Patent Publication Number: US-2019190967-A1

Title: Data download via group collaboration

Description:
FIELD 
     The subject matter described herein relates to wireless systems. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Radio technologies, such as LTE-Advanced and the like, may seek to increase data rates. For example, LTE-Advanced aims to support peak data rates of 1 Gigabit per seconds or more in the downlink to a user equipment and 500 Megabits per seconds or more in the uplink to the network. To fulfill these increased rates, increased transmission bandwidths, such as a transmission bandwidth of up to 100 MHz or more for example, may be needed. However in practice, the availability of such a relatively large portion of contiguous radio frequency spectrum may be difficult to find. As such, radio technologies, such as LTE-Advanced and/or other radio access technologies, may use carrier aggregation of multiple Component Carriers (CCs) to achieve a high-bandwidth transmission. 
     In the case of LTE-Advanced, it may support aggregation of up to five CCs, each having a 20 Megahertz bandwidth. From the perspective of layers higher than the radio layer, each CC may appear as a separate cell with its own cell identifier. A user equipment, such as a smart phone, cell phone, and/or other type of wireless device, may be configured for carrier aggregation, and when configured for carrier aggregation, the user equipment may connect to a Primary Serving Cell (PCell) and one or more Secondary Serving Cells (“SCells”). 
     SUMMARY 
     Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for time aggregation. 
     In some example embodiments, there may be provided a method that includes sending, by a user equipment, a request for data to be provided by the network by at least aggregating over time a download of the requested data to a group including at least one other user equipment; receiving, by the user equipment, a first portion of the requested data from the network; and receiving, by the user equipment, at least a second portion of the requested data from the group including the at least one other user equipment, when the user equipment and the group are at a location enabling transfer from the group to the user equipment via a lower-power radio technology. 
     In some variations, one or more of the features disclosed herein including the following features can optionally be included in any feasible combination. The user equipment may include an application to generate the request. The user equipment may include an application configured to at least merge the first portion and the second portion to form the requested download. The group may be established to support a time aggregation download. The group may be selected via the user equipment and/or configured by the network. The request may include an indication that the download is to be provided by the network as a time aggregation download, wherein the time aggregation download is controlled by the network and causes the requested download to be sent as one or more portions over time to the group via a radio access network. The user equipment including an application may receive another portion of data including an identifier of another user equipment that is a member of the group, store, based on the identifier, the other portion of data, and initiate, by the application, a transfer of the other portion of the data to the other user equipment, when the user equipment and other user equipment are in proximity to enable a transfer via the lower-power radio technology transfer. The lower-power radio technology may include Bluetooth, WiFi, and/or WiFi Direct. The group may include the user equipment. 
     In some example embodiments, there may be provided a method that includes receiving, by a network node, a request for data to be provided to a target user equipment by at least aggregating over time a download of the requested data to a group including at least one other user equipment; causing, by the network node, a first portion of the requested data to be sent to the target user equipment; and causing, by the network node, at least a second portion of the requested data to be sent to the at least one other user equipment to enable the at least one other user equipment of the group to transfer the at least second portion to the target user equipment via a lower-power radio technology. 
     In some variations, one or more of the features disclosed herein including the following features can optionally be included in any feasible combination. There may be a determination, in response to the received request, whether the group including the at least one other user equipment has available capacity for the download on behalf of target user equipment. There may also be a selection, based on the determining, of the at least one other user equipment for receipt of the at least the at least second portion. The network node may select members of the group based on whether the members are in different cells. The network node may receive an indication of available storage at the group including the at least one other user equipment and enable, based on the determining, the at least second portion to be sent to the at least one other user equipment. The network node may include an application to add an identifier to the at least second portion to enable a corresponding application at the at least one other user equipment to determine whether the at least second portion should be transferred to the target user equipment. The group may be established to support a time aggregation download. The request may include an indication that the download is to be provided by the network as a time aggregation download, wherein the time aggregation download is controlled by the network and causes the requested download to be sent as one or more portions over time to the group via a radio access network. The lower-power radio technology may include Bluetooth, WiFi, and/or WiFi Direct. The group may include the target user equipment. 
     The above-noted aspects and features may be implemented in systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desired configuration. The details of one or more variations of the subject matter described herein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Features and advantages of the subject matter described herein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       In the drawings, 
         FIG. 1  depicts an example of a system for Time Aggregation, in accordance with some example embodiments; 
         FIG. 2  depicts an example of a proximity transfer to complete the data transfer, in accordance with some example embodiments; 
         FIG. 3  depicts examples of the core network node and user equipment configured to provide Time Aggregation, in accordance with some example embodiments; 
         FIG. 4  depicts examples of signaling diagrams for Time Aggregation, in accordance with some example embodiments; 
         FIG. 5  depicts another example of a signaling diagram for Time Aggregation, in accordance with some example embodiments; and 
         FIG. 6  depicts an example of an apparatus, in accordance with some example embodiments. 
     
    
    
     Like labels are used to refer to same or similar items in the drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     As noted above, carrier aggregation may be a way to achieve high data rates. To that end, the network may further require the PCell and SCell(s) to overlap. However in practice, it may be difficult for a cellular network in real-world conditions to meet, at any given instance in time, rigorous carrier aggregation conditions such as the PCell-SCell coverage overlap, available resources at the SCell(s), and/or the like. Further, these rigorous conditions may result in cells with unused resources, when the SCell fails to satisfy these rigorous carrier aggregation establishment conditions. 
     In some example embodiments, there may be provided Time Aggregation (TA), which may aggregate a transfer of data over time and over one or more UEs, such as a download group of UE. 
     In some example embodiments, a target UE configured for TA may be a member of a download group (also referred to as “download for me group”). When this is the case, the target UE may request a download from the network, and this download may be provided by the network via cells and base stations to download group member UEs, in accordance with some example embodiments. 
     In some example embodiments, the request from the target UE may request a download of data, and the network may determine whether the data download to the target UE can be satisfied (for example, available resources at the download group, download type is not immediate and thus amenable to TA, and/or the like) as a TA download via the download for me group. 
     In some example embodiments, the request from the UE may explicitly request a TA download to the download for me group. When this is the case, the network may check the availability of the TA download service and check whether the download for me group has available resources for the TA download on behalf of the target UE. 
     In some example embodiments, the network, such as the Evolved Packet Core or network node therein, may determine the capacity and load at each of the corresponding cells serving the download group member UEs. Based on this determination, the network may, in accordance with some example embodiments, determine when and/or how much of the requested download for the target UE should be apportioned to each of the UEs in the download group for the first UE. The network may download in Time Aggregation a portion of the requested download to each of the UEs in the download group, and this download may be via radio access networks (for example, E-UTRAN and/or the like) between the UEs and for example corresponding base stations and cells. To complete the Time Aggregation download, the group members may transfer their portion of the download to the target UE, so that the target UE has the entire requested download. In some example embodiments, this transfer by the download for me group members may occur when the download group members are in proximity to each other. For example, the download group members UEs may transfer their portion of the TA download when the group members are all within Bluetooth, WiFi, and/or WiFi Direct range of each other. Thus in Time Aggregation, the network may provide via the cellular radio access network the TA download as an aggregate sent over time to a plurality of UEs, which may be members of a download for me group expected to later be in proximity to each other to complete the transfer to the target UE via for example another radio technology such as Bluetooth, WiFi, WiFi Direct, and/or the like. 
     To illustrate further, the target UE may request or need a large amount of data to be downloaded, but the downloaded data may not be needed at the target UE immediately, i.e., the download data can be provided later over a longer timeframe. For example, this target UE may request a large download of data for a background service, such as a software update for an application at the target UE. In some example embodiments, this target UE may be a member of a group, such as a “download for me” group of UEs. Members of the group can be family members, company members, and/or any other type of group, and this group may include UEs, which will likely be at a location at which the group members can use another radio technology, such as WiFi, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth, and/or other shorter range (when compared to the cellular radio access network between the base station and UE) and/or lower power radio technology (when compared to the cellular radio access network between the base station and UE). To initiate the Time Aggregation data download to the target UE, the network, such as the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), may verify the availability of the remaining members of the group, and if the capacity and load conditions in the corresponding cells of the group members can be met, then the EPC may allocate resources for the download to the other UEs in the group. Later, when the group members are within the proximity of each other (enabling for example use of shorter range and/or lower power links, such as WiFi, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth, and/or the like), the group members may transfer the data to the target UE to complete the Time Aggregation transfer. 
       FIG. 1  depicts an example of a system  100 , in accordance with some example embodiments. 
     The system  100  may include one or more UEs  105 A-D (labeled UE#1 to UE#4), each of which may be served via a cell  107 A-D and a corresponding base station  110 A-D. Base stations  110 A-D may couple to a core network, such as an Evolved Packet Core (EPC)  120 . The base stations may be implemented as evolved Node B (eNB) type base stations, although other types of base stations under the control of a core network may be implemented as well. Moreover, the cells may be implemented as E-UTRAN cells, although other types of cells may be implemented as well. 
     The UEs  105 A-D may be configured to be part of a group for purposes of a Time Aggregation (TA) download, in accordance with some example embodiments. Suppose for example, the target UE  105 A (labeled UE#1) requests or needs a large amount of data to be downloaded. The target UE  105 A may request the large data download and/or request that the download should be performed as a TA download to the download group  105 A-D, in accordance with some example embodiments. 
     The EPC  120  may check whether the group member cells  107 A-D (which are used by group members UE  105 A-D) each have sufficient capacity and the current load enable carrying a portion of the data download requested by the target UE  105 A. If the capacity and load indicate that a cell can carry a portion of the data download for target UE  105 A, the EPC  120  may decide to use the available resources at a corresponding cell  107 A-D to download a portion of the data download intended for the target UE  105 A. Alternatively or additionally, the EPC may also check other conditions such as checking that cells  107 B-D are different from cell  105 A of the target UE  105 A. For example, in some example embodiments, the EPC may decide to use available resources at the corresponding cells  107 A-D when the cells are different from the first cell  107 A. Alternatively or additionally, the EPC may also as a condition before selecting a UE whether there is sufficient memory to store the download (for example, the EPC may query the UEs  105 A-D). 
     Because the EPC  120  can obtain or has information regarding the capacity and/or load at each cell, the EPC can determine whether a given cell can handle carrying a portion of the download for the target UE  105 A. Moreover, the EPC  120  can select the portion of data volume to each cell over time. In the example of  FIG. 1 , UE  105 A may be allocated, by the EPC  120 , a 40% portion of the big data download requested by UE  105 A; UE  105 B may be allocated, by the EPC  120 , a 30% portion of the big data download requested by UE  105 A; UE  105 C may be allocated, by the EPC  120 , a 10% portion of the big data download requested by UE  105 A; and UE  105 D may be allocated, by the EPC  120 , a 20% portion of the big data download requested by UE  105 A (although the allocation amounts in this example are merely examples so other amounts including zero may be used as well). 
     Moreover, the EPC  120  may select, based on the capacity and expected load at each cell, a time for each of the downloads. In the example of  FIG. 1 , the download to UE  105 A may occur at a first time (8:45 AM to 9 AM), the download to UE  105 B at a second time (10:15 AM to 10:30 AM), the download to UE  105 C at a third time (9:15 AM to 9:30 AM), and the download to UE  105 D at a fourth time (9:00 AM to 9:15 AM), although the times in this example are merely examples so other times may be used as well. Moreover, although the download times are different in the example of  FIG. 1 , some of the download times may be the same or overlap as well. Thus, the EPC selects a portion of data volume for transmission to each cell over time, so the data downloads do not need to occur at the same time frame. 
     After the data is downloaded to the group members via the corresponding cells and base stations, the UEs  105 A-D may be at a location at which the UEs  105 A-D can use another radio technology to complete the transfer to the target UE  105 A. This other radio technology may be a lower power and/or shorter-range radio technology, when compared to the E-UTRAN. Examples of the other radio technologies may include WiFi, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, and/or other lower power and/or shorter ranger radio technologies. To illustrate further, when UEs  105 A-D are at a common location, such as a home, office building, room, and/or the like and within WiFi or Bluetooth range, the UE  105 B may send the 30% portion to UE  105 A via a Bluetooth or WiFi Direct connection or link; UE  105 C may send the 10% portion to UE  105 A via a Bluetooth or WiFi Direct connection or link; and UE  105 D may send the 20% portion to UE  105 A via a Bluetooth or WiFi Direct connection or link. 
       FIG. 2  depicts UEs  105 A-D transferring the noted portion to UE  105 A via WiFi  235 , although other radio technologies may be used as well. In the example of  FIG. 2 , UE  105 B may send the 30% portion to UE  105 A via a WiFi Direct link; UE  105 C may send the 10% portion to UE  105 A via a WiFi Direct or link; and UE  105 D may send the 20% portion to UE  105 A via a WiFi Direct link.  FIG. 2  also illustrates that the transfer may take place at a later time (for example, later that day at 4:00-4:15 PM, although the transfer may occur at any other time as well). The UE group members  105 A-D may be covered by another cell or base station  210  as shown at  FIG. 2 , although one of the serving base stations depicted at  FIG. 1  may also cover the transfer. However, during the data transfer among UEs  105 A-D, the UEs do not need to be coupled to a serving base station as the transfer may use a radio technology different from the cellular radio access technology provided by the serving base station  210 . 
     In some example embodiments, the UEs  105 A-D may detect that they are in proximity of each other and may trigger the device-to-device transfers of data at  FIG. 2 . In some example embodiments, the network may detect that the UEs  105 A-D are in proximity of each other and may trigger the transfers at  FIG. 2  (for example, by sending a message to one or more of the UEs to start the transfer to the target UE  105 A). 
     Although  FIG. 2  shows all of the devices being within proximity of each other at the same time in order to trigger the transfer to the target UE  105 A, the transfer may be triggered whenever a group member is within the proximity of the target UE  105 A that is waiting for the TA download data. For example, UE  105 B may be in WiFi range of UE  105 A at 2 PM, in which case UE  105 B may trigger the data transfer to UE  105 A, while UEs  105 C-D transfer their data to UE  105 A later in the day when they are in range of UE  105 A. 
     Although  FIG. 1  depicts the TA download occurring for the network, such as EPC, of a single cellular operator, the TA may be provided over the networks/EPC of different cellular operators as well. 
     In some example embodiments, a service, such as an application, may be created at the network side and the UE side. For example, the network, such as the EPC  120 , may configure or create the download group for a UE. To illustrate further, the UE  105 A may request via a service or application that the network create a download for me group, such as the group comprising  105 A-D to enable the group members  105 B-D to download data on behalf of target UE  105 A. In some example embodiments, a given UE may be a member of more than one download group. Moreover, the download group members may all participate in the TA downloads using the other group members. For example, although some of the examples refer to target UE  105 A as the requesting TA download entity, the other UEs may also be target UEs participating in TA downloads as well. 
     When the target UE  105 A requests a download that can be handled via the download group (for example, a request for a relatively big amount of data, related to background services and/or any other type of download that can be satisfied over a relatively longer period of time), the network may check whether the UE  105 A belongs to a download group (also referred to herein as “download for me group”). If so, the network may also check, for each member of the download group associated with UE  105 A, the corresponding cell capacity and load (and/or as noted above whether the group members cells are different). In the case of each UE being in a different cell, the network may apportion a data volume assignment to each group member UE based on the determined capacity and load (for example, according to the available or free capacity in each cell the UEs are camping in). This apportionment may also include a schedule (or time, for example) when each group member UE should perform its download. In some example embodiments, the data that is downloaded may be data that is not time sensitive, such as background services, services that do not create a user interface, offline- movie downloads, offline- software downloads, and/or other non-time sensitive downloads. 
     When a UE becomes a member of a download group, the network may send to each UE group member the identity of each of the group members, and the identity may be sent to each UE via a message, such as a network access stratum (NAS) message (which may help ensure that the application or service knows the download group as well). The NAS message may also trigger activation of the service or application at the UE side. The identity of the UE may be implemented in a variety of ways including using a phone number, an IMSI, a subscriber number, an identifier indicating the UEs download for me group (or groups), and/or any other type of identifier identifying a UE. The activated service/application may then be responsible for handling, at the UE, TA including data transfer between the UEs via WiFi Direct, Bluetooth, and/or the like. 
     In some example embodiments, a UE in the download group may need to recognize whether data received from the network is for the UE or for another group member UE. To that end, the network may implement, in accordance with some example embodiments, a service or application, such as a TA application, to enable the TA downloads. For example, the network side TA application may form or control the download for me groups, may determine and/or allocate the resources for TA downloads (or portions thereof) to each of the download for me group member UEs, may queue or hold awaiting transmission to the download for me group member UEs, may initiate transmission of the TA downloads (or portions thereof) to the download for me group member UEs, and/or may track the progress of the TA downloads (for example, by receiving acknowledgments by the download for me group members). 
     The UE side TA application may read the identifiers in the data received by the EPC to determine whether the data is for that UE or for another UE that is waiting for its data as part of a TA download. This data for another UE may be placed in a bin, container, or queue for the other UE until the proximity transfer via WiFi, WiFi Direct, and/or Bluetooth can take place. For example, UE  105 B may have a service, such as a TA application, that receives the network provided TA data. The TA application may read an identifier associated with the received data, and place, based on the identifier, the data in a corresponding queue, container, or bin assigned to for example the target UE  105 A (which in this example is the UE waiting for the TA data). When UE  105 B and  105 A are in proximity to one another as described in the example of  FIG. 2 , the TA application at UE  105 B may transfer the data in the queue, container, or bin to UE  105 A in order to complete the transfer. In this example, at the S1 interface level, there is no differentiation regarding which data are for the UE  105 B or which data are for the other UEs from the download group. The differentiation occurs, however, at the TA application which can differentiate based on the identifiers on the data, which data is for the UE  105 B and which data is for another UE such as the target UE  105 A. The TA application may also ensure the data are transferred via WiFi Direct for example to the target UE  105 A, and the TA application at UE  105 A may also merge and/or rearrange data chunks received from each of the other UEs  105 B-D that are providing data as part of the TA download group. 
       FIG. 3  depicts an example of a system  300 , in accordance with some example embodiments.  FIG. 3  includes UEs  105 A-D, each of which may include a UE side service or application, such as TA applications  355 - 360 . The system  300  may also include a core network, such as EPC  120 . At EPC  120 , there may also be implemented a network side service, such as TA application  305 . 
     The TA application  305  may be configured to receive requests for downloads from a UE, configure the download for me group, determine whether a given UE download member can receive a portion of the download, trigger the TA data downloads to each of the download for me UE group members, and/or confirm that downloads are received at each of the UE group members and, after the transfer to a target UE such as target UE  105 A for example, that the transfer is complete. 
     The TA application  305  may also add identifiers to data received for each of the group member UEs. The identifiers may allow the TA applications at the UEs to determine whether a received packet is for the receiving UE or another UE in the download for me group. For example, TA application  305  may download data to UE  105 B via a queue or bin for that UE  105 B. Some of the data may be for UE  105 B but some of the data may be TA download data for a target UE such as target UE  105 A. As such, the TA application  305  may add identifiers to the data to identify the destination UE. In this example, when UE  105 B receives data, the TA application  355  may parse the received packets based on the identifiers added by TA application  305 . For example, TA application  355  may parse packets for UE  105 A into a queue, bin, or container  399 A for UE  105 A, while packets for UE  105 B may be kept for use at UE  105 B itself. As noted, when UE  105 A and UE  105 B are in WiFi or Bluetooth proximity of each other, the TA application  355  may trigger sending the data in bin  399 A to the target UE  105 A. If other TA applications  359 - 360  are also in proximity, these TA applications  355  may also trigger sending the data in their bins  399 B-C bin to the target UE such as target UE  105 A. The TA application  357  may merge (for example, arrange the data chunks in their proper order) the data chunks sent by each of the group members UE 105 B-D. The TA application  357  may also send acknowledgement messages to the UE group members UE  105  B-D to indicate a successful transfer of the TA download data. The TA application  357  may also send acknowledgement messages to EPC  120  to indicate a successful transfer of the TA download data. 
       FIG. 4  shows at  405 A-D each of the UEs  105 A-D initiating the setup of radio bearers, such as E-RABs, from the UEs  462  (for example, UEs  105 A-D), via their corresponding base stations  464 A-B (for example, base station  110 A-D) to the EPC  466  (for example, EPC  120 ), in accordance with some example embodiments. The E-RAB may uniquely identify the concatenation of an S1 Bearer (which is between a base station and a node in the EPC such as a mobility management entity or other anchor node) and the corresponding Data Radio Bearer (which is between a base station and the UE). 
     At  410 , the E-RAB from UE  105 B to a node in the EPC  120  may be established to enable the TA download (or portion thereof) to UE  105 B, in accordance with some example embodiments. At  420 , the EPC  120  may determine, based on the capacity and load associated with UE  105 B, an allocation or portion of the TA download to allocate to the UE  105 B on behalf of the target UE  105 A for example. The EPC  120  may determine, based on the capacity and load associated with UE  105 B, an allocation or portion of the TA download to allocate to the other group members as well. 
     At  430 , the UE  105 B may receive, via the established E-RAB, data for UE  105 B as well as data for other UEs which may be part of the download for me group. For example, UE  105 B may receive the 30% portion described above with respect to  FIG. 1  downloaded on behalf of the target UE  105 A as part of a TA download. 
     At  430 , the UE  105 B may also receive TA download data for other UEs in the group (or for other groups UE  105 B may be a member of). For example, UE  105 B may receive a portion of a TA download on behalf of another target UE  105 C or  105 D for example. When this is the case, UE  105 B may store, in a bin for example, the data for UE  105 C or  105 DA until a proximity-based transfer may occur over WiFi, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth, and/or the like can occur.  FIG. 4  also shows at  480 A-C UEs  105 A-D being in range, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, or WiFi Direct range, and then transferring the TA downloaded data to the target UE  105 A. 
     The data download to UE  105 B may include at least identifier  466 , which may be added by TA application  305 . The identifier, as noted, allows a corresponding TA application  355  at UE  105 B for example to parse whether the received downloaded data is for UE  105 B or another UE, such as the target UE  105 A or other UE download group member for example. 
     In some example embodiments, the EPC may determine whether the UEs are stationary or not to assess the possibility of the UE moving to another, highly loaded cell before the TA download. In some example embodiments, the EPC may allow download to the download for me group member UEs when the UEs are in cells having a low load (for example, a load below a predetermined threshold load). 
     In some example embodiments, the EPC may determine which download for me group members are allocated a portion of the TA download based on available storage at the UE. For example, TA application  360  may signal to the EPC  120  that it has no available memory, in which case EPC  120  may decide to not use UE  105 D as a download for me group member (at least until memory becomes available again. Alternatively or additionally, TA application  360  may signal to the EPC  120  that it has a certain amount of available memory, in which case EPC  120  may apportion so that it does not exceed the amount of available memory at UE  105 D. 
     In some example embodiments, if a download for me group member does not complete the TA data proximity transfer via WiFi or Bluetooth to the target UE as described above at for example  FIGS. 2 and 480 , the EPC may wait for a predetermined time and if the download for me group member fails to complete the transfer, the EPC may download the missing data portion via another download for me group member (including the target UE) to enable the proximity transfer. In some example embodiments, a target UE such as UE  105 A, may send a request (for example, after waiting a predetermined time for the portion of the TA download) to the EPC that a portion was not received or requires retransmission, so that the EPC can schedule the missing download to a download for me group member (including the target UE). In some example embodiments, the download for me group members may signal to each other or the EPC if a low power or battery condition exists. For example, if UE  105 C loses power and does not transfer its portion, the EPC  120  may retransmit the UE 105 C portion as noted above. 
       FIG. 5  depicts an example of a process  500  for TA, in accordance with some example embodiments. The process  500  depicts a target UE, such as UE  105 A including TA application  357 , the other UEs of the download group such as UEs  105 B-D including corresponding TA applications  355 ,  359 , and  360 , and the process further depicts the EPC  120 . 
     At  502 , the target UE  105 A including the TA application  357  may send a request to form a download group for purposes of TA downloads, in accordance with some example embodiments. The message sent at  502  may include a proposed list of group members, such as UEs  105 B-D, although the group may be proposed by the network as well. 
     At  504 , the EPC  102  may acknowledge the request sent at  502 , in accordance with some example embodiments. The acknowledgement may include the identity of the download group members. At  506 , the EPC may also send an indication to the group members, such as UEs  105 B-D indicating the identity of the other download group members, in accordance with some example embodiments. 
     At  508 , the target UE  105 A may send a message indicative of a request to download data, in accordance with some example embodiments. This message sent at  508  may explicitly indicate that the request is for a TA download. Alternatively or additionally, the message sent at  508  may generally request a data download, and the network such as EPC  120  may evaluate whether it is a good candidate for the TA download. 
     At  510 , the network such as EPC  120  may determine whether the download group members UEs  105 A-D have available capacity to download, on behalf of UE  105 A, the requested data download, in accordance with some example embodiments. The EPC  120  may also determine whether the cells serving the download group UEs  105 A-D are the same or different. In some example embodiments, the EPC  120  may allocate a portion of the download to each of the download group UEs  105 A-D that has available capacity to download the requested data. If however, a given UE does not have the capacity, the EPC may not allocate a portion of the download to that UE. Alternatively or additionally, the EPC may perform the portion allocation to the download group UEs  105 A-D that resides in different cells. For example, if UEs  105 C-D are camped on the same cell, the EPC may allocate a portion to UE  105 C but not UE  105 D (alternatively, the EPC may allocate smaller portions to each UE  105 C and D while keeping below the shared cells available capacity constraint). Alternatively or additionally, the EPC may select when the download should occur to each of the download group UEs  105 A-D (for example, the actual scheduling and resource allocation may be performed at the radio access network or base station level). 
     At  512 , the network such as EPC  120  may acknowledge the request sent at  508 , in accordance with some example embodiments. The acknowledgement may include an indication of the identity of the download group member UEs  105 A-D that have been allocated a portion of the requested TA download. For example, the acknowledgement may indicate the identity of the group members and what portions of the download they have been allocated. Alternatively or additionally, the acknowledgement may include the schedule, such as when the download will occur at each of the download group UEs  105 A-D. 
     At  514 , the network such as EPC  120  may send an indication to each of the other download group UEs  105 B-D indicating the identity of the download group UEs  105 A-D that have been allocated a portion of the requested TA download. Alternatively or additionally, the indication sent at  514  may include the schedule, such as when the download will occur at each of the download group UEs  105 A-D. 
     At  520 , the network such as EPC  120  may download a portion of the TA download to the other download group member UEs  105 B-D, in accordance with some example embodiments. In response, the other UEs  105 B-D may acknowledge successful download at  522 , in accordance with some example embodiments. At  524 , the network such as EPC  120  may download a portion of the TA download to the target UE  105 A, in accordance with some example embodiments. In response to a successful download, the target UE  105 A may send acknowledge(s) at  526 , in accordance with some example embodiments. 
     At  530 , the other UEs  105 B-D may be in the proximity of UE  105 A, and, as such, trigger the transfer from each of the other UEs  105 B-D to the target UE  105 A, in accordance with some example embodiments. For example, when the other UEs  105 B-D are in WiFi or Bluetooth range of UE  105 A, the TA applications at each of the UEs may initiate the transfer to the target UE  105 A via WiFi, Bluetooth, and/or other shorter range and/or lower power radio technology (when compared to the radio access technologies at the serving UTRAN cells). As noted above, the target UE  105 A including the TA application may re-arrange the data portions received from each of the UEs  105 B-D. At  532 , the target UE  105 A may send an acknowledgement when the TA download requested at  508  is successfully received, in accordance with some example embodiments. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus  10 , in accordance with some example embodiments. The apparatus  10  (or portions thereof) may be configured to provide a radio, such as user equipment (for example, user equipment  105 A-D). In some example embodiments, the apparatus may include a TA application or service to provide the TA download described here. Moreover, the apparatus  10  (or portions thereof) may be configured to provide a base station (for example, base station  110 A-D). The apparatus may be implemented as any device including a wireless device, a smart phone, a cell phone, a machine type communication device, a wireless sensor, a radio relay, an access point, and/or any other radio including a processor and memory based device. 
     The apparatus  10  may include at least one antenna  12  in communication with a transmitter  14  and a receiver  16 . Alternatively transmit and receive antennas may be separate. The apparatus  10  may also include a processor  20  configured to provide signals to and receive signals from the transmitter and receiver, respectively, and to control the functioning of the apparatus. Processor  20  may be configured to control the functioning of the transmitter and receiver by effecting control signaling via electrical leads to the transmitter and receiver. Likewise, processor  20  may be configured to control other elements of apparatus  10  by effecting control signaling via electrical leads connecting processor  20  to the other elements, such as a display or a memory. The processor  20  may, for example, be embodied in a variety of ways including circuitry, at least one processing core, one or more microprocessors with accompanying digital signal processor(s), one or more processor(s) without an accompanying digital signal processor, one or more coprocessors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more controllers, processing circuitry, one or more computers, various other processing elements including integrated circuits (for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or the like), or some combination thereof. Accordingly, although illustrated in  FIG. 6  as a single processor, in some example embodiments the processor  20  may comprise a plurality of processors or processing cores. 
     Signals sent and received by the processor  20  may include signaling information in accordance with an air interface standard of an applicable cellular system, and/or any number of different wireline or wireless networking techniques, comprising but not limited to Wi-Fi, wireless local access network (WLAN) techniques, such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, 802.16, and/or the like. In addition, these signals may include speech data, user generated data, user requested data, and/or the like. 
     The apparatus  10  may be capable of operating with one or more air interface standards, communication protocols, modulation types, access types, and/or the like. For example, the apparatus  10  and/or a cellular modem therein may be capable of operating in accordance with various first generation (1G) communication protocols, second generation (2G or 2.5G) communication protocols, third-generation (3G) communication protocols, fourth-generation generation (4G) communication protocols, Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) communication protocols (for example, session initiation protocol (SIP) and/or the like. For example, the apparatus  10  may be capable of operating in accordance with 2G wireless communication protocols IS-136, Time Division Multiple Access TDMA, Global System for Mobile communications, GSM, IS-95, Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA, and/or the like. In addition, for example, the apparatus  10  may be capable of operating in accordance with 2.5G wireless communication protocols General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), and/or the like. Further, for example, the apparatus  10  may be capable of operating in accordance with 3G wireless communication protocols, such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), and/or the like. The apparatus  10  may be additionally capable of operating in accordance with 3.9G wireless communication protocols, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), and/or the like. Additionally, for example, the apparatus  10  may be capable of operating in accordance with 4G wireless communication protocols, such as LTE Advanced, 5G, and/or the like as well as similar wireless communication protocols that may be subsequently developed. 
     It is understood that the processor  20  may include circuitry for implementing audio/video and logic functions of apparatus  10 . For example, the processor  20  may comprise a digital signal processor device, a microprocessor device, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter, and/or the like. Control and signal processing functions of the apparatus  10  may be allocated between these devices according to their respective capabilities. The processor  20  may additionally comprise an internal voice coder (VC)  20   a , an internal data modem (DM)  20   b , and/or the like. Further, the processor  20  may include functionality to operate one or more software programs, which may be stored in memory. In general, processor  20  and stored software instructions may be configured to cause apparatus  10  to perform actions. For example, processor  20  may be capable of operating a connectivity program, such as a web browser. The connectivity program may allow the apparatus  10  to transmit and receive web content, such as location-based content, according to a protocol, such as wireless application protocol, WAP, hypertext transfer protocol, HTTP, and/or the like. 
     Apparatus  10  may also comprise a user interface including, for example, an earphone or speaker  24 , a ringer  22 , a microphone  26 , a display  28 , a user input interface, and/or the like, which may be operationally coupled to the processor  20 . The display  28  may, as noted above, include a touch sensitive display, where a user may touch and/or gesture to make selections, enter values, and/or the like. The processor  20  may also include user interface circuitry configured to control at least some functions of one or more elements of the user interface, such as the speaker  24 , the ringer  22 , the microphone  26 , the display  28 , and/or the like. The processor  20  and/or user interface circuitry comprising the processor  20  may be configured to control one or more functions of one or more elements of the user interface through computer program instructions, for example, software and/or firmware, stored on a memory accessible to the processor  20 , for example, volatile memory  40 , non-volatile memory  42 , and/or the like. The apparatus  10  may include a battery for powering various circuits related to the mobile terminal, for example, a circuit to provide mechanical vibration as a detectable output. The user input interface may comprise devices allowing the apparatus  20  to receive data, such as a keypad  30  (which can be a virtual keyboard presented on display  28  or an externally coupled keyboard) and/or other input devices. 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , apparatus  10  may also include one or more mechanisms for sharing and/or obtaining data. For example, the apparatus  10  may include a short-range radio frequency (RF) transceiver and/or interrogator  64 , so data may be shared with and/or obtained from electronic devices in accordance with RF techniques. The apparatus  10  may include other short-range transceivers, such as an infrared (IR) transceiver  66 , a Bluetooth™ (BT) transceiver  68  operating using Bluetooth™ wireless technology, a wireless universal serial bus (USB) transceiver  70 , a Bluetooth™ Low Energy transceiver, a ZigBee transceiver, an ANT transceiver, a cellular device-to-device transceiver, a wireless local area link transceiver, and/or any other short-range radio technology. Apparatus  10  and, in particular, the short-range transceiver may be capable of transmitting data to and/or receiving data from electronic devices within the proximity of the apparatus, such as within 10 meters, for example. The apparatus  10  including the Wi-Fi or wireless local area networking modem may also be capable of transmitting and/or receiving data from electronic devices according to various wireless networking techniques, including 6LoWpan, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi low power, WLAN techniques such as IEEE 802.11 techniques, IEEE 802.15 techniques, IEEE 802.16 techniques, and/or the like. 
     The apparatus  10  may comprise memory, such as a subscriber identity module (SIM)  38 , a removable user identity module (R-UIM), an eUICC, an UICC, and/or the like, which may store information elements related to a mobile subscriber. In addition to the SIM, the apparatus  10  may include other removable and/or fixed memory. The apparatus  10  may include volatile memory  40  and/or non-volatile memory  42 . For example, volatile memory  40  may include Random Access Memory (RAM) including dynamic and/or static RAM, on-chip or off-chip cache memory, and/or the like. Non-volatile memory  42 , which may be embedded and/or removable, may include, for example, read-only memory, flash memory, magnetic storage devices, for example, hard disks, floppy disk drives, magnetic tape, optical disc drives and/or media, non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), and/or the like. Like volatile memory  40 , non-volatile memory  42  may include a cache area for temporary storage of data. At least part of the volatile and/or non-volatile memory may be embedded in processor  20 . The memories may store one or more software programs, instructions, pieces of information, data, and/or the like which may be used by the apparatus for performing operations disclosed herein with respect to a user equipment and/or a base station. The memories may comprise an identifier, such as an international mobile equipment identification (IMEI) code, capable of uniquely identifying apparatus  10 . The memories may comprise an identifier, such as an international mobile equipment identification (IMEI) code, capable of uniquely identifying apparatus  10 . In the example embodiment, the processor  20  may be configured using computer code stored at memory  40  and/or  42  to control and/or provide one or more aspects disclosed herein with respect to the user equipment and/or a base station (see, for example, process  500  and/or the like as disclosed herein). 
     Some of the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented in software, hardware, application logic, or a combination of software, hardware, and application logic. The software, application logic, and/or hardware may reside on memory  40 , the control apparatus  20 , or electronic components, for example. In some example embodiment, the application logic, software or an instruction set is maintained on any one of various conventional computer-readable media. In the context of this document, a “computer-readable medium” may be any non-transitory media that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer or data processor circuitry, with examples depicted at  FIG. 6 , computer-readable medium may comprise a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that may be any media that can contain or store the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer. 
     Without in any way limiting the scope, interpretation, or application of the claims appearing below, a technical effect of one or more of the example embodiments disclosed herein is enhanced resource utilization to support data transfers. 
     The subject matter described herein may be embodied in systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desired configuration. For example, the base stations and user equipment (or one or more components therein) and/or the processes described herein can be implemented using one or more of the following: a processor executing program code, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), an embedded processor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or combinations thereof. These various implementations may include implementation in one or more computer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which may be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device. These computer programs (also known as programs, software, software applications, applications, components, program code, or code) include machine instructions for a programmable processor, and may be implemented in a high-level procedural and/or object-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As used herein, the term “computer-readable medium” refers to any computer program product, machine-readable medium, computer-readable storage medium, apparatus and/or device (for example, magnetic discs, optical disks, memory, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machine instructions. Similarly, systems are also described herein that may include a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory may include one or more programs that cause the processor to perform one or more of the operations described herein. 
     Although a few variations have been described in detail above, other modifications or additions are possible. In particular, further features and/or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. Moreover, the implementations described above may be directed to various combinations and subcombinations of the disclosed features and/or combinations and subcombinations of several further features disclosed above. Other embodiments may be within the scope of the following claims. 
     If desired, the different functions discussed herein may be performed in a different order and/or concurrently with each other. Furthermore, if desired, one or more of the above-described functions may be optional or may be combined. Although various aspects of some of the embodiments are set out in the independent claims, other aspects of some of the embodiments comprise other combinations of features from the described embodiments and/or the dependent claims with the features of the independent claims, and not solely the combinations explicitly set out in the claims. It is also noted herein that while the above describes example embodiments, these descriptions should not be viewed in a limiting sense. Rather, there are several variations and modifications that may be made without departing from the scope of some of the embodiments as defined in the appended claims. Other embodiments may be within the scope of the following claims. The term “based on” includes “based on at least.” The use of the phase “such as” means “such as for example” unless otherwise indicated.