WO2024171135A1 - Systems and methods for optimization of time division duplex slot utilization for air to ground - Google Patents

Abstract

A method (1300) by a network node (510) for optimization of Time Division Duplex, TDD, slot utilization includes obtaining (1302) information indicating a Round Trip Time, RTT, between the network node and a User Equipment, UE (512) Based on the RTT, the network node inserts (1304) a guard period within a downlink, DL, transmission to the UE.

Description

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OPTIMIZATION OF TIME DIVISION DUPLEX SLOT

UTILIZATION FOR AIR TO GROUND

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to wireless communications and, more particularly, systems and methods for optimization of Time Division Duplex (TDD) slot utilization for Air to Ground (ATG).

BACKGROUND

Air to Ground (ATG) is a current Work Item in 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) with an aim of enabling communication using New Radio (NR) between aircraft and base stations on the ground. The User Equipments (UEs) are expected to be specialized equipment mounted on the body of the aircraft, potentially with an antenna array in order to achieve the link budget. The base stations are expected to be dedicated to ATG communications. It is expected that regular NR base stations can be used for ATG with some adjustment to antenna configurations and direction. It is not altogether ruled out that base stations deployed for ground networks could be used for ATG.

The ATG UE will be used to distribute internet connectivity to passengers within the aircraft. The means by which the data is distributed within the aircraft is unspecified. The traffic is likely to be Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) although other types of traffic such as latency critical or high reliability are not ruled out. ATG may be used for providing commercial passenger aircraft with internet connectivity. Considering the potentially large amount of passengers in a commercial aircraft, the capacity need is potentially significant.

The cell range of ATG may vary, and a range of up to 200-300km is the design target. Doppler shift between the aircraft and the base station (BS) related to typical aircraft cruising speeds is to be expected. The aircraft may typically be at cruising altitude (10-11km), but operation during take off / landing down to some minimum altitude (typically around 3km) may be expected.

It is expected that the aircraft will be served at a long distance from the BS. A Line of Sight (LoS) path is expected to exist between the aircraft and BS and, thus, despite the distance a high Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) can be achieved. It is expected that the aircraft will be served from a distance of around 20-50km from the BS up to the maximum distance. When the aircraft is closer than the minimum distance from the BS, the aircraft will be served from a more distant BS. This is due to the fact that the BS antenna may not point directly upwards. However, mounting of a directly upwards pointing antenna such that the aircraft can be served when closer to the BS is not ruled out.

FIGURE 1 illustrates overlapping coverage areas pointing towards horizon. Specifically, FIGURE 1 illustrates three BSs providing overlapping coverage areas. Beamforming avoids interference between coverage areas.

FIGURE 2 illustrates an aircraft at maximum altitude and minimum distance to ATG BS.

In the initial Work Item, three bands are considered: nl, n78 and n79. nl is an Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) band, whereas n78 and n79 are Time Division Duplex (TDD) bands. The TDD bands are desirable because of the increased bandwidth that is available and the smaller antenna array size. It is claimed that trials of ATG have been carried out in China with the TDD bands.

It is expected that ATG BS are likely to deployed in rural areas, but within the geographical area of, or even co-located with terrestrial networks. The ATG needs to be synchronized with the terrestrial networks in order to avoid inter-operator interference.

In order to facilitate demodulation, it is anticipated that so-called Doppler precompensation will be carried out. Doppler pre-compensation implies that the UE is aware of its Doppler with respect to the BS so that the Doppler can be compensated in the receiver. In the transmitter, the transmission frequency is offset according to the Doppler.

It is also anticipated that the UE will implement a timing advance (TA) based on a timing pre-compensation. The propagation time between the UE and BS will be known to the UE, and the UE will advance its uplink transmission in time according to the propagation delay. This is in particular important when making initial access using Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), since the network is unable to provide timing advance information to the UE prior to PRACH transmission.

The pre-compensation may be implemented using the same signaling as devised for satellites as part of the Non-Terrestrial -Networks (NTN) WI. In this case, the SIB 19 within the broadcast information includes information on the ATG BS position. The ATG UE needs to have positioning using techniques such as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and based on this can calculate it’s distance from and velocity with respect to the BS and in turn, the Doppler and time pre-compensation. Acquisition of the pre-compensation information by means other than the SIB 19 signaling has not been ruled out.

There currently exist certain challenge(s), however. For example, for an ATG TDD system, the ATG UE must implement a large TA for its uplink (UL) transmission in order that, after the propagation delay to the gNodeB (gNB) or other BS, the reception of the UL signal from the UE is aligned to the UL slot and symbol timing at the gNB.

The downlink (DL) signal arriving at the ATG UE will be delayed in respect to the gNB by the propagation time from gNB to UE. However, the UE must start transmitting UL one propagation delay early. This means that from the UE perspective, the UL transmission must start by 2 * propagation time (i.e., round trip time (RTT)) earlier than the end of the DL signal arriving at the UE.

A UE cannot simultaneously transmit and receive. Thus, a guard period equal to the RTT is necessary, in which the gNB neither transmits nor receives.

The cell size for ATG might be up to 300 km. For large cells, the RTT can be up to 2 msec. TDD switching can occur every 5 msec. It is important that TDD switching is frequent due to UL latency and control signaling.

Reserving a 2 msec guard period within each 5 msec represents a very large overhead for the guard period. Even for small cell sizes, a large guard period is required; for example, for a 100 km cell radius, a 0.67 msec guard period may be required.

The ATG network could switch less often in order to reduce the overhead associated with switching. However, the ATG network probably cannot use UL slots of any Terrestrial Network (TN) in the geographical area for downlink transmissions as it would cause gNB-gNB interoperator interference. Thus, assuming that the TN switches UL-DL with a normal frequency, the ATG network would still have a poor slot utilization with such a solution. Furthermore, making fewer DL-UL switches would significantly increase UL latency and potentially reduce UL coverage and throughput.

SUMMARY

Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, methods and systems are provided for making the gNB aware of the propagation time between the ATG UE and the gNB.

According to certain embodiments, a method by a network node for optimization of TDD slot utilization includes obtaining information indicating a RTT between the network node and a UE. Based on the RTT, the network node inserts a guard period within a DL transmission to the UE.

According to certain embodiments, a network node for optimization of TDD slot utilization is configured to obtain information indicating a RTT between the network node and a UE. Based on the RTT, the network node inserts a guard period within a DL transmission to the UE. Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage (s). For example, certain embodiments may provide a technical advantage of enabling a significant reduction of the overhead of the guard period. For example, the guard period necessary for each individual UE can be at least halved due to the fact that the BS is aware of when it can continue to schedule DL data prior to the UE UL transmission.

As another example, certain embodiments may provide a technical advantage of allowing the guard period to be configured individually for each UE rather than according to the cell radius. Thus, for UEs closer to the gNB than the cell edge, the guard period can be minimized.

Other advantages may be readily apparent to one having skill in the art. Certain embodiments may have none, some, or all of the recited advantages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the disclosed embodiments and their features and advantages, reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates overlapping coverage areas pointing towards horizon;

FIGURE 2 illustrates an aircraft at maximum altitude and minimum distance to ATG BS;

FIGURE 3 illustrates the TDD structure from the UE perspective, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 4 illustrates another example TDD structure, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 5 illustrates yet another example TDD structure, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 6 illustrates still another example TDD structure, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 7 illustrates an example communication system, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 8 illustrates an example UE, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 9 illustrates an example network node, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 10 illustrates a block diagram of a host, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 11 illustrates a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 12 illustrates a host communicating via a network node with a UE over a partially wireless connection, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 13 illustrates an example method by a UE for optimization of TDD slot utilization, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 14 illustrates an example method by a network node for optimization of TDD slot utilization, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 15 illustrates another example method by a network node for optimization of TDD slot utilization, according to certain embodiments; and

FIGURE 16 illustrates another example method by a UE for optimization of TDD slot utilization, according to certain embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

As used herein, ‘node’ can be a network node or a UE. Examples of network nodes are NodeB, base station (BS), multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB (eNB), gNodeB (gNB), Master eNB (MeNB), Secondary eNB (SeNB), integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), Central Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Distributed Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Baseband Unit, Centralized Baseband, C-RAN, access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Remote Radio Head (RRH), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), core network node (e.g. Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), etc.), Operations & Maintenance (O&M), Operations Support System (OSS), Self Organizing Network (SON), positioning node (e.g. E- SMLC), etc.

Another example of a node is user equipment (UE), which is a non-limiting term and refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and/or with another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device to device (D2D) UE, vehicular to vehicular (V2V), machine type UE, MTC UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipment (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), Unified Serial Bus (USB) dongles, etc.

In some embodiments, generic terminology, “radio network node” or simply “network node (NW node)”, is used. It can be any kind of network node which may comprise base station, radio base station, base transceiver station, base station controller, network controller, evolved Node B (eNB), Node B, gNodeB (gNB), relay node, access point, radio access point, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH), Central Unit (e.g. in agNB), Distributed Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Baseband Unit, Centralized Baseband, C-RAN, access point (AP), etc.

The term radio access technology (RAT), may refer to any RAT such as, for example, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRA), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRA), narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT), WiFi, Bluetooth, next generation RAT, NR, 4G, 5G, etc. Any of the equipment denoted by the terms node, network node or radio network node may be capable of supporting a single or multiple RATs.

The term signal or radio signal used herein can be any physical signal or physical channel. Examples of downlink (DL) physical signals are reference signal (RS) such as Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) signals in SS/PBCH block (SSB), discovery reference signal (DRS), Cell Specific Reference Signal (CRS), Positioning Reference Signal (PRS), etc. RS may be periodic. For example, RS occasions carrying one or more RSs may occur with certain periodicity (e.g., 20 ms, 40 ms, etc.). The RS may also be aperiodic.

Each SSB carries New Radio-Primary Synchronization Signal (NR-PSS), New RadioSecondary Synchronization Signal (NR-SSS) and New Radio-Physical Broadcast Channel (NR- PBCH) in four successive symbols. One or multiple Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs) are transmitted in one SSB burst which is repeated with certain periodicity such as, for example, 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, and 160 ms. The UE is configured with information about SSB on cells of certain carrier frequency by one or more SS/PBCH block measurement timing configuration (SMTC) configurations. The SMTC configuration comprising parameters such as SMTC periodicity, SMTC occasion length in time or duration, SMTC time offset with regard to reference time (e.g., serving cell’s SFN) etc. Therefore, SMTC occasion may also occur with certain periodicity (e.g., 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, and 160 ms). Examples of uplink (UL) physical signals are reference signals such as Sounding Reference Signals (SRS), Demodulation Reference Signals (DMRS), etc. The term physical channel refers to any channel carrying higher layer information e.g. data, control etc. Examples of physical channels are Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Short PUSCH (sPUCCH), Short PDSCH (sPDSCH), Short PUCCH (sPUCCH), Short PUSCH (sPUSCH), MTC PDCCH (MPDCCH), Narrowband PBCH (NPBCH), Narrowband PDCCH (NPDCCH), Narrowband PDSCH (NPDSCH), Narrowband PUSCH (NPUSCH), Enhanced PDCCH (E-PDCCH), etc. The term time resource used herein may correspond to any type of physical resource or radio resource expressed in terms of length of time. Examples of time resources are: symbol, time slot, subframe, radio frame, TTI, interleaving time, slot, sub-slot, mini-slot, system frame number (SFN) cycle, hyper-SFN (H-SFN) cycle etc.

According to certain embodiments, methods and systems are provided for making the gNB aware of the propagation time between the ATG UE and the gNB. For example the ATG UE may indicate its current timing advance, or its position or from external data such as aircraft position indications. The gNB then configures a guard period at the appropriate time and for as short as possible.

According to certain embodiments, the UE is configured such that, from the UE point of view, a switch to UL can occur as soon as DL reception finishes, allowing for a short period for RX to TX switching. DL reception can resume once UL transmission is complete at the UE, although generally there may not be DL transmissions available immediately following the UL due to avoidance of DL/UL clashes at the BS side. Although the UE may need to wait some time after UL transmission, the guard period overhead is reduced compared to the baseline of implementing a guard period with no knowledge of the UE timing.

According to certain embodiments, for example, a method for optimizing the utilization of available slots in a TDD system with a large propagation RTT may include one or more of: acquiring, at the network, knowledge of the RTT between the network and the UE; inserting a guard period within the network DL transmission based on the RTT; continuing DL transmission on the network side following the guard period, if possible, dependent on the RTT and UL duration; and

- maximizing the utilization of DL slots based on knowledge of the RTT to the UE.

As well as avoiding TX/RX collisions at the UE, a short guard period is needed prior to each TX-RX or RX-TX switch at the B S and UE in order to accommodate the transient time . Since the transient time will be very short compared to the large guard periods considered due to the cell size and, to make the discussion more convenient to follow, the need to GP to accommodate switching time is ignored herein. In implementation, however, some additional short guard periods may need to be inserted within slots to accommodate switching time in certain cases.

Consider a first example scenario that includes a 300km ATG cell as a baseline scenario. The round trip time is 2msec. The TDD frame is organized as 10, 0.5msec slots number 1-10, for SCS = 30 kHz. Slots 1-7 should be DL slots, slot 8 a “special” slot (with most symbols configured for downlink) and slots 9 and 10 are allocated for UL. Due to the propagation time to the cell edge, the gNB needs to allocate slots 5, 6, 7 and 8 as a guard period, for this SCS = 30 kHz example. However, all SCS is possible such as, for example 15, 20, 60, 120, 240, 480 and 960 kHz and differs only by scaling the number of slots based on the example considered here.

FIGURE 3 illustrates an example TDD structure 100 from the UE perspective, according to certain embodiments. As depicted, the UL begins to receive the DL part of each frame with 2 slots, or 1 msec delay. In order that the UE UL transmission arrives at the gNB at the correct time, the UE needs to switch to UL after receiving DL slot 4. After transmitting the two UL slots, at the UE, the timing is such that slots 7 and 8 occur, which are guard slots. Following the guard slots, the following two slots, marked as “X” in the figure are slots in which the UE does not receive any data because they correspond to the slots during which the gNB received the UL transmission, delayed by 1 msec.

FIGURE 4 illustrates another example TDD structure 200, according to certain embodiments. In this example embodiment, the ATG is located at the ATG cell edge. The gNB receives information on the propagation delay from the UE and allocates a guard period starting at twice the propagation delay (i.e., the RTT) earlier than the UL period for a duration equal to the UL period. However, immediately after this guard period, the gNB resumes transmitting DL data to the UE until the UL period commences.

At the UE, the UE is configured such that it applies TA to the UL signal (as usual), and then assumes that DL data can commence immediately after it has finished transmitting the UL signal, as depicted in FIGURE 4. In this way, half of the guard period slots can be removed. From the UE perspective, there is no guard period; however, there are two slots within which the UE does not receive downlink data (due to no DL transmission during those slots because of UL reception at the gNB).

In a second example scenario the cell size is 300 km, but the ATG UE is located at a distance of 150 km from the gNB. The propagation time is 0.5 msec or 1 slot. FIGURE 5 illustrates an example TDD structure 300 for such a scenario, according to certain embodiments.

In the example scenario, the gNB is made aware that the propagation time is 0.5msec. The gNB provides a guard period equal to the propagation time of 0.5msec at 2 slots, or one RTT prior to the UL slots at the gNB, i.e. in slot 7. This is as before, in first example, but scaled to smaller RTT. Due to the fact that the UL is 2 slots in duration, the gNB cannot transmit to the UE in slot 8 because, after propagation delay, the UE will still be transmitting UL during that time. From the UE perspective, the UE receives the first 6 DL slots and then switches to UL. After transmitting UL, the UE is does not receive any DL in the following 2 slots, as these slots correspond to the time at which the gNB was receiving the UL signal.

In a third example scenario, the UE is located at 75 km from the gNB. The propagation time is now 0.25 msec, or half of one slot. FIGURE 6 illustrates an example TDD structure 400 for such a scenario, according to certain embodiments. Specifically, as depicted, the gNB transmits DL for slots 1-7. A half slot guard period, again equal to the propagation time in slots, is inserted at 1 RTT = 0.5msec (1 slot) prior to the UL period at the start of slot 8. The gNB cannot transmit during the remainder of slot 8 because the DL transmission would overlap with the UE UL transmission.

From the UE perspective, the UE receives the first 7 DL slots and then switches to UL. After the UL slots, the UE does not receive anything for 1 slot, since this slot corresponds to the second UL slot reception at the gNB.

FIGURE 7 shows an example of a communication system 500 in accordance with some embodiments. In the example, the communication system 500 includes a telecommunication network 502 that includes an access network 504, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 506, which includes one or more core network nodes 508. The access network 504 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 510a and 510b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 510), or any other similar 3GPP access node or non-3GPP access point. The network nodes 510 facilitate direct or indirect connection of UE, such as by connecting UEs 512a, 512b, 512c, and 512d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 512) to the core network 506 over one or more wireless connections.

Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 500 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 500 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

The UEs 512 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 510 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 510 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 512 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 502 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 502.

In the depicted example, the core network 506 connects the network nodes 510 to one or more hosts, such as host 516. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 506 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 508) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 508. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more ofaMSC, MME, Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).

The host 516 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 504 and/or the telecommunication network 502, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 516 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

As a whole, the communication system 500 of FIGURE 7 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

In some examples, the telecommunication network 502 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 502 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 502. For example, the telecommunications network 502 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)ZMassive loT services to yet further UEs.

In some examples, the UEs 512 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 504 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 504. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi -radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

In the example, the hub 514 communicates with the access network 504 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 512c and/or 512d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 510b). In some examples, the hub 514 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 514 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 506 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 514 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 510, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 514. As another example, the hub 514 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 514 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 514 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 514 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 514 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices. The hub 514 may have a constant/persistent or intermitent connection to the network node 510b. The hub 514 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 514 and UEs (e.g., UE 512c and/or 512d), and between the hub 514 and the core network 506. In other examples, the hub 514 is connected to the core network 506 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 514 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 504 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 510 while still connected via the hub 514 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 514 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 510b. In other embodiments, the hub 514 may be a nondedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 510b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.

FIGURE 8 shows a UE 600 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

A UE may support device -to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter). The UE 600 includes processing circuitry 602 that is operatively coupled via a bus 604 to an input/output interface 606, a power source 608, a memory 610, a communication interface 612, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIGURE 8. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

The processing circuitry 602 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 610. The processing circuitry 602 may be implemented as one or more hardware -implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field- programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 602 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

In the example, the input/output interface 606 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 600. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

In some embodiments, the power source 608 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 608 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 608 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 600 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 608. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 608 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 600 to which power is supplied.

The memory 610 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 610 includes one or more application programs 614, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 616. The memory 610 may store, for use by the UE 600, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

The memory 610 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 610 may allow the UE 600 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 610, which may be or comprise a device -readable storage medium.

The processing circuitry 602 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 612. The communication interface 612 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 622. The communication interface 612 may include one ormore transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 618 and/or a receiver 620 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 618 and receiver 620 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 622) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 612 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/intemet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 612, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or itemtracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 600 shown in FIGURE 8.

As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

FIGURE 9 shows a network node 700 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NRNodeBs (gNBs)).

Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

The network node 700 includes a processing circuitry 702, a memory 704, a communication interface 706, and a power source 708. The network node 700 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 700 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 700 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 704 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 710 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 700 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 700, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 700.

The processing circuitry 702 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 700 components, such as the memory 704, to provide network node 700 functionality.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 702 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 702 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 712 and baseband processing circuitry 714. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 712 and the baseband processing circuitry 714 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 712 and baseband processing circuitry 714 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

The memory 704 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 702. The memory 704 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 702 and utilized by the network node 700. The memory 704 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 702 and/or any data received via the communication interface 706. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 702 and memory 704 is integrated.

The communication interface 706 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 706 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 716 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 706 also includes radio frontend circuitry 718 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 710. Radio front-end circuitry 718 comprises fdters 720 and amplifiers 722. The radio front-end circuitry 718 may be connected to an antenna 710 and processing circuitry 702. The radio frontend circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 710 and processing circuitry 702. The radio front-end circuitry 718 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 718 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 720 and/or amplifiers 722. The radio signal may then be transmited via the antenna 710. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 710 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 718. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 702. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 700 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 718, instead, the processing circuitry 702 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 710. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 712 is part of the communication interface 706. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 706 includes one or more ports or terminals 716, the radio front-end circuitry 718, and the RF transceiver circuitry 712, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 706 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 714, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

The antenna 710 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 710 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 718 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmiting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 710 is separate from the network node 700 and connectable to the network node 700 through an interface or port.

The antenna 710, communication interface 706, and/or the processing circuitry 702 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 710, the communication interface 706, and/or the processing circuitry 702 may be configured to perform any transmiting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmited to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

The power source 708 provides power to the various components of network node 700 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 708 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 700 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 700 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 708. As a further example, the power source 708 may comprise a source of power in the form of a batery or batery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

Embodiments of the network node 700 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIGURE 9 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 700 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 700 and to allow output of information from the network node 700. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 700.

FIGURE 10 is a block diagram of a host 800, which may be an embodiment of the host 516 of FIGURE 7, in accordance with various aspects described herein.

As used herein, the host 800 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and/or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 800 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

The host 800 includes processing circuitry 802 that is operatively coupled via a bus 804 to an input/output interface 806, a network interface 808, a power source 810, and a memory 812. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 6 and 7, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 800.

The memory 812 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 814 and data 816, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for the host 800 or data generated by the host 800 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 800 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 814 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application programs 814 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 800 may select and/or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. The host application programs 814 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

FIGURE 11 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 900 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.

In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 900 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized.

Applications 902 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 900 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

Hardware 904 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 906 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 908a and 908b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 908), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 906 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 908.

The VMs 908 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 906. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 902 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 908, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, a VM 908 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 908, and that part of hardware 904 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 908 on top of the hardware 904 and corresponds to the application 902.

Hardware 904 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 904 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 904 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 910, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 902. In some embodiments, hardware 904 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 912 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

FIGURE 12 shows a communication diagram of a host 1002 communicating via a network node 1004 with a UE 1006 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.

Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE 512a of FIGURE 7 and/or UE 600 of FIGURE 8), network node (such as network node 510a of FIGURE 7 and/or network node 700 of FIGURE 9), and host (such as host 516 of FIGURE 7 and/or host 800 of FIGURE 10) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIGURE 12.

Like host 800, embodiments of host 1002 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 1002 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host 1002 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 1006 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1050 extending between the UE 1006 and host 1002. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 1050.

The network node 1004 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 1002 and UE 1006. The connection 1060 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 506 of FIGURE 7) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

The UE 1006 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 1006 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 1006 with the support of the host 1002. In the host 1002, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 1050 terminating at the UE 1006 and host 1002. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1050 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 1050.

The OTT connection 1050 may extend via a connection 1060 between the host 1002 and the network node 1004 and via a wireless connection 1070 between the network node 1004 and the UE 1006 to provide the connection between the host 1002 and the UE 1006. The connection 1060 and wireless connection 1070, over which the OTT connection 1050 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 1002 and the UE 1006 via the network node 1004, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 1050, in step 1008, the host 1002 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 1006. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 1006 that shares data with the host 1002 without explicit human interaction. In step 1010, the host 1002 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 1006. The host 1002 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 1006. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 1006 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 1006. The transmission may pass via the network node 1004, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 1012, the network node 1004 transmits to the UE 1006 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 1002 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1014, the UE 1006 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 1006 associated with the host application executed by the host 1002.

In some examples, the UE 1006 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 1002. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 1002. Accordingly, in step 1016, the UE 1006 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of the UE 1006. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 1006 initiates, in step 1018, transmission of the user data towards the host 1002 via the network node 1004. In step 1020, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 1004 receives user data from the UE 1006 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 1002. In step 1022, the host 1002 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1006.

One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1006 using the OTT connection 1050, in which the wireless connection 1070 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve one or more of, for example, data rate, latency, and/or power consumption and, thereby, provide benefits such as, for example, reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, improved content resolution, better responsiveness, and/or extended battery lifetime.

In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 1002. As another example, the host 1002 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 1002 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 1002 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host 1002 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 1002 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and/or transmitting data. In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1050 between the host 1002 and UE 1006, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 1002 and/or UE 1006. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 1050 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 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 1050 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 1004. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host 1002. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 1050 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

FIGURE 13 illustrates an example method 1100 by a UE 512 for optimization of TDD slot utilization, according to certain embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment, the method includes a transmitting step 1102, a receiving step at 1104, and a transmitting step at 1106. For example, at step 1102, the UE 512 may transmit, to a network node 510, information indicating a RTT time between the UE and the network node. As another example, at a receiving step 1104, the UE 512 may receive, from a network node 510, a DL transmission. As another example, at a transmitting step 1106, the UE 512 may transmit, to the network node 510, an UL transmission in a first resource after the DL transmission is received.

FIGURE 14 illustrates an example method 1200 by a network node 510 for optimization of TDD slot utilization, according to certain embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment, the method includes an obtaining step at 1202 and an inserting step at 1204. For example, at step 1202, the network node 510 may obtain information indicating a RTT between the network node 510 and a UE 512. At step 1204, for example, the network node 510 may insert a guard period within a DL transmission to the UE 512 based on the RTT.

FIGURE 15 illustrates a method 1300 by a network node 510 for optimization of TDD slot utilization, according to certain embodiments. The method begins at step 1302 when the network node 510 obtains information indicating a RTT between the network node 510 and a UE 512. Based on the RTT, the network node 510 inserts a guard period within a DL transmission to the UE.

In a particular embodiment, obtaining the information indicating the RTT between the network node and the UE includes receiving the information from the UE 512.

In a particular embodiment, the network node 510 determines when to resume the DL transmission after the guard period based on the RTT and a duration of an UL transmission from the UE 512.

In a particular embodiment, the network node 510 schedules at least one resource for resuming the DL transmission after the guard period based on the RTT and a duration of an UL transmission from the UE 512. The network node 510 resumes the DL transmission in the at least one resource.

In a particular embodiment, the at least one resource is scheduled prior to receiving the UL transmission from the UE 512.

In a particular embodiment, the UL transmission is received in a first slot, the at least one resource comprises a second slot occurring after the first slot, and the second slot is determined based on a duration of the UL transmission.

In a particular embodiment, a duration of the guard period is higher when a location of the UE 512 is closer to a cell edge and lower when the location of the UE 512 is near the cell center.

In a particular embodiment, the guard period is inserted at twice the propagation delay before an UL period. The network node 150 resumes the DL transmission in a first resource after the guard period.

In a particular embodiment, the guard period is inserted one RTT before an UL period, and the network node 510 resumes the DL transmission in a first resource after the UL period.

In a particular embodiment, the network node 510 receives an UL signal in the first resource after the guard period.

In a particular embodiment, the UE is an ATG UE.

EIGURE 16 illustrates a method 1400 by a UE 512 for optimization of TDD slot utilization, according to certain embodiments. The method includes, at step 1402, the UE 512 transmitting, to a network node 510, information indicating a RTT between the UE 512 and the network node 510.

In a particular embodiment, the UE 512 is configured or at least one resource is scheduled based on the information indicating the RTT that is sent to the network node 510. In a particular embodiment, the RTT is used by the network node 510 for optimizing TDD slot utilization.

In a particular embodiment, the UE 512 receives, from the network node 510, a DL transmission and transmits, to the network node 510, an UL transmission in a first resource after the DL transmission is received.

In a particular embodiment, the UE 512 receives an additional or resumed DL transmission in the first resource after the UL transmission is transmitted.

In a particular embodiment, the network node 510 uses the RTT to schedule at least one resource for the additional or resumed DL transmission.

In a particular embodiment, the additional or resumed DL transmission is received in at least one resource occurring after a duration of the UL transmission.

In a particular embodiment, the DL transmission is received in a first slot. The UE 512 transmits the UL transmission in a second slot, and the first slot and the second slot are consecutive slots.

In a particular embodiment, the UE is an ATG UE.

Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components, for example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware. In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and/or by end users and a wireless network generally.

EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Group A Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment Al. A method by a user equipment for optimization of TDD slot utilization for ATG, the method comprising: any of the user equipment steps, features, or functions described above, either alone or in combination with other steps, features, or functions described above.

Example Embodiment A2. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising one or more additional user equipment steps, features or functions described above.

Example Embodiment A3. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host computer via the transmission to the network node.

Group B Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment Bl. A method performed by a network node for optimization of TDD slot utilization for ATG, the method comprising: any of the network node steps, features, or functions described above, either alone or in combination with other steps, features, or functions described above.

Example Embodiment B2. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising one or more additional network node steps, features or functions described above.

Example Embodiment B3. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment. Group C Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment Cl. A method by a UE for optimization of TDD slot utilization, the method comprising: transmitting, to a network node, information indicating a RTT time between the UE and the network node; receiving, from a network node, a DL transmission; and transmitting, to the network node, an UL transmission in a first resource after the DL transmission is received.

Example Embodiment C2. The method of Example Emboidment Cl, comprising switching from receive mode to transmit mode immediately after receiving the DL transmission.

Example Embodiment C3. The method of Example Embodiment Cl to C2, comprising switching from transmit mode to receive mode immediately after receiving the DL transmission.

Example Embodiment C4. The method of Example Embodiment Cl to C3, comprising receiving an additional or resumed DL transmission in a first resource after the UL transmission is transmitted.

Example Embodiment C5. The method of Example Embodiment C4, wherein at least one resource is scheduled for the additional or resumed DL transmission based on the RTT and a duration of the UL transmission from the UE.

Example Embodiment C6. The method of Example Embodiment C5, wherein the at least one resource is scheduled prior to the UE transmitting the UL transmission.

Example Embodiment C7. The method of any one of Example Embodiments C5 to C6, wherein the additional or resumed DL transmission is received in at least one resource occurring after a duration of the UL transmission.

Example Embodiment C8. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C7, wherein transmitting the UL transmission in the first resource after the DL transmission is received comprises transmitting the UL transmission in a first slot occurring after an immediately preceding slot in which the DL transmission is received.

Example Embodiment C9. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C7, wherein the DL transmission is received in a first slot, and wherein transmitting the UL transmission in the first resource comprises transmitting the UL transmission in a second slot, and wherein the first slot and the second slot are consecutive slots.

Example Embodiment CIO. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C9, wherein the UE is an ATG UE.

Example Embodiment Cl 1. The method of Example Embodiments Cl to CIO, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node. Example Embodiment C12.A user equipment comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to Cl 1.

Example Embodiment C 13. A user equipment configured to perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments C 1 to C 11.

Example Embodiment C 14. A wireless device comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to Cl 1.

Example Embodiment C15. A computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments C 1 to C 11.

Example Embodiment Cl 6. A computer program product comprising computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to Cl 1.

Example Embodiment Cl 7. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to Cl 1.

Group D Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment DI. A method by a network node for optimization of TDD slot utilization, the method comprising: obtaining information indicating a RTT between the network node and a UE; and based on the RTT, inserting a guard period within a DL transmission to the UE.

Example Embodiment D2. The method of Example Emboidment DI, comprising determining when to resume the DL transmission after the guard period based on the RTT and a duration of an UL transmission from the UE.

Example Embodiment D3. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D 1 to D2, comprising scheduling at least one resource for resuming the DL transmission after the guard period based on the RTT and a duration of an UL transmission from the UE.

Example Embodiment D4. The method of Example Embodiment D3, wherein the at least one resource is scheduled prior to receiving the UL transmission from the UE.

Example Embodiment D5. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D3 to D4, comprising resuming the DL transmission in the at least one resource.

Example Embodiment D6. The method of Example Embodiments D3 to D5, wherein the UL transmission is received in a first slot, and wherein the at least one resource comprises a second slot occurring immediately after the first slot, and wherein the first slot and the second slot are consecutive slots. Example Embodiment D7. The method of Example Embodiments D3 to D5, wherein the UL transmission is received in a first slot, and wherein the at least one resource comprises a second slot occurring after the first slot, and wherein the second slot is determined based on a duration of the UL transmission.

Example Embodiment D8. The method of any one of Example Embodiments DI to D7, wherein a duration of the guard period is determined based on a cell radius.

Example Embodiment D9. The method of any one of Example Embodiments DI to D8, wherein a duration of the guard period increases as the RTT between the network and the UE increases.

Example Embodiment DIO. The method of any one of Example Embodiments DI to D9, wherein a duration of the guard period is higher when a location of the UE is closer to a cell edge and lower when the location of the UE is near the cell center.

Example Embodiment D 11. The method of any one of Example Embodiments DI to DIO, wherein the guard period is inserted twice the RTT before an uplink transmission period, and wherein the method comprises resuming the DL transmission in a first resource after the guard period.

Example Embodiment D 12. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D 1 to DIO, wherein the guard period is inserted one RTT before an uplink transmission period and wherein the method comprises resuming the DL transmission in a first resource after an uplink transmission period.

Example Embodiment D 13. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D 1 to DI 2, comprising receiving an uplink signal in the first resource after the guard period.

Example Embodiment D 14. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D 1 to DI 3, wherein the UE is an ATG UE.

Example Embodiment D 15. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D 1 to DI 4, wherein obtaining the information indicating a RTT between the network node and a UE comprises receiving the information from the UE.

Example Embodiment DI 6. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D 1 to DI 5, wherein the network node comprises a gNodeB (gNB).

Example Embodiment DI 7. The method of any of the previous Example Embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment.

Example Embodiment D18. A network node comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments DI to DI 7.

Example Embodiment D 19. A network node configured to perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments DI to DI 7.

Example Embodiment D20. A computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments DI to DI 7.

Example Embodiment D21. A computer program product comprising computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments DI to DI 7.

Example Embodiment D22. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments DI to DI 7.

Group E Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment El . A user equipment comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

Example Embodiment E2. A network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

Example Embodiment E3. A user equipment (UE) comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

Example Embodiment E4. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a UE, wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments to receive the user data from the host.

Example Embodiment E5. The host of the previous Example Embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data to the UE from the host.

Example Embodiment E6. The host of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

Example Embodiment E7. A method implemented by a host operating in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the UE performs any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.

Example Emboidment E8. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.

Example Embodiment E9. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

Example Emboidment El 0. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.

Example Emboidment El l. The host of the previous Example Embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the UE to the host.

Example Embodiment El 2. The host of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

Example Embodiment El 3. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, receiving user data transmitted to the host via the network node by the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.

Example Embodiment El 4. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.

Example Embodiment El 5. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

Example Embodiment El 6. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a network node in a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

Example Embodiment E17.The host of the previous Example Embodiment, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides the user data; and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to receive the transmission of user data from the host.

Example Embodiment El 8. A method implemented in a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the network node performs any of the operations of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

Example Embodiment El 9. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the user data provided by the host for the UE.

Example Emboidment E20.The method of any of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host by executing a host application that interacts with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

Example Embodiment E21. A communication system configured to provide an over-the- top service, the communication system comprising: a host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data toward a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

Example Embodiment E22. The communication system of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: the network node; and/or the user equipment.

Example Embodiment E23. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to initiate receipt of user data; and a network interface configured to receive the user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to receive the user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host.

Example Embodiment E24. The host of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

Example Embodiment E25. The host of the any of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein the initiating receipt of the user data comprises requesting the user data.

Example Embodiment E26. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, initiating receipt of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission which the network node has received from the UE, wherein the network node performs any of the steps of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to receive the user data from the UE for the host.

Example Embodiment E27. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.

Claims

1. A method (1300) by a network node (510) for optimization of Time Division Duplex, TDD, slot utilization, the method comprising: obtaining (1302) information indicating a Round Trip Time, RTT, between the network node and a User Equipment, UE (512); and based on the RTT, inserting (1304) a guard period within a downlink, DL, transmission to the UE.

2. The method of Claim 1, wherein obtaining the information indicating the RTT between the network node and the UE comprises receiving the information from the UE.

3. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 2, comprising determining when to resume the DL transmission after the guard period based on the RTT and a duration of an UL transmission from the UE.

4. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 3, comprising: scheduling at least one resource for resuming the DL transmission after the guard period based on the RTT and a duration of an UL transmission from the UE; and resuming the DL transmission in the at least one resource.

5. The method of Claim 4, wherein the at least one resource is scheduled prior to receiving the UL transmission from the UE.

6. The method of Claims 4 to 5, wherein: the UL transmission is received in a first slot, the at least one resource comprises a second slot occurring after the first slot, and the second slot is determined based on a duration of the UL transmission.

7. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 6, wherein a duration of the guard period is higher when a location of the UE is closer to a cell edge and lower when the location of the UE is near the cell center.

8. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 7, wherein the guard period is inserted at twice the propagation delay before an uplink period, and wherein the method comprises resuming the DL transmission in a first resource after the guard period.

9. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 7, wherein the guard period is inserted one RTT before an uplink period and wherein the method comprises resuming the DL transmission in a first resource after the uplink period.

10. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 9, comprising receiving an uplink signal in the first resource after the guard period.

11. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 10, wherein the UE is an Air-to-Ground UE, ATG UE.

12. A method (1400) by a user equipment, UE (512), for optimization of Time Division Duplex, TDD, slot utilization, the method comprising: transmitting (1402), to a network node ( 10), information indicating a Round Trip Time, between the UE and the network node.

13. The method of Claim 12, wherein the UE is configured or at least one resource is scheduled based on the information indicating the RTT that is sent to the network node.

14. The method of any one of Claims 12 to 13, wherein the RTT is used by the network for optimizing TDD slot utilization.

15. The method of any one of Claims 12 to 14, comprising: receiving, from the network node, a downlink, DL, transmission; and transmitting, to the network node, an uplink, UL, transmission in a first resource after the DL transmission is received.

16. The method of Claim 15, comprising receiving an additional or resumed DL transmission in the first resource after the UL transmission is transmitted.

17. The method of Claim 16, wherein the network node uses the RTT to schedule at least one resource for the additional or resumed DL transmission .

18. The method of Claim 17, wherein the additional or resumed DL transmission is received in at least one resource occurring after a duration of the UL transmission.

19. The method of any one of Claims 15 to 18, wherein the DL transmission is received in a first slot, and wherein transmitting the UL transmission in the first resource comprises transmitting the UL transmission in a second slot, and wherein the first slot and the second slot are consecutive slots.

20. The method of any one of Claims 12 to 19, wherein the UE is an Air-to-Ground UE, ATG

UE.

21. A network node (510) for optimization of Time Division Duplex, TDD, slot utilization, the network node configured to: obtain information indicating a Round Trip Time, RTT, between the network node and a User Equipment, UE (512); and based on the RTT, insert a guard period within a downlink, DL, transmission to the UE.

22. The network node of Claim 21, wherein when obtaining the information indicating the RTT between the network node and the UE the network node is configured to receive the information from the UE.

23. The network node of any one of Claims 21 to 22, wherein the network node is configured to determine when to resume the DL transmission after the guard period based on the RTT and a duration of an UL transmission from the UE.

24. The network node of any one of Claims 21 to 23, wherein the network node is configured to: schedule at least one resource for resuming the DL transmission after the guard period based on the RTT and a duration of an UL transmission from the UE; and resume the DL transmission in the at least one resource.

25. The network node of Claim 24, wherein the at least one resource is scheduled prior to receiving the UL transmission from the UE.

26. The network node of Claims 24 to 25, wherein: the UL transmission is received in a first slot, the at least one resource comprises a second slot occurring after the first slot, and the second slot is determined based on a duration of the UL transmission.

27. The network node of any one of Claims 21 to 26, wherein a duration of the guard period is higher when a location of the UE is closer to a cell edge and lower when the location of the UE is near the cell center.

28. The network node of any one of Claims 21 to 27, wherein the guard period is inserted at twice the propagation delay before an uplink period, and wherein the method comprises resuming the DL transmission in a first resource after the guard period.

29. The network node of any one of Claims 21 to 27, wherein the guard period is inserted one RTT before an uplink period and wherein the method comprises resuming the DL transmission in a first resource after the uplink period.

30. The network node of any one of Claims 21 to 29, comprising receiving an uplink signal in the first resource after the guard period.

31. The network node of any one of Claims 21 to 30, wherein the UE is an Air-to-Ground UE, ATG UE.

32. A user equipment, UE (512), for optimization of Time Division Duplex, TDD, slot utilization, the UE configured to transmit, to a network node (510), information indicating a Round Trip Time, between the UE and the network node.

33. The UE of Claim 32, configured to perform any of the methods of Claims 13 to 20.