CN113630223A

CN113630223A - User equipment and method thereof, base station and method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN113630223A
Application number: CN202010384605.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 肖芳英; 刘仁茂
Original assignee: Sharp Corp
Current assignee: Sharp Corp
Priority date: 2020-05-08
Filing date: 2020-05-08
Publication date: 2021-11-09
Also published as: WO2021223623A1

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method for configuring signaling radio bearer PDCP duplicates and an RRC entity, where in the method for configuring signaling radio bearer PDCP duplicates, when the signaling radio bearer PDCP entity associates more than 2 RLC entities, a configuration message for configuring the signaling radio bearer PDCP duplicates includes an indication flag indicating whether PDCP duplicates are configured.

Description

User equipment and method thereof, base station and method thereof

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a user equipment and a method thereof, and a base station and a method thereof.

Background

Nokia proposed a research Project on the 5G (or NR) industry Internet of Things (IIOT) (see non-patent literature: RP-182090: reviewed SID: Study on NR Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)) at 9.2018 on 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) RAN #81 congress and approved. One of the objectives of the research project is to improve the reliability of data transmission and reduce the time delay of data transmission through data duplication (data duplication), and specifically includes: (1) resource efficient PDCP repetition, e.g., to avoid unnecessary repeated transmissions; (2) more than two PDCP repetitions are achieved with dual connectivity DC or carrier aggregation CA.

In release 15, a bearer supporting PDCP duplication can configure up to two RLC entities. The initial state of the bearer configured with PDCP repetition is to indicate whether the PDCP repetition function is activated initially by a PDCP-duplification cell (see 3GPP TS38.331 for a detailed description of the cell). In carrier aggregation, for a bearer whose initial PDCP repetition function is not activated, its data is sent through a logical channel indicated by a primaryPath cell (see 3GPP TS38.331 for a detailed description of the cell). In dual connectivity, for bearers whose initial PDCP repeat function is not activated, whether data is transmitted through a logical channel indicated by a primaryPath cell or in a split bearer manner is determined according to the amount of data to be transmitted.

In NR IIOT, to achieve the goal of two or more PDCP repetitions with dual connectivity or carrier aggregation, some vendors propose a way to configure multiple RLC entities for a bearer supporting PDCP repetitions but only activate a few of them at a time (i.e., the PDCP entity configured PDCP repetitions hands PDCP PDUs to the associated and activated two or more RLC entities). The network may indicate whether PDCP duplication and/or active RLC entities are activated by RRC signaling or medium access control element, MAC CE. In the currently achieved configuration method of PDCP duplication, when there are more than 2 RLC entities associated with a radio bearer, it is optional (i.e., not necessary) whether to configure PDCP duplication for the radio bearer. However, in 3GPP protocol 38.323-g00, the activation of the radio bearer PDCP repetition depends on an indication flag indicating whether a PDCP repetition is configured, which indicates that a PDCP repetition is configured if the indication flag is configured, and indicates that no PDCP repetition is configured if the flag does not occur. For SRB, when there are more than two RLC entities associated but the indication does not occur, PDCP duplication will not be activated.

The present disclosure discusses related problems involved with configuring signaling radio bearer PDCP repetitions.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure is made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present disclosure is to provide a signaling radio bearer PDCP reconfiguration method and an RRC entity capable of solving the problems involved in the signaling radio bearer PDCP reconfiguration, so as to ensure that an initial state is activated when the number of RLC entities associated with configuring a signaling radio bearer exceeds 2.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a configuration method for signaling radio bearer PDCP duplication is provided, where when a PDCP entity of a signaling radio bearer associates more than 2 RLC entities, a configuration message for configuring signaling radio bearer PDCP duplication must include an indication flag indicating whether PDCP duplication is configured.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, an RRC entity is proposed, which performs the configuration method for signaling radio bearer PDCP repetition as described above and below.

Effects of the invention

According to the PDCP repeat configuration method and the RRC entity for the signaling radio bearer, the initial state can be activated when the number of RLC entities associated with the signaling radio bearer is configured to exceed 2, so that the reliability of a wireless communication system can be improved.

Drawings

The above and other features of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows a flow chart of a method 100 in a user equipment, UE, based on an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a user equipment 20 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 shows a flow chart of a method 300 in a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 shows a block diagram of a base station 40 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The present disclosure is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings and detailed description. It should be noted that the present disclosure should not be limited to the specific embodiments described below. In addition, for the sake of brevity, detailed descriptions of well-known technologies not directly related to the present disclosure are omitted to prevent confusion of understanding of the present disclosure.

Some of the terms to which the present disclosure relates are described below, and are specifically described in 3GPP recent documents TS38.331 and TS 38.323.

RRC: radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control.

PDCP: packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence Protocol.

RLC: radio Link Control, Radio Link Control. The transmission mode of the RLC entity may be configured as one of a transparent mode TM, an unacknowledged mode UM, or an acknowledged mode AM.

PDU: protocol Data Unit, Protocol Data Unit.

SDU: service Data Unit.

In the present disclosure, data received from or transmitted to an upper layer is referred to as SDU, and data transmitted to or received from a lower layer is referred to as PDU. For example, data received from or addressed to an upper layer by the PDCP entity is called PDCP SDU; data received by the PDCP entity from a lower layer (i.e., the RLC entity) or data delivered to the RLC entity is called PDCP PDU (i.e., RLC SDU). The PDCP PDU is a PDCP control PDU or a PDCP data PDU. The PDCP repetition function as presently defined supports only PDCP repetitions for PDCP data PDUs, so the PDCP repetitions are all for PDCP data PDUs in this disclosure.

PDCP repetition: PDCP duplication refers to two or more times of transmission of the same PDCP PDU, which is transmitted through RLC entities and/or logical channels associated to different carriers or carrier groups, i.e., the same PDCP PDU is delivered to two or more RLC entities of a lower layer. In dual connectivity, the RLC entities and/or logical channels of the radio bearer configured with PDCP repetitions belong to (or are respectively associated with) two different MAC entities. When a radio bearer is configured with PDCP repetitions, a secondary RLC entity and a secondary logical channel are added for the radio bearer to process the repeated PDCP PDUs.

For radio bearers (including DRBs and SRBs) configured with PDCP duplication, if PDCP duplication is activated, sending a PDCP entity (acknowledging PDCP entity) that duplicates PDCP PDUs and delivers the PDCP PDUs to an associated RLC entity, the RLC entity being the RLC entity that is activated for PDCP duplication (duplicate the PDCP Data PDU and the sub-PDCP Data PDU to the associated RLC entities activated for PDCP duplication); otherwise, corresponding to the case that the PDCP repetition is not satisfied to be activated, for the non-separated bearer, the transmitting PDCP entity delivers the PDCP PDUs to the primary RLC entity, for a split bearer, if a split secondary RLC entity is configured and the sum of the amount of PDCP data (data volume) and the amount of RLC data awaiting initial transmission in the primary RLC entity and the split secondary RLC entity is greater than or equal to ul-DataSplithreshold (if the total of PDCP data volume and RLC data volume pending for initial transmission (as specified in TS 38.322[5]) in the primary RLC entry and the split secondary RLC entry is either equal to or greater than ul-DataSplithreshold), the PDCP PDUs are delivered to the primary RLC entity or a separate secondary RLC entity (sub-limit the PDCP PDUs to the primary RLC entity or the split secondary RLC entity), otherwise, the PDCP PDUs are delivered to the primary RLC entity. Wherein, the information element (abbreviated as cell or called parameter) ul-DataSplitThreshold is included in the PDCP-Config cell, and the detailed description of the cell is described in 3GPP technical document TS38.331, and the detailed excerpt is as follows:

it should be noted that, in the present disclosure, if a sending PDCP entity of a separate bearer is associated with only two RLC entities, the separate bearer is considered to be configured with a separate secondary RLC entity, that is, the separate secondary RLC entity of the separate bearer is an RLC entity (or called secondary RLC entity) different from the primary RLC entity. For a transmitting PDCP entity or radio bearer for which PDCP repetition is configured and PDCP repetition is deactivated, the condition for configuring the secondary RLC entity to be detached may be replaced with the following condition: if the PDCP entity is associated with at least two RLC entities belonging to or associated with different cell groups (i.e., a master cell group MCG and a secondary cell group SCG), respectively.

In the present disclosure, if more than two RLC entities are associated with the radio bearer PDCP entity, the radio bearer PDCP repetition is activated, which means that there is at least one secondary RLC entity activated for PDCP repetition or at least one RLC entity other than the primary RLC entity activated for PDCP repetition.

Main path: the Primary path, also called a Primary RLC entity, is configured to send PDCP control PDUs and PDCP data PDUs, and the Primary path is configured by a parameter primaryPath carried in an RRC message and cannot be deactivated. The primary Path is used to indicate the cell ID and the logical channel ID of the primary RLC entity (identities the cell group ID and LCID of the primary RLC entity)

Auxiliary path: and a secondary path associated with the other RLC entities except the primary path among the RLC entities configured with the PDCP repeated DRB.

And separating the auxiliary RLC entity: split secondary RLC entity, the RLC entity used for Split bearer operation in dual connectivity, except for the primary RLC entity.

The following describes information elements involved in embodiments of the present disclosure.

The information element PDCP-Config is used to set configurable PDCP parameters for the signalling radio bearer SRB and/or the data radio bearer DRB.

The information element duty state is used to indicate the initial uplink PDCP repetition state for the associated RLC entity. If its value is set to true (i.e., true), an initial PDCP repeat status of the associated RLC entity is active. The index of this indication (i.e., duplicationState) is determined by the logical channel identities of the RLC entities other than the primary RLC entity being arranged in ascending order in the manner of the primary cell group MCG followed by the secondary cell group SCG. If the duplicationState indicates that the initial PDCP repeat status of at least one associated RLC entity is active, the initial PDCP repeat status of the corresponding radio bearer is active; if the duplicationState indicates that the initial PDCP repetition states of all the associated RLC entities are deactivated, the initial PDCP repetition state of the corresponding radio bearer is deactivated. When configuring PDCP repetition of a radio bearer (e.g., DRB), if the duplicationState does not occur (i.e., the duplicationState is not included in the RRC message for configuring PDCP repetition of the radio bearer), the initial PDCP repetition state is deactivated, in other words, the initial PDCP repetition state of the radio bearer or its corresponding PDCP entity or associated RLC entity is deactivated. The duplicationState is contained in the moretwenco RLC.

The information element moretwantworlc is used to configure uplink data transmission when more than 2 RLC entities are associated to one PDCP entity (configure UL data transmission fire high more than two RLC entities associated with the PDCP entity); this information element occurrence indicates that PDCP duplication is configured or that the corresponding radio bearer is configured with PDCP duplication. The morenthtworlc can be specified to be applicable to DRB only. The MoretwenwRLC is included in the PDCP-Config.

The information element pdcp-Duplication is used to indicate whether the status of the uplink repetition is configured and activated when this information element (abbreviated cell) is received. This information element appears indicating that PDCP duplication is configured, and the value of this information element is true (i.e., true) indicating that PDCP duplication is activated. The PDCP-Config for setting the configurable PDCP information element for the SRB and/or DRB is included in an RRC message sent by the base station or the network to the UE, the RRC message being used to configure the SRB and/or DRB supporting PDCP duplication for the UE. The PDCP-dupling is contained in the PDCP-Config.

In the following, a method for configuring PDCP duplication for a radio bearer in the present disclosure is described, where the method may be performed at a user equipment UE or a base station (more specifically, the method may be performed at an RRC entity of the user equipment UE or the base station), and specifically, the method is described in the following embodiments.

A flow chart of a method 100 for configuring PDCP duplication for radio bearers in a user equipment, UE, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 1.

In step S101, the user equipment UE (more specifically, the RRC entity in the user equipment UE) receives an RRC message (e.g., an RRC reconfiguration rrcrconfiguration message) from the base station, where the RRC message includes information related to PDCP reconfiguration of a radio bearer (e.g., SRB), such as an information element PDCP-configuration or a moretwantworlc or a PDCP-duplexing.

In step S102, the user equipment UE (more specifically, the RRC entity in the user equipment UE) performs a PDCP duplication configuration of a radio bearer (e.g., SRB) based on the above information.

In one embodiment, if the number of RLC entities associated with the SRB exceeds 2, the received PDCP repeated RRC message for configuring the SRB includes (or necessarily includes or must include) a PDCP-Duplication information element for the SRB. In other words, when the number of RLC entities associated with the SRB exceeds 2 (or when the number of RLC entities configured for the SRB exceeds 2), the RRC message configured for the SRB includes (or must include) an indication identifier PDCP-dualization for indicating whether PDCP Duplication is configured, and further, it can be specified that the value thereof must or must be set to true (i.e., true).

In the present disclosure, the RLC entity associated with the radio bearer (i.e., SRB or DRB) is the RLC entity associated with the PDCP entity of the radio bearer.

In one embodiment, the RRC message for configuring PDCP repetitions for a radio bearer must include the PDCP-duplification regardless of whether the RLC entities associated with the radio bearer are 2 or more. When the PDCP-dupling is configured to be false (i.e. false), the PDCP-Config including the PDCP-dupling (or the information element morethiontwo rlc in the PDCP-Config including the PDCP-dupling or the RRC message) does not include the information element duplinestat (duplinestationstate is present) or all the bit values of the information element duplinestat are false. When the pdcp-duplification is configured as true (i.e., true), the information element duplitionstate has at least one bit configured as true.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the setting of the PDCP-duplification to true (i.e., true) may be replaced with the setting of the PDCP-duplification to other values indicating activation of PDCP Duplication, and the setting of the duplitionantitate to true may be replaced with the setting of the duplitionantitate to other values indicating activation of PDCP Duplication of the corresponding RLC entity. Accordingly, the PDCP-duplification setting to false (i.e., false) may be set to other values indicating deactivation (or deactivation) of PDCP repetitions instead of the PDCP-duplification setting, and the duplitionstate setting to false may be set to other values indicating deactivation (or deactivation) of PDCP repetitions of the corresponding RLC entity instead of the duplitionstate.

In one embodiment, different processes are repeated for SRB and DRB activated PDCP. Specifically, for SRB, if the PDCP entity configures the PDCP-duplicate or the associated RLC entities exceeds 2, the transmitting PDCP entity activates PDCP repetition. For the DRB, if the PDCP entity configures the PDCP-dupling or the motenetworlc, the transmitting PDCP entity performs the following operations:

activating the PDCP duplication of the DRB if the PDCP duplication of the DRB is indicated as activated;

if PDCP duplication of at least one associated RLC entity is indicated as active, performing: (1) activating PDCP repetition of the indicated RLC entity; (2) preferably, PDCP repetition of DRB is activated; alternatively, the PDCP repetition of the DRB is activated only when the PDCP repetition of the DRB is in a deactivated state).

Deactivating the PDCP duplication of the DRB if the PDCP duplication of the DRB is indicated as deactivated;

deactivating the PDCP duplication of the indicated RLC entity if the PDCP duplication of at least one associated RLC entity is indicated as deactivated, and deactivating the PDCP duplication of the DRB if the PDCP duplication of other associated RLC entities except the primary RLC entity is deactivated.

The associated RLC entity or all associated RLC entities in the embodiments of the present disclosure refer to the RLC entity associated with the PDCP entity of the radio bearer or all associated RLC entities (except the primary RLC entity, since the duplicationState is not used to indicate the primary RLC entity, and the primary RLC entity cannot be deactivated).

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the initial PDCP duplication state is an initial uplink PDCP duplication state, and refers to a PDCP duplication state of an associated RLC entity when the UE receives an RRC message and configures a corresponding SRB or DRB, or a PDCP duplication state corresponding to a corresponding RLC entity when the UE configures the corresponding RLC entity, or a PDCP duplication state corresponding to a radio bearer when the UE configures the corresponding SRB or DRB. The initial PDCP repetition state of the RLC entity is active to indicate that the PDCP entity delivers PDCP PDUs to the RLC entity. The initial PDCP repetition state of the RLC entity is deactivated to indicate that the PDCP entity does not deliver PDCP PDUs to the RLC entity.

According to the above-described method performed by the user equipment (more specifically, the method performed by the user equipment RRC entity), the configuration of PDCP repetition can be performed for more than 2 signaling radio bearers of the associated RLC entity, so that the reliability of the wireless communication system can be improved.

Further, fig. 2 shows a block diagram of the user equipment 20 (more specifically, the RRC entity 20 in the user equipment UE) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, the user equipment 20 comprises a processor 201 and a memory 202. The processor 201 may include, for example, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, an embedded processor, or the like. The memory 202 may include, for example, volatile memory (e.g., random access memory RAM), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory), or other memory systems, among others. The memory 202 has stored thereon program instructions. The instructions, when executed by the processor 201, may perform the above-described method in the user equipment as detailed in the present disclosure.

As an example, fig. 3 shows a flowchart of a method 300 in a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In step S301, an RRC message is generated, which includes information on PDCP repetition configuration for the radio bearer. In step S302, the RRC message is sent to the user equipment, so that the user equipment performs PDCP duplicate configuration of the radio bearer based on the information.

According to the above-described method performed by the base station (more specifically, the method performed by the RRC entity in the base station), it is possible to perform appropriate PDCP repetition configuration based on the information on the PDCP repetition configuration of the radio bearer transmitted to the user equipment, so that it is possible to improve the reliability of the wireless communication system.

Further, fig. 4 shows a block diagram of a base station 40 (more specifically, an RRC entity 40 in the base station) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 4, the base station 40 includes a processor 401 and a memory 402. As noted above, the base station 40 in the present disclosure may be any type of base station, including but not limited to: the NodeB and the enhanced base station eNB may be a 5G communication system base station gNB, or a micro base station, a pico base station, a macro base station, a home base station, or the like. The processor 401 may include, for example, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, an embedded processor, or the like. The memory 402 may include, for example, volatile memory (e.g., random access memory RAM), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory), or other memory systems, among others. The memory 402 has stored thereon program instructions. Which when executed by the processor 401 may perform the above-described method in the base station as detailed in the present disclosure.

The computer-executable instructions or programs running on the apparatus according to the present disclosure may be programs that cause a computer to implement the functions of the embodiments of the present disclosure by controlling a Central Processing Unit (CPU). The program or information processed by the program may be temporarily stored in a volatile memory (such as a random access memory RAM), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), a nonvolatile memory (such as a flash memory), or other memory system.

Computer-executable instructions or programs for implementing the functions of embodiments of the present disclosure may be recorded on a computer-readable storage medium. The corresponding functions can be realized by causing a computer system to read the programs recorded on the recording medium and execute the programs. The term "computer system" as used herein may be a computer system embedded in the device and may include an operating system or hardware (e.g., peripheral devices). The "computer-readable storage medium" may be a semiconductor recording medium, an optical recording medium, a magnetic recording medium, a recording medium that stores a program for short-term dynamics, or any other recording medium that is readable by a computer.

Various features or functional blocks of the devices used in the above-described embodiments may be implemented or performed by circuitry (e.g., a single or multiple chip integrated circuits). Circuitry designed to perform the functions described herein may include 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, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The circuit may be a digital circuit or an analog circuit. Where new integrated circuit technology has emerged as a replacement for existing integrated circuits due to advances in semiconductor technology, one or more embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented using such new integrated circuit technology.

Further, the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiments. While various examples of the embodiments have been described, the present disclosure is not so limited. Fixed or non-mobile electronic devices installed indoors or outdoors may be used as terminal devices or communication devices, such as AV devices, kitchen devices, cleaning devices, air conditioners, office devices, vending machines, and other home appliances.

As above, the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to the above embodiment, and the present disclosure also includes any design modification without departing from the gist of the present disclosure. In addition, various modifications can be made to the present disclosure within the scope of the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present disclosure. Further, components having the same effects described in the above embodiments may be substituted for each other.

Claims

1. When the PDCP entity of the signaling radio bearer is associated with more than two radio link control RLC entities, the configuration message for configuring the PDCP repetition of the signaling radio bearer contains an indication mark for indicating whether the PDCP repetition is configured or not.

2. An RRC entity, the RRC entity performing the configuration method of claim 1.