Patent Description:
Fast MCG failure Recovery is a procedure that is followed by an Multi RAT-Dual Connection-capable (MR-DC) User Equipment (UE). The MR-DC capable UE could be configured for E-UTRA - New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC), NR-NR Dual Connectivity (NR-DC) or any other suitable dual connectivity. In the event of Radio Link Failure (RLF) on Primary cell (PCell), the UE will not trigger the Radio Resource Control (RRC) re-establishment once the failure is observed from the Downlink (DL) link quality monitoring. Instead the UE initiates the MCG recovery mechanism. This means that, when MCG failure occurs, UE follows Secondary Cell Group (SCG) failure-like procedure and the UE will trigger an MCG Failure information to be sent to the Master Node (MN), via a secondary node (SN) which could be either though split Signalling Radio Bearer <NUM> (SRB) or SRB3.

Once the indication is sent to SN, UE starts a timer T316, during which UE will be waiting for more instructions from MN. This means that once the SN forwards to MN the MCGFailurelnformation message, MN in return will send a response message such as RRCReconfiguration (with reconfigurationWithSync) or RRCRelease.

In case UE gets the RRCRelease, UE will transition to IDLE. But in case UE gets the RRCReconfiguration it could handover (HO) to either the current MN or another target MN. In any case, upon reception of reconfiguration with sync the UE resumes MCG transmission if suspended.

Examples of the disclosure look to provide an improved process for fast MCG failure recovery.

According to various, but not necessarily all, examples of the disclosure there is provided an apparatus comprising means for: receiving configuration information to enable communication with a first node apparatus and with a second node apparatus, wherein the configuration information relates to split bearer communication; using the configuration information relating to the first node apparatus to communicate with the first node apparatus; storing the configuration information relating to the second node apparatus; and using the stored configuration information to switch from communicating with the first node apparatus to communicating with the second node apparatus if communicating with the first node apparatus has failed.

In some examples the apparatus may comprise means for; providing a failure indication relating to failure of communication with the first node apparatus; and in response to providing the failure indication, receiving an indication to communicate with the second node apparatus using the stored configuration information relating to the second node apparatus.

The configuration information to enable communication with a first node apparatus and a second node apparatus may be received during configuration of the split bearer.

The configuration information relating to communication with the second node apparatus may be received before communicating with the first node apparatus has failed.

The first node apparatus may comprise a master node (MN) and the second node apparatus comprises a secondary node (SN).

The first node apparatus may comprise a secondary node (SN) and the second node apparatus may comprise a master node (MN).

The failure indication may indicate that communication between the apparatus and the first node apparatus has already failed.

The failure indication may indicate that communication between the apparatus and the first node apparatus will fail soon.

The failure indication may be provided to the first node apparatus.

The failure indication may be provided to the second node apparatus.

According to various, but not necessarily all, examples of the disclosure there may be provided a first node apparatus comprising means for; enabling establishing of a split bearer with a second node apparatus; providing an indication to the second node apparatus identifying a cell group to which the split bearer is mapped; and providing an indication to the second node apparatus that traffic of the split bearer on the cell group is restricted.

The first node apparatus may comprise means for receiving a failure indication from an apparatus indicating that communication between an apparatus and the first node apparatus will fail soon.

The first node apparatus may comprise means for providing an indication to the second node apparatus that a leg of the split bearer hosted by the second node apparatus is to be used.

According to various, but not necessarily all, examples of the disclosure there may be provided a second node apparatus comprising means for; enabling establishing of a split bearer with a first node apparatus; receiving an indication from the first node apparatus identifying a cell group to which the split bearer is mapped; and receiving an indication from the first node apparatus that traffic of the split bearer on the cell group is restricted.

The second node apparatus may be configured to provide the configuration of the split bearer but does not allocate internal resources for the request.

The second node apparatus may comprise means for receiving a failure indication relating to failure of communication between an apparatus and the first node apparatus.

The second node apparatus may comprise means for receiving a failure indication from an apparatus indicating that communication between an apparatus and the first node apparatus has failed.

The second node apparatus may comprise means for using the configuration of the split bearer provided by the second node apparatus to communicate with the apparatus in response to receiving a failure indication.

The claimed invention corresponds to <FIG> and to the related text in the description. The remaining figures and the text of the description are intended to better explain the invention. In particular, <FIG>, discloses the whole system in which the invention is carried out. ig <NUM> illustrates an example of a network <NUM> comprising a plurality of network nodes including terminal nodes <NUM>, access nodes <NUM> and one or more core nodes <NUM>. The terminal nodes <NUM> and access nodes <NUM> communicate with each other. The one or more core nodes <NUM> communicate with the access nodes <NUM>.

The one or more core nodes <NUM> can, in some examples, communicate with each other. The one or more access nodes <NUM> can, in some examples, communicate with each other.

The network <NUM> may be a cellular network comprising a plurality of cells <NUM> each served by an access node <NUM>. In this example, the interface between the terminal nodes <NUM> and an access node <NUM> defining a cell <NUM> is a wireless interface <NUM>. The access node <NUM> comprises a cellular radio transceiver. The terminal nodes <NUM> comprises a cellular radio transceiver.

In the example illustrated the cellular network <NUM> is a third generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network in which the terminal nodes <NUM> are user equipment (UE) and the access nodes <NUM> are base stations.

In the particular example illustrated the network <NUM> is a Universal Terrestrial Radio Access network (UTRAN). The UTRAN consists of UTRAN NodeBs <NUM>, providing the UTRA user plane and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards the UE <NUM>. The NodeBs <NUM> are interconnected with each other and are also connected by means of the interface <NUM> to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) <NUM>.

The term 'user equipment' is used to designate mobile equipment comprising a smart card for authentication/encryption etc such as a subscriber identity module (SIM). In other examples the term 'user equipment' is used to designate mobile equipment comprising circuitry embedded as part of the user equipment for authentication/ encryption such as software SIM.

The NodeB can be any suitable base station. A base station is an access node <NUM>. It can be a network element in radio access network responsible for radio transmission and reception in one or more cells to or from the user equipment.

The UTRAN can be a <NUM> or <NUM> network, for example. It can for example be a New Radio (NR) network that uses gNB or eNB as access nodes <NUM>. New radio is the 3GPP name for <NUM> technology.

The access nodes <NUM> in the cellular network <NUM> shown in <FIG> could be configured to operate a split bearer in which a first access node <NUM> can be configured as a Master Node (MN) and a second access node <NUM> can be configured as a Secondary Node (SN). The split bearer could be for example a MN terminated split bearer.

During a MCG failure, if the MN has planned in advance to configure a MN terminated split bearer then data can flow through the split bearer via the SN leg so that by the time the MCG has been recovered the data flow could continue uninterrupted.

However, when the MN requests from the SN the MN terminated split bearer, the SN can reject the establishment of the split bearer on the basis that the MN is in control of scheduling and so could permanently use the SN leg. Also, the SN does not know how to differentiate between the use of the SN leg for the time frame during which MN is attempting a recovery and other uses.

Examples of the disclosure provide improved MCG failure recovery by addressing these issues.

<FIG> shows a method for addressing these issues that can be implemented by an apparatus such as a UE <NUM>.

The method comprises, at block <NUM>, receiving configuration information to enable communication with a first node apparatus <NUM> and communication with a second node apparatus <NUM>. The configuration information can be related to split bearer communication. The first node apparatus <NUM> and the second node apparatus <NUM> can be access nodes as shown in <FIG>. The configuration information may be received as a single communication from a first node apparatus <NUM> and/or second node apparatus <NUM> or received as multiple communications from the first and/or second node apparatus <NUM>.

The first node apparatus <NUM> and the second node apparatus <NUM> can be configured as a split bearer. The first node apparatus <NUM> and the second node apparatus <NUM> can be configured as an MN terminated split bearer. In this example the first node apparatus <NUM> can be the MN and the second node apparatus <NUM> can be the SN. It is to be appreciated that in other examples this could be reversed so that the first node apparatus <NUM> can be the SN and the second node apparatus <NUM> can be the MN. The configuration information can be received by the UE during configuration of the split bearer. That is, the configuration information relating to communication with both the first node apparatus <NUM> and the second node apparatus <NUM> can be received at the same time and before any Radio Link Failure (RLF) has been identified.

In examples of the disclosure, a split bearer can comprise a reserve or "backup" leg that is used upon special cases, such as detection of MCG or SCG failure or link quality degradation (for example T310 running).

In some examples, during establishment of a split bearer, the first node apparatus <NUM> can provide an indication to the second node apparatus <NUM> that usage of one specific leg (Radio Link Control (RLC)) of the split bearer is expected to be restricted. The usage would be restricted in that it would be used in the event of the other leg becoming unusable due to a radio failure. For example, for an MN-terminated split bearer, that specific leg would typically be the SCG RLC, and vice versa, for an SN-terminated split bearer, that leg would typically be the MCG RLC.

In some examples, the node apparatus <NUM> (SN or MN) hosting the reserve or back up leg would need to provide the split bearer leg "configuration" and, in some examples, would not need to commit resources internally for the request.

At block <NUM> the method comprises using the configuration information relating to the first node apparatus <NUM> to communicate with the first node apparatus <NUM> and at block <NUM> the method comprises storing the configuration information relating to the second node apparatus <NUM>. The configuration information relating to the second node apparatus <NUM> is stored but is not currently used for communication with the second node apparatus <NUM>. The configuration information relating to the second node apparatus <NUM> can be stored in a memory of the UE <NUM>. This means that the UE <NUM> is configured to send data to the MN, however the UE has the capability to send data to the SN should it need to. The configuration information enables the UE to maintain synchronization with both the MN and the SN. This enables the SN to provide a reserve or back-up leg of the split bearer.

At block <NUM> the method comprises using the stored configuration information to switch from communicating with the first node apparatus <NUM> to communicating with the second node apparatus <NUM> if communicating with the first node apparatus has failed. In the event of RLF with the MN the UE <NUM> recognizes that it needs to switch to the reserve leg and use the SN. As the UE <NUM> already has the configuration information for the SN the UE <NUM> can retrieve the configuration information from storage and switch to the SN immediately and reduce any interruptions caused by the RLF with the MN.

In some examples the UE <NUM> can be configured to provide a failure indication relating to failure of communication with the first node apparatus <NUM>. In some examples the failure indication can indicate that the RLF with the first node apparatus <NUM> has already occurred. In such examples the failure indication can be provided to the second node apparatus <NUM>. In some examples the failure indication can indicate that the RLF with the first node apparatus <NUM> will happen soon. In such examples the failure indication can be provided to the first node apparatus <NUM> or the second node apparatus <NUM>. In some examples the failure indication could be the appearance of traffic on the channel between the UE <NUM> and the second node apparatus <NUM>. This can indicate that the RLF with the first node apparatus <NUM> has already failed.

In such examples, the failure indication can act as a trigger that causes the reserve leg of the split bearer to be activated. In response to providing the failure indication, the UE <NUM> can receive an indication to communicate with the second node apparatus <NUM> using the stored configuration information relating to the second node apparatus <NUM>. This can therefore enable the UE <NUM> to switch to using the reserve leg hosted by the SN.

<FIG> shows a corresponding method implemented by a first node apparatus <NUM>.

The method comprises, at block <NUM>, enabling establishing of a split bearer with a second node apparatus <NUM>. In this example the first node apparatus <NUM> can be a MN and the second node apparatus <NUM> can be an SN. In other examples the first node apparatus <NUM> can be a SN and the second node apparatus <NUM> can be an MN.

At block <NUM> the method comprises providing an indication to the second node apparatus <NUM> identifying a cell group to which the split bearer is mapped. At block <NUM> the method comprises providing an indication that traffic of the split bearer on the cell group is restricted. The cell group can be hosted by an SN or and MN.

The traffic of the split bearer on the cell group can be restricted so that use of the cell group will be rare. The indication can provide an indication that the cell group will be used in the event of special cases such as MCG failure, SCG failure, Link quality degradation, congestion on another cell group or other suitable events.

The indications can be provided in any suitable format. For example, they can be provided as an additional bit in an XnAP SN Addition Request or SN Modification Request. In cases of EN-DC the indication can be provided as an additional bit in X2AP SgNB Addition Request or SgNB Modification Request for example.

This indication that traffic of the split bearer on the cell group is restricted can enable a split bearer to be established where the cell group is used as a reserve leg.

It is to be appreciated that the first node apparatus <NUM> can also send configuration information to a UE <NUM> which can be the UE <NUM> that performs the method as shown in <FIG>. This enables communication between the first node apparatus <NUM> and the UE <NUM>.

The first node apparatus <NUM> can also be configured to receive a failure indication from an apparatus such as the UE <NUM> indicating that communication between the UE <NUM> and the first node apparatus <NUM> will fail soon. In response to receiving such a communication the first node apparatus <NUM> can then provide an indication to the second node apparatus <NUM> that a leg of the split bearer hosted by the second node apparatus <NUM> is to be used. The failure indication therefore acts as a trigger and enables the reserve leg of the split bearer to be used and the UE <NUM> to switch from communicating with the first node apparatus <NUM> to communicating with the second node apparatus <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a corresponding method implemented by a second node apparatus <NUM>.

The method comprises, at block <NUM>, enabling establishing of a split bearer with a first node apparatus <NUM>. In this example the first node apparatus <NUM> can be a MN and the second node apparatus <NUM> can be an SN. In other examples the first node apparatus <NUM> can be a SN and the second node apparatus <NUM> can be an MN.

At block <NUM> the method comprises receiving an indication from the first node apparatus <NUM> identifying a cell group to which the split bearer is mapped and at block <NUM> the method comprises receiving an indication from the first node apparatus <NUM> that traffic of the split bearer on the cell group is restricted.

The traffic of the split bearer on the cell group can be restricted so that use of the cell group will be rare. As described above, the indication can provide an indication that the cell group will be used in the event of special cases such as MCG failure, SCG failure, Link quality degradation, congestion on another cell group or other suitable events.

The indications can be received in any suitable format for example it can be received as an additional bit in an XnAP SN Addition Request or SN Modification Request. In cases of EN-DC the indication can be received as an additional bit in X2AP SgNB Addition Request or SgNB Modification Request for example.

The node hosting the indicated cell group can provide the configuration of the split bearer but does not need to allocate internal resources for the request. This allows the indicated cell group to act as a reserve or back-up leg. This allows resources of the cell group to be used for other purposes. These may make it easier for the second node apparatus <NUM> to accept the request to establish a split bearer.

The second node apparatus <NUM> can also be configured to receive a failure indication relating to failure of communication between a UE <NUM> and the first node apparatus <NUM>. In some examples the failure indication can indicate that the communication between the UE <NUM> and the first node apparatus <NUM> has already failed. In such examples the failure indication can be received from the UE <NUM>. In some examples the failure indication can indicate the communication between the UE <NUM> and the first node apparatus <NUM> will fail soon. This failure indication could be received from the UE <NUM> or from the first node apparatus <NUM>.

The failure indication acts as a trigger to activate the reserve leg of the split bearer. In response to receiving the failure indication the second node apparatus <NUM> can be configured to establish communication with the UE. The configuration of the split bearer provided by the second node apparatus <NUM> can be used to communicate with the UE in response to the failure indication. This therefore enables reserve leg of the split bearer to be used and enables the UE <NUM> to switch from communicating with the first node apparatus <NUM> to communicating with the second node apparatus <NUM>.

In some examples, the second node apparatus <NUM> that is hosting the reserve leg takes the reserve leg into use upon reception of a trigger. The trigger can be reception by the SN of MCG failure indication from the UE <NUM>, by UP packet (for example, by using the previously deactivated backup leg), RRC/MAC CE signalling (for example, MCGFailurelnformation or specific other RRC message or MAC CE indicating that MCG failure has happened or may happen soon).

In some examples, establishing communication with the UE can comprise the second node apparatus <NUM> informing the first node apparatus <NUM> that Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) Packet Data Units (PDUs) can now be scheduled on the reserve leg of the split bearer. The informing of the first node apparatus <NUM> can either be implicit or explicit. For example, the second node apparatus <NUM> can send an MCGFailurelnformation-message to the first node apparatus <NUM> to implicitly inform the first node apparatus <NUM>. In other examples the second node apparatus <NUM> can configure a field within the X2AP/XnAP RRCTransfer-message to contain the RRC MCGFailurelnformation that has been received from the UE <NUM> so that this RRC MCGFailurelnformation is provided to the first node apparatus <NUM>.

In some examples the second node apparatus <NUM> can also establish communication with the UE by providing an indication to the UE that the reserve leg is active for DL. The decision about activating the reserve leg can be made by either the first node apparatus <NUM> or the second node apparatus <NUM> or a combination of both of the node apparatus <NUM>. Once this indication has been received by the UE the UE considers the Data Radio Bearer (DRB) as using the reserve leg.

In some examples, the first node apparatus <NUM> that is hosting PDCP for the bearer can be informed by the UE <NUM> of an impending cell-group failure using a specific RRC message or MAC CE. The cell group can be the MCG or SCG. In such examples, the first node apparatus <NUM> can start sending DL PDCP PDUs towards the second node apparatus <NUM> hosting the reserve leg. The DL PDCP PDUs can comprise a user-plane indication to the second node apparatus <NUM> to start scheduling those PDUs on the reserve leg.

It is to be appreciated that different types of failure indication can be provided to the second node apparatus <NUM> and/or the first node apparatus <NUM>. In some examples the failure indication that is provided to the second node apparatus <NUM> could comprise the UE starting to send UL PDCP PDUs towards the second node apparatus <NUM>. The UL PDCP PDUs can comprise a user-plane indication to the second node apparatus <NUM> to start scheduling the PDUs on the reserve leg.

These example methods enable a second node apparatus <NUM> to admit a split bearer request and allow the leg hosted by the second node apparatus <NUM> to be used in special cases such as fast MCG failure recovery. This allows the usual admission control to be bypassed.

<FIG> illustrates another example method that can be implemented by a system comprising a UE <NUM> a first node apparatus <NUM> acting as MN and a second node apparatus <NUM> acting as SN.

In some examples, during the setup of the split bearer, the MN indicates to the SN that it would like to reserve the split leg resources for the bearer (s) but only use it during the fast MCG failure recovery. The SN can use this hint to not reject the split leg of the bearer but just to provide the corresponding configuration. In this example the split bearer is an MN terminated split bearer.

At block <NUM> the MN transmits the Secondary gNB Modification Request (for example, SgNB Modification Request) to the SN. The SgNB Modification Request comprises information that enables the split bearer to be established with the MN and the SN. The SgNB Modification Request can also comprise an indication that use of the leg hosted by the SN will be restricted. This indication can be provided as an additional bit in the SgNB Modification Request. This indication ensures that the SN only needs to provide the configuration for the split bearer and does not need to commit resources to this request.

The SN responds to the SgNB Modification Request by transmitting the SgNB Modification Response at block <NUM>. This enables the split bearer to be established.

At block <NUM> the UE <NUM> communicates with the MN using the MCG. The UE uses configuration information received from the MN to communicate with the MN using the MCG. The UE has stored configuration information from the SN that enables the leg hosted by the SN to be used as a reserve leg.

However, the MCG could fail. The UE <NUM> is configured to provide a failure indication in the event of MCG failure. There are several examples of different types of failure indication that could be provided in different examples of the disclosure.

Block <NUM> shows a first option for a failure indication that can be provided. In this first option the failure indication comprises an MCG failure indication message that can be provided from the UE to the SN. The MCG failure indication can indicate that the MCG has already failed or that it will fail soon.

Block <NUM> shows a second option for a failure indication that can be provided. In this second option the failure indication comprises a user plane indication from the UE <NUM> that is provided from the UE <NUM> to the SN. The failure indication could comprise the UE <NUM> starting to send DL PDCP PDUs towards the SN. The DL PDCP PDUs can comprise a user-plane indication to the SN to start scheduling the PDUs on the reserve leg.

Block <NUM> shows a third option for a failure indication that can be provided. In this third option the failure indication comprises an Early MCG Failure Indication Message that is provided from the UE <NUM> to the SN.

Block <NUM> shows a fourth option for a failure indication that can be provided. In this fourth option the failure indication comprises an Early MCG Failure Indication Message that is provided from the UE <NUM> to the MN.

At block <NUM> the UE <NUM> retrieves the configuration information relating to the SN and applies this configuration.

The failure indication acts as a trigger that causes the SN to inform the MN that the reserve leg of the split bearer hosted by the SN can now be used. Block <NUM>, shows an RRC transfer message being provided to the MN from the SN. This method can be used if any of options <NUM> to <NUM> have been used for the failure indication. This option provides the MN with an explicit indication that the reserve leg of the split bearer is to be used. In this example the SN can configure a field within the X2AP/XnAP RRCTransfer-message to contain the RRC MCGFailurelnformation that has been received from the UE <NUM>.

As an alternative block <NUM> shows the MN sending a DL PDCP PDU to the SN. This option can be used if option <NUM> is used for the failure indication and the MN has been informed of the failure of the MCG. The DL PDCP PDU can be provided with an indication that the reserve leg of the split bearer is now to be used.

At block <NUM> the SN activates the reserve leg of the split bearer by sending the RRC/MAC indication to the UE. This could be used if options <NUM> to <NUM> have been used for the failure indication. At block <NUM> the SN can activate the reserve leg of the split bearer by scheduling the DL PDCP PDU on the reserve leg of the split bearer. The UE can apply the configuration of the reserve leg of the split bearer before providing the failure indication.

Once the reserve leg of the split bearer has been activated then the UE can use the bearer leg hosted by the SN. At block <NUM> a DL PDCP PDU is transmitted from the MN to SN. In response to this, at block <NUM> the DL PDCP PDU is transmitted from the SN to the UE on the reserve split bearer leg and at <NUM> the UL PDCP PDU is transmitted from the UE to the SN on the reserve split bearer leg. The UL PDCP PDU can then be transmitted from the SN to MN as shown at block <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates another example method that can be implemented by a system comprising a UE <NUM> a first node apparatus <NUM> acting as MN and a second node apparatus <NUM> acting as SN. In this method blocks <NUM> to <NUM> are as shown in <FIG> and corresponding reference numerals are used.

In this method a trigger to cause the SN to start to use the split bearer leg is provided from the MN. A first example trigger could be the use of X2/Xn signaling from the MN to the SN as shown at block <NUM>. This option could be used if any of options <NUM> to <NUM> have been used by the UE to provide the failure indication. A second example trigger could be the use of DL PDCP PDU being transmitted from the MN to the SN as shown at block <NUM>. The DL PDCP PDU can comprise an indication that the reserve leg of the split bearer is to be used.

In response to receiving a trigger the SN is configured to transmit an RRC transfer message to the MN as shown at block <NUM>. The RRC transfer message can include an indication that the reserve leg of the split bearer can now be used for scheduling.

This enables the reserve leg of the split bearer to be used so that at blocks <NUM> to <NUM> PDCP PDU are transmitted using the reserve leg as described above.

It is to be appreciated that variations of the above methods can be used in examples of the disclosure. For example, instead of the first node apparatus <NUM> indicating to the second node apparatus <NUM> that the reserve leg of the split bearer is to be used, the second node apparatus <NUM> can indicate to the first node apparatus <NUM> that it can offer up to a given Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (AMBR)/ Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) for the split bearer. This indication could be combined with information that the fast recovery is supported for the UE <NUM>.

It is to be appreciated that more than one failure indication can be provided by the UE <NUM> and so some blocks of the methods can be occurring in parallel.

Examples of the disclosure therefore enable the second node apparatus <NUM> to admit a split bearer request from a first node apparatus <NUM> and allow the leg hosted by the second node apparatus <NUM> to be used in the event of MCG failure. The examples of the disclosure enable the usual admission control to be bypassed and reduce interruption time in the event of MCG failure. The interruption time is reduced because the UE <NUM> does not have to wait to process a RRC reconfiguration with a bearer type change from MN terminated bearer to MN terminated split bearer/SN terminated bearer during the fast MCG failure recovery procedure. Examples of the disclosure also address issues with resource allocation within the second node apparatus <NUM> as the second node apparatus <NUM> does not need to commit resources immediately.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a controller <NUM>. The controller <NUM> could be provided within an apparatus such as a first node apparatus <NUM>, a second node apparatus <NUM> or a UE <NUM>. Implementation of a controller <NUM> may be as controller circuitry. The controller <NUM> may be implemented in hardware alone, have certain aspects in software including firmware alone or can be a combination of hardware and software (including firmware).

The memory <NUM> stores a computer program <NUM> comprising computer program instructions (computer program code) that controls the operation of the apparatus <NUM>, <NUM> when loaded into the processor <NUM>. The computer program instructions, of the computer program <NUM>, provide the logic and routines that enables the apparatus to perform the methods illustrated in <FIG> The processor <NUM> by reading the memory <NUM> is able to load and execute the computer program <NUM>.

In examples where the apparatus is provided within a UE <NUM> the apparatus therefore comprises:.

In examples where the apparatus is provided within a first node apparatus <NUM> the apparatus therefore comprises:.

In examples where the apparatus is provided within a second node apparatus <NUM> the apparatus therefore comprises:.

As illustrated in <FIG>, the computer program <NUM> may arrive at the apparatus <NUM>, <NUM> via any suitable delivery mechanism <NUM>. The delivery mechanism <NUM> may be, for example, a machine readable medium, a computer-readable medium, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, a computer program product, a memory device, a record medium such as a Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM) or a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) or a solid state memory, an article of manufacture that comprises or tangibly embodies the computer program <NUM>. The delivery mechanism may be a signal configured to reliably transfer the computer program <NUM>. The apparatus <NUM>, <NUM> may propagate or transmit the computer program <NUM> as a computer data signal.

Computer program instructions for causing a UE <NUM> to perform at least the following or for performing at least the following:.

Computer program instructions for causing a first node apparatus <NUM> to perform at least the following or for performing at least the following:.

Computer program instructions for causing a second node apparatus <NUM> to perform at least the following or for performing at least the following:.

The stages illustrated in <FIG> can represent steps in a method and/or sections of code in the computer program <NUM>. The illustration of a particular order to the blocks does not necessarily imply that there is a required or preferred order for the blocks and the order and arrangement of the block may be varied. Furthermore, it can be possible for some blocks to be omitted.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that in some examples there is provided a system comprising: at least one UE <NUM> a first node apparatus <NUM> and a second node apparatus <NUM>.

In some but not necessarily all examples, the UE <NUM>, the first node apparatus <NUM> and the second node apparatus <NUM> are configured to communicate data with or without local storage of the data in a memory <NUM> at the UE <NUM>, the first node apparatus <NUM> or the second node apparatus <NUM> and with or without local processing of the data by circuitry or processors at the UE <NUM>, the first node apparatus <NUM> or the second node apparatus <NUM>.

The data may be stored in processed or unprocessed format remotely at one or more devices. The data may be stored in the Cloud.

The data may be processed remotely at one or more devices. The data may be partially processed locally and partially processed remotely at one or more devices.

The data may be communicated to the remote devices wirelessly via short range radio communications such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, for example, or over long range cellular radio links. The apparatus may comprise a communications interface such as, for example, a radio transceiver for communication of data.

The UE <NUM>, the first node apparatus <NUM> and the second node apparatus <NUM> can be part of the Internet of Things forming part of a larger, distributed network.

The processing of the data, whether local or remote, can be for the purpose of health monitoring, data aggregation, patient monitoring, vital signs monitoring or other purposes.

The processing of the data, whether local or remote, may involve artificial intelligence or machine learning algorithms. The data may, for example, be used as learning input to train a machine learning network or may be used as a query input to a machine learning network, which provides a response. The machine learning network may for example use linear regression, logistic regression, vector support machines or an acyclic machine learning network such as a single or multi hidden layer neural network.

The processing of the data, whether local or remote, may produce an output. The output may be communicated to the UE <NUM>, first node apparatus <NUM> or second node apparatus <NUM> where it may produce an output sensible to the subject such as an audio output, visual output or haptic output.

The above described examples find application as enabling components of:
automotive systems; telecommunication systems; electronic systems including consumer electronic products; distributed computing systems; media systems for generating or rendering media content including audio, visual and audio visual content and mixed, mediated, virtual and/or augmented reality; personal systems including personal health systems or personal fitness systems; navigation systems; user interfaces also known as human machine interfaces; networks including cellular, non-cellular, and optical networks; ad-hoc networks; the internet; the internet of things; virtualized networks; and related software and services.

The term 'a' or `the' is used in this document with an inclusive not an exclusive meaning. That is any reference to X comprising a/the Y indicates that X may comprise only one Y or may comprise more than one Y unless the context clearly indicates the contrary. If it is intended to use 'a' or `the' with an exclusive meaning then it will be made clear in the context. In some circumstances the use of 'at least one' or 'one or more' may be used to emphasis an inclusive meaning but the absence of these terms should not be taken to infer any exclusive meaning.

Claim 1:
A first node apparatus (<NUM>) comprising means for;
enabling establishing of a split bearer with a second node apparatus; providing an indication to the second node apparatus identifying a cell group to which the split bearer is mapped; and characterized in
providing an indication to the second node apparatus that traffic of the split bearer on the cell group is restricted.