WO2019136653A1

WO2019136653A1 - Impact of packet duplication on medium access control

Info

Publication number: WO2019136653A1
Application number: PCT/CN2018/072197
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ruiming Zheng; Yu-Ting Yu; Linhai He; Gavin Bernard Horn
Original assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date: 2018-01-11
Filing date: 2018-01-11
Publication date: 2019-07-18

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A user equipment (UE) may receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel and receive an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, determine a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based on the indicator of activation or deactivation and communicate, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel. The UE may determine a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based on an indicator of deactivation and report a buffer status based on the data volume reporting value.

Description

IMPACT OF PACKET DUPLICATION ON MEDIUM ACCESS CONTROL

BACKGROUND

The following relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to impact of packet duplication on medium access control.

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power) . Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA) , time division multiple access (TDMA) , frequency division multiple access (FDMA) , orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) , or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) . A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE) .

In some wireless communications systems, a transmitting device may transmit duplicates of a data packet. In some cases, transmitting packet duplicates may improve throughput and increase redundancy, reducing the likelihood that the data packet is corrupted or otherwise improperly communicated. A physical data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity in a user plane protocol stack may duplicate a PDCP packet and pass the PDCP packet and the PDCP packet duplicate to separate radio link control (RLC) layer entities and separate logical channels, such that the PDCP packets are transmitted over separate carriers. Enabling and disabling PDCP packet duplication may affect a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure performed by a medium access control (MAC) layer and impact logical channel scheduling priority. Further, PDCP and RLC may report their buffered data to the MAC layer, and MAC layer may calculate and report a buffer status report based on the data volume of the upper layers. The buffer status report may indicate the buffered data of upper layer entities associated with a logical channel associated with disabled PDCP duplication, and thus the buffer status report may inaccurately represent logical channel data volumes.

SUMMARY

In some wireless communications systems, a transmitting device may transmit duplicates of a data packet. For example, a physical data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity in a user plane protocol stack may duplicate a PDCP packet and pass the PDCP packet and the PDCP packet duplicate to separate radio link control (RLC) layer entities. The RLC entities may be associated with different logical channels, such that the PDCP packets are transmitted over separate carriers. A secondary logical channel, which is associated with duplicate packets for a medium access control (MAC) layer, may be considered active during packet duplication and inactive when packets are not being duplicated.

Upon activation of packet duplication, parameters affecting a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure may be set or reset. For example, the secondary logical channel may have a token bucket value set to zero or to the same token bucket value as a primary logical channel, where the primary logical channel is associated with the non-duplicate packets. In another example, the secondary logical channel may resume at whatever token bucket value is set when packet duplication is activated, and the secondary logical channel may not clear the token bucket value when packet duplication is deactivated (nor increment the token bucket value when the secondary logical channel is deactivated) . Thus, the secondary logical channel may resume with the same token bucket value as when packet duplication was deactivated. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 115 may set a prioritized bit rate (PBR) for the secondary logical channel upon activation or deactivation of packet duplication. In some cases, the secondary logical channel may have its PBR set to a PBR value which is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling. The PBR value configured by RRC signaling may be the PBR value set when the secondary logical channel was initially established. In some other examples, the secondary logical channel may have its PBR set to the PBR of the primary logical channel.

In some cases, upon deactivation of packet duplication, a PDCP entity of the UE may report a data volume of zero to the corresponding MAC entity. The RLC entity corresponding to the secondary logical channel may reestablish, flush the RLC data buffer, and also report zero data volume to the corresponding MAC entity. Additionally, or alternatively, the MAC entity may be aware of an active or inactive state of the secondary logical channel. The corresponding PDCP RLC entities may continue to report buffered data, but the MAC entity may overwrite the reported data volume with zero for the deactivated, secondary logical channel.

A method for wireless communication is described. The method may include receiving a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, receiving an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, determining a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation, and communicating, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel.

A method of wireless communication is described. The method may include receiving a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, the second logical channel associated with duplication of packets from the first logical channel, receiving an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, determining a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation, and reporting a buffer status, wherein the buffer status is based at least in part on the data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel.

An apparatus for wireless communications is described. The apparatus may include means for means for receiving a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, means for means for receiving an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, means for means for determining a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation, and means for means for communicating, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel.

An apparatus for wireless communications is described. The apparatus may include means for means for receiving a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, the second logical channel associated with duplication of packets from the first logical channel, means for means for receiving an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, means for means for determining a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation, and means for means for reporting a buffer status, wherein the buffer status is based at least in part on the data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel.

An apparatus for wireless communications is described. The apparatus may include a processor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to, receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, receive an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, determine a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation, and communicate, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel.

An apparatus for wireless communications is described. The apparatus may include a processor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to, receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, the second logical channel associated with duplication of packets from the first logical channel, receive an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, determine a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation, and report a buffer status, wherein the buffer status is based at least in part on the data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to: is described. The may include receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, receive an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, determine a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation, and communicate, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to: is described. The may include receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, the second logical channel associated with duplication of packets from the first logical channel, receive an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, determine a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation, and report a buffer status, wherein the buffer status is based at least in part on the data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for setting the token bucket value of the second logical channel to a zero value.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for setting the token bucket value of the second logical channel to a token bucket value of the first logical channel.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for suppressing accumulation of the token bucket value.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for setting the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel to a configured prioritized bit rate for the second logical channel.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for setting the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel to a prioritized bit rate for the first logical channel.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for suppressing multiplexing of packets in the second logical channel for the communicating.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the setting of the token bucket value of the second logical channel or the setting of the prioritized bit rate may be further based on a current state of the second logical channel.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for modifying a MAC state of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation of the second logical channel.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the indicator of activation or deactivation of the second logical channel comprises a MAC control element (MAC-CE) message or an RRC message.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for reporting a zero data volume for the second logical channel from a PDCP buffer or an RLC buffer to a MAC entity.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for flushing the RLC buffer, resetting RLC variables, or reestablishing an RLC entity based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for receiving, at a MAC entity, a data volume value associated with a PDCP buffer or an RLC buffer for the second logical channel. Some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may further include processes, features, means, or instructions for overwriting the received data volume value with a zero value for the reporting of the buffer status.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above, the indicator of deactivation of the second logical channel comprises a MAC-CE message or RRC message.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system for wireless communication that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGs. 3A and 3B illustrate examples of user plane protocol stacks that support impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGs. 4 through 6 illustrate an examples of bucket value timelines that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGs. 7 through 9 show block diagrams of a device that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a system including a UE that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGs. 11 through 13 show methods for impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In some wireless communications systems, a transmitting device may transmit duplicates of a data packet. In some cases, transmitting packet duplicates may improve throughput and increase redundancy, reducing the likelihood that the data packet is corrupted or otherwise improperly communicated. A physical data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity in a user plane protocol stack may duplicate a PDCP packet and pass the PDCP packet and the PDCP packet duplicate to separate radio link control (RLC) layer entities and separate logical channels, such that the PDCP packets are transmitted over separate carriers. A secondary logical channel, which is associated with duplicate packets, may be considered active during packet duplication and inactive when packets are not being duplicated. Switching between active and inactive states may affect a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure performed by a medium access control (MAC) layer and impact logical channel scheduling priority. Further, the PDCP and RLC layers may report their buffered data volume to the MAC layer, and MAC layer may calculate and report a buffer status report (BSR) based on the data volume of the upper layers. If the MAC layer is reporting data volume of upper layer entities which are considered inactive, the buffer status report may be inaccurate, resulting in inefficient use of resources. Thus, described are techniques which consider the impact of packet duplication on the MAC layer.

For example, upon activation of packet duplication, parameters affecting the LCP procedure may be set or reset. For example, the LCP procedure may be based on a token bucket algorithm, where a logical channel accumulates tokens over time according to a configured data rate (e.g., prioritized bit rate (PBR) ) . The tokens are depleted when the logical channel is assigned resources. Upon activation of packet duplication, the token bucket value for a secondary logical channel may be set or reset. For example, the secondary logical channel may have its token bucket value set to zero or to the same token bucket value as the primary logical channel, where the primary logical channel is associated with the non-duplicate packets. In another example, the secondary logical channel may resume using whatever token bucket value is set when packet duplication is activated, and the secondary logical channel may not clear the token bucket value when packet duplication is deactivated. Thus, the secondary logical channel may use the same token bucket value upon activation as when packet duplication was deactivated.

Additionally or alternatively, the UE 115 may set the PBR for the secondary logical channel upon activation or deactivation of packet duplication. A logical channel accumulates tokens according to the PBR. For example, a PBR may indicate how many tokens the logical channel accumulates in a time span T. The time span may be, for example, the time elapsed since the token bucket was last updated or, in some cases, a transmission time interval (TTI) . In some cases, the secondary logical channel may have its PBR set to a PBR value which is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling. The PBR value configured by RRC signaling may be the PBR value set when the secondary logical channel was initially established. In some other examples, the secondary logical channel may have its PBR set to the PBR of the primary logical channel.

In some cases, upon deactivation of packet duplication, a PDCP entity of the UE may report a data volume of zero to the corresponding MAC entity. The RLC entity corresponding to the secondary logical channel may reestablish, flush the RLC data buffer, and also report zero data volume to the corresponding MAC entity. Therefore, the inactive logical channel may not indicate buffered data and may not be scheduled for transmission. Additionally, or alternatively, the MAC entity may be aware of an active or inactive state of the secondary logical channel. The corresponding PDCP and RLC entities may continue to report buffered data volumes, but the MAC entity may overwrite the reported data volume with zero for the deactivated, secondary logical channel.

Aspects of the disclosure are initially described in the context of a wireless communications system. Aspects of the disclosure are further illustrated by and described with reference to apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, and flowcharts that relate to impact of packet duplication on medium access control.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 100 in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communications system 100 includes base stations 105, UEs 115, and a core network 130. In some examples, the wireless communications system 100 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, or a New Radio (NR) network. In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may support enhanced broadband communications, ultra-reliable (e.g., mission critical) communications, low latency communications, or communications with low-cost and low-complexity devices.

Base stations 105 may wirelessly communicate with UEs 115 via one or more base station antennas. Base stations 105 described herein may include or may be referred to by those skilled in the art as a base transceiver station, a radio base station, an access point, a radio transceiver, a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB) , a next-generation Node B or giga-nodeB (either of which may be referred to as a gNB) , a Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB, or some other suitable terminology. Wireless communications system 100 may include base stations 105 of different types (e.g., macro or small cell base stations) . The UEs 115 described herein may be able to communicate with various types of base stations 105 and network equipment including macro eNBs, small cell eNBs, gNBs, relay base stations, and the like.

Each base station 105 may be associated with a particular geographic coverage area 110 in which communications with various UEs 115 is supported. Each base station 105 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110 via communication links 125, and communication links 125 between a base station 105 and a UE 115 may utilize one or more carriers. Communication links 125 shown in wireless communications system 100 may include uplink transmissions from a UE 115 to a base station 105, or downlink transmissions, from a base station 105 to a UE 115. Downlink transmissions may also be called forward link transmissions while uplink transmissions may also be called reverse link transmissions.

The geographic coverage area 110 for a base station 105 may be divided into sectors making up only a portion of the geographic coverage area 110, and each sector may be associated with a cell. For example, each base station 105 may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a small cell, a hot spot, or other types of cells, or various combinations thereof. In some examples, a base station 105 may be movable and therefore provide communication coverage for a moving geographic coverage area 110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies may overlap, and overlapping geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies may be supported by the same base station 105 or by different base stations 105. The wireless communications system 100 may include, for example, a heterogeneous LTE/LTE-A or NR network in which different types of base stations 105 provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas 110.

The term “cell” refers to a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station 105 (e.g., over a carrier) , and may be associated with an identifier for distinguishing neighboring cells (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID) , a virtual cell identifier (VCID) ) operating via the same or a different carrier. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-type communication (MTC) , narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT) , enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) , or others) that may provide access for different types of devices. In some cases, the term “cell” may refer to a portion of a geographic coverage area 110 (e.g., a sector) over which the logical entity operates.

UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout the wireless communications system 100, and each UE 115 may be stationary or mobile. A UE 115 may also be referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, or a subscriber device, or some other suitable terminology, where the “device” may also be referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client. A UE 115 may also be a personal electronic device such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a personal computer. In some examples, a UE 115 may also refer to a wireless local loop (WLL) station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or an MTC device, or the like, which may be implemented in various articles such as appliances, vehicles, meters, or the like.

Some UEs 115, such as MTC or IoT devices, may be low cost or low complexity devices, and may provide for automated communication between machines (e.g., via Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication) . M2M communication or MTC may refer to data communication technologies that allow devices to communicate with one another or a base station 105 without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communication or MTC may include communications from devices that integrate sensors or meters to measure or capture information and relay that information to a central server or application program that can make use of the information or present the information to humans interacting with the program or application. Some UEs 115 may be designed to collect information or enable automated behavior of machines. Examples of applications for MTC devices include smart metering, inventory monitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcare monitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological event monitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access control, and transaction-based business charging.

Some UEs 115 may be configured to employ operating modes that reduce power consumption, such as half-duplex communications (e.g., a mode that supports one-way communication via transmission or reception, but not transmission and reception simultaneously) . In some examples half-duplex communications may be performed at a reduced peak rate. Other power conservation techniques for UEs 115 include entering a power saving “deep sleep” mode when not engaging in active communications, or operating over a limited bandwidth (e.g., according to narrowband communications) . In some cases, UEs 115 may be designed to support critical functions (e.g., mission critical functions) , and a wireless communications system 100 may be configured to provide ultra-reliable communications for these functions.

In some cases, a UE 115 may also be able to communicate directly with other UEs 115 (e.g., using a peer-to-peer (P2P) or device-to-device (D2D) protocol) . One or more of a group of UEs 115 utilizing D2D communications may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 105. Other UEs 115 in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 105, or be otherwise unable to receive transmissions from a base station 105. In some cases, groups of UEs 115 communicating via D2D communications may utilize a one-to-many (1: M) system in which each UE 115 transmits to every other UE 115 in the group. In some cases, a base station 105 facilitates the scheduling of resources for D2D communications. In other cases, D2D communications are carried out between UEs 115 without the involvement of a base station 105.

Base stations 105 may communicate with the core network 130 and with one another. For example, base stations 105 may interface with the core network 130 through backhaul links 132 (e.g., via an S1 or other interface) . Base stations 105 may communicate with one another over backhaul links 134 (e.g., via an X2 or other interface) either directly (e.g., directly between base stations 105) or indirectly (e.g., via core network 130) .

The core network 130 may provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) , which may include at least one mobility management entity (MME) , at least one serving gateway (S-GW) , and at least one Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW) . The MME may manage non-access stratum (e.g., control plane) functions such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management for UEs 115 served by base stations 105 associated with the EPC. User IP packets may be transferred through the S-GW, which itself may be connected to the P-GW. The P-GW may provide IP address allocation as well as other functions. The P-GW may be connected to the network operators IP services. The operators IP services may include access to the Internet, Intranet (s) , an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) , or a Packet-Switched (PS) Streaming Service.

At least some of the network devices, such as a base station 105, may include subcomponents such as an access network entity, which may be an example of an access node controller (ANC) . Each access network entity may communicate with UEs 115 through a number of other access network transmission entities, which may be referred to as a radio head, a smart radio head, or a transmission/reception point (TRP) . In some configurations, various functions of each access network entity or base station 105 may be distributed across various network devices (e.g., radio heads and access network controllers) or consolidated into a single network device (e.g., a base station 105) .

Wireless communications system 100 may operate using one or more frequency bands, typically in the range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz. Generally, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is known as the ultra-high frequency (UHF) region or decimeter band, since the wavelengths range from approximately one decimeter to one meter in length. UHF waves may be blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features. However, the waves may penetrate structures sufficiently for a macro cell to provide service to UEs 115 located indoors. Transmission of UHF waves may be associated with smaller antennas and shorter range (e.g., less than 100 km) compared to transmission using the smaller frequencies and longer waves of the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF) portion of the spectrum below 300 MHz.

Wireless communications system 100 may also operate in a super high frequency (SHF) region using frequency bands from 3 GHz to 30 GHz, also known as the centimeter band. The SHF region includes bands such as the 5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands, which may be used opportunistically by devices that can tolerate interference from other users.

Wireless communications system 100 may also operate in an extremely high frequency (EHF) region of the spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz) , also known as the millimeter band. In some examples, wireless communications system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW) communications between UEs 115 and base stations 105, and EHF antennas of the respective devices may be even smaller and more closely spaced than UHF antennas. In some cases, this may facilitate use of antenna arrays within a UE 115. However, the propagation of EHF transmissions may be subject to even greater atmospheric attenuation and shorter range than SHF or UHF transmissions. Techniques disclosed herein may be employed across transmissions that use one or more different frequency regions, and designated use of bands across these frequency regions may differ by country or regulating body.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may utilize both licensed and unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example, wireless communications system 100 may employ License Assisted Access (LAA) , LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technology in an unlicensed band such as the 5 GHz ISM band. When operating in unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands, wireless devices such as base stations 105 and UEs 115 may employ listen-before-talk (LBT) procedures to ensure a frequency channel is clear before transmitting data. In some cases, operations in unlicensed bands may be based on a CA configuration in conjunction with CCs operating in a licensed band (e.g., LAA) . Operations in unlicensed spectrum may include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, peer-to-peer transmissions, or a combination of these. Duplexing in unlicensed spectrum may be based on frequency division duplexing (FDD) , time division duplexing (TDD) , or a combination of both.

In some examples, base station 105 or UE 115 may be equipped with multiple antennas, which may be used to employ techniques such as transmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, or beamforming. For example, wireless communications system 100 may use a transmission scheme between a transmitting device (e.g., a base station 105) and a receiving device (e.g., a UE 115) , where the transmitting device is equipped with multiple antennas and the receiving devices are equipped with one or more antennas. MIMO communications may employ multipath signal propagation to increase the spectral efficiency by transmitting or receiving multiple signals via different spatial layers, which may be referred to as spatial multiplexing. The multiple signals may, for example, be transmitted by the transmitting device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Likewise, the multiple signals may be received by the receiving device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Each of the multiple signals may be referred to as a separate spatial stream, and may carry bits associated with the same data stream (e.g., the same codeword) or different data streams. Different spatial layers may be associated with different antenna ports used for channel measurement and reporting. MIMO techniques include single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) where multiple spatial layers are transmitted to the same receiving device, and multiple-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) where multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multiple devices.

Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a base station 105 or a UE 115) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device. Beamforming may be achieved by combining the signals communicated via antenna elements of an antenna array such that signals propagating at particular orientations with respect to an antenna array experience constructive interference while others experience destructive interference. The adjustment of signals communicated via the antenna elements may include a transmitting device or a receiving device applying certain amplitude and phase offsets to signals carried via each of the antenna elements associated with the device. The adjustments associated with each of the antenna elements may be defined by a beamforming weight set associated with a particular orientation (e.g., with respect to the antenna array of the transmitting device or receiving device, or with respect to some other orientation) .

In one example, a base station 105 may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays to conduct beamforming operations for directional communications with a UE 115. For instance, some signals (e.g. synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted by a base station 105 multiple times in different directions, which may include a signal being transmitted according to different beamforming weight sets associated with different directions of transmission. Transmissions in different beam directions may be used to identify (e.g., by the base station 105 or a receiving device, such as a UE 115) a beam direction for subsequent transmission and/or reception by the base station 105. Some signals, such as data signals associated with a particular receiving device, may be transmitted by a base station 105 in a single beam direction (e.g., a direction associated with the receiving device, such as a UE 115) . In some examples, the beam direction associated with transmissions along a single beam direction may be determined based at least in in part on a signal that was transmitted in different beam directions. For example, a UE 115 may receive one or more of the signals transmitted by the base station 105 in different directions, and the UE 115 may report to the base station 105 an indication of the signal it received with a highest signal quality, or an otherwise acceptable signal quality. Although these techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted in one or more directions by a base station 105, a UE 115 may employ similar techniques for transmitting signals multiple times in different directions (e.g., for identifying a beam direction for subsequent transmission or reception by the UE 115) , or transmitting a signal in a single direction (e.g., for transmitting data to a receiving device) .

A receiving device (e.g., a UE 115, which may be an example of a mmW receiving device) may try multiple receive beams when receiving various signals from the base station 105, such as synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals. For example, a receiving device may try multiple receive directions by receiving via different antenna subarrays, by processing received signals according to different antenna subarrays, by receiving according to different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at a plurality of antenna elements of an antenna array, or by processing received signals according to different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at a plurality of antenna elements of an antenna array, any of which may be referred to as “listening” according to different receive beams or receive directions. In some examples a receiving device may use a single receive beam to receive along a single beam direction (e.g., when receiving a data signal) . The single receive beam may be aligned in a beam direction determined based at least in part on listening according to different receive beam directions (e.g., a beam direction determined to have a highest signal strength, highest signal-to-noise ratio, or otherwise acceptable signal quality based at least in part on listening according to multiple beam directions) .

In some cases, the antennas of a base station 105 or UE 115 may be located within one or more antenna arrays, which may support MIMO operations, or transmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or more base station antennas or antenna arrays may be co-located at an antenna assembly, such as an antenna tower. In some cases, antennas or antenna arrays associated with a base station 105 may be located in diverse geographic locations. A base station 105 may have an antenna array with a number of rows and columns of antenna ports that the base station 105 may use to support beamforming of communications with a UE 115. Likewise, a UE 115 may have one or more antenna arrays that may support various MIMO or beamforming operations.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may be a packet-based network that operate according to a layered protocol stack. In the user plane, communications at the bearer or PDCP layer may be IP-based. An RLC layer may in some cases perform packet segmentation and reassembly to communicate over logical channels. A MAC layer may perform priority handling and multiplexing of logical channels into transport channels. The MAC layer may also use hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) to provide retransmission at the MAC layer to improve link efficiency. In the control plane, the RRC protocol layer may provide establishment, configuration, and maintenance of an RRC connection between a UE 115 and a base station 105 or core network 130 supporting radio bearers for user plane data. At the Physical (PHY) layer, transport channels may be mapped to physical channels.

In some cases, UEs 115 and base stations 105 may support retransmissions of data to increase the likelihood that data is received successfully. HARQ feedback is one technique of increasing the likelihood that data is received correctly over a communication link 125. HARQ may include a combination of error detection (e.g., using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) ) , forward error correction (FEC) , and retransmission (e.g., automatic repeat request (ARQ) ) . HARQ may improve throughput at the MAC layer in poor radio conditions (e.g., signal-to-noise conditions) . In some cases, a wireless device may support same-slot HARQ feedback, where the device may provide HARQ feedback in a specific slot for data received in a previous symbol in the slot. In other cases, the device may provide HARQ feedback in a subsequent slot, or according to some other time interval.

Time intervals in LTE or NR may be expressed in multiples of a basic time unit, which may, for example, refer to a sampling period of T _s = 1/30,720,000 seconds. Time intervals of a communications resource may be organized according to radio frames each having a duration of 10 milliseconds (ms) , where the frame period may be expressed as T _f = 307,200 T _s. The radio frames may be identified by a system frame number (SFN) ranging from 0 to 1023. Each frame may include 10 subframes numbered from 0 to 9, and each subframe may have a duration of 1 ms. A subframe may be further divided into 2 slots each having a duration of 0.5 ms, and each slot may contain 6 or 7 modulation symbol periods (e.g., depending on the length of the cyclic prefix prepended to each symbol period) . Excluding the cyclic prefix, each symbol period may contain 2048 sampling periods. In some cases a subframe may be the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communications system 100, and may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI) . In other cases, a smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communications system 100 may be shorter than a subframe or may be dynamically selected (e.g., in bursts of shortened TTIs (sTTIs) or in selected component carriers using sTTIs) .

In some wireless communications systems, a slot may further be divided into multiple mini-slots containing one or more symbols. In some instances, a symbol of a mini-slot or a mini-slot may be the smallest unit of scheduling. Each symbol may vary in duration depending on the subcarrier spacing or frequency band of operation, for example. Further, some wireless communications systems may implement slot aggregation in which multiple slots or mini-slots are aggregated together and used for communication between a UE 115 and a base station 105.

The term “carrier” refers to a set of radio frequency spectrum resources having a defined physical layer structure for supporting communications over a communication link 125. For example, a carrier of a communication link 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band that is operated according to physical layer channels for a given radio access technology. Each physical layer channel may carry user data, control information, or other signaling. A carrier may be associated with a pre-defined frequency channel (e.g., an E-UTRA absolute radio frequency channel number (EARFCN) ) , and may be positioned according to a channel raster for discovery by UEs 115. Carriers may be downlink or uplink (e.g., in an FDD mode) , or be configured to carry downlink and uplink communications (e.g., in a TDD mode) . In some examples, signal waveforms transmitted over a carrier may be made up of multiple sub-carriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or DFT-s-OFDM) .

The organizational structure of the carriers may be different for different radio access technologies (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, NR, etc. ) . For example, communications over a carrier may be organized according to TTIs or slots, each of which may include user data as well as control information or signaling to support decoding the user data. A carrier may also include dedicated acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals or system information, etc. ) and control signaling that coordinates operation for the carrier. In some examples (e.g., in a carrier aggregation configuration) , a carrier may also have acquisition signaling or control signaling that coordinates operations for other carriers.

Physical channels may be multiplexed on a carrier according to various techniques. A physical control channel and a physical data channel may be multiplexed on a downlink carrier, for example, using time division multiplexing (TDM) techniques, frequency division multiplexing (FDM) techniques, or hybrid TDM-FDM techniques. In some examples, control information transmitted in a physical control channel may be distributed between different control regions in a cascaded manner (e.g., between a common control region or common search space and one or more UE-specific control regions or UE-specific search spaces) .

A carrier may be associated with a particular bandwidth of the radio frequency spectrum, and in some examples the carrier bandwidth may be referred to as a “system bandwidth” of the carrier or the wireless communications system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth may be one of a number of predetermined bandwidths for carriers of a particular radio access technology (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 MHz) . In some examples, each served UE 115 may be configured for operating over portions or all of the carrier bandwidth. In other examples, some UEs 115 may be configured for operation using a narrowband protocol type that is associated with a predefined portion or range (e.g., set of subcarriers or RBs) within a carrier (e.g., “in-band” deployment of a narrowband protocol type) .

In a system employing MCM techniques, a resource element may consist of one symbol period (e.g., a duration of one modulation symbol) and one subcarrier, where the symbol period and subcarrier spacing are inversely related. The number of bits carried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulation scheme) . Thus, the more resource elements that a UE 115 receives and the higher the order of the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate may be for the UE 115. In MIMO systems, a wireless communications resource may refer to a combination of a radio frequency spectrum resource, a time resource, and a spatial resource (e.g., spatial layers) , and the use of multiple spatial layers may further increase the data rate for communications with a UE 115.

Devices of the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., base stations 105 or UEs 115) may have a hardware configuration that supports communications over a particular carrier bandwidth, or may be configurable to support communications over one of a set of carrier bandwidths. In some examples, the wireless communications system 100 may include base stations 105 and/or UEs that can support simultaneous communications via carriers associated with more than one different carrier bandwidth.

Wireless communications system 100 may support communication with a UE 115 on multiple cells or carriers, a feature which may be referred to as carrier aggregation (CA) or multi-carrier operation. A UE 115 may be configured with multiple downlink CCs and one or more uplink CCs according to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregation may be used with both FDD and TDD component carriers.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may utilize enhanced component carriers (eCCs) . An eCC may be characterized by one or more features including wider carrier or frequency channel bandwidth, shorter symbol duration, shorter TTI duration, or modified control channel configuration. In some cases, an eCC may be associated with a carrier aggregation configuration or a dual connectivity configuration (e.g., when multiple serving cells have a suboptimal or non-ideal backhaul link) . An eCC may also be configured for use in unlicensed spectrum or shared spectrum (e.g., where more than one operator is allowed to use the spectrum) . An eCC characterized by wide carrier bandwidth may include one or more segments that may be utilized by UEs 115 that are not capable of monitoring the whole carrier bandwidth or are otherwise configured to use a limited carrier bandwidth (e.g., to conserve power) .

In some cases, an eCC may utilize a different symbol duration than other CCs, which may include use of a reduced symbol duration as compared with symbol durations of the other CCs. A shorter symbol duration may be associated with increased spacing between adjacent subcarriers. A device, such as a UE 115 or base station 105, utilizing eCCs may transmit wideband signals (e.g., according to frequency channel or carrier bandwidths of 20, 40, 60, 80 MHz, etc. ) at reduced symbol durations (e.g., 16.67 microseconds) . A TTI in eCC may consist of one or multiple symbol periods. In some cases, the TTI duration (that is, the number of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable.

Wireless communications systems such as an NR system may utilize any combination of licensed, shared, and unlicensed spectrum bands, among others. The flexibility of eCC symbol duration and subcarrier spacing may allow for the use of eCC across multiple spectrums. In some examples, NR shared spectrum may increase spectrum utilization and spectral efficiency, specifically through dynamic vertical (e.g., across frequency) and horizontal (e.g., across time) sharing of resources.

Wireless communications system 100 may support techniques which handle the impacts of packet duplication on medium access control. For example, a base station 105 may transmit a logical channel configuration to a UE 115, which may be used to determine a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate (PBR) for a logical channel. A logical channel prioritization (LCP) process may be based on the token bucket value and PBR. Upon activation or deactivation of packet duplication, the UE 115 may determine the token bucket value or the PBR for the logical channel. In some cases, activation or deactivation of packet duplication may be indicated in a MAC control element (CE) . The UE 115 may select a logical channel to use for transmission (e.g., of a packet or duplicate packet) based on an LCP process.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 200 that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless communications system 200 may include UE 115-a and base station 105-a, which may be respective examples of a UE 115 and a base station 105. In some examples, wireless communications system 200 may include base station 105-b, which may be an additional example of a base station 105.

Base station 105-a may be a primary serving cell for UE 115-a. UE 115-a may receive downlink information on a downlink carrier 205 and transmit uplink information on an uplink carrier 210. For example, UE 115-a may receive a logical channel configuration 215 on the downlink carrier 205. In some cases, UE 115-a may configure a token bucket value, a prioritized bit rate, or both, for one or more logical channels (e.g., as illustrated and described in FIGs. 4–6) based on the logical channel configuration.

In some examples, base station 105-a may transmit a MAC CE to UE 115-a on the downlink carrier 205, which may activate or deactivate PDCP duplication. In some examples, the MAC CE may be included in the logical channel configuration 215. In some cases, the UE 115-a may activate or deactivate one or more logical channels in response to PDCP packet duplication being activated or deactivated as illustrated in FIG. 3. In some cases, PDCP duplication may be deactivated, but the logical channels may still be active. However, without duplicate packets to transmit, the logical channels used to transmit duplicate packets may not have anything to transmit. Additionally or alternatively, PDCP duplication may be activated or deactivated by RRC signaling.

In some examples, UE 115-a may communicate with base station 105-a and base station 105-b in a dual connectivity configuration. UE 115-a may use downlink carrier 205 and uplink carrier 210 for communication with base station 105-b and use at least a second uplink carrier 230 for communication with base station 105-b. UE 115-a may use additional uplink or downlink carriers (not shown) for communication with base station 105-b. A section of the user plane protocol stack for a dual connectivity configuration is illustrated with reference to FIG. 3A.

In a dual connectivity configuration, UE 115-a may duplicate PDCP packets 212 and transmit the duplicated packets 220 on both the uplink carrier 210 and the second uplink carrier 230. The uplink carrier 210 and the second uplink carrier 230 may each be associated with a separate MAC instance or MAC entity in the user plane protocol stack, and UE 115-a may determine which logical channel to use to transmit the duplicated packets 220 based on a logical channel configuration. The scheduling for the uplink carrier 210 and the second uplink carrier 230 may be performed according to a logical channel prioritization protocol as described with reference to FIGs. 4–6. For example, transmission of data in logical channels associated with the second uplink carrier 230 may be performed according to logical channel prioritization in the MAC instance for the second uplink carrier 230.

In some other examples, UE 115-a may communicate with base station 105-a according to a carrier aggregation configuration. In addition to the downlink carrier 205 and the uplink carrier 210, base station 105-a may configure additional cells for UE 115-a for communication with base station 105-a. For example, base station 105-a may also configure uplink carrier 225 for transmission of uplink information by UE 115-a. In some cases, carriers (e.g., uplink or downlink) of a carrier aggregation configuration may be referred to as component carriers. The component carriers of the carrier aggregation configuration may be contiguous or dispersed throughout the system bandwidth. Although illustrated as cells of the same base station 105-a, in some examples cells served by different base stations may be used in carrier aggregation. A section of a user plane protocol stack for a carrier aggregation configuration is illustrated with reference to FIG. 3B.

In a carrier aggregation configuration, UE 115-a may duplicate PDCP packets 212 and transmit the duplicated packets 220 to base station 105-a on both the uplink carrier 210 and the second uplink carrier 225. Different logical channels may be assigned to the uplink carrier 210 and the second uplink carrier 225 in the user plane protocol stack, and UE 115-a may determine which logical channel to use to transmit the duplicated packets 220 based on a logical channel configuration. The scheduling for the uplink carrier 210 and the second uplink carrier 225 may be performed according to a logical channel prioritization protocol as described with reference to FIGs. 4–6. For example, transmission of data in logical channels associated with the second uplink carrier 225 may be performed according to logical channel prioritization in a shared MAC instance.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of user plane protocol stacks 300 that support impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Both user plane protocol stacks 300 may include one PDCP instance 305 and two RLC instances 320. Each user plane protocol stack 300 may include a primary leg 310 and a secondary leg 315. The PDCP instance 305 may normally submit PDCP data to the primary leg 310. The PDCP instance 305 may submit duplicated data to the secondary leg 315.

The packet duplication functionality may be activated or deactivated. For example, the UE 115 may receive a control plane message (e.g., RRC message, MAC-CE, etc. ) activating or deactivating PDCP duplication. In some cases, the UE 115 may activate or deactivate a logical channel 325 (e.g., connecting the RLC instance 320 and the MAC instance 330) of the secondary leg 315 upon receiving the control plane message. If the logical channel 325 of the secondary leg 315 is activated, the MAC instance 330 may process data from the secondary leg 315. The MAC instance 330 may refrain from processing data from the secondary leg 315 if the logical channel 325 is deactivated. A MAC instance 330 may store a logical channel (LC) configuration 335 for each associated logical channel 325.

In FIG. 3A, user plane protocol stack 300-a may be used for PDCP duplication in a dual connectivity configuration. In a dual connectivity configuration, a UE 115 is attached to cells of two different cell groups, including a master cell group and a secondary cell group, each effectively having a primary carrier. Thus, the UE 115 may have two RRC connection established, one with each cell group. Therefore, the UE 115 may include MAC instances 330-a and 330-b, where each cell group in the dual connectivity scheme may have a corresponding MAC instance. In some examples, the UE 115 may attach to multiple base stations 105, each corresponding to either MAC instance 330-a and RLC instance 320-a or MAC instance 330-b and RLC instance 320-b.

In some cases, PDCP duplication may be activated based on the UE 115 receiving a MAC CE indicating to activate PDCP duplication. In some examples, MAC instance 330-b may activate logical channel 325-b in response to detecting the activation of PDCP duplication. In some other examples, MAC instance 330-b may not deactivate logical channel 325-b if PDCP duplication is deactivated. Once activated, MAC instance 330-b may process data from logical channel 325-b. MAC instance 330-b may, for example, multiplex packets from logical channel 325-b with other packets from other logical channels (not shown) supported by MAC instance 330-b. As described in FIGs. 4 and 5, upon activating PDCP duplication, the UE 115 may determine a prioritized bit rate and token bucket values for logical channel 325-b.

While PDCP duplication is active, PDCP instance 305-a may generate a PDCP packet and submit the PDCP packet to RLC instance 320-a (e.g., corresponding to MAC instance 330-a) of primary leg 310-a. PDCP instance 305-a may generate a duplicate of the PDCP packet and also submit the duplicated PDCP packet to RLC instance 320-b of secondary leg 315-a. The UE 115 may identify resources of the different carriers for use by their respective MAC instances 330. The UE 115 may transmit packets over a carrier based on a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure. LCP may be performed independently for each carrier. Thus, in some cases, the UE 115 may simultaneously transmit a packet and a duplicate packet on two separate carriers (e.g., via logical channel 325-a and logical channel 325-b) .

The UE 115 may receive an indication to deactivate PDCP duplication, which, in some cases, may deactivate logical channel 325-b. In some cases, the UE 115 may deactivate PDCP duplication based on receiving a MAC CE. MAC instance 330-b may deactivate logical channel 325-b upon receiving a MAC CE indicating to deactivate PDCP duplication. Upon deactivation, the UE 115 may adjust the token bucket or prioritized bit rate as described with reference to FIGs. 4 and 5.

Deactivating PDCP duplication may affect BSR reporting. For example, the UE 115 may implement described techniques such that the network does not schedule a grant for the secondary leg after deactivating PDCP duplication. BSR reporting may be performed per logical channel group (LCG) , so the UE 115 may know which logical channel of the logical channel group has data in its buffer or is deactivated, but a particular LCG may have multiple logical channels so the serving base station may not.

In a first example, upon deactivating PDCP duplication, PDCP 305-a may be triggered to report 340 a zero volume of PDCP data for secondary leg 315-a. PDCP 305-a may report a zero data volume one time (e.g., upon deactivation) while secondary leg 315-a is deactivated. In the first example, RLC instance 320-b may be re-established, flush its data buffer, or reset RLC variables (e.g., timers, packet sequence numbers, etc. ) . RLC instance 320-b may also report zero data volume to MAC instance 330-b. Thus, PDCP 305-a and RLC instance 320-b may each indicate zero data volume upon deactivation of PDCP duplication. By reporting zero data, MAC instance 330-b may not change its computations to prevent the deactivated logical channel (e.g., logical channel 325-b) from being scheduled. MAC instance 330-b may then calculate and report the BSR accordingly based on the total data volume of the upper layers.

In another example, MAC instance 330-b may store the activated/deactivated state for logical channel 325-b, and the MAC layer may overwrite the data volume to zero for logical channel 325-b. In some cases, PDCP 305-a may not report a data volume for duplicated PDCP data to MAC instance 330-b when PDCP duplication is deactivated. In other cases, PDCP 305-a may continue to report a data volume for duplicated PDCP data (any remaining data) when PDCP duplication is deactivated.

FIG. 3B illustrates user plane protocol stack 300-b for a carrier aggregation configuration. A UE 115 may be attached to one or more cells of a base station 105, for example establishing multiple component carriers with the base station 105 as described in FIG. 2. In comparison with user plane protocol stack 300-a, user plane protocol stack 300-b includes a single MAC instance 330-c. Although described as multiple component carriers of the same base station 105, in some examples cells served by different base stations may be used in carrier aggregation.

As described above, PDCP duplication may be activated based on MAC instance 330-c receiving an indicator (e.g., MAC CE) . In some cases, logical channel 325-d may be activated based on PDCP duplication being activated. Once PDCP duplication is activated, MAC instance 330-c may multiplex data (e.g., duplicated packets of primary leg 310-b) from logical channel 325-d. For example, MAC instance 330-c may multiplex data from logical channel 325-d with data from logical channel 325-c. If packet duplication is deactivated, MAC instance 330-c may not multiplex data from logical channel 325-d. As described in FIGs. 4 and 5, upon activating PDCP duplication, the UE 115 may determine a prioritized bit rate and token bucket values for logical channel 325-d.

While PDCP duplication is active, PDCP 305-b may generate a PDCP packet and submit the PDCP packet to RLC instance 320-c of primary leg 310-b (e.g., as described above) . PDCP 305-b may generate a duplicate of the PDCP packet and also submit the duplicated PDCP packet to RLC instance 320-d of secondary leg 315-b. The UE 115 may schedule data from logical channels in the MAC instance 330-c using LCP. LCP may be performed independently for each carrier.

The UE 115 may receive an indicator to deactivate PDCP duplication. MAC instance 330-c may deactivate logical channel 325-d upon receiving a MAC CE indicating to deactivate PDCP duplication. The UE 115 may suppress multiplexing data from logical channel 325-d while the logical channel is deactivated. Upon deactivation, the UE 115 may adjust the token bucket or prioritized bit rate as described with reference to FIGs. 4 and 5.

Deactivating PDCP duplication may affect BSR reporting as described above. For example, PDCP 305-b may report zero data volume to MAC instance 330-c, and RLC instance 320-d may flush its data buffer and report zero data volume to prevent logical channel 325-d being scheduled by the network. In another example, MAC instance 330-c may store the activated/deactivated state for logical channel 325-d, and the MAC layer may overwrite the data volume to zero for logical channel 325-d. In some cases, PDCP 305-b may not report a data volume for duplicated PDCP data to MAC instance 330-c when PDCP duplication is deactivated. In other cases, PDCP 305-b may continue to report a data volume for duplicated PDCP data (any remaining data) when PDCP duplication is deactivated.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a bucket value timeline 400 that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The bucket value timeline 400 may illustrate bucket values for a primary logical channel 405 and a secondary logical channel 410 of a UE 115 as described herein. The primary logical channel 405 may be an example of a logical channel 325 of a primary leg 310 with reference to FIG. 3, and the secondary logical channel 410 may be an example of a logical channel 325 of a secondary leg 315 also with reference to FIG. 3.

One or more logical channels are selected for outputting data to a transmitter during a logical channel prioritization procedure. If a logical channel j has tokens in its token bucket B _j, the logical channel may be a candidate for use in transmitting a packet. For example, if the value of B _j is not above zero, there may not be a scheduling opportunity for logical channel j. When logical channel j is established, B _j may be set to 0. In some cases, the logical channel prioritization procedure may be similar to credit-based scheduling, where B _j is a credit that is consumed if logical channel j is used for transmission. For example, the primary logical channel 405 may have been used for transmission in the TTI between time 420-b and 420-c, as the tokens are consumed after 420-b, and the primary logical channel 405 has zero tokens at 420-c. The primary logical channel 405 continues to accumulate tokens after being used for transmission, and the primary logical channel 405 has two tokens at time 420-d. In some cases, the tokens for a logical channel may be completely depleted (e.g., set to zero) after the logical channel is scheduled, or the number of tokens may be reduced, but not set to zero.

While active, logical channel j accumulates tokens in B _j at a rate according to a PBR of logical channel j. For example, B _j may be incremented by BPR×T for a time T. In some cases, B _j may be updated once per TTI (or some number of TTIs) . In some cases, the number of tokens in B _j may be updated once per logical channel prioritization, or any time between logical channel prioritizations such that the B _j is up to date by the time a grant is processed by the LCP. As illustrated, the primary logical channel 405 has a PBR of two units per TTI 415. For example, the primary logical channel 405 has three tokens at time 420-a and five tokens at 420-b. An inactive channel may not accumulate tokens. For example, secondary logical channel 410 may be inactive during times 420-a, 420-b, 420-c, and 420-d. Therefore, the secondary logical channel 410 may stay at same number of tokens for these times.

When logical channel j enters the activated state, the starting value of its B _j may affect upcoming scheduling priority. According to various aspects, when logical channel j is activated, a number of tokens in B _j may be reset For example, at time 420-d PDCP duplication may be activated, and the secondary logical channel 410 may be activated. During the activation, the number of tokens for secondary logical channel 410 may be set to zero. Thus, at 420-e, the secondary logical channel 410 has zero tokens in its token bucket. In some cases, upon activation of PDCP duplication, the UE 115 may set the token bucket of the secondary logical channel 410 to zero. In some cases, the UE 115 may only set the token bucket of the secondary logical channel 410 to zero when an indication of activation of PDCP duplication is received and the current state of the secondary logical channel 410 is deactivated (to avoid resetting the token bucket when the state is not changed) .

The secondary logical channel 410 begins to accumulate tokens according to its PBR while active. For example, the secondary logical channel 410 may have a PBR of one token per TTI. As shown, the token bucket for the secondary logical channel 410 has zero tokens at 420-e and one token at 420-f. In some cases, the secondary logical channel 410 may stay active and continue to accumulate tokens during times 420-g and 420-h. After 420-g, the primary logical channel 405 may have been used for transmission, consuming the tokens of the primary logical channel 405. At 420-h, the secondary logical channel 410 may have tokens while the primary logical channel 405 does not. Therefore, the primary logical channel 405 may not be a candidate for scheduling (e.g., via a first carrier) , while the secondary logical channel 410 may be a candidate for scheduling to transmit packets (e.g., via a second carrier) .

In the TTI 415 after 420-h, the secondary logical channel 410 may be used for transmission, consuming its tokens. For example, the secondary logical channel 410 transmits a duplicate of a PDCP packet. The secondary logical channel 410 may continue to accumulate tokens according to its PBR at times 420-i and 420-j. In some cases, the secondary logical channel 410 may be deactivated. If the secondary logical channel 410 later becomes re-activated, the tokens of the secondary logical channel 410 may be set to zero again, such as at 420-e.

As illustrated, the secondary logical channel 410 may have a different PBR than the primary logical channel 405. In some cases, upon activation, the secondary logical channel 410 may identify a PBR configured by RRC signaling. For example, the secondary logical channel 410 may determine the PBR configured when the secondary logical channel 410 was initially established. In some cases, the PBR of the primary logical channel 405 may have been updated while the secondary logical channel 410 was inactive. Therefore, the initially configured PBR of the secondary logical channel 410 may be different from the current PBR of the primary logical channel 405. In some other examples, such as described in FIG. 5, the PBR of the secondary logical channel 410 may be set to match the PBR of the primary logical channel 405.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a token bucket timeline 500 that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The token bucket timeline 500 shows token bucket values for a primary logical channel 505 and a secondary logical channel 510 of a UE 115 as described herein. The primary logical channel 505 may be an example of a logical channel 325 of a primary leg 310 with reference to FIG. 3, and the secondary logical channel 510 may be an example of a logical channel 325 of a secondary leg 315 also with reference to FIG. 3. The secondary logical channel 510 may be inactive for times 520-a, 520-b, and 520-c, active for times 520-d, 520-e, and 520-f, and inactive again for times 520-g, 520-h, 520-i, and 520-j.

The primary logical channel 505 and the secondary logical channel 510 may accumulate and deplete tokens from their respective token buckets as described above in FIG. 4. In some cases, the PBR and the token value may be indicated in a logical channel configuration as described in FIG. 2.

For example, upon activation, the secondary logical channel 510 may have its number of tokens set to the number of tokens of the primary logical channel 505. The secondary logical channel 510 may have four tokens at 520-c, which may have been accumulated the last time the secondary logical channel 510 was active. After 520-c, the secondary logical channel 510 (e.g., and PDCP duplication) may be activated. At 520-d, the primary logical channel 505 and the secondary logical channel 510 both have two tokens, where the number of tokens for the secondary logical channel 510 is set to the number of tokens of the primary logical channel 505. In some cases, the UE 115 may only set the token bucket of the secondary logical channel 510 to the token value of the primary logical channel 505 when an indication of activation of PDCP duplication is received and the current state of the secondary logical channel 510 is deactivated (to avoid resetting the token bucket when the state is not changed) .

As shown, the secondary logical channel 510 may have its PBR set to the same PBR as the primary logical channel 505. As shown, at 520-d, the primary logical channel 505 and the secondary logical channel 510 have PBRs set to the same number of tokens. The two logical channels have the same number of tokens at 520-e and 520-f, and are accumulating tokens at the same rate.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a token bucket timeline 600 that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The token bucket timeline 600 shows token bucket values for a primary logical channel 605 and a secondary logical channel 610 of a UE 115 as described herein. The primary logical channel 605 may be an example of a logical channel 325 of a primary leg 310 with reference to FIG. 3, and the secondary logical channel 610 may be an example of a logical channel 325 of a secondary leg 315 also with reference to FIG. 3.

The primary logical channel 605 and the secondary logical channel 610 may accumulate and deplete tokens from their respective token buckets as described above in FIG. 4. However, in some cases, the secondary logical channel 610 may not have its token value set or reset upon activation. Upon deactivation of duplication, token accumulation is stopped. When duplication is activated again, the secondary logical channel 610 may use the accumulated tokens. For example, the secondary logical channel 610 may have four tokens while inactive at times 620-a and 620-b, and the secondary logical channel 610 may keep the four tokens once activated. Thus, at 620-d, the secondary logical channel 610 accumulates tokens according to its PBR (e.g., going from four tokens to five tokens with a PBR of one token per TTI 615) . As described above, the PBR may be set to the PBR configured by RRC signaling, or to the PBR of the primary logical channel 605.

At 620-c, 620-d, and 620-e, the secondary logical channel 610 may have more tokens than another logical channel associated with the same carrier. At 620-c, the primary logical channel 605 may not have any tokens and may not be a candidate for scheduling at 620-c. The secondary logical channel 610 may be used for transmission during the TTI 615 between time 620-e and 620-f, and the tokens of the secondary logical channel 610 may be depleted. Therefore, at 620-f, the secondary logical channel 610 may have zero tokens in its token bucket. The secondary logical channel 610 may accumulate tokens at times 620-f, 620-g, and 620-h, and the secondary logical channel 610 may be deactivated for time 620-i. The secondary logical channel 610 may then stop accumulating tokens for time 620-i.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram 700 of a UE 705 that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. UE 705 may be an example of aspects of a UE as described herein. UE 705 may include receiver 710, UE communications manager 715, and transmitter 720. UE 705 may also include a processor. Each of these components may be in communication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses) .

Receiver 710 may receive information such as packets, user data, or control information associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, and information related to impact of packet duplication on medium access control, etc. ) . Information may be passed on to other components of the device. The receiver 710 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1020 described with reference to FIG. 10. The receiver 710 may utilize a single antenna or a plurality of antennas.

UE 705 may be an example of aspects of the UE communications manager 1010 described with reference to FIG. 10.

UE communications manager 715 and/or at least some of its various sub-components may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions of the UE communications manager 715 and/or at least some of its various sub- components may be executed by a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described in the present disclosure. The UE communications manager 715 and/or at least some of its various sub-components may be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations by one or more physical devices. In some examples, UE communications manager 715 and/or at least some of its various sub-components may be a separate and distinct component in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In other examples, UE communications manager 715 and/or at least some of its various sub-components may be combined with one or more other hardware components, including but not limited to an I/O component, a transceiver, a network server, another computing device, one or more other components described in the present disclosure, or a combination thereof in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

UE communications manager 715 may receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, receive an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, determine a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation, communicate, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel, receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, the second logical channel associated with duplication of packets from the first logical channel, receive an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, determine a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation, and report a buffer status, wherein the buffer status is based at least in part on the data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel.

Transmitter 720 may transmit signals generated by other components of the device. In some examples, the transmitter 720 may be collocated with a receiver 710 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 720 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1020 described with reference to FIG. 10. The transmitter 720 may utilize a single antenna or a plurality of antennas.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram 800 of a UE 805 that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. UE 805 may be an example of aspects of a UE 705 or a UE 115 as described herein. UE 805 may include receiver 810, UE communications manager 815, and transmitter 850. UE 805 may also include a processor. Each of these components may be in communication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses) .

Receiver 810 may receive information such as packets, user data, or control information associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, and information related to impact of packet duplication on medium access control, etc. ) . Information may be passed on to other components of the device. The receiver 810 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1020 described with reference to FIG. 10. The receiver 810 may utilize a single antenna or a plurality of antennas.

UE 815 may be an example of aspects of the device 1005 described with reference to FIG. 10.

UE 815 may also include logical channel configuration component 820, packet duplication indication component 825, LCP component 830, packet communication component 835, data volume reporting component 840, and buffer status reporting component 845

Logical channel configuration component 820 may receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel.

Packet duplication indication component 825 may receive an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, modify a MAC state of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation of the second logical channel, in some cases, the indicator of activation or deactivation of the second logical channel comprises a MAC-CE message or a RRC message, and in some cases, the indicator of deactivation of the second logical channel comprises a MAC-CE message or a RRC message.

LCP component 830 may determine a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation, set the token bucket value of the second logical channel to a zero value, set the token bucket value of the second logical channel to a token bucket value of the first logical channel, suppress accumulation of the token bucket value, set the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel to a configured prioritized bit rate for the second logical channel, and set the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel to a prioritized bit rate for the first logical channel.

Packet communication component 835 may communicate, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel.

Logical channel configuration component 820 may receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, the second logical channel associated with duplication of packets from the first logical channel.

Packet duplication indication component 825 may receive an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel.

Data volume reporting component 840 may determine a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation, report a zero data volume for the second logical channel from a PDCP buffer or a RLC buffer to a MAC entity, flush the RLC buffer, reset RLC variables, or reestablish an RLC entity based on the indicator of deactivation, or perform RLC reestablishment based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation. Data volume reporting component 840 may receive, at a MAC entity, a data volume value associated with a PDCP buffer or a RLC buffer for the second logical channel, and overwrite the received data volume value with a zero value for the reporting of the buffer status.

Buffer status reporting component 845 may report a buffer status, wherein the buffer status is based at least in part on the data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel.

Transmitter 850 may transmit signals generated by other components of the device. In some examples, the transmitter 850 may be collocated with a receiver 810 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 850 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1020 described with reference to FIG. 10. The transmitter 850 may utilize a single antenna or a plurality of antennas.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram 900 of a UE communications manager 905 that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The UE communications manager 905 may be an example of aspects of a UE communications manager 715, a UE communications manager 815, or a UE communications manager 1010 described with reference to FIGs. 7, 8, and 10. The UE communications manager 905 may include logical channel configuration component 910, packet duplication indication component 915, LCP component 920, packet communication component 925, data volume reporting component 930, and buffer status reporting component 935. Each of these modules may communicate, directly or indirectly, with one another (e.g., via one or more buses) .

Logical channel configuration component 910 may receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel.

Packet duplication indication component 915 may receive an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, modify a MAC state of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation of the second logical channel, in some cases, the indicator of activation or deactivation of the second logical channel comprises a MAC-CE message or a RRC message, and in some cases, the indicator of deactivation of the second logical channel comprises a MAC-CE message or a RRC message.

LCP component 920 may determine a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation, set the token bucket value of the second logical channel to a zero value, set the token bucket value of the second logical channel to a token bucket value of the first logical channel, suppress accumulation of the token bucket value, set the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel to a configured prioritized bit rate for the second logical channel, and set the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel to a prioritized bit rate for the first logical channel. In some cases, the setting of the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel is further based on a current state of the second logical channel (e.g., to avoid resetting the token bucket value or prioritized bit rate when the state of the second logical channel is not changing) . For example, the token bucket value of the second logical channel may only be set to zero or the token bucket value of the first logical channel when the second logical channel is deactivated upon receiving an indicator of activation of packet duplication.

Packet communication component 925 may communicate, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel.

Logical channel configuration component 910 may receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, the second logical channel associated with duplication of packets from the first logical channel.

Packet duplication indication component 915 may receive an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel.

Data volume reporting component 930 may determine a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation, report a zero data volume for the second logical channel from a PDCP buffer or a RLC buffer to a MAC entity, flush the RLC buffer or perform RLC re-establishment based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation, receive, at a MAC entity, a data volume value associated with a PDCP buffer or a RLC buffer for the second logical channel, and overwrite the received data volume value to zero for the reporting of the buffer status.

Buffer status reporting component 935 may report a buffer status, wherein the buffer status is based at least in part on the data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel.

FIG. 10 shows a diagram of a system 1000 including a device 1005 that supports impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Device 1005 may be an example of or include the components of UE 705, UE 805, or a UE 115 as described above, e.g., with reference to FIGs. 7 and 8. Device 1005 may include components for bi-directional voice and data communications including components for transmitting and receiving communications, including UE communications manager 1010, I/O controller 1015, transceiver 1020, antenna 1025, memory 1030, and processor 1040. These components may be in electronic communication via one or more buses (e.g., bus 1045) .

I/O controller 1015 may manage input and output signals for device 1005. I/O controller 1015 may also manage peripherals not integrated into device 1005. In some cases, I/O controller 1015 may represent a physical connection or port to an external peripheral. In some cases, I/O controller 1015 may utilize an operating system such as

or another known operating system. In other cases, I/O controller 1015 may represent or interact with a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen, or a similar device. In some cases, I/O controller 1015 may be implemented as part of a processor. In some cases, a user may interact with device 1005 via I/O controller 1015 or via hardware components controlled by I/O controller 1015.

Transceiver 1020 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or more antennas, wired, or wireless links as described above. For example, the transceiver 1020 may represent a wireless transceiver and may communicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 1020 may also include a modem to modulate the packets and provide the modulated packets to the antennas for transmission, and to demodulate packets received from the antennas.

In some cases, the wireless device may include a single antenna 1025. However, in some cases the device may have more than one antenna 1025, which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions.

Memory 1030 may include RAM and ROM. The memory 1030 may store computer-readable, computer-executable software 1035 including instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform various functions described herein. In some cases, the memory 1030 may contain, among other things, a BIOS which may control basic hardware or software operation such as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.

Processor 1040 may include an intelligent hardware device, (e.g., a general-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, an FPGA, a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof) . In some cases, processor 1040 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In other cases, a memory controller may be integrated into processor 1040. Processor 1040 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting impact of packet duplication on medium access control) .

FIG. 11 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1100 for impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 1100 may be implemented by a UE or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of method 1100 may be performed by a communications manager as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10. In some examples, a UE may execute a set of codes to control the functional elements of the device to perform the functions described below. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may perform aspects of the functions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At 1105 the UE may receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel. The operations of 1105 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1105 may be performed by a logical channel configuration component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

At 1110 the UE may receive an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel. The operations of 1110 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1110 may be performed by a packet duplication indication component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

At 1115 the UE may determine a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation. The operations of 1115 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1115 may be performed by a LCP component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

At 1120 the UE may communicate, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel. The operations of 1120 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1120 may be performed by a packet communication component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1200 for impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 1200 may be implemented by a UE or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of method 1200 may be performed by a communications manager as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10. In some examples, a UE may execute a set of codes to control the functional elements of the device to perform the functions described below. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may perform aspects of the functions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At 1205 the UE may receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel. The operations of 1205 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1205 may be performed by a logical channel configuration component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

At 1210 the UE may receive an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel. The operations of 1210 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1210 may be performed by a packet duplication indication component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

At 1215 the UE may modify a MAC state of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation of the second logical channel. The operations of 1215 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1215 may be performed by a packet duplication indication component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

At 1220 the UE may determine a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation. The operations of 1220 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1220 may be performed by a LCP component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

At 1225 the UE may communicate, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel. The operations of 1225 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1225 may be performed by a packet communication component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1300 for impact of packet duplication on medium access control in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 1300 may be implemented by a UE or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of method 1300 may be performed by a communications manager as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10. In some examples, a UE may execute a set of codes to control the functional elements of the device to perform the functions described below. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may perform aspects of the functions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At 1305 the UE may receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, the second logical channel associated with duplication of packets from the first logical channel. The operations of 1305 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1305 may be performed by a logical channel configuration component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

At 1310 the UE may receive an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel. The operations of 1310 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1310 may be performed by a packet duplication indication component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

At 1315 the UE may determine a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation. The operations of 1315 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1315 may be performed by a data volume reporting component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

At 1320 the UE may report a buffer status, wherein the buffer status is based at least in part on the data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel. The operations of 1320 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1320 may be performed by a buffer status reporting component as described with reference to FIGs 7 to 10.

It should be noted that the methods described above describe possible implementations, and that the operations and the steps may be rearranged or otherwise modified and that other implementations are possible. Further, aspects from two or more of the methods may be combined.

Techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communications systems such as code division multiple access (CDMA) , time division multiple access (TDMA) , frequency division multiple access (FDMA) , orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) , single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) , and other systems. A CDMA system may implement a radio technology such as CDMA2000, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) , etc. CDMA2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards. IS-2000 Releases may be commonly referred to as CDMA2000 1X, 1X, etc. IS-856 (TIA-856) is commonly referred to as CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD) , etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. A TDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) .

An OFDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) , Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA) , Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi) , IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) , IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) . LTE and LTE-A are releases of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, NR, and GSM are described in documents from the organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP) . CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2) . The techniques described herein may be used for the systems and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other systems and radio technologies. While aspects of an LTE or an NR system may be described for purposes of example, and LTE or NR terminology may be used in much of the description, the techniques described herein are applicable beyond LTE or NR applications.

A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs 115 with service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cell may be associated with a lower-powered base station 105, as compared with a macro cell, and a small cell may operate in the same or different (e.g., licensed, unlicensed, etc. ) frequency bands as macro cells. Small cells may include pico cells, femto cells, and micro cells according to various examples. A pico cell, for example, may cover a small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs 115 with service subscriptions with the network provider. A femto cell may also cover a small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may provide restricted access by UEs 115 having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs 115 in a closed subscriber group (CSG) , UEs 115 for users in the home, and the like) . An eNB for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro eNB. An eNB for a small cell may be referred to as a small cell eNB, a pico eNB, a femto eNB, or a home eNB. An eNB may support one or multiple (e.g., two, three, four, and the like) cells, and may also support communications using one or multiple component carriers.

The wireless communications system 100 or systems described herein may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the base stations 105 may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different base stations 105 may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the base stations 105 may have different frame timing, and transmissions from different base stations 105 may not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein may be used for either synchronous or asynchronous operations.

Information and signals described herein may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

The various illustrative blocks and modules described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP) , an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD) , discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration) .

The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are within the scope of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, functions described above can be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or combinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may also be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations.

Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A non-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, non-transitory computer-readable media may comprise random-access memory (RAM) , read-only memory (ROM) , electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) , flash memory, compact disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transitory medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) , or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include CD, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD) , floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of computer-readable media.

As used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items (e.g., a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as “at least one of” or “one or more of” ) indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, a list of at least one of A, B, or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C) . Also, as used herein, the phrase “based on” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of conditions. For example, an exemplary step that is described as “based on condition A” may be based on both a condition A and a condition B without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, as used herein, the phrase “based on” shall be construed in the same manner as the phrase “based at least in part on. ”

In the appended figures, similar components or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If just the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label, or other subsequent reference label.

The description set forth herein, in connection with the appended drawings, describes example configurations and does not represent all the examples that may be implemented or that are within the scope of the claims. The term “exemplary” used herein means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration, ” and not “preferred” or “advantageous over other examples. ” The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing an understanding of the described techniques. These techniques, however, may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the described examples.

The description herein is provided to enable a person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to be accorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

A method for wireless communication, comprising:

receiving a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel;

receiving an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel;

determining a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation; and

communicating, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel.
The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises an indicator of activation of the duplication of the packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, the method further comprising:

setting the token bucket value of the second logical channel to a zero value.
The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises an indicator of activation of the duplication of the packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, the method further comprising:

setting the token bucket value of the second logical channel to a token bucket value of the first logical channel.
The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of the packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, the method further comprising:

suppressing accumulation of the token bucket value.
The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises an indicator of activation of the duplication of the packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, the method further comprising:

setting the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel to a configured prioritized bit rate for the second logical channel.
The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises an indicator of activation of the duplication of the packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, the method further comprising:

setting the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel to a prioritized bit rate for the first logical channel.
The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of the packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel, the method further comprising:

suppressing multiplexing of packets in the second logical channel for the communicating.
The method of any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the setting of the token bucket value of the second logical channel or the setting of the prioritized bit rate is further based on a current state of the second logical channel.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising:

modifying a medium access control (MAC) state of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation of the second logical channel.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the indicator of activation or deactivation of the second logical channel comprises a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) message or a radio resource control (RRC) message.
A method of wireless communication, comprising:

receiving a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, the second logical channel associated with duplication of packets from the first logical channel;

receiving an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel;

determining a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation; and

reporting a buffer status, wherein the buffer status is based at least in part on the data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel.
The method of claim 11, wherein the determining the data volume reporting value comprises:

reporting a zero data volume for the second logical channel from a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) buffer or a radio link control (RLC) buffer to a medium access control (MAC) entity.
The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the data volume reporting value comprises:

flushing the RLC buffer, resetting RLC variables, or reestablishing an RLC entity based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation.
The method of claim 11, wherein the determining the data volume reporting value comprises:

receiving, at a medium access control (MAC) entity, a data volume value associated with a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) buffer or a radio link control (RLC) buffer for the second logical channel; and

overwriting the received data volume value with a zero value for the reporting of the buffer status.
The method of any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein the indicator of deactivation of the second logical channel comprises a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) message or a radio resource control (RRC) message.
An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

means for receiving a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel;

means for receiving an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel;

means for determining a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation; and

means for communicating, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel.
An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

means for receiving a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, the second logical channel associated with duplication of packets from the first logical channel;

means for receiving an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel;

means for determining a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation; and

means for reporting a buffer status, wherein the buffer status is based at least in part on the data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel.
An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor;

instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to;

receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel;

receive an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel;

determine a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation; and

communicate, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel.
An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor;

instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to;

receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, the second logical channel associated with duplication of packets from the first logical channel;

receive an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel;

determine a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation; and

report a buffer status, wherein the buffer status is based at least in part on the data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to:

receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel;

receive an indicator of activation or deactivation of duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel;

determine a token bucket value or a prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of activation or deactivation; and

communicate, with a serving cell, the packets from the first logical channel or the second logical channel based at least in part on the token bucket value or the prioritized bit rate of the second logical channel.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to:

receive a first logical channel configuration for a first logical channel and a second logical channel configuration for a second logical channel, the second logical channel associated with duplication of packets from the first logical channel;

receive an indicator of deactivation of the duplication of packets from the first logical channel to the second logical channel;

determine a data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel based at least in part on the indicator of deactivation; and

report a buffer status, wherein the buffer status is based at least in part on the data volume reporting value associated with the second logical channel.