Method and Apparatus in a Wireless Communications System

• US 20190327758A1
• Filed: 07/03/2019
• Published: 10/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Ostergaard, Jessica, Stattin, Magnus, Pelletier, Ghyslain
• Granted Patent: US 10,904,911 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network

Abstract

A method in a user equipment for requesting that a base station schedule the user equipment for an uplink data transmission to the base station is provided. The user equipment comprises a buffer. Directly or indirectly responsive to receiving data into the buffer to be transmitted to the base station, the user equipment generates a scheduling request trigger. The scheduling request trigger is configured to trigger the sending of a scheduling request to the base station if the trigger is pending at the next scheduling request opportunity, and to remain pending until it is cancelled. The user equipment cancels the pending scheduling request trigger when the data is accounted for in a buffer status report, which reports the size of the buffer to the base station, or when the data is included directly in a scheduled uplink data transmission whichever occurs first.

Claims

1. A method in a user equipment comprising a buffer, the method comprising:

receiving data into the buffer that is to be transmitted to the base station via a scheduled uplink data transmission; and

sending a scheduling request to the base station when a next scheduling request opportunity occurs, if the buffer contains data that has both not been accounted for in a buffer status report and that will not be included directly in a scheduled uplink data transmission, wherein the buffer status report reports the size of the buffer to the base station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises receiving in response to the scheduling request an uplink grant to the user equipment for uplink data transmission.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending the scheduling request to the base station comprises:

generating a scheduling request trigger responsive to the arrival of the data into the buffer, the scheduling request trigger configured to trigger the sending of a scheduling request to the base station if the trigger is pending at the next scheduling request opportunity and to remain pending until it is cancelled;

cancelling the pending scheduling request trigger; and

sending the scheduling request to the base station when the next scheduling request opportunity occurs, if any scheduling request trigger is pending at that next scheduling request opportunity.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein cancelling the pending scheduling request trigger comprises cancelling when the data is accounted for in any buffer status report, or when the data will be included directly in any scheduled uplink data transmission, whichever occurs first.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein cancelling the pending scheduling request trigger comprises cancelling prior to the data being accounted for in any buffer status report and prior to the data being included in any scheduled uplink data transmission.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein generating a scheduling request trigger responsive to the arrival of the data into the buffer comprises:

generating a buffer status report trigger responsive to the arrival of the data into the buffer, the buffer status report trigger configured to trigger the generation of a buffer status report; and

generating the scheduling request trigger indirectly responsive to the arrival of the data, by generating the scheduling request trigger responsive to the generation of the buffer status report trigger.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein cancelling the pending scheduling request trigger comprises cancelling the buffer status report trigger, which in turn triggers the canceling of the scheduling request trigger.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending the scheduling request to the base station comprises:

tracking what data in the buffer has been accounted for in any buffer status reports and what data in the buffer has been included directly in any scheduled uplink data transmission;

or

tracking what data has both not been accounted for in the any buffer status reports and will not be included directly in the any scheduled uplink data transmission.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the sending the scheduling request to the base station comprises sending if the buffer contains data that has both not been accounted for in the any buffer status reports and that will not be included directly in the any scheduled uplink data transmission as indicated by the tracking.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the scheduling request to the base station comprises sending the scheduling request to the base station if the buffer contains data that has both not been accounted for in any buffer status reports and will not be included directly in a packet data unit that is scheduled to be transmitted to the base station.

11. A user equipment comprising:

a buffer configured to receive data to be transmitted to a base station via a scheduled uplink transmission; and

a sending circuit configured to send a scheduling request to the base station when a next scheduling request opportunity occurs if the buffer contains data that has both not been accounted for in a buffer status report and that will not be included directly in a scheduled uplink data transmission, wherein the buffer status report reports the size of the buffer to the base station.

12. The user equipment of claim 11, further comprising a receiver configured to receive in response to the scheduling request an uplink grant to the user equipment for uplink data transmission.

13. The user equipment of claim 11:

further comprising a generating circuit configured to generate a scheduling request trigger responsive to the arrival of the data into the buffer, the scheduling request trigger configured to trigger the sending of a scheduling request to the base station if the trigger is pending at the next scheduling request opportunity and to remain pending until it is cancelled, and

further comprising a cancelling circuit configured to cancel the pending scheduling request trigger; and

wherein the sending circuit is configured to send the scheduling request to the base station when the next scheduling request opportunity occurs, if any scheduling request trigger is pending at that next scheduling request opportunity.

14. The user equipment of claim 13, wherein the cancelling circuit is configured to cancel the pending scheduling request trigger when the data is accounted for in any buffer status report, or when the data will be included in any scheduled uplink data transmission, whichever occurs first.

15. The user equipment of claim 13, wherein the cancelling circuit is configured to cancel the pending scheduling request trigger prior to the data being accounted for in any buffer status report and prior to the data being included in any scheduled uplink data transmission.

16. The user equipment of claim 13, wherein the generation circuit is configured to generate a scheduling request trigger indirectly responsive to the arrival of the data into the buffer, by:

generating a buffer status report trigger responsive to the arrival of the data into the buffer, the buffer status report trigger configured to trigger the generation of a buffer status report; and

generating the scheduling request trigger responsive to the generation of the buffer status report trigger.

17. The user equipment of claim 16, wherein the cancellation circuit is configured to cancel the pending scheduling request trigger by cancelling the buffer status report trigger, which in turn triggers the cancelling of the scheduling request trigger.

18. The user equipment of claim 11, further comprising a cancellation circuit configured to:

track what data in the buffer has been accounted for in any buffer status reports and what data in the buffer will be included directly in any scheduled uplink data transmission;

or

track what data has both not been accounted for in the any buffer status reports and will not be included directly in the any scheduled uplink data transmission.

19. The user equipment of claim 18, wherein the sending circuit is configured to send the scheduling request to the base station when the next scheduling request opportunity occurs, if the buffer contains data that has both not been accounted for in the any buffer status reports and will not be included directly in the any scheduled uplink data transmission, as indicated by tracking in the cancellation circuit.

20. The user equipment of claim 11, wherein the sending circuit is configured to send a scheduling request to the base station when a next scheduling request opportunity occurs if the buffer comprises data that has both not been accounted for in a buffer status report and will not be included directly in a packet data unit that is scheduled to be transmitted to the base station.