Patent Description:
In some aspects, they relate to handling Frequency Domain (FD) data between a central control unit <NUM> and the radio unit <NUM> in a wireless communications network <NUM>.

In a typical wireless communication network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and/or User Equipments (UE), communicate via a Local Area Network such as a WiFi network or a Radio Access Network (RAN) to one or more core networks (CN). The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cell areas, with each service area or cell area being served by a radio network node such as a radio access node e.g., a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, a NodeB, eNodeB (eNB), or gNB as denoted in <NUM>. A service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over an air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless device within range of the radio network node.

Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS), also called a Fourth Generation (<NUM>) network, have been completed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and this work continues in the coming 3GPP releases, for example to specify a Fifth Generation (<NUM>) network also referred to as <NUM> New Radio (NR). The EPS comprises the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), also known as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access network, and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), also known as System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network. E-UTRAN/LTE is a variant of a 3GPP radio access network wherein the radio network nodes are directly connected to the EPC core network rather than to RNCs used in <NUM> networks. In general, in E-UTRAN/LTE the functions of a <NUM> RNC are distributed between the radio network nodes, e.g. eNodeBs in LTE, and the core network. As such, the RAN of an EPS has an essentially "flat" architecture comprising radio network nodes connected directly to one or more core networks, i.e. they are not connected to RNCs. To compensate for that, the E-UTRAN specification defines a direct interface between the radio network nodes, this interface being denoted the X2 interface.

Multi-antenna techniques can significantly increase the data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system. The performance is in particular improved if both the transmitter and the receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, which results in a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication channel. Such systems and/or related techniques are commonly referred to as MIMO.

In addition to faster peak Internet connection speeds, <NUM> planning aims at higher capacity than current <NUM>, allowing higher number of mobile broadband users per area unit, and allowing consumption of higher or unlimited data quantities in gigabyte per month and user. This would make it feasible for a large portion of the population to stream high-definition media many hours per day with their mobile devices, when out of reach of Wi-Fi hotspots. <NUM> research and development also aims at improved support of machine to machine communication, also known as the Internet of things, aiming at lower cost, lower battery consumption and lower latency than <NUM> equipment.

<CIT> (<NUM>-<NUM>-<NUM>) discusses a distributed radio frequency communication system designed for communication between a wireless terminal and a core network. The system includes a remote radio unit (RRU) linked to at least one antenna for communication with the wireless terminal, and a baseband unit (BBU) connected to the core network. A significant aspect of the system is the use of an adaptive fronthaul protocol, which adjusts to varying conditions of the fronthaul link and radio network by changing how data is communicated over the fronthaul link.

<NPL>, discusses PUSCH, PUCCH, and SRS designs for NR (<NUM>). This includes UL data channel including extension of PUSCH to support PRB-based frequency block-interlaced transmission; support of multiple PUSCH(s) starting positions in one or multiple slot(s) depending on the LBT outcome with the understanding that the ending position is indicated by the UL grant; design not requiring the UE to change a granted TBS for a PUSCH transmission depending on the LBT outcome. The necessary PUSCH enhancements based on CP-OFDM. Applicability of sub-PRB frequency block-interlaced transmission for <NUM> to be decided by RAN1. It further includes the design of the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) for NR in unlicensed spectrum. As for SRS, a structure is identified as a candidate standard enhancement.

<FIG> schematically illustrates a Centralized Radio Access Network (C-RAN) <NUM>. C-RAN is a cellular network architecture in which a central control unit <NUM> and one or more radio units <NUM> of a RBS, such as e.g. a gNB or eNB, are separated. The central control unit <NUM> is herein also referred to as a Baseband Unit (BBU) or Radio Equipment Controller (REC). The radio units <NUM> are herein also referred to as a Remote Radio Heads (RRH), Remote Radio Units (RRUs) or Radio Equipment's (RE). Each radio unit may comprise one or more antennas. A front-haul is a portion of the Centralized Radio Access Network (C-RAN) which acts as an intermediate link between the central control units <NUM> and the radio units <NUM> at the edge of the cellular network <NUM>. Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) is an industry cooperation which defines this interface between the central control unit <NUM> and the radio units <NUM>. The data traffic has traditionally been transported by streaming over the front-haul. To enhance the support for <NUM> front-haul the CPRI specification has been updated by the infrastructure vendors to the so-called ethernet CPRI (eCPRI). The new specification now support packet-based data transport over the front-haul, such as e.g. Ethernet.

A functionality split has been launched as a low layer split for massive digital beamforming based systems. Here eCPRI is used as a physical bearer of user plane data. With functionality split is herein meant a functionality split in an RBS with multi-antenna-element radio (e.g. greater or equal to <NUM> antenna elements) where the beamforming operation and OFDM symbol processing, such as downlink IFFT and uplink FFT, has been moved from the central control unit to the radio unit. In this lower layer split, the radio unit <NUM> performs a substantial data expansion and/or reduction implied by a massive digital beamforming operation, i.e. port expansion and port reduction in Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL) respectively. This greatly reduces the required front-haul bandwidth, since less data need to be transmitted over the front-haul.

Studies have been performed to extend eCPRI to regular "few-antenna-element" base stations, i.e. systems where no beamforming is performed in the radio unit <NUM>. This may be referred to as a C1 Frequency Domain (C1FD) split. With C1FD is herein meant a functionality split in an RBS with few-antenna-element radio, e.g. less than <NUM> antenna elements, where OFDM symbol processing, such as downlink IFFT and UL FFT, has been moved from the central control unit to the radio unit.

The radio unit <NUM> will then in the DL direction receive packetized frequency domain I/Q data on a per antenna basis. With I/Q data is herein meant the representation of the sine wave data in Cartesian coordinates having an imaginary Q-axis and a Real I-axis. With per antenna basis is herein meant that the data representing the I/Q samples to be sent on an antenna is sent over the front haul separated from data representing other antennas. The radio unit <NUM> will then reconstruct a frequency domain antenna buffer, perform the Orthogonal Frequency-Division (OFDM) Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) on a symbol-by-symbol basis, perform a cyclic prefix addition, and then pass the data over a time domain streaming I/Q interface to a Digital Front End (DFE) of the radio unit <NUM>. The DFE is the unit in the radio that performs DL and UL channel filtering and carrier translation to and/or from the correct frequency position in the radio band.

In the UL direction, the reverse processing chain is applied. First, cyclic prefix removal is performed. The time domain streaming I/Q data from the DFE is then Fast Fourier Transformed (FFT:d) on a symbol-by-symbol and antenna-by-antenna basis and temporarily stored in frequency domain antenna buffers. Over the front-haul, the radio unit <NUM> will then send only the UL Resource Blocks (RBs) that have been requested by the central control unit <NUM>.

It should be noted that in the DL direction, only the RB chunks with DL physical channel or physical signal content needs to be sent to the radio unit <NUM> as long as the radio unit <NUM> has a capability to reconstruct the full carrier spectrum from the received chunks before performing the symbol IFFT. With RB chunks is herein meant an integer number of consecutive resource blocks each with one or more non-zero resource elements.

In all systems where only the RBs having actual content are transferred between the central control unit <NUM> and the radio unit <NUM>, the required front-haul Bandwidth (BW) for a given sector carrier will vary with the air interface load, for DL and UL respectively. With sector is herein meant a geographical area served by a radio unit <NUM>. With sector carrier is thus herein meant the radio carrier for the specific sector.

In a switched front-haul, the central control unit <NUM> is connected to many different radio units <NUM> through a switching device <NUM>, e.g. a switch. The switches <NUM> then become aggregation points to the same central control <NUM> unit for many radio units <NUM>. Thus, with a switched front-haul statistical multiplexing effects can be obtained. These effects reduce the total amount of front-haul BW which is required between the central control unit <NUM> and the switch <NUM> compared to the total aggregated BW in the network <NUM> between the front-haul switch <NUM> and the radio units <NUM>. Each front-haul link between a switch <NUM> and a radio unit <NUM> needs to be dimensioned to handle the BW required for the peak rate of UL and DL transmissions.

The statistical multiplexing effects are here referred to as trunking. It is worth mentioning that trunking gains may be achieved even closer to the radio unit <NUM> if an antenna site switch is introduced into the network <NUM>.

In both LTE and NR systems, access latency improvements are continuously being addressed. One critical area of improvement is to reduce the waiting time for UL packet transmissions. This pertains to both UL user data and UL flow control information such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Acknowledgment (ACK) information. Instant uplink Access (IUA) is a proposed solution to this problem where a given uplink transmission may take place without a prior dedicated request-grant phase which otherwise is the normal UL shared channel utilization procedure.

Pre-scheduling and grant-free transmissions are techniques discussed in order to achieve IUA. Both methods imply speculative UL scheduling in order to remove the waiting time induced by the Scheduling Request (SR) procedure. By speculative UL scheduling is herein meant a pre-emptive scheduling of UL resources prior to the UE actually having data to transmit in the UL, i.e. in anticipation of having data to transmit.

The eNB or gNB data detection of a PUSCH transmission may be improved by UL Coordinated Multi-Point reception (UL CoMP) of the signal. In UL CoMP, the energy of the UE's PUSCH transmission is captured in multiple sectors and is combined in the receiver. <FIG> schematically illustrates UL CoMP. In <FIG> a UE <NUM> is shown. A PUSCH transmission from the UE <NUM> is received in three sectors: A primary sector <NUM> in a primary antenna site <NUM>, a secondary sector <NUM> in the primary antenna site <NUM>, and a secondary sector <NUM> in a secondary antenna site <NUM>. With primary sector is herein meant the sector of the cell to which the UE has attached using e.g. a random access procedure. With secondary sector is herein meant a sector to which the RBS, from previous UE transmissions, has detected useful energy. The transmission path for the primary sector <NUM> is shown in a solid line and the transmission paths for the secondary sectors <NUM>, <NUM> are shown in dashed lines. If all the data, e.g. I/Q data, representing the PUSCH resource blocks (RBs) for these three sectors <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is made available at the central control unit <NUM>, the PUSCH signal-to-noise ratio of the UE <NUM> can be maximized by multi-sector combining which is beneficial for the decoding of user data.

For an eCPRI based front-haul, only the OFDM symbols and resource blocks which have been requested by the central control unit will be sent to the central control unit. If the front-haul of the system is dimensioned with the assumption that trunking gains are always available due to there always being cells with low load, then not all available symbols and RBs from all cells can be made available to the central control unit. If an air interface scheduler, at low load, employs IUA techniques to speculatively schedule UEs for PUSCH transmissions it implies that the central control unit will request data from all the speculatively scheduled UEs. The implied aggregated UL front-haul data can then exceed the amount of data which the front-haul has been dimensioned to handle.

In addition, if all PUSCH transmissions request CoMP data from all relevant CoMP sectors, the amount of data that needs to be transmitted to the eNb and/or gNb, such as e.g. to the central control unit <NUM>, becomes even larger. Thus, the front-haul may in worst case scenarios be overloaded with the result that FD data for RBs on OFDM symbols for primary sectors may not be sent across the fronthaul which reduces the quality of service of the network.

The scope of the present invention is defined in the appended independent claims. Specific embodiments of the present invention are defined in the dependent claims.

An object of the present invention is to improve the performance in a wireless communications network using IUA and switched front-haul.

As part of developing embodiments herein the inventors have identified a problem. When using pre-emptive scheduling in IUA in a network, since the scheduling is speculative, most of the time the UE will not have any data to transmit in the UL. The implication of this is then that many scheduled transmissions will not take place. This introduces the possibility of overbooking the UL air interface at low load. That is to say that more Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmissions from different UEs than can be received with good signal quality are scheduled on the air interface. However, as has been explained, from a statistical point of view most of these transmissions will not be performed. Therefore, the scheduled UE transmissions that are actually transmitted can be received anyway in spite of the interface being overbooked. Thus most of the PUSCH receivers in the central control unit <NUM> configured to receive the UE data will detect Discontinuous transmission (DTX), i.e. that there is no or at least not enough signal energy to receive the PUSCH transport block. The front-haul may also be limiting if dimensioned for an average cell load less than the amount of spectrum speculatively scheduled by the air interface scheduler for IUA, e.g. in the case that that UEs are scheduled on different RBs, i.e. only frequency domain multiplexing of UEs.

According to a first aspect, defined in claim <NUM>, the object is achieved by a method performed by radio unit for handling Frequency Domain, FD, data representing one or more User Equipments, UEs, to a central control unit associated with the radio unit in a wireless communications network. The communications network comprises a switched fronthaul.

The radio unit detects an uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs. The radio unit then decides whether the detected uplink transmission energy from the respective one or more UEs is above or below a first threshold. When it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs is above the first threshold, the radio unit sends the FD data representing those respective one or more UEs to the central control unit. When it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs is below the first threshold, the radio unit sends a message to the central control unit. The message indicates that no FD data will be sent representing those respective one or more UEs. Furthermore, the radio unit also refrains from sending the FD data representing those respective one or more UEs to the central control unit.

According to a second aspect, defined in independent claim <NUM>, the object is achieved by a radio unit for handling Frequency Domain, FD, data representing one or more User Equipments, UEs, to a central control unit associated with the radio unit in a wireless communications network. The communications network is adapted to a switched fronthaul. The radio unit is configured to:.

Since FD data is only sent representing those UEs whose transmission energy is detected to be above the first threshold, the UL front-haul will not be loaded by data for transmissions that will not occur as a result of the UEs not having any data to transmit in the UL. This in turn results in an improved performance in the wireless communications network using IUA and switched front-haul.

<FIG> is a schematic overview depicting a wireless communications network <NUM> wherein embodiments herein may be implemented. The radio communications network <NUM> comprises one or more RANs and one or more CNs (not shown). The radio communications network <NUM> may use a number of different technologies, such as NB-loT, CAT-M, Wi-Fi, eMTC, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, <NUM>, New Radio (NR), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Global System for Mobile communications/enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution (GSM/EDGE), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), just to mention a few possible implementations.

The wireless communications network <NUM> may comprise a central control unit <NUM>. The central control unit <NUM> may e.g. be a base station, such as e.g. a radio base station such as a NodeB, an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B) or a gNB. The central control unit <NUM> may herein also be referred to as baseband unit or radio equipment controller. The central control unit <NUM> may be connected to several antenna sites <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, e.g. through a front-haul switch <NUM>. Thus, the front-haul to and from all antenna sites <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may be connected to a switch <NUM> which in turn is connected to the central control unit <NUM>, e.g. the baseband boards of the central control unit.

Each antenna site <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may comprise at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The Radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> operate in the radio communications network <NUM> providing radio coverage in a specific three-dimensional space, also referred to herein as a geographical area, a service area and a sector <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, using a radio access technology (RAT), such as <NUM>, LTE, Wi-Fi, NB-IoT, CAT-M, Wi-Fi, eMTC or similar. The front-haul to and from each radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> in the antenna site <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may be aggregated in an antenna site switch. The radio unit may also be a communication unit, such as e.g. a CPRI-to-eCPRI conversion box, without radio but being associated to radio by being connectable to one or more radio units via CPRI. The conversion box may then terminates the IQ data to and/or from Digital Frontend (DFE) functions of the radio units and performs the part of the baseband processing that herein is allocated to the radio unit.

In the wireless communication network <NUM>, wireless devices e.g. one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> operate.

The UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may each e.g. be a mobile station, a non-access point (non-AP) STA, a STA, a user equipment and/or a wireless terminals, an NB-loT device, an eMTC device and a CAT-M device, a WiFi device, an LTE device and an NR device communicate via one or more Access Networks (AN), e.g. RAN, to one or more core networks (CN). It should be understood by the skilled in the art that "wireless device" is a non-limiting term which means any terminal, wireless communication terminal, user equipment, Device to Device (D2D) terminal, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a small base station communicating within a cell.

FD data when used herein means the representation of the I/Q data of an OFDM symbol in the frequency domain, i.e. after cyclic prefix removal and FFT, using one complex valued number per resource element. Due to the nature of the uplink radio channel the FD data is a superposition of all transmitting UEs' data, other-cell interference and receiver noise.

The FD data is in some embodiments herein requested by the central control unit <NUM>, this is since the actual PUSCH demodulator and decoder may be located in the central control unit <NUM>. Each such demodulator needs a particular set of resource blocks of FD data.

In order to avoid transmitting data for scheduled transmissions which contain very low energy when IUA functions and switched eCPRI front-haul is deployed in a network <NUM>, the radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may be equipped with hardware and software having the capability of detecting the transmission energy from the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> served by the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. If the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> detects that the uplink energy of one or more of the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above a first threshold, the FD data will be transmitted from the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM>. If the detected energy is instead below the first threshold, then the FD data is not sent representing the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. Instead a message indicating that no FD data will be sent is transmitted to the central control unit <NUM>. In this way, data transmitted from the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> having low energy is not transmitted from the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> and thereby the load on the front-haul is reduced.

<FIG> schematically illustrates an aggressive IUA strategy where an example embodiment of the method described above is used. Aggressive when used herein means that a very high proportion of the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are scheduled for UL transmission In <FIG> all of the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are scheduled for UL transmission. All of the connected and active UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> in all sectors <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are given an UL transmission grant during a slot. These grants are represented by the dashed and solid lines. However only some of the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> utilize the grant, these are represented by the solid lines. The other UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, which are represented by the dashed lines, do not utilize the grant. The UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> utilizing the grant will be detected to transmit UL energy above the first threshold, and will be transmitted by the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM>. Thus, only this subset of the RBs will be sent back to the central control unit <NUM> across the pooled front-haul.

Example embodiments of a method, acording to claim <NUM>, performed in the radio unit <NUM> for handling FD data representing the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM> associated with the radio unit <NUM> in the wireless communications network <NUM> will now be described with reference to a flowchart depicted in <FIG>. The communications network <NUM> comprises a switched front-haul and in some embodiments IUA, which may in some embodiments be referred to as the communications network <NUM> uses IUA and switched front-haul.

The method comprises the following actions, which actions may be performed in any suitable order. Dashed boxes represent optional method steps.

As an optional action, the radio unit <NUM> may be configured to perform the steps of detecting the transmission energy by receiving instructions from the central control unit <NUM>.

Thus, the radio unit <NUM> may receive a configuration from the central control unit <NUM>. The configuration may be for configuring the radio unit <NUM> to, when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above a first threshold, send FD data to the central control unit <NUM> representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. With the FD data representing the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may herein also be meant that the origin of the data is that one or more UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The configuration may further be for configuring the radio unit <NUM> to send a message to the central control unit <NUM>, which message indicates that no FD data will be sent representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM> and refrain from sending the FD data representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM> when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is below the first threshold.

The central control unit <NUM> may request FD data from the radio unit <NUM> in order to perform demodulation and decoding of the data transmitted by individual UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. Thus, the radio unit <NUM> may receive, from the central control unit <NUM>, a request for FD data representing the respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>.

In order to decide whether the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> actually had data to transmit in the UL the radio unit <NUM> will determine the amount of energy each of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are transmitting. The radio unit <NUM> is therefore monitoring the energy of the incoming transmissions from the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>.

Thus, the radio unit <NUM> detects an uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>.

The uplink transmission from the respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may e.g. be a PUSCH transmission.

Having detected the uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> the radio unit <NUM> will decide, e.g. judge, whether the detected amount of energy is great enough to warrant a transmission to the central control unit <NUM>.

Thus, the radio unit <NUM> decides whether the detected uplink transmission energy from the respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above or below a first threshold. This may be performed by comparing the detected transmission energy to the first threshold. The radio unit <NUM> will then act differently depending on the outcome of the decision.

The first threshold may e.g. be a Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) threshold which is the received UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> signal energy level below which, when compared to the interference and noise energy level, the signal energy is too low to positively contribute to the demodulation and decoding of the data. The DTX threshold may be set differently depending on which modulation and rate matching has been used in the transmission. The threshold may also be set at an energy level below which the estimated received signal energy is so low that the transmission can be considered to not have occurred.

If the detected energy is above the threshold, the data such as e.g. FD data should be transmitted to the central control unit <NUM>, since when the transmission energy is detected to be above the threshold this is interpreted as the UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is actually transmitting data. Note that the FD data may represent a specific UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> as discussed above.

Thus, when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above the first threshold, the radio unit <NUM> sends the FD data representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM>. As an example, if the radio unit <NUM> detects UL transmission energy from UE <NUM> above the first threshold, the FD data representing UE <NUM> is sent to the central control unit <NUM>.

The one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may according to some embodiments be scheduled on the same set of RBs. In that case, when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above the first threshold, the radio unit <NUM> sends the FD data to the central control unit <NUM>. Thus, as long as one of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> scheduled on the same set of RBs, is detected to be transmitting at an energy which is above the first threshold, then the FD data is sent to the control unit <NUM>.

If the detected energy is below the threshold, the data such as e.g. the FD data should not be transmitted to the central control unit <NUM>, since in this case it indicates that the UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> did not have any data to send. Instead a message indicating that the data will not be transmitted should be transmitted to the central control unit <NUM>.

Thus, when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is below the first threshold, the radio unit <NUM> sends a message to the central control unit <NUM>. The message indicates that no FD data will be sent representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. Furthermore, the radio unit <NUM> refrains from sending the FD data representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM>.

Example embodiments of a method, not claimed but presented here in order to understand the method of claim <NUM>, performed in the central control unit <NUM> for handling FD data representing the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM> in the wireless communications network <NUM> will now be described with reference to a flowchart depicted in <FIG>. The communications network <NUM> comprises a switched front-haul and in some embodiments IUA. The central control unit <NUM> is associated with at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> and communicated with the at least one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> via the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>.

The central control unit <NUM> sends to the respective at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> a configuration for configuring the respective at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The configuration configures the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to, when it is decided that a detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above a first threshold, send the FD data representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM>. Furthermore, the configuration configures the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to, when it is decided that a detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is below the first threshold, send a message to the central control unit <NUM>. The message indicates that no FD data will be sent representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM>. In addition, in this case the configuration configures the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to refrain from sending the FD data representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM>.

Thus, the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> will be configured accordingly. Thereby, when any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> does have actual data to send, the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is configured to send the corresponding FD data to the central control unit <NUM>. Furthermore, when the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> does not have any FD data to send, the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is instead configured to send a message indicating that no FD data will be sent. Thus, even if the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are all pre-emptively scheduled for UL transmission the risk of overloading the network <NUM> is reduced considerably.

The one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may according to some embodiments be scheduled on the same set of RBs. Then, the configuration configures the radio unit <NUM> to, when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above the first threshold, send the FD data to the central control unit <NUM>.

Thus, when the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are scheduled on the same RB, it will be enough that one of the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are transmitting at an UL energy level above the first threshold for the radio unit <NUM> to send the corresponding FD data to the central control unit <NUM>.

The communications network <NUM> may according to some embodiments utilize CoMP and the at least on radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> comprises a plurality of radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. A primary radio unit <NUM> out of the plurality of radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> then serves a primary sector <NUM> for the central control unit <NUM>. Secondary and primary sectors may be from the view of the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, i.e. one sector may be primary sector for one UE and secondary sector for another UE. One or more secondary radio units <NUM> out of the plurality of radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> then serves one or more secondary sectors <NUM>, <NUM> for the central control unit <NUM>. The central control unit <NUM> sending to the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> a configuration for configuring the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> then comprises to send to the primary radio unit <NUM> and the one or more secondary radio units <NUM> a respective configuration for configuring the primary radio unit <NUM> and the one or more secondary radio units <NUM>. The configuration then configures the primary and secondary radio units <NUM>, <NUM> to send FD data to the central control unit <NUM> when it is decided that a detected uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above a respective threshold associated with the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The configuration further configures the primary and secondary radio units <NUM>, <NUM> to send a message to the central control unit <NUM>, which message indicates that no FD data will be sent to the central control unit <NUM> and refrain from sending the FD data to the central control unit <NUM>, when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is below the respective threshold. In this way, several different radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may transmit the FD data to the central control unit <NUM> which improves the probability that the signal will be received. At the same time, only data transmitted representing UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> with a sufficient energy will be transmitted to the central control unit <NUM>, thereby reducing the load on the front-haul. Thus, In this case of UL CoMP, the UL front-haul may only be loaded with I/Q data from secondary sectors which have enough transmission energy. With the radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> serving a primary and/or secondary sector is herein meant that the radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may receive data from UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> transmitting within the respective primary and/or secondary sector. The sectors may thus be considered a property of the UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> in the sense that the UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is transmitting in a certain sector.

According to some of these embodiments, the configuration for configuring the radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> further comprises to configure the secondary radio units <NUM> to send FD data with a lower packet priority than the primary radio unit <NUM>. This is an advantage because the primary sector FD data is more important than the FD data from the secondary sectors, and assigning higher priority to a packet reduces the probability that it is dropped in the switches of the fronthaul. One reason to prioritize packets from primary sectors is that the signal-to-interference ratio is generally higher in the primary sector than in the secondary sectors.

The central control unit <NUM> may according to some embodiments send a request for FD data representing the respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> in order to perform demodulation and decoding of the data transmitted by individual UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>.

When the communications network <NUM> utilizes CoMP as described above, the central control unit <NUM> may send a request for FD data representing the respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the respective primary radio unit <NUM> and the one or more secondary radio units <NUM>.

Thus, since both the primary radio unit <NUM> and the one or more secondary radio units <NUM> have received a request for FD data representing the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> the probability that a transmission signal from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is detected is increased e.g. when the FD data contributions from the different sectors are jointly processed in the receiver on the central control unit <NUM>, resulting in a better signal-to-noise ratio.

When the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is configured appropriately, it will send uplink data to the central control unit <NUM> when the energy criteria is fulfilled.

Thus, the central control unit <NUM> receives the FD data representing the respective at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, when the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> detects that the uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above the first threshold.

When the communications network <NUM> utilizes CoMP as described under action <NUM> above, the central control unit <NUM> may receive the FD data representing the respective any one or more out of the primary radio unit <NUM> and the at least one secondary radio unit <NUM> when any one or more out of the primary radio unit <NUM> and the at least one secondary radio unit <NUM> detects that the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> have an uplink transmission energy above the first threshold.

In the same manner as for action <NUM> above, the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> will not send FD data to the control unit <NUM> when the energy criteria is not fulfilled. Instead a message is sent indicating that no FD data will be received.

Thus, the central control unit <NUM> receives a message from the respective at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, which message indicates that no FD data will be sent to the central control unit <NUM>, when the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> detects that the uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is below the first threshold.

When the communications network <NUM> utilizes CoMP as described under action <NUM> above, and when any one or more out of the primary radio unit <NUM> and the at least one secondary radio unit <NUM> detects that the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> have an uplink transmission energy below the first threshold the central control unit <NUM> may receive a message from the respective any one or more out of the primary radio unit <NUM> and the at least one secondary radio unit <NUM>, which message indicates that no FD data will be sent to the central control unit <NUM>.

UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> being scheduled in spite of having actual data to transmit will become more common when IUA is enabled in low loaded cells. This is because the transmission scheduler will grant the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> connected to radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> pre-emptively, also referred to as speculatively, in order to reduce the UL access latency. Thus, the advantage of following the method above will become even more pronounced in such cases.

Further advantages of embodiments herein comprises at least:
If the front-haul is switched, implying that many radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are pooled over a switched front-haul network <NUM>, the load reduction may be used for dimensioning the aggregated capacity of the network <NUM> at a lower capacity by accounting for statistical multiplexing effects. The UL transmissions can at the same time be scheduled across the full air interface BW available in the system. Thus, infrastructure savings may be accomplished while at the same time achieving low connection latency and high network performance.

The methods described above will now be further explained and exemplified.

<FIG> shows a block diagram illustrating how all scheduled uplink transmissions, e.g. PUSCH transmission, for a given slot, are matched with an energy detector in the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. As has been described above, only transmission from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> having an uplink transmission energy above the first threshold is transmitted over the eCPRI to the central control unit <NUM>. Thus, in a special case of the transmission being a PUSCH transmission, if the detected energy is above the first threshold, the particular RBs that the PUSCH is scheduled on are transmitted over the eCPRI for all symbols and antennas of that slot and carrier respectively.

The energy detection may be based on one or more of several techniques, e.g.:.

In <FIG> the basic PUSCH energy based eCPRI transmission scheme is shown. The radio signal received by the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may be fed from antennas and RF components of the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> via the digital frontend to the baseband processor located at the central control unit <NUM>. The signal from each of the antenna elements is transformed using a FFT on a per-OFDM-symbol basis and stored in a FD symbol buffer. As described above, the UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> energy detection functionality may have been configured in advance, e.g. via subscription or control signaling. For each UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, the FD data is processed by an energy detector specific for a UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, i.e. an energy detector dedicated to a specific UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> being served by the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The UE-relevant symbol data is sent on eCPRI for all UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> detected to transmit with an uplink transmission energy above the first threshold. For the UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> transmitting with too low energy, a message indicating that no FD data will be sent representing the respective UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is transmitted instead. The message may e.g. be a DTX signal.

<FIG> shows a block diagram showing an embodiment where the per-antenna FD data is transformed into per-direction FD data by use of a spatial transform carried out on a sub-carrier by sub-carrier basis. The transform could e.g. be a spatial DFT. Normally the transform will focus the PUSCH energy into a subset of the direction beams. The subsequent energy detector, now working per direction, can identify which beams, if any, have an energy above the threshold for a given PUSCH transmission. This information is then used by the beam selector to decide which direction beam subset that should be sent to the PUSCH receiver in the central control unit <NUM>.

Thus, here the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may be an Advanced Antenna System (AAS) capable of performing a transformation of the detected transmission from an antenna space to a beam space. The at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may then determine one or more beams corresponding to detected uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. Thereafter the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may decide whether the detected uplink transmission energy of any one or more of the one or more beams is above or below the first threshold. Finally, the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may send only FD data to the central control unit <NUM> representing the one or more beams for which the detected uplink transmission energy is above the first threshold.

<FIG> shows a block diagram illustrating an embodiment where the network <NUM> uses UL CoMP and packet-based front-haul. The RECs correspond to central control units <NUM> and the REs correspond to radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. REC <NUM> represents the main client for RE <NUM>, i.e. the central control unit <NUM> which uses the radio unit <NUM> as main radio unit <NUM>. Thus, REC <NUM> may request PUSCH data from RE <NUM>. REC <NUM> has one of its primary sectors serviced by RE <NUM> and may thus request PUSCH data from RE <NUM>. One or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> serviced by REC <NUM> has a secondary UL CoMP sector realized by RE <NUM>. Thus, here the PUSCH receiver in REC <NUM> may request data from both RE <NUM> as its primary radio unit, and RE <NUM> as its secondary radio unit. RE <NUM> then sets up an energy detector for the CoMP UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and will attempt to send data to REC <NUM> if the energy detector detects transmission energy from the UE <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> above the first threshold. The data may be sent as best effort data, i.e. with a lower packet priority than regular non-CoMP UL data in order to not disturb the regular operation.

To perform the method actions above for handling FD data representing one or more UEs, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to a central control unit <NUM> associated with the radio unit <NUM> in a wireless communications network <NUM>, the radio unit <NUM> may comprise the arrangement depicted in <FIG>, both Figures associated to independent claim <NUM>. The communications network <NUM> is adapted to comprise a switched front-haul and in some embodiments IUA.

The radio unit <NUM>, according to independent claim <NUM>, may comprise an input and output interface <NUM> configured to communicate e.g. with the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> and the central control unit <NUM>. The input and output interface <NUM> may comprise a wireless receiver not shown and a wireless transmitter not shown.

The radio unit <NUM> is configured to, e.g. by means of a detecting unit <NUM> in the radio unit <NUM>, detect an uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>.

The uplink transmission from the respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may be adapted to be a PUSCH transmission.

The radio unit <NUM> is further configured to, e.g. by means of a deciding unit <NUM> in the radio unit <NUM>, whether the detected uplink transmission energy from the respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above or below a first threshold.

When it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above the first threshold, the radio unit <NUM> is further configured to, e.g. by means of a sending unit <NUM> in the radio unit <NUM>, send the FD data representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM>.

When it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is below the first threshold, the radio unit <NUM> is further configured to, e.g. by means of the sending unit <NUM> in the radio unit <NUM>, send a message to the central control unit <NUM> which message is adapted to indicate that no FD data will be sent representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and refrain from sending the FD data representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM>.

According to some embodiments, the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may be adapted to be scheduled on the same set of RBs. The radio unit <NUM> may then, when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above the first threshold, be further configured to, e.g. by means of the sending unit <NUM> in the radio unit <NUM>, send the FD data to the central control unit <NUM>.

The radio unit <NUM> may further be configured to, e.g. by means of a receiving unit <NUM> in the radio unit <NUM>, receive from the central control unit <NUM> a configuration. The configuration is adapted for configuring the radio unit <NUM> to, when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above a first threshold, send FD data to the central control unit <NUM> representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The configuration is further adapted for configuring the radio unit <NUM> to, when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is below the first threshold, send a message to the central control unit <NUM> which message adapted to indicate that no FD data will be sent representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM> and refrain from sending the FD data representing those respective one or more UEs (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) to the central control unit <NUM>.

The radio unit <NUM> may be further configured to, e.g. by means of the receiving unit <NUM> in the radio unit <NUM>, receive from the central control unit <NUM>, a request for FD data representing the respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>.

To perform the method actions above for handling FD data representing one or more UEs, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to a central control unit <NUM> in a wireless communications network <NUM>, the central control unit <NUM> may comprise the arrangement depicted in <FIG>. The communications network <NUM> is adapted to comprise a switched front-haul and in some embodiments IUA. The central control unit <NUM> is adapted to be associated with at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The central control unit <NUM> is further adapted to communicate via the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> with the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>.

The central control unit <NUM>, not claimed but presented here in order to support understanding the present claimed invention, may comprise an input and output interface <NUM> configured to communicate e.g. with the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The input and output interface <NUM> may comprise a receiver not shown and a transmitter not shown.

The central control unit <NUM> is configured to, e.g. by means of a sending unit <NUM> in the central control unit <NUM>, send to the respective at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> a configuration. The configuration is adapted for configuring the respective at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to, when it is decided that a detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above a first threshold, send the FD data representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM>. The configuration is further adapted for configuring the respective at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to, when it is decided that a detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is below the first threshold, send a message to the central control unit <NUM>, which message is adapted to indicate that no FD data will be sent representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM> and refrain from sending the FD data representing those respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the central control unit <NUM>.

The one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may be adapted to be scheduled on the same set of RBs. Then, the configuration is further adapted for configuring the respective at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to, when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above the first threshold, send the FD data to the central control unit <NUM>.

The central control unit <NUM> may further be configured to, when the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> detects that the uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above a first threshold receive, e.g. by means of a receiving unit <NUM> in the central control unit <NUM>, the requested FD data representing the respective at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The central control unit <NUM> is then further configure to, when the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> detects that the uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is below the first threshold, receive, e.g. by means of the receiving unit <NUM> in the central control unit <NUM>, a message from the respective at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, which message is adapted to indicate that no FD data will be sent to the central control unit <NUM>.

The communications network <NUM> may according to some embodiments be adapted to utilize CoMP. Then the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> comprises a plurality of radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. A primary radio unit <NUM> out of the plurality of radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is then adapted to serve a primary sector for the central control unit <NUM> and one or more secondary radio units <NUM> out of the plurality of radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are adapted to serve one or more secondary sectors for the central control unit <NUM>. To send to the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> a configuration adapted for configuring the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> then comprises to send to the primary radio unit <NUM> and the one or more secondary radio units <NUM> a respective configuration. The configuration is then adapted for configuring the primary radio unit <NUM> and the one or more secondary radio units <NUM> to send FD data to the central control unit <NUM> when it is decided that a detected uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is above a respective threshold associated with the radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The configuration is then further adapted for configuring the primary radio unit <NUM> and the one or more secondary radio units <NUM> to send a message to the central control unit <NUM> and refrain from sending the FD data to the central control unit <NUM>, when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> is below the respective threshold. The message is adapted to indicate that no FD data will be sent to the central control unit <NUM>.

The configuration adapted for configuring the radio units <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may further be adapted to configure the secondary radio units <NUM> to send FD data with a lower packet priority than the primary radio unit <NUM>.

The central control unit <NUM> may further be configured to when any one or more out of the primary radio unit <NUM> and the at least one secondary radio unit <NUM> detects that the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> have an uplink transmission energy above a first threshold, e.g. by means of the receiving unit <NUM> in the central control unit <NUM>, receive the FD data from the respective any one or more out of the primary radio unit <NUM> and the at least one secondary radio unit <NUM>. The central control unit <NUM> is then also configured to when any one or more out of the primary radio unit <NUM> and the at least one secondary radio unit <NUM> detects that the one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> have an uplink transmission energy below the first threshold, e.g. by means of the receiving unit <NUM> in the central control unit <NUM>, receive a message from the respective any one or more out of the primary radio unit <NUM> and the at least one secondary radio unit <NUM>. The message is adapted to indicate that no FD data will be sent to the central control unit <NUM>.

The central control unit <NUM> may further be configured to, e.g. by means of the sending unit <NUM> in the central control unit <NUM>, send to the at least one radio unit <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, a request for FD data representing the respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>.

To send a request for FD data representing the respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may further comprise to send a request for FD data representing the respective one or more UEs <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to the respective primary radio unit <NUM> and the one or more secondary radio units <NUM>.

The embodiments herein may be implemented through a respective processor or one or more processors, such as a processor <NUM> of a processing circuitry in the radio unit <NUM> depicted in <FIG> and a processor <NUM> of a processing circuitry in the central control unit <NUM> depicted in <FIG>, together with respective computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein. The program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the radio unit <NUM> and/or the central control unit <NUM>. One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the radio unit <NUM> and/or the central control unit <NUM>.

The radio unit <NUM> and/or the central control unit <NUM> may further comprise a memory <NUM>, <NUM> comprising one or more memory units. The respective memory <NUM>, <NUM> comprises instructions executable by the respective processor in the radio unit <NUM> and the central control unit <NUM>.

The memory <NUM>, <NUM> is arranged to be used to store e.g. data, configurations, and applications to perform the methods herein when being executed in the respective radio unit <NUM> and/or central control unit <NUM>.

According to independent claim <NUM>, a respective computer program <NUM>, <NUM> comprises instructions, which when executed by the respective at least one processor <NUM>, <NUM>, cause the at least one processor of the radio unit <NUM> and/or the central control unit <NUM> to perform the actions above.

According to independent claim <NUM>, a respective carrier <NUM>, <NUM> comprises the respective computer program, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

With reference to <FIG>, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunication network <NUM> such as the wireless communications network <NUM>, e.g. an loT network, or a WLAN, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises an access network <NUM>, such as a radio access network, and a core network <NUM>. The access network <NUM> comprises a plurality of base stations 3212a, 3212b, 3212c, such as the central control unit, access nodes, AP STAs NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 3213a, 3213b, 3213c. Each base station 3212a, 3212b, 3212c is connectable to the core network <NUM> over a wired or wireless connection <NUM>. A first user equipment (UE) e.g. the UE <NUM> such as a Non-AP STA <NUM> located in coverage area 3213c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 3212c. A second UE <NUM> e.g. the wireless device <NUM> such as a Non-AP STA in coverage area 3213a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 3212a.

The intermediate network <NUM> may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; the intermediate network <NUM>, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network <NUM> may comprise two or more subnetworks (not shown).

The hardware <NUM> may include a communication interface <NUM> for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system <NUM>, as well as a radio interface <NUM> for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection <NUM> with a UE <NUM> located in a coverage area (not shown) served by the base station <NUM>.

The wireless connection <NUM> between the UE <NUM> and the base station <NUM> is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE <NUM> using the OTT connection <NUM>, in which the wireless connection <NUM> forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the applicable RAN effect: data rate, latency, power consumption, and thereby provide benefits such as corresponding effect on the OTT service: e.g. reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, better responsiveness, extended battery lifetime.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method, not claimed, implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station such as the central control unit <NUM>, and a UE such as the UE <NUM>, which may be those described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>. In a first action <NUM> of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional subaction <NUM> of the first action <NUM>, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In a second action <NUM>, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In an optional third action <NUM>, the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional fourth action <NUM>, the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method, not claimed, implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station such as a AP STA, and a UE such as a Non-AP STA which may be those described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>. In a first action <NUM> of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional subaction (not shown) the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In a second action <NUM>, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In an optional third action <NUM>, the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method, not claimed, implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station such as a AP STA, and a UE such as a Non-AP STA which may be those described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>. In an optional first action <NUM> of the method, the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in an optional second action <NUM>, the UE provides user data. In an optional subaction <NUM> of the second action <NUM>, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In a further optional subaction <NUM> of the first action <NUM>, the UE executes a client application which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE initiates, in an optional third subaction <NUM>, transmission of the user data to the host computer. In a fourth action <NUM> of the method, the host computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating a method, not claimed, implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station such as a AP STA, and a UE such as a Non-AP STA which may be those described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>. In an optional first action <NUM> of the method, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In an optional second action <NUM>, the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In a third action <NUM>, the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

When using the word "comprise" or "comprising" it shall be interpreted as non-limiting, i.e. meaning "consist at least of".

Claim 1:
A method performed in a radio unit (<NUM>) for handling Frequency Domain, FD, imaginary/quadrature, I/Q, data of each OFDM symbol in the frequency domain using one complex valued number per resource element, said FD I/Q data representing Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH, transmission of one or more User Equipments, UEs, (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>), to a central control unit (<NUM>) associated with the radio unit (<NUM>) in a wireless communications network (<NUM>), which communications network (<NUM>) comprises a switched Ethernet Common Public Radio Interface, eCPRI, front-haul network that uses Instant Uplink Access, IUA, wherein the central control unit (<NUM>) is connected to several antenna sites (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) and further connected to radio units (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) including the radio unit (<NUM>) through a front-haul switch (<NUM>), the method comprising:
detecting (<NUM>) an uplink transmission energy from the one or more UEs (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>),
deciding (<NUM>) whether the detected uplink transmission energy from the respective one or more UEs (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) is above or below a first threshold,
- when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) is above the first threshold, sending (<NUM>) the FD I/Q data representing those respective one or more UEs (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) to the central control unit (<NUM>), and
- when it is decided that the detected uplink transmission energy from any of the one or more UEs (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) is below the first threshold, sending (<NUM>) a message to the central control unit (<NUM>) which message indicates that no FD I/Q data will be sent representing those respective one or more UEs (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>), and refraining from sending the FD I/Q data representing those respective one or more UEs (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) to the central control unit (<NUM>),
wherein the uplink transmission from the respective one or more UEs (<NUM>,<NUM>,<NUM>) is the Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH, transmission.