User equipment and method for reducing delay in a radio access network

• US 8,902,741 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2012
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Zhu, Jing, Vannithamby, Rath
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOM, SHICK C
• Application Number:
  US13/625,977
• Publication Number:
  US 20130242726A1
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 11/0073 Acquisition of primary synchronisation channel, e.g. detection of cell-ID within cell-ID group
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0033 arrangements specific to the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0077 Cooperative coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1607 Details of the supervisory signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1635 Cumulative acknowledgement, i.e. the acknowledgement message applying to all previous messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1819 with retransmission of additional or different redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1825 Adaptation of specific ARQ protocol parameters according to transmission conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1864 ARQ related signaling H04L1/1607 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1877 for semi-reliable protocols, e.g. for less sensitive applications like streaming video buffer level management for video bitstream control arrangements H04N21/44004
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/189 Transmission or retransmission of more than one copy of a message
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1896 ARQ related signaling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2854 Wide area networks, e.g. public data networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/283 in response to processing delays, e.g. caused by jitter or round trip time [RTT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6275 based on priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 : the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 : Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 : Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0073 : Allocation arrangements that take into account other cell interferences for intercell interference mitigation or co-ordination in orthogonal multiplex systems H04J11/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 : Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1438 : Negotiation of transmission parameters prior to communication modified according to link quality H04L1/0001
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1446 : of transmission speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1469 : using time-sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/75 : Media network packet handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/752 : adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 : adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 : based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 : Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 : involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 : embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 : Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6408 : Unicasting
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/04 : Traffic adaptive resource partitioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 : Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 : Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0236 : radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0268 : using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0278 : using buffer status reports dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 : Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/02 : Power saving arrangements in wired systems H04L12/12; signaling of mobile application services, e.g. low battery notifications H04W4/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 : in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 : in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 : where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0235 : where the received signal is a power saving command
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/143 : Downlink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/243 : taking into account interferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 : Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 : Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 : Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1268 : of uplink data flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1273 : of downlink data flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 : Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 : in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 : in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/27 : between access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 : based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 : using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/569 : of the traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/085 : collision avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 : Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 : Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Embodiments of user equipment and methods for reducing delay in a radio-access network (RAN) are generally described herein. Embodiments disclosed herein provide enhancements that may be applicable to a 3GPP LTE RAN for reducing delay that may be particularly beneficial for real-time over-the-top (OTT) applications. Some embodiments provide for an uplink delayed buffer status report. Some embodiments provide for a downlink congestion and buffer report. Some embodiments provide for traffic characteristic based inter-UE prioritization.

Claims

1. User Equipment (UE) comprising processing circuitry to:

determine a delay value indicating a time for an enhanced Node B (eNB) to delay scheduling an uplink grant; and

generate a delayed buffer status report (D-BSR) medium-access control (MAC) control element for transmission to the eNB with a last-scheduled uplink grant, the D-BSR MAC control element to include at least an indicator of the delay value and an indicator of a predicted buffer size,

wherein the D-BSR MAC control element is a request for a delayed grant of uplink bandwidth,

wherein the processing circuitry further configures the D-BSR MAC control element to further include a logical channel identifier (LCID) index to indicate a control element for the delayed buffer status report, and

wherein the UE is configured to receive a delayed grant for uplink bandwidth in response to transmission of the D-BSR MAC control element, the grant being received from the eNB no sooner than the delay value and including a bandwidth allocation sufficient to handle the predicted buffer size.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the predicted buffer size indicates an amount of uplink grant the UE anticipates it will need at a near-future time indicated by the delay value, and

wherein the UE is configured to refrain from requesting the uplink grant in response to receipt of a new uplink packet from an application layer when expecting the delayed grant.

3. The UE of claim 1, wherein the LIE is to generate the D-BSR MAC control element for transmission to the eNB with the last-scheduled uplink grant when a current buffer size is zero and when the UE anticipates that it will have uplink packets based on the predicted buffer size.

4. The UE of claim 3, wherein the UE is to refrain from generating the D-BSR MAC control element for transmission to the eNB with the last-scheduled grant when the current buffer size is zero and when the UE does not anticipate that it will have packets based on the predicted buffer size.

5. The UE of claim 3 wherein the UE is to generate a non-delayed BSR control element for transmission to the eNB with the last-scheduled uplink grant when the current buffer size is not zero, the non-delayed BSR control element indicating at least the current buffer size,

wherein the non-delayed BSR control element includes a LCID index to indicate one of a truncated BSR, a short BSR and a long BSR.

6. User Equipment (UE) comprising processing circuitry to:

determine a delay value indicating a time for an enhanced Node B (eNB) to delay scheduling an uplink grant;

generate a delayed buffer status report (D-BSR) medium-access control (MAC) control element for transmission to the eNB with a last-scheduled uplink grant, the D-BSR MAC control element to include at least an indicator of the delay value and an indicator of a predicted buffer size; and

determine the delay value and the predicted buffer size based at least in part on uplink traffic information for one or more applications running on the UE,

wherein the D-BSR MAC control element is a request for a delayed grant of uplink bandwidth, and

wherein the uplink traffic information includes one or more of a packet or bit generation rate, a packet arrival interval (PAI) and packet size (PS) information for the one or more applications.

7. User Equipment (UE) comprising processing circuitry to:

determine a delay value indicating a time for an enhanced Node B (eNB) to delay scheduling an uplink grant; and

generate a delayed buffer status report (D-BSR) medium-access control (MAC) control element for transmission to the eNB with a last-scheduled uplink grant, the D-BSR MAC control element to include at least an indicator of the delay value and an indicator of a predicted buffer size,

wherein the D-BSR MAC control element is a request for a delayed grant of uplink bandwidth,

wherein the D-BSR MAC control element is requesting a delayed grant of uplink bandwidth for data flows, and

wherein the UE is configured to operate within a wireless access network in which the data flows are mapped to bearers using quality-of-service (QoS) class identifiers (QCIs).

8. User Equipment (UE) comprising processing circuitry to:

determine a delay value indicating a time for an enhanced Node B (eNB) to delay scheduling an uplink grant; and

generate a delayed buffer status report (D-BSR) medium-access control (MAC) control element for transmission to the eNB with a last-scheduled uplink grant, the D-BSR MAC control element to include at least an indicator of the delay value and an indicator of a predicted buffer size,

wherein the D-BSR MAC control element is a request for a delayed grant of uplink bandwidth,

wherein the UE is configured to receive a downlink congestion and buffer report (DCBR) from the eNB indicating whether or not congestion exists for downlink traffic, indicating average packet delay (APD), and indicating a downlink buffer size, and

wherein in response to receipt of the DCBR that indicates that congestion exists, the UE is to report information from the DCBR to one or more applications for one or more of traffic rate reduction, congestion mitigation and delay reduction.

9. The UE of claim 8 wherein the DCBR is received as part of a DCBR MAC control element, the DCBR including a congestion indicator (CI), an average packet delay (APD) indicator, and a downlink buffer size (DBS) indicator, the CI indicating whether or not congestion exists for downlink traffic, and

wherein the DCBR MAC control element includes a logical channel identifier (LCID) index to indicate a DCBR.

10. A method for reducing delay in a radio-access network, the method comprising:

determining a delay value indicating a time for an enhanced Node B (eNB) to delay scheduling an uplink grant;

generating a delayed buffer status report (D-BSR) medium-access control (MAC) control element for transmission to the eNB with a last-scheduled uplink grant, the D-BSR MAC control element to include at least an indicator of the delay value and an indicator of a predicted buffer size; and

receiving a delayed grant for uplink bandwidth in response to transmission of the D-BSR MAC control element, the delayed grant being received from the eNB no sooner than the delay value,

wherein the delayed grant includes a bandwidth allocation sufficient to handle the predicted buffer size.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

determining the predicted buffer size; and

configuring the D-BSR MAC control element to include a logical channel identifier (LCID) index to indicate a control element for a delayed buffer status report.

12. A method for reducing delay in a radio-access network, the method comprising:

determining a delay value indicating a time for an enhanced Node B (eNB) to delay scheduling an uplink grant;

generating a delayed buffer status report (D-BSR) medium-access control (MAC) control element for transmission to the eNB with a last-scheduled uplink grant, the D-BSR MAC control element to include at least an indicator of the delay value and an indicator of a predicted buffer size;

and

receiving delayed grant for uplink bandwidth in response to transmission of the D-BSR MAC control element the delayed grant being received from the eNB no sooner than the delay value,

wherein the predicted buffer size indicates an amount of uplink grant the UE anticipates it will need at a near-future time indicated by the delay value, and

wherein the method includes refraining from requesting an uplink grant in response to receipt of a new uplink packet from an application layer when expecting a delayed grant.

13. A method for reducing delay in a radio-access network, the method comprising:

determining a delay value indicating a time for an enhanced Node B (eNB) to delay scheduling an uplink grant;

generating a delayed buffer status report (D-BSR) medium-access control (MAC) control element for transmission to the eNB with a last-scheduled uplink grant, the D-BSR MAC control element to include at least an indicator of the delay value and an indicator of a predicted buffer size; and

receiving a delayed grant for uplink bandwidth in response to transmission of the D-BSR MAC control element, the delayed grant being received from the eNB no sooner than the delay value,

wherein the UE is to generate the D-BSR MAC control element for transmission to the eNB with the last-scheduled uplink grant when a current buffer size is zero and when the UE anticipates that it will have uplink packets based on the predicted buffer size.

14. An enhanced Node B (eNB) comprising processing circuitry configured to:

receive an radio-resource control (RRC) message to activate downlink congestion and buffer reporting from user equipment (UE), the message indicating a quality-of-service (QoS) class identifier (QCI) of a bearer where the downlink congestion and buffer reporting is to be activated;

monitor downlink traffic of the indicated QCI to determine whether congestion exists; and

send a downlink congestion and buffer report (DCBR) to the UE along with a medium-access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) (MAC PDU), the DCBR indicating whether or not congestion exists for downlink traffic of the identified QCI, indicating average packet delay, and indicating a downlink buffer size,

wherein in response to receipt of a DCBR that indicates that congestion exists, the UE is to report information from the DCBR to one or more applications for one or more of traffic rate reduction, congestion mitigation and delay reduction,

wherein the QCI indicates a default bearer, and

wherein the eNB is further configured to;

continue to send a DCBR to the UE with MAC PDUs when the downlink buffer size increases for downlink traffic with the indicated QCI;

send MAC PDUs without a DCBR while the downlink buffer size does not increase for downlink traffic with the indicated QCI; and

when downlink congestion is no longer detected, send a DCBR to the UE with a MAC PDU indicating that congestion no longer exists and including a current average packet delay and a downlink buffer size.

15. The eNB of claim 14 wherein the DCBR is included as part of a DCBR MAC control element that includes a congestion indicator, an average packet delay indicator, and a downlink buffer size (DBS) indicator, the congestion indicator indicating whether or not congestion exists for downlink traffic, and

wherein the DCBR MAC control element includes a logical channel identifier (LCID) index to indicate downlink congestion and buffer reporting.