Scheduling request and buffer status reporting in a mobile communication system
An invention relates to methods for transmitting a buffer status report (BSR) in a mobile communication system, more particularly to the definition of rules for triggering, generating and transmitting BSRs. The invention also relates to a data transmission method utilizing new rules to decide data of which radio bearers is transmitted within a given transmission time interval. Moreover, the invention relates to scheduling method for radio resources that is taking into account additional scheduling-relevant information from the buffer status reporting and/or data transmission method. To avoid unnecessary grants from the network and to suggest an advanced handling of data transmissions the invention suggests a buffer status reporting and data transmission schemes that take into account the scheduling mode of data of radio bearers pending for transmission to decide whether to report on it in a buffer status report, respectively, whether to multiplex the data to a transport block for transmission.
1. An integrated circuit configured to control a process of an entity of an Evolved Packet Core (EPC), wherein the process includes:
obtaining Quality of Service (QoS) information;
performing a System Architecture Evolution (SAE) bearer setup procedure to establish a SAE bearer between an entity of the EPC and a base station, the SAE bearer associated with a QoS profile derived from the QoS information; and
transmitting, from the entity to the base station via S1 interface signaling, the QoS profile of the SAE bearer;
wherein
the QoS profile indicative of a guaranteed bit rate of a Voice over IP (VoIP) service instructs the base station to map the SAE bearer on a logical channel for a semi-persistent scheduling mode;
the base station transmits physical downlink control channel signaling to a mobile terminal for activation of one of a plurality of scheduling modes, including a dynamic scheduling mode, in which radio resources are dynamically allocated by dynamic grants, and the semi-persistent scheduling mode, in which radio resources are allocated on a semi-persistent basis by semi-persistent scheduling grants;
when the semi-persistent scheduling is not activated, the base station receives from the mobile terminal a scheduling request for uplink resources for uplink transmission of a buffer status report; and
when the semi-persistent scheduling is activated, the mobile terminal checks a setup information element of the logical channel for the semi-persistent scheduling mode to determine whether to trigger a scheduling request or not, wherein:
when the mobile terminal determines to trigger a scheduling request, the base station receives the scheduling request for the logical channel, and
when the mobile terminal determines not to trigger a scheduling request, the base station does not receive the scheduling request.
2. The integrated circuit according to claim 1 , wherein
the base station receives, from the mobile terminal, the scheduling request for uplink resources for uplink transmission of the buffer status report, when i) the semi-persistent scheduling is not activated, ii) no uplink resources are allocated for a transmission time interval, and iii) the buffer status report has not been triggered.
3. The integrated circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the mobile terminal considers an activation status of the semi-persistent scheduling in determining whether to transmit the buffer status report.
4. The integrated circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the mobile terminal considers a scheduling mode status in determining which data of logical channels to report in the buffer status report.
5. The integrated circuit according to claim 4 , wherein the scheduling mode status is an activation of the semi-persistent scheduling or a deactivation of the semi-persistent scheduling.
6. An integrated circuit configured to control operation of an entity of Evolved Packet Core (EPC), comprising:
circuitry, which, in operation, obtains a Quality of Service (QoS) information, and performs a System Architecture Evolution (SAE) bearer setup procedure to establish a SAE bearer between the entity of the EPC and a base station, the SAE bearer associated with a QoS profile derived from the QoS information; and
transmission circuitry, which is coupled to the circuitry and which, in operation, transmits the QoS profile of the SAE bearer to the base station via S1 interface signaling;
wherein
the QoS profile indicative of a guaranteed bit rate of a Voice over IP (VoIP) service instructs the base station to map the SAE bearer on a logical channel for a semi-persistent scheduling mode;
the base station transmits physical downlink control channel signaling to a mobile terminal for activation of one of a plurality of scheduling modes, including a dynamic scheduling mode, in which radio resources are dynamically allocated by dynamic grants, and the semi-persistent scheduling mode, in which radio resources are allocated on a semi-persistent basis by semi-persistent scheduling grants;
when the semi-persistent scheduling is not activated, the base station receives from the mobile terminal a scheduling request for uplink resources for uplink transmission of a buffer status report; and
when the semi-persistent scheduling is activated, the mobile terminal checks a setup information element of the logical channel for the semi-persistent scheduling mode to determine whether to trigger a scheduling request or not, wherein:
when the mobile terminal determines to trigger a scheduling request, the base station receives the scheduling request for the logical channel, and
when the mobile terminal determines not to trigger a scheduling request, the base station does not receive the scheduling request.
7. The integrated circuit according to claim 6 , wherein
the base station receives, from the mobile terminal, the scheduling request for uplink resources for uplink transmission of the buffer status report, when i) the semi-persistent scheduling is not activated, ii) no uplink resources are allocated for a transmission time interval, and iii) the buffer status report has not been triggered.