to communicate with the network node 101.

The communication system 100 wherein:

• the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application;

• the UE 105 is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data to be received by the host computer.

A method implemented in a network node 101 , comprising one or more of the actions described herein as performed by any of the network node 101 .

A method implemented in a communication system comprising a host computer, a network node 101 and a UE 105, the method comprising:

• at the host computer, receiving, from the network node 101 , user data originating from a transmission which the base station has received from the UE 105, wherein the UE 105 performs one or more of the actions described herein as performed by the UE 105.

The method may comprise:

• at the network node 101 , receiving the user data from the UE 105.

The method may comprise:

• at the network node 101 , initiating a transmission of the received user data to the host computer.

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.

In general, the usage of “first”, “second”, “third”, “fourth”, and/or “fifth” herein may be understood to be an arbitrary way to denote different elements or entities, and may be understood to not confer a cumulative or chronological character to the nouns they modify, unless otherwise noted, based on context.

The present disclosure is not limited to the above. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used. Therefore, disclosure herein should not be taken as limiting the scope. A feature may be combined with one or more other features.

The term “at least one of A and B” should be understood to mean “only A, only B, or both A and B.”, where A and B are any parameter, number, indication used herein etc.

It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof. It should also be noted that the words “a” or “an” preceding an element do not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements.

The term “configured to” used herein may also be referred to as “arranged to”, “adapted to”, “capable of” or “operative to”.

The steps of the methods may be performed in another order than the order in which they appear herein.

Claims

37 CLAIMS

1. A method performed by a User Equipment, UE, (105) for initiating data to be transmitted in a communications system (100), the method comprising: determining (401 , 501 ) that the UE (105) has data to transmit; obtaining (502) one or more parameters associated with the UE’s coverage and/or link quality; comparing (402, 405, 503) the one or more parameters with one or more thresholds; selecting (403, 406, 407, 504), based on a result of the comparing, a transmission configuration from a plurality of candidate transmission configurations to be used when transmitting the data; and initiating (404, 506) the data to be transmitted according to the selected transmission configuration.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the comparing (402, 405) the one or more parameters with one or more thresholds comprises one or both of the following steps: comparing (402) the one or more parameters with a first threshold; and/or comparing (405) the one or more parameters with a second threshold.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein if a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters exceeds the first threshold, then a first transmission configuration is selected.

4. The method according to any of claims 2-3, wherein if a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters does not exceed the first threshold, then the comparing (402, 405) the one or more parameters with one or more thresholds comprises: comparing (405) the one or more parameters with a second threshold.

5. The method according to any of claims 2-4, wherein if a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters exceeds the second threshold, then a second transmission configuration is selected. 38

6. The method according to any of claims 2-5, wherein if a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters does not exceed the second threshold, then a third transmission configuration is selected.

7. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the transmission configuration is a Small Data Transmission, SDT, configuration or an Early Data Transmission, EDT, configuration.

8. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the data is user plane data.

9. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the data is small data or early data.

10. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more parameters are associated with one or more of the following:

• Reference Signal Received Power, RSRP,

• Reference Signal Received Quality, RSRQ,

• Received Signal Strength Indicator, RSSI,

• Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio, SINR,

• Signal to Noise plus Interference Ratio, SNIR, and/or

• Signal to Noise Ratio, SNR.

11 . The method according to any of the preceding claims, comprising: selecting (403, 406, 407, 505) at least one scheduling parameter associated with the selected transmission configuration, wherein the scheduling parameter is at least one of a Modulation and Coding Scheme, MCS, a number or resource blocks, and/or other scheduling parameter(s).

12. The method according to any claim 11 , wherein the at least one scheduling parameter is selected from a coverage zone determined by the one or more parameters.

13. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the candidate transmission configurations are Random Access, RA, based transmission configurations, and wherein the RA-based transmission configurations are RA based Small Data Transmission, SDT, configurations.

14. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more thresholds are comprised in one or more of the candidate transmission configurations.

15. A User Equipment, UE, (105) for initiating data to be transmitted in a communications system (100), the UE (105) being configured to: determine that the UE (105) has data to transmit; obtain one or more parameters associated with the UE’s coverage and/or link quality; compare the one or more parameters with one or more thresholds; select, based on a result of the comparing, a transmission configuration from a plurality of candidate transmission configurations to be used when transmitting the data; and to initiate the data to be transmitted according to the selected transmission configuration.

16. The UE (105) according to claim 15, configured to: compare the one or more parameters with a first threshold; and/or compare the one or more parameters with a second threshold.

17. The UE (105) according to claim 16, wherein if a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters exceeds the first threshold, then a first transmission configuration is selected.

18. The UE (105) according to any of claims 16-17, wherein if a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters does not exceed the first threshold, then the UE (105) is configured to: compare the one or more parameters with a second threshold.

19. The UE (105) according to any of claims 16-18, wherein if a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters exceeds the second threshold, then a second transmission configuration is selected.

20. The UE (105) according to any of claims 16-19, wherein if a result of the comparing is that the one or more parameters does not exceed the second threshold, then a third transmission configuration is selected.

21 . The UE (105) according to any of claims 15-20, wherein the transmission configuration is a Small Data Transmission, SDT, configuration or an Early Data Transmission, EDT, configuration.

22. The UE (105) according to any of claims 15-21 , wherein the data is user plane data.

23. The UE (105) according to any of claims 15-22, wherein the data is small data or early data.

24. The UE (105) according to any of claims 15-23, wherein the one or more parameters are associated with one or more of the following:

• Reference Signal Received Power, RSRP,

• Reference Signal Received Quality, RSRQ,

• Received Signal Strength Indicator, RSSI,

• Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio, SINR,

• Signal to Noise plus Interference Ratio, SNIR, and/or

• Signal to Noise Ratio, SNR.

25. The UE (105) according to any of claims 15-24, configured to: select at least one scheduling parameter associated with the selected transmission configuration, wherein the scheduling parameter is at least one of Modulation and Coding Scheme, MCS, a number or resource blocks, and/or other scheduling parameter(s).

26. The UE (105) according to any of claims 15-25, wherein the scheduling parameter is selected from a coverage zone determined by the one or more parameters.

27. The LIE (105) according to any of claims 15-26, wherein the candidate transmission configurations are Random Access, RA, based transmission configurations, and wherein the RA-based transmission configurations are RA based Small Data Transmission, SDT, configurations.

28. The LIE (105) according to any of claims 15-27, wherein the one or more thresholds are comprised in one or more of the candidate transmission configurations.

29. 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 one of claims 1-14.

30. A carrier comprising the computer program of claim 29, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal or computer readable storage medium.