Shared radio bearer and management of UE radio ID and ran path

1. An apparatus in a wireless communication network, comprising: a shared radio bearer layer 2 (L2) structure, the shared RB L2 structure being implemented at the wireless communication network and a plurality of user equipment devices (UEs), the shared RB L2 structure comprising:

a shared radio link control (RLC) sublayer comprising a shared RLC entity shared by the plurality of user equipment devices (UEs) at the network side and a corresponding RLC entity at each of the plurality of UEs; and

a shared packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) sublayer comprising a shared PDCP entity shared by the plurality of user equipment devices (UEs) or other wireless communication entities, the shared PDCP shared at the network side and a corresponding PDCP entity at each of the plurality of UEs or other wireless communication entities, and

wherein the shared RLC sublayer and the shared PDCP sublayer are implemented in one or more of: a user plane function of a core portion of the wireless communication network, a central unit (CU) of a generalized NodeB (gNB) in an access portion of the wireless communication network, a distributed unit (DU) of the gNB, and an access node in the access portion of the wireless communication network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the shared RLC sublayer and the shared PDCP sublayer are implemented in the CU of the gNB; or

the shared RLC sublayer and the shared PDCP sublayer are implemented in a user plane function in the core portion of the wireless communication network; or

the shared PDCP sublayer is implemented in the CU and the shared RLC sublayer is implemented in the DU or the access node; or

the shared PDCP sublayer is implemented in the core portion of the wireless communication network and the shared RLC sublayer is implemented in the DU or the access node.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the shared RLC entity is configured to perform RLC operations on packets being transmitted to or received from a plurality of UEs.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the shared PDCP entity is configured to perform PDCP operations on packets being transmitted to or received from a plurality of UEs.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the shared RB L2 structure is implemented for the plurality of UEs having one or more of: a same QoS level, belonging to a same network slice and belonging to a same UE group.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a MAC entity associated with the shared RB L2 structure is a shared MAC entity of the shared radio bearer, the shared MAC entity configured to manage medium access control operations for communicating data to and from the plurality of UEs.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the shared RB L2 structure is a signaling radio bearer, or wherein the shared radio bearer is a data radio bearer.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein wireless resources allocated for communication with the plurality of UEs, modulation and coding schemes allocated for communication with the plurality of UEs, or both, are fixed, the apparatus further configured to communicate said fixed allocations to the plurality of UEs.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein wireless resources allocated for communication with the plurality of UEs, modulation and coding schemes allocated for communication with the plurality of UEs, or both, are variable per transmission, the apparatus further configured to communicate said variable allocations to the plurality of UEs.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein access to wireless resources for communication by the plurality of UEs is contention-based.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein access to wireless resources for communication by the plurality of UEs is contention-free, the apparatus further configured to provide per-transmission resource assignment signals for use by the plurality of UEs in accessing the wireless resources.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the shared PDCP entity is configured to create a PDCP protocol data unit (PDU) including a PDCP header, the PDCP header including one or more of a UE identifier, a sequence number and a slice identifier.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the shared RLC entity is configured to create a RLC protocol data unit (PDU) including a RLC header, the RLC header including one or more of a UE identifier, a packet identifier, a segment identifier, a slice identifier and a description of a payload in the RLC PDU.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the RLC header includes a packet identifier, the packet identifier selected from a random identifier pool by the shared RLC entity.

15. A method for wireless downlink communication with a plurality of user equipment devices (UEs) using a wireless communication network, the method performed by an apparatus which supports a shared radio bearer implemented at the wireless communication network and the plurality of UEs, the apparatus including: a plurality of per-UE packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entities at the network side, a shared PDCP entity shared by the plurality of UEs at the network side and a corresponding PDCP entity at each of the plurality of UEs, a shared radio link control (RLC) entity shared by the plurality of UEs at the network side and a corresponding RLC entity at each of the plurality of UEs, and a shared medium access control (MAC) entity, the shared PDCP entity and the shared RLC entity shared by the plurality of UEs, the method comprising:

receiving, by the shared PDCP entity, downlink data from one of the plurality of per-UE PDCP entities, the downlink data for transmission to a corresponding UE;

applying, by the shared PDCP entity, a PDCP header to said downlink data to produce PDCP downlink output, the PDCP header having an identifier (R-ID) value indicative of the corresponding UE;

performing, by the shared RLC entity, one or more downlink RLC operations on the PDCP downlink output to produce RLC downlink output; and

wirelessly transmitting, by the shared MAC entity, the RLC downlink output for reception by the corresponding UE.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the shared radio bearer is implemented for the plurality of UEs having one or more of: a same QoS level, belonging to a same network slice and belonging to a same UE group.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the R-ID value assigned to a particular UE uniquely identifies the UE within one or more of a predetermined geographic area and a predetermined network slice.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the shared RLC entity is configured to assign an identifier to each PDCP protocol data unit (PDU) received.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the shared RLC entity is configured to assign a segment identifier to a PDCP PDU when segmentation of the PDCP PDU is required.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the shared PDCP entity is configured to perform PDCP operations relating to the R-I D.

21. The method of claim 15 , wherein each of the per-UE PDCP entities perform PDCP operations on a per UE basis.

22. A method for wireless uplink communication with a plurality of user equipment devices (UEs) using a wireless communication network, the method performed by an apparatus which supports a shared radio bearer implemented at the wireless communication network and the plurality of UEs, the apparatus including a plurality of per-UE packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entities at the network side, a shared PDCP entity shared by the plurality of UEs at the network side and a corresponding PDCP entity at each of the plurality of UEs, a shared radio link control (RLC) entity shared by the plurality of UEs at the network side and a corresponding RLC entity at each of the plurality of UEs, and a shared medium access control (MAC) entity, the shared PDCP entity and the shared RLC entity shared by the plurality of UEs, the method comprising:

wirelessly receiving, by the shared MAC entity, packet segments from the plurality of UEs, each packet segment including, in an RLC header thereof, a respective packet identifier indicative of a corresponding packet to which each packet segment belongs;

re-assembling, by the shared RLC entity, said packet segments into corresponding packets by collecting together packet segments having matching packet identifiers, the corresponding packets each having a PDCP header having an identifier (R-ID) value indicative of the corresponding UE;

associating, by the shared PDCP entity, each one of the corresponding packets with a corresponding originating one of the UEs based on the R-ID value; and

forwarding, by the shared PDCP entity, each one of the corresponding packets to a per-UE PDCP entity associated with the corresponding originating one of the one UEs associated with said one of the corresponding packets.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the R-ID value assigned to a particular UE uniquely identifies the UE within one or more of a predetermined geographic area and a predetermined network slice.

24. The method of claim 22 , one or more of the packet segments encapsulate a PDCP protocol data unit (PDU) or one or more of the packet segments encapsulate a segment of a PDCP PDU.

25. The method of claim 22 , during re-assembling said packet segments, the shared RLC entity, upon determination of a missing packet segment, triggers retransmission of the missing packet segment.