Method and apparatus for reporting buffer status

• US 9,161,252 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2011
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Han, Guanglin, Jiang, Yi, Quan, Wei
• Primary Examiner(s): YEUNG, MANG HANG
• Application Number:
  US13/291,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20120051255A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,435 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/329, 455450-464, 455/509
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/30 in combination with information about buffer occupancy at either end or at transit nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for reporting buffer status are provided. The method includes: obtaining multiple Transport Blocks (TBs) from a base station within one Transmission Time Interval (TTI); selecting a TB compliant with a condition of transmitting a Buffer Status Report (BSR) among the multiple TBs; and bearing a BSR of a Logical Channel Group (LCG) and a Control Element (CE) sub-header of the BSR onto the selected TB and sending the TB to the base station. In this way, a UE can make full use of the padding bits of the obtained multiple TBs, and report the buffer status flexibly.

Claims

1. A method for reporting buffer status applied in carrier aggregation, comprising:

obtaining, by a user equipment (UE) configured with at least one logical channel group (LCG), a plurality of transport blocks (TBs) in a transmission time interval (TTI) from a base station;

selecting, by the UE, from the plurality of TBs, a TB that meets a buffer status report (BSR) transmission condition, wherein in instances where, among the plurality of TBs obtained in the TTI, there is more than one TB meeting the BSR transmission condition, all the more than one TB meeting the BSR transmission condition are selected for BSR transmission;

carrying onto each selected TB, by the UE, a BSR of an LCG and a control element (CE) sub-header corresponding to the BSR; and

sending, by the UE, the BSR and the corresponding CE sub-header to the base station via each selected TB,

wherein the at least one LCG of the UE includes a LCG which does not contain any logical channel, the method further comprises;

processing, by the UE, the LCG which does not contain any logical channel by setting a buffer value of the BSR of the LCG which does not contain any logical channel to 0 or to a null value.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the BSR transmission condition indicates that padding bits of a single TB are sufficient to accommodate BSRs of all the LCGs of the UE plus a CE sub-header corresponding to the BSRs of all the LCGs;

the carrying step provides for including of the BSRs of all the LCGs and the corresponding CE sub-header onto each selected TB; and

the sending step provides for transmission of the BSRs of all the LCGs and the corresponding CE sub-header via each selected TB.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the CE sub-header comprises indication information about a length of the BSR.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the BSR transmission condition indicates that padding bits of a single TB are sufficient to accommodate a BSR of one or more LCGs plus a CE sub-header corresponding to the BSR of the one or more LCGs, but insufficient to accommodate BSRs of all the LCGs plus the CE sub-header corresponding to the BSRs of all the LCGs,

the carrying step provides:

carrying onto each selected TB a truncated BSR and a CE sub-header corresponding to the truncated BSR, a total size of the truncated BSR plus the corresponding CE sub-header being not less than a size of a BSR of a single LCG plus the CE sub-header corresponding to the BSR of the single LCG, and being not greater than a size of the padding bits of each selected TB; and

the sending step provides a transmission of the truncated BSR and the corresponding CE sub-header via each selected TB.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the truncated BSR is the BSR of the LCG with the highest priority.

6. A communications system supporting carrier aggregation, the system comprising

a user equipment (UE) comprising a processor and a transmitter configured to be communicatively connectable to a base station, wherein the UE is configured with at least one logical channel group (LCG) and is configured to:

obtain, from the base station, a plurality of transport blocks (TBs) within a transmission time interval (TTI);

select, from the plurality of TB s a TB that meets a buffer status report (BSR) transmission condition, wherein in instances where, among the plurality of TBs obtained in the TTI, there is more than one TB meeting the BSR transmission condition, all the more than one TB meeting the BSR transmission condition are selected for BSR transmission;

carry a BSR of an LCG and a control element (CE) sub-header corresponding to the BSR of the LCG onto each selected TB; and

transmit, to the base station, the BSR of the LCG and the corresponding CE-header via each selected TB,

wherein the at least one LCG of the UE includes a LCG which does not contain any logical channel, the UE is further configured to process the LCG which does not contain any logical channel by setting a buffer value of the BSR of the LCG which does not contain any logical channel to zero or to a null value.

7. The communications system according to claim 6, wherein the BSR transmission condition indicates that padding bits of a single TB are sufficient to accommodate BSRs of all the LCGs of the UE plus a CE sub-header corresponding to BSRs of all the LCGs, and wherein the BSRs of all the LCGs and the CE sub-header corresponding to the BSRs of all the LCGs are carried onto each selected TB and are transmitted by the UE, via each selected TB, to the base station.

8. The communications system according to claim 6, wherein the BSR transmission condition indicates that padding bits of a single TB are sufficient to accommodate a BSR of one or more LCGs plus a CE sub-header corresponding to the BSR of the one or more LCGs, but insufficient to accommodate BSRs of all the LCGs plus the CE sub-header corresponding to the BSRs of all the LCGs,

the UE is configured to carry a truncated BSR and a CE sub-header corresponding to the truncated BSR onto each selected TB and transmit the truncated BSR and the corresponding CE sub-header, via each selected TB, to the base station,

wherein a total size of the truncated BSR plus the CE sub-header corresponding to the truncated BSR is not less than a size of a BSR of a single LCG plus the CE sub-header corresponding to the BSR of the single LCG, and is not greater than a size of the padding bits of each selected TB.

9. The communications system according to claim 8, wherein the truncated BSR is the BSR of the LCG with the highest priority.

10. The communications system according to claim 6, wherein the base station is an evolved Node B.

11. The communications system according to claim 6, wherein the CE sub-header comprises indication information about a length of the BSR.

12. A user equipment (UE) supporting carrier aggregation, the UE comprising:

a receiver;

a processor; and

a transmitter communicatively connected to the processor, wherein the UE is configured with at least one logical channel group (LCG);

wherein the receiver is configured to obtain, from a base station, a plurality of transport blocks (TBs) within a transmission time interval (TTI);

wherein the processor is configured to select, from the plurality of TBs, a TB that meets a buffer status report (BSR) transmission condition, wherein in instances where, among the plurality of TBs obtained in the TTI, there is more than one TB meeting the BSR transmission condition, all the more than one TB meeting the BSR transmission condition are selected for BSR transmission, and to include into each selected TB a BSR of an LCG and a control element (CE) sub-header corresponding to the BSR of the LCG;

wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit, via each selected TB, the BSR and the corresponding CE sub-header to the base station,

wherein the at least one LCG of the UE includes a LCG which does not contain any logical channel, the UE is further configured to process the LCG which does not contain any logical channel by setting a buffer value of the BSR of the LCG which does not contain any logical channel to zero or to a null value.

13. The UE according to claim 12, wherein the BSR transmission condition indicates that padding bits of a single TB are sufficient to accommodate BSRs of all the LCGs of the UE plus a CE sub-header corresponding to the BSRs of all the LCGs,

the processor is configured to include the BSRs of all the LCGs and the corresponding CE sub-header onto each selected TB, and

the transmitter is configured to transmit, to the base station, the BSRs of all the LCGs and the corresponding CE sub-header via each selected TB.

14. The UE according to claim 12, wherein the BSR transmission condition indicates that padding bits of a single TB are sufficient to accommodate a BSR of one or more LCGs plus a CE sub-header corresponding to the BSR of the one or more LCGs, but insufficient to accommodate BSRs of all the LCGs plus the CE sub-header corresponding to the BSRs of all the LCGs,

the processor is configured to include a truncated BSR and a CE sub-header corresponding to the truncated BSR into each selected TB, and

the transmitter is configured to transmit, to the base station, the truncated BSR and the corresponding CE sub-header via each selected TB,

wherein a total size of the truncated BSR plus the corresponding CE sub-header is not less than a size of a BSR of a single LCG plus a CE sub-header corresponding to the BSR of the single LCG, and is not greater than a size of the padding bits of each selected TB.

15. The UE according to claim 14, wherein the truncated BSR is the BSR of the LCG with the highest priority.

16. The UE to claim 12, wherein the CE sub-header comprises indication information about a length of the BSR.