Patent ID: 11902826
Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A method for transmitting an ACK in response to receipt of a data packet in Radio Link Control (RLC) Acknowledge Mode (AM) mode operation in a 5G communication protocol stack, said method comprising:
receiving, by a first RLC entity from a receiving user equipment (UE) corresponding to the first RLC entity within operation in the 5G communication protocol stack: (i) an ACK to be sent to a transmitting UE in response to the receiving UE having received a data packet from the transmitting UE, (ii) a first RLC channel extracted by the receiving UE from a header of the data packet, and (iii) an identifier (ID) of the transmitting UE extracted by the receiving UE from the header of the data packet, said receiving RLC configured to send the ACK to the transmitting UE via the extracted first RLC channel;
said first RLC entity sending a first query to an Evolved Node B (eNodeB), said first query querying the enodeB as to whether the first RLC channel is congested, said first RLC channel operating in a RLC Acknowledge Mode (AM) mode within the 5G architecture, said receiving UE and said transmitting UE being communicatively coupled to the eNodeB;
after said sending the first query, said first RLC entity receiving a first communication from the eNodeB specifying that the first RLC channel is congested;
in response to said received first communication having specified that the first RLC channel is congested, said first RLC entity selecting from an AM mode RLC channel list stored at the receiving UE, a second, different RLC channel: (i) operating in the RLC AM mode, (ii) corresponding to the extracted ID of the transmitting UE, and (iii) specified as not being congested in a second communication received by the receiving RLC from the eNodeB in response to a second query sent by the second RLC to the eNodeB as to whether the second RLC channel is congested; and
said first RLC entity sending the ACK to the transmitting UE via the second RLC channel instead of via the first RLC channel.