Patent Description:
In a typical wireless communication network, UEs, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and/or wireless devices, communicate via 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 an access node e.g. a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some radio access technologies (RAT) may also be called, for example, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB) and a gNodeB (gNB). The service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node operates on radio frequencies to communicate over an air interface with the wireless devices within range of the access node. The radio network node communicates over a downlink (DL) to the wireless device and the wireless device communicates over an uplink (UL) to the access node.

A Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation telecommunication network, which evolved from the second generation (<NUM>) Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). The UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) is essentially a RAN using wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) and/or High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) for communication with user equipments. In a forum known as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), telecommunications suppliers propose and agree upon standards for present and future generation networks and UTRAN specifically, and investigate enhanced data rate and radio capacity. In some RANs, e.g. as in UMTS, several radio network nodes may be connected, e.g., by landlines or microwave, to a controller node, such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a base station controller (BSC), which supervises and coordinates various activities of the plural radio network nodes connected thereto. The RNCs are typically connected to one or more core networks.

Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS) have been completed within the <NUM>rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and this work continues in the coming 3GPP releases, such as <NUM> and <NUM> networks. 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 3GPP radio access technology wherein the radio network nodes are directly connected to the EPC core network. As such, the Radio Access Network (RAN) of an EPS has an essentially "flat" architecture comprising radio network nodes connected directly to one or more core networks.

With the emerging <NUM> technologies also known as new radio NR, the use of very many transmit- and receive-antenna elements is of great interest as it makes it possible to utilize beamforming, such as transmit-side and receive-side beamforming. Transmit-side beamforming means that the transmitter can amplify the transmitted signals in a selected direction or directions, while suppressing the transmitted signals in other directions. Similarly, on the receive-side, a receiver can amplify signals from a selected direction or directions, while suppressing unwanted signals from other directions.

Beamforming allows the signal to be stronger for an individual connection. On the transmit-side this may be achieved by a concentration of the transmitted power in the desired direction(s), and on the receive-side this may be achieved by an increased receiver sensitivity in the desired direction(s). This beamforming enhances throughput and coverage of the connection. It also allows reducing the interference from unwanted signals, thereby enabling several simultaneous transmissions over multiple individual connections using the same resources in the time-frequency grid, so-called multi-user Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO).

In a newly defined 3GPP study item (RP-<NUM>, Revised SID: Study on NR Industrial Internet of Things (IoT)), NR technology enhancements are studied with the target of providing more deterministic low-latency delivery of data.

UL traffic can be scheduled with dynamic UL grants or configured UL grants. In case of dynamic UL grants, the radio network node provides an UL grant to the UE for each UL transmission. Configured UL grants are pre-allocated, i.e. provided once to the UE, thereafter the configured UL grant is valid for usage for UL transmissions according to a configured periodicity and reliability. The UE does not need to transmit padding on those UL resources if no UL data is available for transmission, i.e. the UE may skip an UL transmission on such grants.

A typical NR-loT device would handle communication for multiple service types, e.g. periodic Ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) type robot control messages, URLLC type of occasional alarm signals, for which periodic resources would need to be configured (in the interest of realizing low delay), occasional sensor data transmission, other mobile broadband (MBB) type traffic such as occasional video transmissions or software updates. It would lead to a traffic mix to be multiplexed by the UE for UL transmissions, i.e. on medium access control (MAC) multiple logical channels with different priorities would need to be configured.

Periodic URLLC traffic must be delivered for a given UE with a deterministic latency, i.e. robust transmissions must be guaranteed which is costly in terms of resource usage. On the other hand, sensor data or MBB type of traffic must be served as well, for which resources should be used as efficiently as possible, i.e. less robust data transmission is allowed and therefore fewer resources are needed for this type of traffic. It is currently unclear how UE multiplexing of both traffic types with their different requirements can be efficiently handled in the NR system.

NR should support different types of services having different latency requirements and priorities, e.g. URLLC and enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services. Release (Rel)-<NUM> NR already supports mechanisms to accommodate serving of mixed traffic types both in UL and DL. This includes a resource scheduling flexibility from the mini-slot to slot and multi-slots level by enabling fine granularity for monitoring DL transmissions, possibility for scheduling request (SR) transmission in a fraction of a slot, DL and UL Semi Persistent scheduling (SPS) for configuring resources in DL and UL to reduce signaling and delay overhead, and pre-emption of DL transmissions as needed to prioritize sporadic and urgent DL transmissions.

For DL transmissions the radio network node may preempt already scheduled DL transmissions to enable DL transmission of traffic with high priority and low latency - requirements for intended UEs with minimal delay after the arrival of such traffic at the radio network node. Support of a similar mechanism can be considered for UL transmissions in NR where already scheduled or on-going UL transmissions need to be pre-empted due to the arrival of high-priority and urgent UL traffic for the different UEs served in a given cell.

Based on the request from some UEs for urgent transmission of high priority UL traffic, e.g. URLLC traffic, the gNB needs to provide resources to accommodate transmissions as soon as possible to meet the delay requirements. It can happen that the gNB has already assigned the suitable UL resources to other LCHs used by the same UE or to one or multiple other UEs for UL transmissions with less stringent requirements in terms of delay e.g. eMBB traffic. Hence, the gNB needs to re-schedule those resources for the prioritized URLLC transmissions.

How to support dynamic resource sharing between eMBB UL traffic and URLLC UL traffic from different UEs is under discussion.

One scenario can be that an eMBB UE is configured with a configured grant resource, for example, to reduce an initial alignment delay from the scheduling request, or to support a periodic data flow with a stochastic probability of packet arrival at each instance. Since the eMBB UE can skip transmission on the configured grant if no MAC PDU is obtained (available for transmission), the radio network node might schedule a dynamic grant for a URLLC UE on a resource that overlaps with the CG resource of the URLLC UE.

Irrespective of the enabling mechanism associated with the two options above, i.e. muting per option <NUM> or power control per option <NUM>, this may have impact on the performance of the eMBB traffic from the eMBB UE since its UL transmission is either canceled on the first resource and subject to delay due to using a new grant per option <NUM> or experiences low power relative to the transmission from the URLLC UE per option <NUM>. This may impact the reliability and latency, considering the delayed transmission, of thepre-empted eMBB traffic. However, such inter-UE UL pre-emption may still be acceptable as long as the eMBB UE traffic latency requirements can still be satisfied whenever it experiences a pre-emption per option <NUM>.

In addition, instead of simply categorizing into either URLLC UE or eMBB UE, a UE might support mixed eMBB traffic and URLLC traffic. The problem in this case is that a UE with mixed traffic would typically prioritize URLLC traffic which, if available, is then subject to cancellation with re-scheduling per option <NUM>/low-power transmission per option <NUM>, hence having impact on the latency and reliability of the URLLC traffic. The radio access network may perform pre-emption of the mixed traffic UE according to options <NUM> or <NUM> above simply because it cannot be sure whether that UE will have URLLC traffic to send when it decides to apply pre-emption. If URLLC traffic is available when pre-emption is applied then it results in a reduced or limited performance of the wireless communication network in support of the mixed traffic UE.

An example is given in <CIT> which discloses a method in which a UE supporting both eMBB (low priority) traffic and URLLC (high priority) traffic is scheduled by the eNB. The grant indicates eMBB resources and further indicates which of those resources might be pre-empted if URLLC transmission needs be done.

An object of embodiments herein is to provide a mechanism that improves the performance of the wireless communication network when UEs support different types of traffic or a combination of types of traffic.

According to an aspect the object is achieved by providing a method performed by a UE for handling UL communications in a wireless communication network. The UE receives from a radio network node an indication with an uplink grant, wherein the indication indicates that a radio resource scheduled by the uplink grant for UL transmissions is for a type of data, e.g. non critical data. The UE then uses the radio resource for transmission of that type of data. In the method outlined herein, the UE may receive the indication, received e.g. by a UE MAC entity, indicating that high priority data should not be transmitted on an indicated UL resource. The indication may be applicable to the indicated UL resource for an UL grant or a time-frequency region. The indication may also include a time-validity for the indicated UL resource.

According to another aspect the object is achieved by providing a method performed by a radio network node for handling communications, such as UL transmissions from a UE, in a wireless communication network. The radio network node schedules a UE with a radio resource for an UL data transmission, wherein a first radio resource is more reliable in transmission than a second radio resource, wherein the first radio resource and the second radio resource are scheduled for different types of data traffic. schedule radio resources for UL transmissions over different radio resources wherein the first radio resource is more reliable in transmission than the second radio resource. The radio network node may schedule the first and second radio resource for different types of data traffic or data e.g. schedule the second radio resource for a certain type of data traffic or data. The radio network node further sends an indication with an uplink grant to the UE when scheduling the radio resource for the UL data transmission, wherein the indication indicates that the scheduled radio resource for the UL data transmission is for a type of data. the indication indicates that radio resource for UL transmissions is for the certain type of data, such as non-critical data.

According to still another aspect the object is achieved by providing a UE for handling UL communications in a wireless communication network. The UE is configured to receive from a radio network node, an indication with an uplink grant, wherein the indication indicates that a radio resource scheduled by the UL grant for UL transmission is for a type of data. The UE is further configured to use the radio resource for transmission of that type of data.

According yet still another aspect the object is achieved by providing a radio network node for handling communications in a wireless communication network. The radio network node is configured to schedule a UE with a radio resource for an UL data transmission, wherein a first radio resource is more reliable in transmission than a second radio resource, and wherein the first radio resource and the second radio resource are scheduled for different types of data traffic. The radio network node is further configured to send an indication with an uplink grant to the UE, when scheduling the radio resource for the UL data transmission, wherein the indication indicates that the scheduled radio resource for UL transmissions is for a type of data.

It is furthermore provided herein a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out any of the methods above, as performed by the radio network node, or the UE. It is additionally provided herein a computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of the methods above, as performed by the radio network node, or the UE.

Embodiments herein are described within the context of 3GPP NR radio technology (3GPP TS <NUM> V15. <NUM> (<NUM>-<NUM>)). It is understood, that the problems and solutions described herein are equally applicable to wireless access networks and user-equipments (UEs) implementing other access technologies and standards. NR is used as an example technology where embodiments are suitable, and using NR in the description therefore is particularly useful for understanding the problem and solutions solving the problem. In particular, embodiments are applicable also to 3GPP LTE, or 3GPP LTE and NR integration, also denoted as non-standalone NR.

Embodiments herein relate to wireless communication networks in general. <FIG> is a schematic overview depicting a wireless communication network <NUM>. The wireless communication network <NUM> comprises one or more RANs and one or more CNs. The wireless communication network <NUM> may use one or a number of different technologies, such as Wi-Fi, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, Fifth Generation (<NUM>), 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. Embodiments herein relate to recent technology trends that are of particular interest in a <NUM> context, however, embodiments are also applicable in further development of the existing wireless communication systems such as e.g. WCDMA and LTE.

In the wireless communication network <NUM>, wireless devices e.g. a UE <NUM> such as a mobile station, a non-access point (non-AP) STA, a STA, a user equipment and/or a wireless terminal, 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 "UE" is a non-limiting term which means any terminal, wireless communication terminal, user equipment, Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, Device to Device (D2D) terminal, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a small base station capable of communicating using radio communication with a network node within an area served by the network node.

The wireless communication network <NUM> comprises a radio network node <NUM> providing radio coverage over a geographical area, a first service area <NUM>, of a first radio access technology (RAT), such as LTE, Wi-Fi, WiMAX or similar. The first radio network node <NUM> may be a transmission and reception point e.g. a radio network node such as a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point or an Access Point Station (AP STA), an access node, an access controller, a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a NodeB, an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B), a gNodeB (gNB), a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point or any other network unit or node capable of communicating with a UE within the area served by the first network node <NUM> depending e.g. on the first radio access technology and terminology used. The first radio network node <NUM> may alternatively or additionally be a controller node or a packet processing node such as a radio controller node or similar. The radio network node may be referred to as a serving network node wherein the first cell may be referred to as a serving cell, and the radio network node <NUM> communicates with the UE <NUM> in form of DL transmissions to the UE <NUM> and UL transmissions from the UE <NUM>.

It should be noted that a service area may be denoted as cell, beam, beam group or similar to define an area of radio coverage.

The radio network node <NUM> may transmit RSs, such as cell specific reference signals (CRS), over respective service area. Hence, the radio network node <NUM> may transmit reference signals for mobility purposes of UEs, such as CRS or beam reference signals (BRS), repeatedly, in time, in a large number of different directions using as many transmission (Tx)-beams as deemed necessary to cover an operational area of the respective radio network node. Hence the radio network node <NUM> provides radio coverage over the first service area using a first reference signal, e.g. first CRS, for identifying the first service area <NUM> in the wireless communication network.

A scenario is herein assumed wherein UEs, such as the UE <NUM>, with different traffic types, also referred to as types of data, are in the network:.

The radio network node <NUM> may schedule UE-C's UL transmission so that it might preempt radio resources of some of the UL transmissions scheduled for groups of UE-E or UE-M. The embodiments herein may further indicate with an indication to the other UEs, e.g. UE-E and UE-M, that UL resources for UL transmissions are for a certain type of data, e.g. non critical data. Type may be defined by how critical the data is or latency requirement of the data. the radio network node <NUM> may indicate to the UE <NUM> that the radio resource R is scheduled for high latency requirement data from a second UE and the UE10 may then avoid using that radio resource for high priority data for itself. This is especially advantageous when the UE comprises mixed types of data traffic.

<FIG> is a combined flowchart and signalling scheme according to embodiments herein. The actions may be performed in any suitable order.

Action <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM> sends an indication to the UE <NUM>. The indication indicates that UL resources for UL transmissions are for a certain type of data, e.g. non critical data.

Action <NUM>. The UE <NUM> sends e.g. non critical data on the UL resources. Or in an implicit manner, the radio network node <NUM> indicates that the critical data should not be sent of the radio resource, i.e. indicates that the radio resource is for non-critical data and thus the UE sends non-critical data on the radio resource.

The method actions performed by the UE <NUM> for handling UL communications in the wireless communication network <NUM> according to embodiments will now be described with reference to a flowchart depicted in <FIG>. The actions do not have to be taken in the order stated below, but may be taken in any suitable order. Actions performed in some embodiments are marked with dashed boxes.

Action <NUM>. The UE <NUM> receives from the radio network node <NUM>, the indication with the uplink grant, wherein the indication indicates that a radio resource scheduled by the UL grant for UL transmission is for a type of data. The UL grant may be for the type of data. the UE <NUM> may receive an UL grant allocating an UL resource and including the indication, received by a UE MAC entity. The indication may indicate that high priority data should not be transmitted on the allocated UL resource, thus, the indication may indicate that other priority data should be transmitted on the UL resource. The indication may indicate indirectly that the radio resource scheduled for UL transmission is for the type of data by indicating that high priority data should not be transmitted on the radio resource scheduled for UL transmission and the UE avoids transmitting high priority data on the radio resource. a configured grant (CG) may have a semi-static configuration, so original some type of data might have been intended to go over the CG, but based on the other UEs transmission of higher critical traffic, the radio network node <NUM> may inform the UE <NUM> that it might be pre-empted, temporarily not all CG repeated occasion, only the next one, hence this message would be quick. The indication may be indicating the radio resource subject to pre-emption and/or the radio resource is not robust. Subject to pre-emption meaning that it is not always pre-empted by other data transmissions but might be. the indication may be indicating the radio resource not to be used for high priority data transmissions and/or the radio resource that is not robust. The indication may be a warning message transmitted on a higher-layer, to indicate a time-frequency resource that is subject to pre-emption of transmissions. the warning message as the indication can be sent dynamically, for example, as an indicator in the UL-grant DCI. The indication may include a time duration for which the indication is valid. The indication may indicate the radio resource to be subject to pre-emption. Embodiments herein thus show a solution wherein the indication is received by the UE MAC entity in the UE <NUM> specific to the UL grant, wherein the indication indicates e.g. that high priority data should not be transmitted on the UL resources of the UL grant. The indication may indicate that the transmission resources are not robust, i.e. that a potential transmission on those resources is likely to fail. It may in particular indicate that the transmission resources may be subject to pre-emption. The indication may be a realized semi-statically e.g. by radio resource control (RRC) signaling. Alternatively, a warning message as the indication can be sent dynamically, for example, as an indicator in the UL-grant DCI. The indication may be or be in a warning message that may be sent by the radio network node <NUM> to the preempted UEs, e.g. UE-m or UE-eError! Reference source not found. This warning message can potentially specify: The resources (time and frequency) which might be pre-empted/not robust; and/or the receiving UEs (e.g. preempted UEs) take actions to avoid sending high priority data on these resources.

Action <NUM>. The UE <NUM> uses the radio resource for transmission of that type of data. in response to receiving the indication, the UE <NUM> may omit transmission of data for one or more logical channels using the allocated UL resource. Thus, the one or more logical channels (LCHs) may be restricted from transmitting data using the allocated UL resource upon reception of the indication. The UE may use under a restriction indicating that pre-emption of transmissions is not allowed for a logical channel, and wherein data of such logical channel is not allowed to be transmitted when the indication is received and pointing at the resource of the UL grant. the restriction may be pre-emption of transmissions is not allowed for a logical channel, and wherein data of such logical channel is not allowed to be transmitted on the resource of the UL grant when the indication is received and indicates the resource of the UL grant is subject to pre-emption. The UE may use under a restriction indicating that pre-emption of high priority data transmissions on the radio resource is to be enforced for all logical channels supporting high priority data that have access to that radio resource only if the probability of high priority data being available for those logical channels is greater than x%. The UE may use the radio resource by transmitting data on the radio resource subject to pre-emption, if pre-emption probability is less than x%. Thus x being a threshold. The UE may use under a restriction indicating that pre-emption of high priority data transmissions on the radio resource is to be enforced for all logical channels supporting high priority data that have access to that radio resource. The UE may use the radio resource by the UE avoiding multiplexing high priority uplink control information, e.g. being a second type of traffic, onto a best-effort physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, transmission, e.g. being a first type of traffic.

The method actions performed by the radio network node <NUM> for handling communications in the wireless communication network <NUM> according to embodiments will now be described with reference to a flowchart depicted in <FIG>. The actions do not have to be taken in the order stated below, but may be taken in any suitable order. Actions performed in some embodiments are marked with dashed boxes.

Action <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM> schedules the UE <NUM> with a radio resource for an UL data transmission, wherein a first radio resource is more reliable in transmission than a second radio resource, wherein the first radio resource and the second radio resource are scheduled for different types of data traffic.

Action <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM> then transmits the indication with the UL grant to the UE <NUM>, when scheduling the radio resource for the UL data transmission, wherein the indication indicates that the scheduled radio resource for the UL data transmission is for a type of data. As stated above the indication may indicate indirectly that the radio resource scheduled for the UL transmission is for the type of data by indicating that high priority data should not be transmitted on the radio resource scheduled for UL transmission and the UE avoids transmitting high priority data on the radio resource. The indication may be indicating the radio resource subject to pre-emption and/or being not robust. The method may comprise a restriction indicating that pre-emption of transmissions is not allowed for a logical channel, and wherein data of such logical channel is not allowed to be transmitted when the indication is received pointing at the radio resource of the UL grant. The indication may be a warning message transmitted on a higher-layer, to indicate a time-frequency resource that is subject to pre-emption of transmissions. The indication may include a time duration for which the indication is valid. The indication may indicate that the UE <NUM> avoids multiplexing high priority uplink control information onto best-effort physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, transmission. The indication may indicate the radio resource to be subject to pre-emption.

Action <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM> may then receive data on the radio resource to be pre-empted if pre-emption probability is less than x%.

In a first embodiment, the indication such as the warning message mentioned above may be delivered to the MAC entity of the UE <NUM> for a logical channel prioritization (LCP) restriction. See below for an example wherein text related to embodiments herein are underlined.

The MAC entity may in the UE, when a new transmission is performed:.

This indication, i.e. the preemptedAllowed, means that this UL-grant is not reliable. The radio network node sets preemptedAllowed of the URLLC LCH not to be TRUE so that the data from high priority LCH is not sent on this grant, and while for the best effort LCH, preemptedAllowed is set to TRUE.

In an alternative or additional embodiment, a restriction indicating "preemptedNotAllowed" is configured per logical channel, indicating that data of such logical channel is not allowed to be transmitted when the indication such as a warning indication is received pointing at the resources of the UL grant. This way, only URLLC LCH needs to be configured with this configuration, while all other LCHs e.g. eMBB LCH may not be configured and are thus oblivious to the warning indication (ignore it, no restriction for transmission), see <FIG>.

In an embodiment, the indication may be an indicator in the configured grant activation/modification that refers to the recurring configured grants are subject to preemption and should apply the above LCP restriction rule. The indicator for the configured grant may be sent in physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), where the PDCCH performs activation of the relevant configured grant process.

In the second embodiment, the warning message i.e. the indication, can be sent on higher-layer, such as media access control-control element (MAC-CE) and/or radio resource control (RRC) to indicate a time-frequency resource that is subject to the preemption. The MAC LCP can be further written as
<NUM>> preemptedAllowed, if configured, is set to TRUE in case the UL grant overlaps with the warning region configured by RRC.

The similar UE actions related to configured grants, described above, can be used here.

In another follow-up embodiment that combines the above first and the second embodiment, the time duration of the warning, e.g. how many configured grants, is subject to preemption may be configured by RRC, or a combination of the downlink control information (DCI) and RRC signalling, in which the DCI points to a row/column index in an RRC table.

The warning indication may include time duration for which the warning is valid, it may be expressed in terms of number of subframes, as a timer/time, until an absolute subframe or system frame number (SFN) number.

The above embodiment addresses the scenario were the pre-empting UE has a deterministic transmission sequence number (TSN) type traffic, which is known ahead of time. Therefore, the radio network node <NUM> may send a head of time to UEs, via RRC/MAC-CE, that is it with high/certain probability that the UE transmission at such resources (time/frequency) will be pre-empted.

As stated above, the UE <NUM> may avoid multiplexing high priority uplink control information, such as uplink control information (UCI), onto best-effort physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, such as hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgement (ACK) and scheduling request (SR). This is especially important for HARQ-ACK in response to DL URLLC data, if a UE with mixed traffic of eMBB and URLLC. UE should delay transmission of such high priority UCI signals. On the other hand, lower priority UCI, such as channel state information (CSI) report, may be fine to be multiplexed with low reliability PUSCH.

In a follow-up embodiment, if the pre-empted UE's critical traffic has a tight latency bound, i.e., cannot wait for next opportunity, the UE <NUM> may:
transmit on the radio resources which might be pre-empted if the (pre-emption) probability is less than x%. Since the pre-emption probability may be too low to risk exceeding latency requirement, i.e. since the low probability means that the latency requirement will most certainly be fulfilled.

Note that in a general scenario the term "radio network node" can be substituted with "transmission point". Distinction between the transmission points (TPs) may typically be based on CRSs or different synchronization signals transmitted. Several TPs may be logically connected to the same radio network node but if they are geographically separated, or are pointing in different propagation directions, the TPs may be subject to the same mobility issues as different radio network nodes. In subsequent sections, the terms "radio network node" and "TP" can be thought of as interchangeable.

<FIG> is a block diagram depicting the UE <NUM>, in two embodiments, for handling communications e.g. handling UL transmissions to the radio network node <NUM> such as transmitting data on radio resources, in the wireless communication network <NUM> according to embodiments herein.

The UE <NUM> may comprise processing circuitry <NUM>, e.g. one or more processors, configured to perform the methods herein.

The UE <NUM> may comprise a receiving unit <NUM>, e.g. a receiver or a transceiver. The UE <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or the receiving unit <NUM> is configured to receive from the radio network node <NUM>, the indication with the uplink grant, wherein the indication indicates that the radio resource scheduled by the uplink grant for UL transmission is for a type of data e.g. receive the indication e.g. the indication in an UL grant, from the radio network node <NUM>. The indication may be indicating the radio resource not to be used for high priority data transmissions and/or the radio resource that is not robust. The indication may be the warning message transmitted on a higher-layer, to indicate the time-frequency resource that is subject to pre-emption e.g. of transmissions. The indication may include the time duration for which the indication is valid. The indication may indicate the radio resource to be subject to pre-emption.

The UE <NUM> may comprise a transmitting unit <NUM>, e.g. a transmitter or a transceiver. The UE <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or the transmitting unit <NUM> is configured to use the radio resource for transmission of that type of data e.g. transmit data, wherein type of data transmitted is based on the received indication. The indication may indicate indirectly that the radio resource scheduled for UL transmission is for the type of data by indicating that high priority data should not be transmitted on the radio resource scheduled for UL transmission and the UE <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or the transmitting unit <NUM> may be configured to avoid transmitting high priority data on the radio resource. The UE <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or the transmitting unit <NUM> may be configured touse the radio resource under the restriction indicating that pre-emption of transmissions is not allowed for a logical channel, and wherein data of such logical channel is not allowed to be transmitted when the indication is received and pointing at the radio resource of the UL grant. The UE <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or the transmitting unit <NUM> may be configured to use the radio resource by transmitting data on the radio resource subject to pre-emption, if pre-emption probability is less than x%. The UE <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or the transmitting unit <NUM> may be configured to use the radio resource in that the UE <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or the transmitting unit <NUM> may be configured to avoid multiplexing high priority uplink control information onto a best-effort PUSCH transmission.

The UE <NUM> further comprises a memory <NUM>. The memory comprises one or more units to be used to store data on, such as RSs, strengths or qualities, indications, SR, applications to perform the methods disclosed herein when being executed, and similar. The UE <NUM> comprises a communication interface comprising one or more antennas.

The methods according to the embodiments described herein for the UE <NUM> are respectively implemented by means of e.g. a computer program product <NUM> or a computer program, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the UE <NUM>. The computer program product <NUM> may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium <NUM>, e.g. a universal serial bus (USB) stick, a disc or similar. The computer-readable storage medium <NUM>, having stored thereon the computer program product, may comprise the instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the UE <NUM>. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be a non-transitory or a transitory computer-readable storage medium.

<FIG> is a block diagram depicting the radio network node <NUM>, in two embodiments, for handling, e.g. handling communications such as scheduling radio resources for UL communication from the UE <NUM>, in the wireless communication network <NUM> according to embodiments herein. UEs with different traffic types may be in the network:.

The radio network node <NUM> may comprise processing circuitry <NUM>, e.g. one or more processors, configured to perform the methods herein.

The radio network node <NUM> may comprise a scheduling unit <NUM>, such as a scheduler. The radio network node <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM> and/or the scheduling unit <NUM> is configured to schedule a user equipment, UE, with a radio resource for an uplink, UL, data transmission, wherein a first radio resource is more reliable in transmission than a second radio resource, wherein the first radio resource and the second radio resource are scheduled for different types of data traffics. The radio network node <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM> and/or the scheduling unit <NUM> may be configured to schedule UL transmission so that it might preempt some of the UL transmissions scheduled for groups of UE-E or UE-M.

The radio network node <NUM> may comprise a transmitting unit <NUM>, such as a transmitter or transceiver. The radio network node <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM> and/or the transmitting unit <NUM> is configured to transmit the indication to the UE <NUM>. The radio network node <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM> and/or the transmitting unit <NUM> is configured to send the indication with the uplink grant to the UE <NUM>, when scheduling the radio resource for the UL data transmission, wherein the indication indicates that the scheduled radio resource for the UL data transmission is for a type of data. When scheduling means that the indication may be sent during the scheduling but after allocating the radio resource. The indication may indicate indirectly that the radio resource scheduled for the UL transmission is for the type of data by indicating that high priority data should not be transmitted on the radio resource scheduled for UL transmission and the UE avoids transmitting high priority data on the radio resource. The indication may be indicating the radio resource to be pre-empted by other data transmissions and/or the radio resource that is not robust. The radio network node <NUM> may be configured with a restriction indicating that pre-emption of transmissions is not allowed for a logical channel, and wherein data of such logical channel is not allowed to be transmitted when the indication is received pointing at the radio resource of the UL grant. The indication may be a warning message transmitted on a higher-layer, to indicate a time-frequency resource that is subject to pre-emption of transmissions. The indication may include a time duration for which the indication is valid. The indication may indicate that the UE <NUM> avoids multiplexing high priority uplink control information onto best-effort PUSCH transmission. The indication may indicate the radio resource to be subject to pre-emption.

The radio network node <NUM> may comprise a receiving unit <NUM>, e.g. a receiver or transceiver. The first radio network node <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM> and/or the receiving unit <NUM> may be configured to receive data on the radio resource to be pre-empted if pre-emption probability is less than x%. The first radio network node <NUM>, the processing circuitry <NUM> and/or the receiving unit <NUM> may be configured to receive from the UE <NUM> data on the radio resource, wherein the data is of the certain type related to the sent indication.

The radio network node <NUM> further comprises a memory <NUM>. The memory comprises one or more units to be used to store data on, such as strengths or qualities, indication, scheduling information, applications to perform the methods disclosed herein when being executed, and similar. The radio network node <NUM> comprises a communication interface comprising transmitter, receiver, transceiver and/or one or more antennas.

The methods according to the embodiments described herein for first radio network node <NUM> are respectively implemented by means of e.g. a computer program product <NUM> or a computer program product, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the first radio network node <NUM>. The computer program product <NUM> may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium <NUM>, e.g. a USB stick, a disc or similar. The computer-readable storage medium <NUM>, having stored thereon the computer program product, may comprise the instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the first radio network node <NUM>. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be a non-transitory or transitory computer-readable storage medium.

In some embodiments a more general term "radio network node" is used and it can correspond to any type of radio network node or any network node, which communicates with a wireless device and/or with another network node. Examples of network nodes are NodeB, Master eNB, Secondary eNB, a network node belonging to Master cell group (MCG) or Secondary Cell Group (SCG), base station (BS), multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Remote Radio Head (RRH), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), core network node e.g. Mobility Switching Centre (MSC), Mobile Management Entity (MME) etc., Operation and Maintenance (O&M), Operation Support System (OSS), Self-Organizing Network (SON), positioning node e.g. Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centre (E-SMLC), Minimizing Drive Test (MDT) etc..

In some embodiments the non-limiting term wireless device or user equipment (UE) is used and it refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and/or with another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device-to-device (D2D) UE, proximity capable UE (aka ProSe UE), machine type UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, PDA, PAD, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles etc..

The embodiments are described for <NUM>. However the embodiments are applicable to any RAT or multi-RAT systems, where the UE receives and/or transmit signals (e.g. data) e.g. LTE, LTE FDD/TDD, WCDMA/HSPA, GSM/GERAN, Wi Fi, WLAN, CDMA2000 etc..

Measurement Reference Signal (MRS): As used herein, a "MRS" is any signal used for mobility measurements in Mobility measurement beams. Thus, while the term "MRS" is used herein to refer a signal used herein, the term "MRS" is to be construed broadly to mean any signal, regardless of what the signal is named, e.g., in any particular standard, used for mobility measurements and, in particular, used according to the embodiments described herein. In some embodiments, a MRS is a mobility specific signal that is used for handover/beam switching purposes. This reference signal can be periodic or aperiodic. It can be configured to be wireless device specific or could be used common for more than one wireless device.

As will be readily understood by those familiar with communications design, that functions means or modules may be implemented using digital logic and/or one or more microcontrollers, microprocessors, or other digital hardware. In some embodiments, several or all of the various functions may be implemented together, such as in a single application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or in two or more separate devices with appropriate hardware and/or software interfaces between them. Several of the functions may be implemented on a processor shared with other functional components of a wireless device or network node, for example.

Alternatively, several of the functional elements of the processing means discussed may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware, while others are provided with hardware for executing software, in association with the appropriate software or firmware. Thus, the term "processor" or "controller" as used herein does not exclusively refer to hardware capable of executing software and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) for storing software, random-access memory for storing software and/or program or application data, and non-volatile memory. Designers of communications devices will appreciate the cost, performance, and maintenance trade-offs inherent in these design choices.

With reference to <FIG>, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunication network <NUM>, 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 NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points being examples of the radio network nodes <NUM>,<NUM> herein, 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) <NUM>, being an example of the UE <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> in coverage area 3213a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 3212a.

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 performance since prioritized data may be sent on reliable resources and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time, and better responsiveness.

Claim 1:
A method performed by user equipment, UE, (<NUM>) for handling uplink, UL, communications in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:
- receiving (<NUM>) from a radio network node, an indication with an UL grant, wherein the indication indicates that a radio resource scheduled by the UL grant is for UL transmission of a type of data, and wherein the indication indicates indirectly that the radio resource scheduled for UL transmission is for the type of data by indicating that high priority data should not be transmitted on the radio resource scheduled for the UL transmission; and
- using (<NUM>) the radio resource for transmission of that type of data, wherein the UE avoids transmitting the high priority data on the radio resource.