Method for uplink transmission in a 5G NR system

1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE) for configuring a skip uplink transmission function between the UE and a base station, the method comprising:

receiving, from the base station, a first radio resource control message;

determining, at the UE, that the first radio resource control message does not include a specific field associated with configuring the skip uplink transmission function at the UE; and

in response to determining that the first radio resource control message does not include the specific field, disabling the skip uplink transmission function at the UE.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, from the base station, a second radio resource control message;

identifying, at the UE, that the second radio resource control message indicates to enable the skip uplink transmission function at the UE;

in response to determining that the second radio resource control message indicates to enable the skip uplink transmission function, enabling the skip uplink transmission function at the UE; and

communicating with the base station in accordance with the skip uplink transmission function.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the second radio resource control message includes a skip uplink transmission field set to true, and

communicating with the base station further comprises:

refraining from generating and transmitting a media access control protocol data unit when:

a transmission grant is addressed to a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) of the UE or is a configured uplink grant;

there is no aperiodic Channel State Information (CSI) report requested for a particular physical uplink shared channel transmission;

the media access control protocol data unit includes zero media access control service data units (MAC SDUs); and

the media access control protocol data unit includes only a periodic buffer status report (BSR) and there is no data available for any Logical Channel Group (LCG) or the media access control protocol data unit includes only a padding buffer status report.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 , wherein communicating with the base station further comprises:

generating and transmitting the media access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) only when a UE buffer includes data to be transmitted to the base station.

5. A method performed by a base station for configuring a skip uplink transmission function between the base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

configuring, by the base station, a first radio resource control message with a configuration to disable the skip uplink transmission function at the UE by not including, in the first radio resource control message, a specific field associated with configuring the skip uplink transmission function; and

transmitting the first radio resource control message to the UE.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 , further comprising:

configuring, by the base station, a second radio resource control message that indicates to enable the skip uplink transmission function at the UE;

transmitting the second radio resource control message to the UE; and

communicating with the UE in accordance with the configuration to enable the skip uplink transmission function.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein communicating with the UE in accordance with the configuration to enable the skip uplink transmission function comprises:

recognizing that a skipped uplink transmission of a media access control protocol data unit to a hybrid automatic repeat request is in accordance with a set of conditions that direct the UE to refrain from generating or transmitting the media access control protocol data unit; and

refraining, in response to recognizing the skipped uplink transmission is in accordance with the configuration to enable the skip uplink transmission function, from transmitting a retransmission request to the user equipment.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

communicating with the base station in accordance with disabling the skip uplink transmission function.

9. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

communicating with the UE in accordance with the configuration to disable the skip uplink transmission function.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first radio resource control message is an RRC Reconfiguration message.

11. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the second radio resource control message is another RRC Reconfiguration message.

12. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein the first radio resource control message is an RRC Reconfiguration message.

13. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the second radio resource control message is another RRC Reconfiguration message.

14. A user equipment comprising:

at least one wireless transceiver;

a processor; and

computer-readable storage media comprising instructions, responsive to execution by the processor, for directing the user equipment (UE) to:

receive, from a base station, a first radio resource control message;

determine that the first radio resource control message does not include a specific field associated with configuring a skip uplink transmission function at the UE; and

in response to the determination that the first radio resource control message does not include the specific field, disable the skip uplink transmission function at the UE.

15. The user equipment of claim 14 , the instructions further executable to direct the user equipment to:

communicate with the base station in accordance with disabling the skip uplink transmission function.

16. The user equipment of claim 14 , the instructions further executable to direct the user equipment to:

receive, from the base station, a second radio resource control message;

identify that the second radio resource control message indicates to enable the skip uplink transmission function at the UE;

in response to the determination that the second radio resource control message indicates to enable the skip uplink transmission function, enable the skip uplink transmission function at the UE; and

communicate with the base station in accordance with the skip uplink transmission function.

17. The user equipment of claim 16 , wherein the second radio resource control message includes a skip uplink transmission field set to true, and

the instructions to communicate with the base station further direct the user equipment to:

refrain from generating and transmitting a media access control protocol data unit when:

a transmission grant is addressed to a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) of the UE or is a configured uplink grant;

there is no aperiodic Channel State Information (CSI) report requested for a particular physical uplink shared channel transmission;

the media access control protocol data unit includes zero media access control service data units (MAC SDUs); and

the media access control protocol data unit includes only a periodic buffer status report (BSR) and there is no data available for any Logical Channel Group (LCG) or the media access control protocol data unit includes only a padding buffer status report.

18. The user equipment of claim 17 , wherein the instructions to communicate with the base station further direct the user equipment to:

generate and transmit the media access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) only when a UE buffer includes data to be transmitted to the base station.

19. The user equipment of claim 14 , wherein the first radio resource control message is an RRC Reconfiguration message.

20. The user equipment of claim 16 , wherein the second radio resource control message is another RRC Reconfiguration message.

21. A base station comprising:

at least one wireless transceiver;

a processor; and

computer-readable storage media comprising instructions, responsive to execution by the processor, for directing the base station to:

configure a first radio resource control message with a configuration to disable a skip uplink transmission function at a user equipment (UE) by not including, in the first radio resource control message, a specific field associated with configuring the skip uplink transmission function; and

transmit the first radio resource control message to the UE.

22. The base station of claim 21 , the instructions further executable to direct the base station to:

communicate with the UE in accordance with the configuration to disable the skip uplink transmission function.

23. The base station of claim 21 , the instructions further executable to direct the base station to:

configure a second radio resource control message that indicates to enable the skip uplink transmission function at the UE;

transmit the second radio resource control message to the UE; and

communicate with the UE in accordance with the configuration to enable the skip uplink transmission function.

24. The base station of claim 23 , wherein the instructions to communicate with the UE in accordance with the configuration to enable the skip uplink transmission function are executable to direct the base station to:

recognize that a skipped uplink transmission of a media access control protocol data unit to a hybrid automatic repeat request is in accordance with a set of conditions that direct the UE to refrain from generating or transmitting the media access control protocol data unit; and

refrain, in response to recognizing the skipped uplink transmission is in accordance with the configuration to enable the skip uplink transmission function, from transmitting a retransmission request to the user equipment.

25. The base station of claim 21 , wherein the first radio resource control message is an RRC Reconfiguration message.

26. The base station of claim 23 , wherein the second radio resource control message is another RRC Reconfiguration message.