REDUCING SCHEDULING REQUESTS BY A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICE TRANSMITTING VOICE DATA OVER DYNAMICALLY SCHEDULED RESOURCES

• US 20140135027A1
• Filed: 11/08/2013
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: KODALI, Sree Ram, MAKHARIA, Shivesh
• Granted Patent: US 9,591,661 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/452.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management

Abstract

A method for reducing scheduling requests by a wireless communication device transmitting data using dynamically scheduled resources over a logical is provided. The method includes receiving, at the wireless communication device, a configuration from a network entity that sets a LogicalChannelSR-Mask for a logical channel for which uplink resources can be dynamically scheduled by the wireless network. The method further includes waiting to send a scheduling request (SR) for a delay time period when data is available to be sent on the logical channel and uplink resources have not been granted. The method additionally includes using the grant to send the data without sending an SR when a grant is received within the delay time period; or sending an SR when a grant is not received within the delay time period. In another method, a network selectively enables or disables SRs for a logical channel through explicit signaling.

Claims

1. A method to reduce scheduling requests by a wireless communication device using dynamically scheduled resources, the method comprising:

at the wireless communication device;

sending data over a logical channel using uplink radio resources assigned in grants provided by a wireless network, wherein scheduling requests by the wireless communication device are disabled by the wireless network;

receiving a first signaling message that enables scheduling requests from the wireless network;

sending at least one scheduling request that requests uplink radio resources for sending additional data to the wireless network;

receiving a second signaling message that disables scheduling requests from the wireless network; and

resuming sending data over the logical channel without sending an additional scheduling request to the wireless network while scheduling requests are disabled.

2. The method as recited in claim 1,

receiving a third signaling message from the wireless network setting a logical channel scheduling request mask (LogicalChannelSR-Mask) for the logical channel.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the wireless network operates in accordance with a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communication protocol, and wherein the logical channel supports communication for a voice over LTE (VoLTE) connection.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first and second signaling messages include a first field that indicates enabling or disabling scheduling requests for the logical channel and a second field that identifies the logical channel.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first and second signaling messages include a field that indicates enabling or disabling scheduling requests for all logical channels of the wireless communication device for which a logical channel scheduling request mask (LogicalChannelSR-Mask) is set.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first signaling message that enables scheduling requests is received by the wireless communication device during a gap in transmission of data in an uplink direction.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the gap in transmission of data in the uplink direction corresponds to a pause in a voice communication by a user of the wireless communication device.

8. A method to reduce scheduling requests by a wireless communication device over a connection that uses dynamically scheduled resources, the method comprising:

at a base station of a wireless network;

dynamically scheduling uplink radio resources for the wireless communication device to enable the wireless communication device to send data over a logical channel;

sending at least one resource grant to the wireless communication device without requiring the wireless communication device to send scheduling requests for transmitting data over the logical channel;

receiving data sent by the wireless communication device over the logical channel;

detecting a gap in data transmission over the logical channel;

sending to the wireless communication device a first signaling message that enables scheduling requests in response to detecting the gap in data transmission;

receiving from the wireless communication device a scheduling request that requests uplink radio resources to send data over the logical channel; and

sending to the wireless communication device a second signaling message that disables scheduling requests in response to resumption of transmission of data over the logical channel by the wireless communication device.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

sending to the wireless communication device a third signaling message that sets a logical channel scheduling request mask (LogicalChannelSR-Mask) for the logical channel.

10. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the wireless network operates in accordance with a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communication protocol, and wherein the logical channel supports communication for a voice over LTE (VoLTE) connection.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the first and second signaling messages include a first field that indicates enabling or disabling scheduling requests for the logical channel and a second field that identifies the logical channel.

12. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the first and second signaling messages include a field that indicates enabling or disabling scheduling requests for all logical channels of the wireless communication device for which a logical channel scheduling request mask (LogicalChannelSR-Mask) is set.

13. A method to reduce scheduling requests by a wireless communication device configured to transmit data over dynamically scheduled resources, the method comprising:

at the wireless communication device;

receiving from a wireless network a first signaling message that includes a configuration to set a logical channel scheduling request mask (LogicalChannelSR-Mask) for a logical channel;

delaying transmission of a scheduling request to the wireless network for a delay time period in an instance in which data is available to be sent on the logical channel and uplink radio resources on which to send the data have not been granted by the wireless network;

in an instance in which a grant is received from the wireless network within the delay time period, utilizing the grant to send at least a portion of the data to the wireless network; and

in an instance in which a grant is not received from the wireless network within the delay time period, sending a scheduling request to the wireless network to request uplink radio resources on which to send the data to the wireless network over the logical channel.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising:

receiving from the wireless network a second signaling message that includes a value for the delay time period.

15. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein first signaling message includes a first field that indicates enabling or disabling scheduling requests for the logical channel and a second field that identifies the logical channel.

16. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the first signaling message include a field that indicates enabling or disabling scheduling requests for all logical channels of the wireless communication device for which a logical channel scheduling request mask (LogicalChannelSR-Mask) is set.

17. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the wireless network operates in accordance with a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communication protocol, and the logical channel supports communication for a voice over LTE (VoLTE) connection.

18. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising initiating a random access channel (RACH) procedure when no grant is received from the wireless network within the delay time period and the logical channel is not configured for dynamic scheduling requests.

19. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the value for the delay time period equals or exceeds an expected or actual inter-arrival time between successive data packets for a voice connection.

20. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the logical channel is not configured for semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) by the wireless network.