CN111345078B

CN111345078B - Wireless communication system and related aspects thereof

Info

Publication number: CN111345078B
Application number: CN201880072305.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 奥利维尔·马克
Original assignee: JRD Communication Shenzhen Ltd
Current assignee: JRD Communication Shenzhen Ltd
Priority date: 2018-01-11
Filing date: 2018-12-21
Publication date: 2023-05-23
Anticipated expiration: 2038-12-21
Also published as: CN111345078A; GB201800504D0; WO2019137182A1; GB2570134A

Abstract

A method for triggering a buffer status report in a wireless communication network operating a packet data convergence protocol is disclosed in which multiple logical channels are used to provide packet replication. For example, when a medium access control entity is determined to have new uplink data available for a first logical channel belonging to a logical channel group, if one of the following is determined: the first logical channel with new uplink data has a higher priority than any other logical channel with available uplink data belonging to any logical channel group, and wherein the other logical channel is allowed to use at least one serving cell allowed by the first logical channel with new uplink data; or none of the other logical channels belonging to any logical channel group and allowed to use at least one serving cell allowed by the first logical channel with new uplink data contains any available uplink data, a buffer status report is triggered.

Description

Wireless communication system and related aspects thereof

Technical Field

Embodiments of the disclosed technology relate to wireless communication systems and related aspects thereof, and in particular, but not limited to, to so-called New Radio (NR) or 5G wireless communication networks and related network devices and methods for enabling wireless communication between, for example, user Equipment (UE) or mobile devices to access wireless network services via a Radio access technology (Radio Access Technology, RAT) or Radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN). Embodiments of the present invention are particularly, but not exclusively, to a new radio wireless communication network implementing 5G packet data convergence protocol (Packet Data Convergence Protocol, PDCP) packet duplication.

Background

Wireless communication systems, such as third generation (3G) mobile telephone standards and technologies, are well known. Such 3G standards and techniques have been developed by the third generation partnership project (Third Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP for short). Third generation wireless communications are typically developed to support mobile telephone communications in macro-cells. Communication systems and networks have evolved towards wider bandwidths and mobile systems.

The third generation partnership project has developed a so-called long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE for short) system for mobile access networks, i.e. evolved universal mobile telecommunications system regional radio access network (Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunication System Territorial Radio Access Network, E-UTRAN for short), in which one or more macro cells are supported by a base station called eNodeB or eNB (evolved NodeB). Recently, LTE is evolving further towards so-called fifth generation (5G) or NR (new radio) systems, where one or more cells are supported by base stations called gnbs.

In NR, when PDCP packet duplication is activated, a PDCP transmitter (transmitter) will create duplicates (PDUs) of PDCP protocol data units (Protocol Data Units), and send them (bursts) on duplicate links or legs (legs), i.e. different radio link control (Radio Link Control, RLC) entities and associated logical channels (also called "RLC bearers"). The PDCP receiver (receiver) eliminates duplicate packets due to Sequence Numbers (SN) contained in PDCP PDUs. The use of PCDP packet replication may enhance reliability and reduce latency and is therefore suitable for ultra-reliable low latency communication (Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications, URLLC) radio bearers in which reliability and reduced latency may be provided.

It may also be used to provide enhanced reliability for signaling radio bearers (Signalling Radio Bearers, SRBs for short). In addition, PCDP packet duplication is also useful for non-URLLC dedicated radio bearers (Dedicated Radio Bearers, DRBs for short), for example at handover (HO for short).

In addition to the initial link or leg, the duplicated link or leg may be configured to be duplicated by a radio resource control (Radio Resource Control, RRC for short) pre-configured data packets at the radio bearer level. Both associated with the same radio bearer PDCP entity. Packet replication is supported in both the Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL). For DRBs, an acknowledged mode (acknowledged mode, AM) and an unacknowledged mode (unacknowledged mode, UM) support PDCP packet duplication. It is also supported for dual connectivity (dual connectivity, DC for short), in which case there is only one leg or link per cell (cell) group, and carrier aggregation (carrier aggregation, CA for short), in which case each link or leg is mapped onto a different carrier(s). In the Uplink (UL), it can be dynamically activated/deactivated on a per DRB basis by a medium access Control (Medium Access Control, MAC) Element (CE) Element (a "MAC CE").

Embodiments of the disclosed technology seek to address at least some of the salient problems in this field.

Disclosure of Invention

This summary presents related concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology relate to a method of triggering a buffer status report in a wireless communication network operating a packet data convergence protocol, wherein a plurality of logical channels are used to provide packet replication, the method comprising:

determining whether a Medium Access Control (MAC) entity has new uplink data available for a first logical channel belonging to a logical channel group;

and if so, if one of the following is determined:

the first logical channel with new uplink data has a higher priority than any other logical channel with available uplink data belonging to any logical channel group, and wherein the other logical channel is allowed to use at least one serving cell allowed by the first logical channel with the new uplink data; or alternatively

None of the other logical channels belonging to any logical channel group and allowed to use at least one serving cell allowed by the first logical channel with the new uplink data contain any available UL data,

a buffer status report is triggered.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the buffer status report is triggered if one of the following is determined:

the new UL data belonging to a logical channel having a higher priority than any logical channel having available UL data of at least all serving cells allowed to use the logical channel having new UL data belonging to any LCG; or alternatively

All the logical channels of the serving cells which belong to an LCG and are allowed to use the logical channel with new UL data do not contain any available UL data.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the method of triggering the buffer status report is configurable in the wireless communication network through radio resource control.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the radio resource control configures the wireless network to implement a method of triggering the buffer status report, either explicitly when a logical channel or a dedicated radio bearer/packet data convergence protocol is configured in the network, or implicitly when a logical channel is configured to correspond to a duplicate dedicated radio bearer.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the method is implemented only for one or more specific groups of logical channels in the wireless communication network.

determining whether a Medium Access Control (MAC) entity has new uplink data available for a logical channel belonging to a logical channel group;

and if so, if one of the following is determined:

the new uplink data belongs to a logical channel having a higher priority than any logical channel having available uplink data belonging to any logical channel group; or alternatively

Other logical channels not belonging to any logical channel group contain any available uplink data; or alternatively

The new uplink data belongs to a logical channel configured for a fast buffer status report trigger,

a buffer status report is triggered.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the buffer status report trigger is configured by radio resource control on a logical channel-based or on a logical channel used by a dedicated radio bearer.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the step of triggering the buffer status report further requires that the new uplink data belong to a logical channel that does not contain already available data.

Some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology relate to a wireless network configured to operate using a packet data convergence protocol, wherein a plurality of logical channels are used to provide packet replication and the wireless network is capable of activating downlink packet replication, the network further comprising means for pre-configuring a re-ordering timer for use when a downlink replication is activated as part of the packet data convergence protocol configuration of the wireless network.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the network is configured to: a reordering timer is preconfigured if at least activation and/or deactivation of downlink packet duplication is detected by using a MAC CE.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the network is configured to: a reordering timer is preconfigured if activation and/or deactivation of uplink packet duplication is detected by using a MAC CE.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the network is configured to: the downlink packet replication is considered to be active whenever uplink activation is detected.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the network is configured to, via a radio bearer-based radio resource control: the downlink packet replication is considered to be active whenever uplink activation is detected.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the network is configured to: downlink duplication is considered to be activated if it is determined that data for a radio bearer is also received on a second link after being received on a first link.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the network is configured to: downlink replication is considered to be deactivated whenever data of a radio bearer is received on only one link within a predetermined time interval.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the wireless network includes at least one node where a PDCP entity is located, the at least one node configured to adapt the reordering timer.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, packet duplication is activated by a MAC CE from a primary node (MN) or a Secondary Node (SN) of the wireless network, and the receiving PDCP entity is located at the primary node or the secondary node, and wherein whenever a primary node or secondary node decides to activate and/or deactivate an uplink duplication, an indication of the decision is transmitted to the other of the primary node or secondary node where the PDCP entity is located.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, an indication of the decision is transmitted to the other of the primary or secondary node where the PDCP entity is located using Xn/X2 signaling, so that the node carrying the PCDP entity can adapt the reordering timer.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, wherein packet replication is achieved by replicating packets and transmitting them along different logical channels along at least one or more or all links or branches in the wireless network.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, the wireless communication network includes a Radio Access Network (RAN), e.g., a new radio/5G radio access network.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, a base station for use in a wireless network is provided in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosed technology.

Some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology relate to a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions for execution by a processor to perform any of the methods of embodiments of the disclosed technology.

The non-transitory computer readable medium may include at least one of the group consisting of: hard disk, compact disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM), optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, read Only Memory (ROM), programmable ROM (Programmable Read Only Memory), erasable programmable ROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, EPROM for short), electrically erasable programmable ROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), and Flash Memory (Flash Memory).

One or more or all of the features of an embodiment of the disclosed technology described herein or in the appended claims may be combined with one or more or all of the features of other embodiments of the disclosed technology described herein or in the appended claims in any manner apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.

Drawings

Further details, aspects and embodiments of the invention will be described below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. For simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements in the figures have been illustrated and not necessarily drawn to scale. For ease of understanding, like reference numerals are used throughout the drawings.

Figure 1 schematically illustrates how PDCP packet duplication with carrier aggregation is configured for radio bearers;

fig. 2A schematically illustrates a radio bearer not configured for PDCP packet duplication;

fig. 2B schematically illustrates a radio bearer configured for PDCP packet duplication on two LCHs;

fig. 3 schematically shows how a downlink packet data control protocol (DL PDCP) reordering window is implemented.

Detailed Description

Those skilled in the art will recognize and appreciate that the specifics of the examples described are merely illustrative of some embodiments and that the teachings set forth herein are applicable in a variety of alternative scenarios.

Embodiments of the technology disclosed herein relate to solving the problem of packet duplication related to the operation of the network proposed by NR/LTE 5G.

Some embodiments of the disclosed technology relate to providing enhanced buffer status report (Buffer Status Report, BSR) operation for replication in Carrier Aggregation (CA) (MAC layer). While in the case of replication in CA, a basic packet replication operation does not require specific BSR changes, with existing BSR solutions, a BSR may not always be triggered when new data arrives when CA replication is activated, but a BSR should be triggered if CA packet replication is not activated. This will degrade the latency of the radio bearer when the duplication is activated, contrary to one of the intended targets of packet duplication. Some embodiments propose a BSR trigger operation that eliminates any degraded performance if packet replication is activated.

Some other embodiments of the disclosed technology relate to providing an enhanced Downlink (DL) physical dedicated control channel (Physical Dedicated Control Channel, PDCP) copy operation (PDCP layer). For DL, it is assumed that a Network (NW) can configure and activate/deactivate the copy operation when needed without informing the User Equipment (UE) and without affecting the UE PDCP receive operation (since reordering and de-duplication (duplicate removal) are already supported in NR as part of normal PDCP operation). However, it is likely that a longer reordering timer (timer) is required when DL replication is used to take into account the possible delay between the two branches. The longer reordering timer should be used only when DL duplication is activated, because otherwise it would degrade the latency (latency) of the RB whenever a PDCP COUNT gap occurs. Some embodiments propose to pre-configure the reordering timer to be used when DL replication is activated. Some embodiments propose several ways to detect when DL replication is activated.

Enhanced BSR operation for replication in CA (MAC layer)

Consider a 5G new radio Network (NW) in which the NW is preconfigured with two Logical Channels (LCHs) through Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration (one channel for the initial link or leg and one channel for the replicated link or leg) (see fig. 1 for an example of the drawings, which schematically shows how PDCP packet replication with CA is implemented in an NR network). The UE is instructed (ordered) to dynamically activate/deactivate UL replication by using the MAC CE. If the NW configures the two LCHs with the same priority, activating CA replication may result in latency (latency) degradation given that the two LCHs refer to the same bearer, but not if replication is not activated. For example, the rate of data flow on a replicated leg or link may be reduced, possibly to the point where data may reside on the replicated leg (e.g., due to temporary congestion of the replicated leg or link). In this case, the arrival of new data for the radio bearer does not trigger a regular BSR even if the initial leg or link is empty (i.e. there is no congestion). The NW knows the arrival of new data only when a periodic BSR or a padding BSR is eventually received, which may wait up to a few milliseconds (ms).

Thus, activating a duplicate leg affects the triggering of the BSR when new data arrives, and may prevent triggering of the BSR even in case the duplicate leg is not activated but should trigger the BSR, with the result of degradation of the latency (latency) of the radio bearer. To avoid this, the NW may pre-configure the replicated LCH with a lower priority than the initial LCH. With this configuration, the radio bearer does experience a delay degradation when the packet duplication is activated compared to when the packet duplication is not activated, because even if an event causes a congestion that causes the packet to be stranded on the duplicated leg, such data has a lower priority than the data arriving at the original leg. This will then not prevent BSR triggering, i.e. BSR triggering of the initial leg is not affected by activation of the replicated leg. However, if instead some data is retained in the original LCH, this will prevent new UL data from reaching the replicated LCH, triggering a BSR. To address this problem, the replicated LCH should be preconfigured to have a higher priority than the initial LCH.

Therefore, in the related art, when CA replication for an RB is activated, even when data for the RB is reserved in one leg, a regular BSR is not triggered when new UL data arrives, even if data is not reserved on the other leg, which deteriorates latency (latency) of the RB.

In LTE Rel-8 (also reused in NR), a regular BSR is triggered when new UL data is available for a higher priority LCH than for LCHs that already contain available UL data (within a MAC entity). This principle enables limiting BSR overhead by triggering regular BSR only in limited cases. When the condition for new UL data availability is not satisfied (UL data of the same or higher priority already exists), the NW scheduler is informed about the UE buffer status using a periodic BSR. However, this requires that the NW scheduler knows the existing higher or equal priority data so that it schedules resources for the existing data first. While a UE may be configured to trigger a BSR if the UL new data is received even when the same priority data has been buffered, if the solution is left to the UE, some UEs may do so, some may not, and the NW scheduler will not have consistent information between UEs. The best reliable BSR trigger is only needed for packet replication when LCHs are mapped on different carriers. Triggering a BSR may increase the amount of overhead if there is already data for an LCH and new data arrives at the LCH, so periodic BSRs may be used instead. However, if the UE is allowed to transmit BSR in this case, the periodic BSR becomes useless.

Some embodiments of the disclosed technology seek to address this situation by proposing a tradeoff between legacy BSR design (from LTE R8, etc.) and serving cell/Component Carrier (CC) limitations that introduce packet duplication in CA, by ensuring that BSR is always properly triggered to reduce the likelihood of latency (latency) problems increasing when packet duplication is activated.

Enhanced DL PDCP copy operation (PDCP layer)

Another problem that may occur when implementing PDCP layer packet replication is that the UE does not currently know when to use or not to use DL replication and whether the NW wants to activate DL replication through dual connectivity (dual connectivity, DC for short) and non-ideal backhaul (non-ideal backhaul) or through different queuing delays (delay) there is no convenient way to instruct the UE to use a different reordering timer. In the case of PDCP COUNT gaps, this also leads to latency (degradation).

One way to solve this problem is to have the NW pre-configure a larger reordering timer (a disadvantage in this case is that if duplication is not used, delay (latency) is unnecessarily degraded due to the PDCP COUNT gap) or to configure a larger reordering timer when duplication is activated (a disadvantage in this case is that RRC signaling has to be added, which is not suitable for easily triggering DL duplication when needed, especially in cell edge scenarios). For example, when a PDCP entity is configured, the UE may be configured with a larger reordering timer.

Some embodiments of the disclosed technology instead pre-configure additional/alternative re-ordering timers and use one mechanism to select the re-ordering timers to use (e.g., they may use a MAC CE (for UL) and/or use another mechanism to select the re-ordering timers to use to avoid both disadvantages described above.

One embodiment of providing enhanced BSR operation for replication in carrier aggregation "CA" (MAC layer) will be described herein Some examples, however, are helpful if certain contexts are given first for carrier aggregation replication and conventional buffer status reporting And (5) assisting.

Background of CA replication

When CA duplication is configured and activated for radio bearers, a PDCP entity performs PDCP PDU duplication and submits original and duplicated PDCP PDUs to two different Radio Link Control (RLC) entities. The two RLC entities submit corresponding RLC PDUs to the same MAC entity over two logical channels. To ensure that those RLC PDUs are sent on different carriers, these logical channels are limited to using different component carriers (or equivalent serving cells). This is illustrated in fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings, wherein a logical channel LCH1 is restricted to use of a transport carrier channel CC1 and a transport carrier channel CC2, while another logical channel LCH2 is restricted to use of another transport carrier channel CC3. The mapping may be configured by Radio Resource Control (RRC), for example by setting parameters lcp-allowedServingCells.

Background of conventional BSR

The conventional principle of a regular BSR reused in NR (triggered when new data arrives) is that a regular BSR should be triggered when new UL data is available for LCHs of higher priority than for LCHs already containing available UL data.

This includes 2 cases:

i) New UL data is available for one LCH and no data is available for transmission in any other LCH;

ii) new UL data is available for an LCH and the LCH has a higher priority than all other LCHs that already contain available UL data.

Logical Channels (LCHs) must be assigned to a logical channel group (Logical Channel Group, LCG for short) defining the granularity of reporting the buffer size to the NW (all data from LCHs belonging to the same LCG is aggregated for reporting UL data available in the BSR for transmission to the NW). It is noted (for reference only) that any data of LCHs that is not mapped to an LCG is not reported and does not trigger BSR. "UL data available for LCH transmission", "UL data available for LCH", or "LCH containing available UL data" refers to UL data that will eventually be submitted to the corresponding LCH and buffered in RLC or PDCP as specified in MAC specification 38.321v 200. The MAC entity determines the amount of UL data available for a logical channel according to the data amount calculation procedure in TSs 38.322 and 38.323[3] [4],

The complete MAC specification 38.321v200 text is as follows: a BSR should be triggered if any of the following events occur: the MAC entity having new UL data available for a logical channel belonging to an LCG; and the priority of the logical channel to which the new UL data belongs is higher than the priority of any logical channel belonging to any LCG containing available UL data, or none of the logical channels belonging to a LCG contains any available UL data; in this case, the BSR is referred to as a "regular BSR".

CA replication and regular BSR triggering

Some embodiments of the disclosed technology address ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) use cases where a UE has one Dedicated Radio Bearer (DRB) configured to serve URLLC traffic. Typically, the corresponding URLLC LCH will be configured to have a higher priority than other LCHs, e.g. enhanced mobile broadband ((eMBB LCH). This ensures that a regular BSR is triggered when new URLLCUL data arrives, even though there is already available UL data for an eMBB.

When CA replication is configured, the expected replicated URLLC LCH will be configured with a similar high priority as the original URLLC LCH. In one scenario, two LCHs use the same priority. In order for the base station (called gndeb (gNB) in NR)) scheduler to distinguish which LCH (hence carrier) UL data resources are needed, two LCHs may be mapped to different Logical Channel Groups (LCGs).

When a first burst arrives at the URLLC, new UL data is available for both LCHs. If the MAC entity considers two arrivals simultaneously, two conventional BSRs will be triggered, one for each LCH. As expected, the gNB has a timely knowledge of the Buffer Status (BS) of the two LCHs. When a second burst arrives at the URLLC, the same behavior is expected to occur and no problem occurs if the first burst is successfully transmitted on both links. However, one of the links may experience problems, for example due to the use of temporary congestion associated with high frequencies in the NR.

In some cases, the transmission of the first burst on the replicated link has not yet been completed (meaning that there is still UL data available for the replicated LCH) when the second burst arrives. In this scenario, the new UL data arrival will not trigger a BSR because a same LCH already has UL data available.

The gNB does not have timely knowledge of the BS of the original LCH. Due to the periodic BSR, the gNB scheduler will only get knowledge of the arrival of this data, which may occur after a few milliseconds, depending on the configuration. This can be contrasted with the case where no duplicate link is established at the first location, in which case a BSR should be triggered when the second burst arrives. To avoid this problem, the replicated LCH may be configured with a lower priority than the initial LCH. However, the opposite problem may occur in that some data may reside in the original LCH and new UL data may be prevented from reaching the replicated LCH to trigger a BSR.

Therefore, when CA replication for an RB is activated, in the existing BSR procedure, as long as data of the RB is reserved in one leg, a regular BSR is not triggered even if new UL data of the RB arrives, even if data is not reserved on the other leg. Because of this problem, the activation of CA replication may even degrade the latency of the RB, contrary to one of the intended targets of replication. This problem does not occur in Dual Connectivity (DC) replication, since there are 2 MAC entities in DC for the primary cell group (Master Cell Group, MCG for short) and Secondary cell group (Secondary Cell Group, SCG for short), respectively, and separate BSR procedures for the primary Node (Master Node, MN for short) and Secondary Node (SN for short) schedulers.

For an example of a network configuration with 3 Dedicated Radio Bearers (DRBs) pre-configured for replication, some embodiments address the above issues by modifying the regular BSR trigger mechanism as follows. The 3 DRBs are configured and shown in table 1, with numbered logical channels being referred to as LC 1..lc 6, wherein: LC1/LC2 are both branches of replicated DRBA; LC3/LC4 are both branches of the replicated DRBB; and LC5/LC6 are all branches of replicated DRBC. In this example, five Serving Cells (SCs)/Component Carriers (CCs) are provided, and the Logical Channel (LCH) mapping for the Serving Cells (SCs)/Component Carriers (CCs) to the set of logical channels is limited as shown in the following table (which indicates allowed serving cells/component carriers for each of these logical channels).

	CC1	CC2	CC3	CC4	CC5
						LC1	X	X
LC2			X	X	X
						LC3	X
LC4			X
						LC5	X		X
LC6		X		X

Table 1: mapping of example logical channels (LCh) (referred to as lc1..lc5 in table 1) to component carriers (CC 1..cc5).

In this example of an embodiment of the disclosed technology, the DRBs have similar priorities, and thus the priorities of the Logical Channels (LCHs) are the same among the DRBs. We also assume that the priorities of the initial and duplicate LCHs are set equal. Thus, in this example configuration, all LCHs (lc1..lc6 in table 1) are configured to have the same priority.

Now consider that when new data arrives for a logical channel within a MAC entity, if the MAC entity checks for available data on a subset of LCHs, a regular BSR is triggered only if there is no data available for LCHs in LCHs of that subset. On this basis, among all LCGs, the subset is all LCHs with higher or equal priority than LCHs where new UL data arrives. This subset is called the baseline (baseline) subset. The presence of available data for any LCH in the subset prevents the triggering of a regular BSR when new UL data for the considered LCH arrives. The resulting regular BSR triggering procedure is equivalent to saying that a regular BSR is triggered if already available data (if any) is only associated with LCHs having a lower priority than LCH having new UL data. In the above example configuration, all LCHs have the same priority, the baseline LCHs subset will be described in detail in table 2 below, depending on whether New Data (ND) arrives at LC1 to LC6.

ND LC1

ND LC2

ND LC3

ND LC4

ND LC5

ND LC6

LC1

X

LC2

X

LC3

X

LC4

X

LC5

X

LC6

X

TABLE 2

In this case, when new data arrives at one LC, already available data in the corresponding LCH subset will prevent BSR triggering. All LCHs in the LCH subset are considered, and therefore any data that resides on any of all LCHs (lc1..lc6) will prevent BSR triggering. This leads to two problems. One problem is that if data is stuck on the initial leg or duplicate leg of a DRB, the BSR is not triggered (as described above). This is because in the case of NDLC1 (new data on LC 1), the data on LC2 is checked and vice versa, and similarly for LC3/4 and LC 5/6. Another problem is that, considering multiple DRBs, data retention corresponding to one DRB may also prevent BSR triggering of another DRB, even if the other DRBs are configured to use more Component Carriers (CCs). If CC1 is congested, LC3 data may be stagnant (because LC3 is configured to use only CC1 in this example). This will prevent all other LCHs from triggering the BSR even if they are allowed to use other CCs.

In some embodiments, one or more "limited LCHs" are used. Unless otherwise indicated, the term "restricted LCH" refers to an LCH that is restricted to transmissions using a specific (specific) component carrier (component carriers, CCs) or equivalent Serving Cells (SCs). For example, configuration may be performed by RRC using parameter Lcp-allowedServingCells.

In some examples of embodiments of the disclosed technology, a MAC entity has new UL data available for a restricted LCH belonging to a Logical Channel Group (LCG). In these examples of embodiments, for example, when checking an LCH containing available UL data for the purpose of triggering a regular BSR, an additional (furthers) subset of the LCHs is used in addition to the baseline subset described herein above. For example, when checking an LCH containing available UL data for the purpose of triggering a regular BSR, the MAC entity will consider LCHs related to the reference subset as well as the additional subset at the same time.

In one embodiment, the additional LCHs subset is a set of LCHs that are allowed to use at least one same component carrier/serving cell as a restricted LCH for which the MAC entity has new UL data available. (equivalently, the additional LCHs subset is a set of all LCHs except some LCHs that are not allowed to use any carrier/serving cell allowed by the restricted LCH with new UL data available for its MAC entity.)

With the above exemplary configuration, the resulting LCHs subset is detailed in table 3 below, depending on whether New Data (ND) arrives at LC1 through LC6.

ND LC1

ND LC2

ND LC3

ND LC4

ND LC5

ND LC6

LC1

X

-

X

LC2

-

X

LC3

X

-

X

LC4

X

-

X

LC5

X

-

LC6

-

X

TABLE 3 Table 3

The above-described first problem is solved by a set of all LCHs including at least one component carrier/serving cell that allows use of the same restricted LCH for which a MAC entity has new UL data available, in the following cases: data is trapped on an initial or duplicate leg of a DRB, the BSR for one DRB is not triggered, and the available data on one leg is not checked when data arrives on the other leg (denoted by "-" in table 3 above).

However, the second problem still exists: wherein considering multiple DRBs, data retention corresponding to one DRB may prevent BSR triggering of another DRB even if the other DRBs are configured to use more CCs and prevent BSR triggering of all other LCHs even if they are allowed to use other CCs. If CC1 is blocked, LC3 may experience data retention and will prevent BSR triggering from new data on LC1, even though LC1 may use CC2.

This will result in a modification to the known BSR technique, such as set forth in MAC specification 38.32v200, and according to an embodiment of the disclosed technique, a BSR is triggered if any of the following events occur:

-the MAC entity having new UL data available for a logical channel belonging to an LCG; and

-the new UL data belongs to a logical channel with a higher priority than any logical channel belonging to any LCG and which is allowed to use at least one serving cell allowed by the logical channel with new UL data, any logical channel containing available UL data; or (b)

-none of the logical channels of the serving cell belonging to an LCG and allowed to use at least one (one of) allowed by said logical channel with new UL data contains any available UL data;

in this case, the BSR is hereinafter referred to as "regular BSR";

accordingly, one embodiment of the present invention includes a method of triggering a BSR, the method of triggering a BSR comprising:

determining (determining) whether a MAC entity has new Uplink (UL) data available for logical channels belonging to a Logical Channel Group (LCG); and

triggering a BSR in response to any of the following decisions (determinations):

the new Uplink (UL) data belongs to a logical channel having a higher priority than any logical channel belonging to any LCG and being allowed to use at least one or more or all serving cells allowed by the logical channel with new UL data, the priority of any logical channel containing available UL data; or (b)

Logical channels of any serving cell belonging to any LCG and allowed to use said logical channel with new UL data do not contain any available UL data.

The triggered BSR is hereinafter referred to as a "regular BSR";

in another embodiment, the additional LCHs subset is LCHs of the limited LCH that are allowed to use at least the same component carrier/serving cell (i.e., all) as MAC entities with new UL data available. Equivalently, the additional LCHs subset is all LCHs except some LCHs that are not allowed to use at least one carrier/serving cell allowed by the restricted LCH with new UL data available to its MAC entity.

With the above exemplary configuration, the resulting LCHs subset is described in detail below, depending on whether New Data (ND) arrives at LC1 through LC6.

ND LC1

ND LC2

ND LC3

ND LC4

ND LC5

ND LC6

LC1

X

-

X

LC2

-

X

LC3

X

-

LC4

-

X

LC5

X

-

LC6

-

X

Table 4:

the problem solved by this embodiment is: when a BSR for one DRB is not triggered, data is retained on the initial or duplicate leg of the DRB, and the available data on one leg is not checked when data arrives on the other leg (denoted by "-" in the table).

The above embodiment also solves the following problems: when multiple DRBs are used and data retention corresponding to one DRB prevents BSR triggering of another DRB, even if the other DRBs are configured to use more CCs. Even if CC1 is blocked and LC3 experiences data retention, BSR triggering from new data on LC1 is not prevented, since LC1 may also use CC2. The LC3 available data is checked only when new data for LC3 arrives (i.e. BSR can only be blocked). In case new data arrives from a different LCH, LC3 available data is not taken into account, as all other LCHs may use a different CC than CC 1. LC2 available data may prevent BSR triggering of new data arrival from LC4, since LC4 may only use CC3 that has been used by LC 2.

-the new UL data belongs to a logical channel with a higher priority than any logical channel belonging to any LCG and which is allowed to use at least all serving cells allowed by the logical channel with new UL data, any logical channel containing available UL data; or (b)

-logical channels belonging to an LCG and allowed to use at least all (allof) serving cells allowed by said logical channels with new UL data do not contain any available UL data;

in this case, the BSR is referred to as a "regular BSR";

thus, another example of a method of triggering a BSR according to an embodiment of the present invention includes:

determining whether a MAC entity has new Uplink (UL) data available for logical channels belonging to a Logical Channel Group (LCG); and

triggering a BSR in response to any of:

-determining that said new Uplink (UL) data belongs to a logical channel having a higher priority than any logical channel belonging to any LCG and being allowed to use at least all serving cells allowed by said logical channel with new UL data, the priority of any logical channel containing available UL data; or (b)

-determining that logical channels of at least all serving cells belonging to an LCG and allowed to use said logical channel with new UL data do not contain any available UL data;

in another embodiment of the disclosed technology, a serving cell mapping limit is configured for a purpose other than replication, and the proposed regular BSR trigger update is configurable. The previous embodiments are extended to apply new behavior only when configured by Radio Resource Control (RRC), either explicitly (e.g., along with LCH or DRB/PDCP configuration) or implicitly (for LCHs corresponding to duplicate DRBs). This new behavior may also be configured to only apply to a specific (specific) LCGs.

In another embodiment of the disclosed technology, "restricted LCH" refers to an LCH configured with one or more mapping restrictions, such as those specified in MAC specification 38.321v200, for example, wherein RRC additionally controls the LCP procedure by configuring a mapping restriction for each logical channel:

-Lcp-allowedSCS sets the allowed subcarrier spacing(s) for transmission;

-Lcp-maxPUSCH-Duration sets the maximum PUSCH Duration allowed for transmission;

-Lcp-configurable grant type1Allowed sets whether a configured grant type1 can be used for transmission;

-Lcp-allowedServingCells setting allowed cell(s) for transmission.

Other embodiments described herein may be similarly scalable/extendable to consider not only the mapping limit(s) of any serving cell, but also any other mapping limit(s).

Another example of an embodiment of the disclosed technology provides a "fast BSR trigger". In this example of an embodiment, a new trigger is defined. The new trigger is called "fast BSR trigger" and can be configured by RRC on an LCH or DRB basis (in this case, it applies to LCHs used by the DRB)

In case that the MAC entity has new UL data available for an LCH configured as "fast BSR trigger" belonging to an LCG, only the LCH needs to be considered when checking the LCH containing available UL data for the purpose of triggering the regular BSR.

With the above exemplary configuration, the resulting LCHs subset is detailed in table 5 below, depending on whether New Data (ND) arrives at LC1 through LC6.

ND LC1

ND LC2

ND LC3

ND LC4

ND LC5

ND LC6

LC1

X

-

LC2

-

X

LC3

X

-

LC4

-

X

LC5

X

-

LC6

-

X

TABLE 5

The above embodiment also solves the following problems: when multiple DRBs are used and data retention corresponding to one DRB prevents BSR triggering of another DRB, even if the other DRBs are configured to use more CCs. While the above embodiments address both of these issues, there are still drawbacks, for example, a new BRS trigger will be specified instead of modifying an existing trigger, and the trigger is based on an LCH. This may lead to overhead if we consider the case of several LCHs, since in the prior art, an LCH does not trigger a BSR even if there is already higher or equal priority LCH data available. Also, the fast BSR trigger needs to be configured either explicitly (by RRC, e.g., as part of LCH configuration) or implicitly (e.g., for LCHs corresponding to replicated DRBs).

Accordingly, one example of an embodiment of the disclosed technology provides a method for triggering a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to modify a known technology (e.g., a technology known from MAC specification 38.321v 200). According to this exemplary embodiment, a BSR should be triggered if any of the following events occur:

-the new UL data belongs to a logical channel having a higher priority than any logical channel belonging to any LCG containing available UL data; or (b)

-none of the logical channels belonging to an LCG contains any available UL data; or (b)

The new UL data belongs to a logical channel configured for fast BSR triggering, and the logical channel does not contain already available data,

in this case, the BSR is hereinafter referred to as "regular BSR".

triggering a BSR in response to any of:

-determining that the new Uplink (UL) data belongs to a logical channel having a higher priority than any logical channel belonging to any LCG containing available UL data; or (b)

-determining that none of the logical channels belonging to an LCG contain any available UL data; or (b)

-determining that the new UL data belongs to a logical channel configured for fast BSR triggering and that the logical channel does not contain already available data.

Another example of an embodiment also provides a very fast BRS triggering method. In this example of an embodiment, a new trigger is defined. The new trigger is called "very fast BSR trigger" and may be configured by RRC on an LCH or DRB basis (in which case it applies to LCHs used by the DRB). In case the MAC entity has new UL data available for an LCH belonging to an LCG configured as a "very fast BSR trigger", a regular BSR is triggered independent of any available UL data.

This embodiment triggers the regular BSR even faster, but there may be some drawbacks in that it requires a larger overhead of additional BSRs and will trigger more BSRs than the known technique (in which new data for an LCH will not trigger a BSR if it already exists, since a padding or periodic BSR can process the pending data).

-the new UL data belongs to a logical channel configured for fast BSR triggering and the logical channel does not contain already available data;

in this case, the BSR is hereinafter referred to as "regular BSR";

in some embodiments related to enhanced DL PDCP copy operations (PDCP layer)The UE is configured by RRC with two RLC entities/logical channels for one radio bearer. The NW may use these LCHs for packet replication in DL. Fig. 2A in the drawings shows as an example how a radio bearer that is not configured for duplication differs from a radio bearer that is configured for duplication (see fig. 2B in the drawings). Once the NW has configured a radio bearer by RRC to use DL PDCP duplication (two RLC entities/logical channels are configured for one radio bearer), the NW can activate/deactivate a Downlink (DL) packet duplication operation when needed without informing the UE. The duplication operation has no direct impact on the UE Packet Data Control Protocol (PDCP) receive operation because the reordering and deduplication operations are already required and supported in the baseline NR PDCP operation.

Fig. 3 schematically illustrates an example of a PDCP receive operation using a PUSH-based reordering window. The lower edge of the reordering window "rx_deliv" is pushed by the arrival of PDCP PDUs of count=rx_deliv, or by the expiration of a reordering timer. The reordering timer is started whenever the reordering timer has not yet run and a gap is created in the received COUNT sequence. The reordering operation of the DL PDCP is used to configure in-order or out-of-order delivery (delivery) to an application layer.

In the new radio (NR or 5G), the Radio Link Control (RLC) will send a complete RLC Service Data Unit (SDUs) to PDCP immediately after it is received, i.e. in contrast to LTE (or 4G), there is no orderly transfer from RLC to PDCP. Thus, PDCP reordering needs to be configured even when a single LCH is used:

for the Unacknowledged Mode (UM), the reordering timer should be higher than the delay of retransmission of the maximum HARQ;

for the Acknowledged Mode (AM), the reordering timer should be higher than the delay of retransmission of the maximum automatic repeat request (automatic repeat request, ARQ for short).

However, the reordering timer introduces a delay in delivering PDCP SDUs to upper layers whenever an in-order delivery is configured and there is a gap in the PDCP sequence. Therefore, a value as small as possible should be configured.

It is known that when two LCHs are used for replication, then there is expected to be an additional delay between the two LCHs in the case of a DC with non-ideal backhaul, or in the case of a DC/CA with different queuing delays. Currently, a UE does not know whether/when DL replication is used. Thus, if the NW were to activate DL replication through DC and non-ideal backhaul or through different queuing delays, the NW would have to configure a larger reordering timer. Using known procedures, the NW configures a larger reordering timer through RRC signaling. This may be accomplished by:

-upon configuring DL replication or more generally before activating DL replication. However, such known procedures may cause problems if the duplication is not activated, because the delay may be degraded in the case of PDCP COUNT intervals when the duplication is not activated. The PDCP COUNT gap may occur due to packet loss (in UM) on the air interface, or PDCP PDUs (in AM or UM) discarded from the NW end. In case such PDCP COUNT gap occurs, the PDCP entity at the UE will wait for the lost PDCP PDU(s) longer than needed, as it will in fact wait for potential arrival of PDCP PDUs from the alternative leg.

-when replication is activated: the problem adds RRC signaling which is not suitable to easily trigger DL duplication when needed, especially in cell edge scenarios. That is why a MAC CE is introduced to activate/deactivate the duplication in UL, and RRC signaling is also possible.

One example of an embodiment of the disclosed technology is to pre-configure a re-ordering timer for use when DL replication is activated. This may be part of the PDCP entity configuration

In addition to the baseline reordering timer that is used when DL replication is not activated, an alternative reordering timer may be configured to be used when DL replication is activated.

Activation/deactivation of DL replication may be detected:

explicitly, activation/deactivation of DL replication is indicated by using a MACCE sent in DL by the NW, similarly for activation/deactivation of UL replication;

implicitly, DL replication is activated (this behavior can be configured by RRC on an RB basis) whenever UL replication is activated by considering (deposition);

implicitly, DL replication is deactivated whenever data for an RB is received on only one link for a configured time, by considering that DL replication is activated whenever data for an RB is received on a second link after data for an RB is received on a first link.

One example of an embodiment of the disclosed technology, pre-configuring a re-ordering timer for Downlink (DL) double link operation, for example, may be used whenever the PDCP DL entity is associated with two Radio Link Control (RLC) entities. This may be applicable to overlay copy and split (split) operations, both of which are double-stranded operations.

One example of an embodiment of the disclosed technology is to pre-configure a reordering timer for Uplink (UL) PDCP copying (and/or (instead of) Downlink (DL) PCDP). This may also apply when DC (dual connectivity) is used.

In one example of an embodiment of the disclosed technology, packet replication is activated by a MACCE from a primary node (MN) or a Secondary Node (SN). The (received) Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity is located at the MN or SN. The PDCP entity needs to know that UL replication is activated/deactivated to fit the reordering timer, however, the decision may be made by a node that does not carry (host) PDCP entity. In this example of an embodiment, the node that activates/deactivates UL replication indicates this decision to the node that carries the PDCP entity (if different) through Xn/X2 signaling. This enables the node carrying the PDCP entity to adapt the reordering timer.

Although not shown in detail, any device or means forming part of the network may comprise at least a processor, a storage unit and a communication interface, wherein the processor unit, the storage unit and the communication interface are configured to perform the methods of any aspect of the invention. Further schemes and options are described below.

The signal processing functions of the gNB and the UE in particular, according to embodiments of the invention, may be implemented using a computing system (computing system) or architecture known to those skilled in the relevant art. Computing systems, such as desktop, portable or notebook computers, hand-held computing devices (PDAs, cellular mobile phones, palmtops, etc.), mainframes, servers, clients or any other type of special or general purpose computing device, may be used as may be suitable or suited to a particular application or environment. The computing system may include one or more processors, which may be implemented using a general-purpose or special-purpose processing engine such as a microprocessor, microcontroller, or other control processing module.

The computing system may also include a main memory, such as random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or other dynamic memory, for storing information and instructions (instructions) to be executed by the processor. Such main memory may also be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by the processor. The computing system may also include a Read Only Memory (ROM) or other static storage device for the processor that stores static information and processor instructions.

The computing system may also include an information storage system, which may include, for example, a media drive (media drive) and a removable storage interface. The media drive may include a drive or other mechanism (mechanism) to support fixed or removable storage media, such as a hard disk drive, floppy disk drive, tape drive, compact Disk (CD) drive, read or write drive (read or write drive, R or RW) for a Compact Disk (CD) or digital video drive (digital video drive, DVD) or other removable or fixed media drive. The storage medium may include, for example, a hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk (CD or DVD), or other fixed or removable medium (medium) that is read by and written to by the media drive. The storage media may include computer-readable storage media having particular computer software or data stored therein.

In alternative embodiments, the information storage system may include other similar components for allowing computer programs or other instructions or data to be loaded into the computing system. These components may include, for example, removable storage units and interfaces such as program cartridge to cartridge interfaces, removable memory (e.g., flash memory or other removable memory modules) and memory slots, and other removable storage units and interfaces that allow software and data to be transferred from the removable storage units to the computing system.

The computing system may also include a communication interface. Such communication interfaces may be used to allow software and data to be transferred between the computing system and external devices. In this embodiment, the communication interface may include a modem, a network interface (e.g., an ethernet or other NIC card), a communication port (e.g., a universal serial bus (universal serial bus, simply USB) port), a PCMCIA slot and card, etc. Software and data transferred via the communications interface are transferred in the form of signals which may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical or other signals capable of being received by the communications interface medium.

In this document, the terms "computer program product," "computer-readable medium," and the like may be used generally to refer to tangible media(s), such as memory, storage devices, or storage units. These and other forms of computer-readable media (media) may store one or more instructions for use by a processor, including a computer system (computer), to cause the processor to perform specified operations. These instructions, commonly referred to as "computer program code" (which may be combined in the form of computer programs or other combinations), when executed, cause the computing system to perform the functions of embodiments of the present invention. It is noted that the code may directly cause the processor to perform certain operations, be compiled to do so, and/or be combined with other software, hardware, and/or firmware elements (elements), e.g., libraries for performing standard functions, to do so.

The non-transitory computer readable medium may include at least one of the group consisting of a hard disk, compact disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM), optical storage device, magnetic storage device, read Only Memory (Read Only Memory), programmable Read Only Memory (Programmable Read Only Memory), erasable programmable Read Only Memory (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, EPROM for short), electrically erasable programmable Read Only Memory (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), and flash Memory.

In embodiments using software implemented elements (elements), the software may be stored in a computer readable medium and loaded into a computing system using, for example, a removable storage drive. A control module (in this example, software instructions or executable computer program code) when executed by a processor in a computer system causes the processor to perform the functions of the invention as described herein.

Furthermore, the inventive concept may be applied to any circuit for performing signal processing functions within a network element. It is further contemplated that, for example, a semiconductor manufacturer may use the concepts of the present invention in the design of a stand-alone device, such as a microcontroller and/or any other subsystem element of a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, abbreviated DSP) or application-specific integrated circuit (application-specific integrated circuit, abbreviated ASIC).

It will be appreciated that for clarity purposes, embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to a single processing logic. However, the inventive concept may equally be implemented by a number of different functional units and processors to provide the described signal processing functionality. Thus, references to specific functional units are only to be seen as references to suitable means for providing the described functionality rather than indicative of a strict logical or physical structure or organization.

Aspects of the invention may be implemented in any suitable form including hardware, software, firmware or any combination of these. Alternatively, the invention may be implemented at least in part as computer software running on one or more data processors and/or digital signal processors or configurable module components such as FPGA devices (devices). Thus, the elements and components of an embodiment of the invention may be physically, functionally and logically implemented in any suitable way. Indeed the functionality may be implemented in a single unit, in a plurality of units or as part of other functional units.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with some embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. Rather, the scope of the invention is limited only by the appended claims. In addition, while a feature is described in connection with particular embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that multiple features of the described embodiments may be combined. In the claims, the term "comprising" does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps.

Furthermore, although individually listed, a plurality of means, elements or method steps may be implemented by e.g. a single unit or processor. In addition, although individual features may be included in different claims, these may possibly be advantageously combined, and the inclusion in different claims does not imply that a combination of features is not feasible and/or advantageous. Also, the inclusion of a feature in one category (category) of claims does not imply a limitation to this category but rather indicates that the feature is equally applicable to other claim categories.

Furthermore, the order of features in the claims does not imply any specific order in which the features must be performed, and in particular the order of individual steps in a method claim does not imply that the steps must be performed in this order. Rather, the steps may be performed in any suitable order. In addition, singular references do not exclude a plurality. Thus, references to "a," "an," "the first," "the second," etc. do not exclude a plurality.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with some embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. Rather, the scope of the invention is limited only by the appended claims. Furthermore, although features appear to be described in connection with particular embodiments, one skilled in the art will appreciate that different features of the described embodiments may be combined in accordance with the invention. In the claims, the term "comprising" or "comprises" does not exclude the presence of other elements.

Claims

1. A method of triggering a buffer status report in a wireless communication network operating a packet data convergence protocol wherein a plurality of logical channels are used to provide packet replication, the method comprising:

determining whether a medium access control MAC entity has new uplink data available for a first logical channel belonging to a logical channel group, wherein the medium access control MAC entity comprises an additional subset of restricted logical channels that are allowed to use at least one same component carrier/serving cell as the medium access control entity has new uplink data available;

and if so, if one of the following is determined:

None of the other logical channels belonging to any logical channel group and allowed to use at least one serving cell allowed by the first logical channel with the new uplink data contain any available uplink data,

A buffer status report is triggered.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the buffer status report is triggered if one of:

said new uplink data belonging to a logical channel having a higher priority than any logical channel belonging to any logical channel group and having priority of any logical channel of available uplink data, and being allowed to use at least all serving cells allowed by said logical channel having new uplink data; or alternatively

All the logical channels of the serving cells belonging to a logical channel group and allowed to use the logical channel with new uplink data do not contain any available uplink data.

3. The method according to any of claims 1 to 2, wherein the method of triggering the buffer status report in a wireless communication network operating a packet data convergence protocol is configurable in the wireless communication network by radio resource control.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the radio resource control configures the wireless communication network to implement the method of claim 1, or explicitly when a logical channel or dedicated radio bearer/packet data convergence protocol is configured in the wireless communication network, or implicitly when a logical channel is configured to correspond to a duplicate dedicated radio bearer.

5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 2, wherein the method is implemented only for one or more specific groups of logical channels in the wireless communication network.

6. A method of triggering a buffer status report in a wireless communication network operating a packet data convergence protocol wherein a plurality of logical channels are used to provide packet replication, the method comprising:

determining whether a medium access control MAC entity has new uplink data available for a logical channel belonging to a logical channel group, wherein the medium access control MAC entity comprises an additional subset of restricted logical channel sets allowed to use at least one same component carrier/serving cell as the medium access control entity has new uplink data available;

and if so, if one of the following is determined:

a buffer status report is triggered.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the buffer status report trigger is configured by radio resource control on a logical channel-based or on a logical channel used by a dedicated radio bearer.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of triggering the buffer status report in a wireless communication network operating a packet data convergence protocol further requires the new uplink data to belong to a logical channel that does not contain already available data.

9. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the method is performed in a radio access network for a new radio/5G communication network.

10. An apparatus for triggering a buffer status report in a wireless communication network operating a packet data convergence protocol in which a plurality of logical channels are used to provide packet replication, the apparatus comprising:

means for providing a first affirmative decision if a medium access control entity has new uplink data available for a first logical channel belonging to a logical channel group, wherein the medium access control entity comprises an additional subset of restricted logical channels allowed to use at least one same component carrier/serving cell as the medium access control entity with new uplink data available;

Means configured to provide a second affirmative decision if said new uplink data belonging to said first logical channel has a higher priority than the priority of available uplink data on any other logical channel belonging to said logical channel group, when said available uplink data contained in said other logical channel is allowed to use at least one serving cell allowed by said first logical channel having said new uplink data; and

means configured to provide a third affirmative decision if none of said other logical channels of at least one serving cell allowed to use said first logical channel having said new uplink data belongs to said logical channel group to which said first logical channel belongs, contains any available uplink data, and

means configured to provide a third affirmative decision in response to an affirmative first decision and an affirmative second decision or an affirmative third decision, to cause triggering of a buffer status report.

11. A wireless network comprising means for implementing any of the methods of claims 1 to 5 and any of the methods of claims 6 to 9.

12. A wireless network configured to operate using a packet data convergence protocol in which a plurality of logical channels are used to provide packet replication and the wireless network is capable of activating downlink packet replication, the wireless network further comprising means for pre-configuring a re-ordering timer for use when a downlink replication is activated as part of the packet data convergence protocol configuration of the wireless network,

the method for triggering a buffer status report in the wireless network comprises the following steps:

and if so, if one of the following is determined:

a buffer status report is triggered.

13. The wireless network of claim 12, wherein the wireless network is configured to: a reordering timer is preconfigured if at least activation and/or deactivation of downlink packet duplication is detected by using a MAC CE.

14. The wireless network of claim 12 or 13, wherein the wireless network is configured to: a reordering timer is preconfigured if activation and/or deactivation of uplink packet duplication is detected by using a MAC CE.

15. The wireless network of any of claims 12 to 13, wherein the wireless network is configured to: the downlink packet replication is considered to be active whenever uplink activation is detected.

16. The wireless network of any of claims 12 to 13, wherein the wireless network is configured by a radio bearer based radio resource control to: the downlink packet replication is considered to be active whenever uplink activation is detected.

17. The wireless network of any of claims 12 to 13, wherein the wireless network is configured to: downlink duplication is considered to be activated if it is determined that data for a radio bearer is also received on a second link after being received on a first link.

18. The wireless network of claim 17, wherein the wireless network is configured to: downlink replication is considered to be deactivated whenever data of a radio bearer is received on only one link within a predetermined time interval.

19. A wireless network as claimed in any of claims 12 to 13, wherein the wireless network comprises at least one node in which a PDCP entity is located, the at least one node being configured to adapt the reordering timer.

20. The wireless network of claim 19, wherein:

packet duplication is activated by a MAC CE from a primary node MN or a secondary node SN of the wireless network, and the received PDCP entity is located at the primary node or the secondary node, and

wherein whenever a primary node or secondary node makes a decision to activate and/or deactivate an uplink copy, an indication of the decision is transmitted to the other of the primary node and secondary node where the PDCP entity is located.

21. The wireless network of claim 20, wherein an indication of the decision is transmitted to the other of the primary and secondary nodes where the PDCP entity is located using Xn/X2 signaling such that the primary or secondary node carrying the PCDP entity can adapt the reordering timer.

22. A wireless network according to any of claims 12, further configured with means for implementing a method according to any of claims 1 to 9.

23. A network device, comprising: a processor, a memory unit and a communication interface, wherein the processor unit, memory unit and communication interface are configured for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 9.

24. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon for execution by a processor to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 9.

25. A method of triggering a buffer status report in a wireless communication network operating a packet data convergence protocol wherein a plurality of logical channels are used to provide packet replication, the method comprising:

Determining, by a network node, at least two conditions for triggering transmission of a buffer status report, a first condition of the at least two conditions comprising:

if the medium access control MAC entity has new uplink data available for a first logical channel belonging to a logical channel group, wherein the medium access control MAC entity comprises an additional subset of restricted logical channels that are allowed to use at least one same component carrier/serving cell as the medium access control entity has new uplink data available; and

at least a second condition among the at least two conditions includes one or more of:

if the new uplink data belonging to the first logical channel has a higher priority than available uplink data on any other logical channel belonging to the logical channel group, when the available uplink data contained in the other logical channel is allowed to use at least one serving cell allowed by the first logical channel having the new uplink data;

if none of the other logical channels of at least one serving cell allowed to use the first logical channel having the new uplink data belongs to the logical channel group to which the first logical channel belongs, include any available uplink data;

If no other logical channels belonging to any logical channel group contain any available uplink data; or alternatively

If the new uplink data belongs to a logical channel configured for a fast buffer status report trigger,

and triggering to transmit the buffer status report when the at least two conditions are met.

26. A method of triggering a buffer status report in a wireless communication network operating a packet data convergence protocol wherein a plurality of logical channels are used to provide packet replication, the method comprising:

determining whether a medium access control entity has new uplink data available for a first logical channel belonging to a logical channel group, wherein the medium access control entity comprises an additional subset of restricted logical channel sets allowed to use at least one same component carrier/serving cell as the medium access control entity has new uplink data available;

and if so, if it is determined to be one of:

the new uplink data belonging to the first logical channel has a higher priority than available uplink data on any other logical channel belonging to the logical channel group, when the available uplink data contained in the other logical channel is allowed to use at least one serving cell allowed by the first logical channel having the new uplink data; and/or

Said other logical channels of at least one serving cell allowed to use said first logical channel having said new uplink data belonging to said logical channel group to which said first logical channel belongs do not contain any available uplink data,

a buffer status report is triggered.