Patent ID: 12206501

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. Additional information may also be found in the document(s) provided in the Appendix.

Radio Node: As used herein, a “radio node” is either a radio access node or a wireless device.

Radio Access Node: As used herein, a “radio access node” or “radio network node” is any node in a radio access network of a cellular communications network that operates to wirelessly transmit and/or receive signals. Some examples of a radio access node include, but are not limited to, a base station (e.g., a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB) in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fifth Generation (5G) NR network or an enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB) in a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) network), a high-power or macro base station, a low-power base station (e.g., a micro base station, a pico base station, a home eNB, or the like), and a relay node.

Core Network Node: As used herein, a “core network node” is any type of node in a core network. Some examples of a core network node include, e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF), or the like.

Wireless Device: As used herein, a “wireless device” is any type of device that has access to (i.e., is served by) a cellular communications network by wirelessly transmitting and/or receiving signals to a radio access node(s). Some examples of a wireless device include, but are not limited to, a User Equipment device (UE) in a 3GPP network and a Machine Type Communication (MTC) device.

Network Node: As used herein, a “network node” is any node that is either part of the radio access network or the core network of a cellular communications network/system.

Note that the description given herein focuses on a 3GPP cellular communications system and, as such, 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is oftentimes used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to a 3GPP system.

Note that, in the description herein, reference may be made to the term “cell;” however, particularly with respect to 5G NR concepts, beams may be used instead of cells and, as such, it is important to note that the concepts described herein are equally applicable to both cells and beams.

In the following discussion, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) protocol refers to the HARQ procedure at the Physical (PHY)/Medium Access Control (MAC) layer.

Existing HARQ procedures at the PHY/MAC layer have been designed for terrestrial networks where the round-trip propagation delay is restricted to be within the cyclic prefix (CP) duration. With HARQ protocol, a transmitter needs to wait for the feedback from the receiver before sending new data. In case of a negative acknowledgement (NACK), the transmitter may need to resend the data packet. Otherwise, it may send new data. This stop-and-wait (SAW) procedure introduces inherent latency to the communication protocol, which may reduce the link throughput. To alleviate this issue, existing HARQ procedure allows activating multiple HARQ processes at the transmitter. That is, the transmitter may initiate multiple transmissions in parallel without having to wait for a HARQ completion. For example, with 16 (8) HARQ processes in NR (LTE) DL, the gNB (eNB) may initiate up to 16 (8) new data transmissions without waiting for an ACK for the first packet transmission. Note that there are sufficient number of HARQ processes for terrestrial networks where the propagation delay is typically less than 1 ms.

FIG.3shows the various delays associated with the HARQ procedure:The packet first reaches the receiver after a propagation delay Tp.The receiver sends the feedback after a processing/slot delay T1.The feedback reaches the data transmitter after a propagation delay Tp.The transmitter may send a retransmission or new data after a processing/slot delay T2.The required number of HARQ processes is (2Tp+T1+T2)/Ts where Ts is the slot duration.

Some issues with existing HARQ protocol amid large propagation delays are identified below:

The existing HARQ mechanism may not be feasible when the propagation delay is much larger than that supported by the allowed number of HARQ processes. For example, consider the scenario where LTE DL is to be adopted for satellite communications. For the GEO case, the RTT propagation delay can be around 500 ms. With 8 HARQ processes, the eNB needs to wait for around 500 ms before sending new data. This translates to benefitting from only a meager fraction (8/500) of the available peak throughput. Therefore, without a sufficient number of HARQ processes, the sheer magnitude of the propagation delay may render closed-loop HARQ communication impractical.

The number of HARQ processes supported by the existing HARQ protocol are not sufficient to absorb the potentially large propagation delays in non-terrestrial networks. For example, Table 3 shows that a substantial increase in the existing number of HARQ processes (Note: Rel-15 NR supports a maximum of 16 HARQ processes in UL/DL per serving cell. LTE supports8for UL/DL per serving cell) is required for operating HARQ amid large propagation delays. Unfortunately, it is challenging to support that many HARQ processes specially at UE side, due to e.g. the following reasons.

It requires large memory at both the transmitter and receiver.

It may require reducing the HARQ buffer size (and thus the maximum supported TBS).

A large number of HARQ buffers implies a large number of HARQ receivers.

It may increase the signaling overhead for HARQ ID.

TABLE 3Required number of HARQ processes in satellite networksReqd. # HARQAvailable peakSatelliteTotal delayprocessesthroughputLEO~50ms~5032%MEO~180ms~1808.9%GEO~600ms~6002.7%

In short, the existing (PHY/MAC) HARQ mechanism is ill-suited to non-terrestrial networks with large propagation delays. Moreover, there is no existing signaling mechanism for disabling HARQ at the PHY/MAC layers. Therefore, there is a need to develop new signaling procedures for adapting HARQ to non-terrestrial networks.

For example, in non-terrestrial networks where the propagation delay is large, activating the HARQ feedback loop may considerably reduce the throughput due to the inherent stop-and-wait property of the HARQ protocol. With the ability to deactivate HARQ, the eNB/gNB/UE need not wait for the HARQ feedback or retransmissions before transmitting new data. Moreover, it helps saves the time/frequency/energy/computational resources required for HARQ feedback transmission.

In certain scenarios such as in poor channel conditions, it may also be desirable to operate with HARQ enabled so as to avoid aggressive retransmissions and increased latency at the higher layers.

The above enabling/disabling of feedback for certain HARQ processes has earlier been proposed to allow the network to configure the UE to disable parts of the HARQ procedure to mitigate some of the negative impact inflicted by the propagation delay of a non-terrestrial network.

If the HARQ procedure is turned off or altered, there is a risk that the reliability is reduced due to the non-exiting feedback. The reliability could then be increased by using more robust modulation and coding schemes but only to a certain extent. If transport blocks with errors are passed up to higher layers, e.g. RLC, PDCP, TCP, retransmission may occur which will again increase the delay mitigating some of the effect of disabling the HARQ procedure.

To increase the reliability, i.e. reduce the block error rate, BLER, for a non-terrestrial network with HARQ feedback disabled for some specific HARQ process IDs, it has also been proposed to allow bundling of TBs on a per HARQ process ID level. This would allow TBs sent on a specific HARQ process ID to be retransmitted a configurable number of times to reach the BLER targeted for the communication.

In current NR and LTE specifications, the network is in control of what LCHs that shall be served in DL for a given TB. I.e. it is up the network implementation to concatenate data so that bitrates for the different LCH are fulfilled. A TB will then be sent using the next in order and available HARQ process ID. In the uplink, there is Logical Channel Prioritization procedure, configured by RRC, that controls the amount of data that will be sent from each of the available LCH until the size of the TB meet the allocated size indicated in the grant. The TB will then be sent using the next in order and available HARQ process ID.

Given a non-terrestrial network with the new above proposed solutions for disabling and enabling HARQ feedback on a per HARQ processes level as well as to allow bundling on a per HARQ process level implemented, there is currently no means to map certain data/signaling to a certain HARQ process ID, i.e. without a well-defined mapping of what data that is sent on what HARQ process ID, the use of HARQ feedback disabling or HARQ process ID bundling will be of little use.

In this disclosure, systems and methods for mapping data on specific HARQ process ID to account for large propagation delays and still offer reliable communication are provided.

Embodiments described herein provide mapping of data to specific HARQ process IDs.

Certain embodiments may provide none, one or more of the following technical advantage(s). Embodiments of the proposed solution introduce methods for to map specific data to specific HARQ processes to allow some data to be sent with the HARQ procedure enabled and for other data, disabled.

Referring back toFIG.1, one example of a satellite-based radio access network300in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented is illustrated. In some embodiments, the satellite-based radio access network300is a radio access network for a cellular communications network such as, e.g., a LTE or NR network.

As illustrated, the satellite-based radio access network300includes, in this example, a base station302that connects the satellite-based radio access network300to core network (not shown). In this example, the base station302is connected to a ground-based base station antenna304that is, in this example, remote from (i.e., not collocated with) the base station302. The satellite-based radio access network300also includes a satellite306, which is a space-borne platform, that provides a satellite-based access link to a User Equipment (UE)308located in a respective spotbeam, or cell,310.

The term “feeder link” refers to the link between the base station302(i.e., the base station antenna304in this example in which the base station302and the base station antenna304are not collocated) and the satellite306. The term “service link” refers to the link between the satellite306and the UE308. The link from the base station302to the UE308is often called the “forward link”, and the link from UE308to base station302is often called the “return link” or “access link.” Depending on the functionality of the satellite306in the satellite-based radio access network300, two transponder options can be considered:Bent pipe transponder: satellite forwards the received signal back to the earth with only amplification and a shift from uplink frequency to downlink frequency.Regenerative transponder: satellite includes on-board processing to demodulate and decode the received signal and regenerate the signal before sending it back to the earth.

Since there might be data and/or control signaling sent between the UE and the non-terrestrial network that requires higher reliability, it has been previously proposed to allow the network to disable HARQ feedback for certain HARQ processes only (see U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/737,630 filed Sep. 27, 2018, incorporated by reference).

With the above solution of disabling HARQ feedback for certain HARQ processes, there is a need to use different aggregation factors for different HARQ processes. For example, it may be desirable for a HARQ process with HARQ feedback disabled to be configured with a higher aggregation factor than a HARQ process with HARQ feedback enabled. Note that an aggregation factor is a number that represents the number of times that the transport block will be retransmitted within a bundle. Without the capability of controlling aggregation factors for different HARQ processes, a single aggregation factor has to be used for all the HARQ processes regardless whether the HARQ feedback is enabled/disabled for a particular HARQ process. If the aggregation factor is small or not configured (i.e., aggregation factor=1), a much larger proportion of Transport Block transmission errors (associated with HARQ process(es) without HARQ feedback) than what is designed in the specification needs to be recovered by higher layer retransmission techniques, such as RLC AM mode, PDCP, RRC or TCP. This results in a much higher latency and a reduced throughput. To avoid this, a large value needs to be configured for the aggregation factor, but this in turn makes the transmissions on the HARQ processes with HARQ feedback enabled spectrally inefficient and experience higher latency.

Several embodiments are described below. Embodiments 6 in particular, is aiming at addressing some of the challenges identified above, with respect to mapping data to HARQ processes. While described separately, these embodiments may be used in any desired combination.

Embodiment 1

In one embodiment, bundling of transport blocks (TBs) is enabled for a specific HARQ process (e.g., a HARQ process identified by a specific HARQ process ID). This is sometimes referred to herein as “HARQ process specific bundling”. Bundling is available in NR for both uplink and downlink and for both dynamic and configured scheduling. In the existing NR specification, however, bundling can only be activated for all transmissions on all configured HARQ processes. That is, bundling cannot be activated for a specified subset of HARQ processes. Given the proposed ability to disable the HARQ feedback for one or more specific HARQ processes (see U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/737,630 filed Sep. 27, 2018, incorporated by reference), the reliability would decrease for all TBs sent using these HARQ processes if the aggregation factor is small or not configured. Since not all HARQ processes will have their feedback disabled, it will be useful to increase the reliability by allowing bundling for one or more specific HARQ process IDs (e.g., using HARQ process specific aggregation factor).

Example: HARQ Process ID=2 has its HARQ feedback disabled but is at the same time configured for bundling. When this HARQ process is used for transmission of a TB, it is bundled and the receiver knows how to receive and process these TBs within the bundle. Note that the reception and processing of TBs within the bundle can be performed in any suitable manner such as, e.g., the conventional manner. In case the transmitter desires not using bundling, it may use a HARQ process ID not configured for bundling.

HARQ process specific bundling could be used for HARQ process having a specific HARQ process ID regardless of whether HARQ feedback is disabled or not for that HARQ process.

Which HARQ process to bundle in uplink or downlink can be indicated in any suitable manner such as e.g. indicated dynamically in the received DCI using a bit indication, indicated using a specific RNTI(s), indicated using a MAC CE, indicated semi-static signaling such as, e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, or the like.

In some embodiments, the aggregation factor to be used for bundling (e.g., for HARQ-disabled transmission) is configured, e.g., semi-statically (e.g., via RRC signaling). Further, in some embodiments, bundling is enabled for all transmissions using a HARQ process(es) for which HARQ mechanism(s) are disabled. Some examples of how HARQ mechanisms can be disabled are described in see U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/737,630 filed Sep. 27, 2018, incorporated by reference.

In another embodiment, the New Data Indicator (NDI) field in the DCI scheduling a transmission for a specific HARQ process (e.g., indicated by a HARQ process ID) is used to indicate whether bundling is enabled for the HARQ process or not. When HARQ is disabled for certain HARQ process IDs using one or more of the mechanisms proposed in see U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/737,630 filed Sep. 27, 2018, incorporated by reference, the NDI fields for those HARQ processes may be redundant. The NDI fields for those HARQ processes can be repurposed, for example using new signaling (e.g., RRC signaling), to indicate whether or not bundling is activated for the respective HARQ processes.

FIG.4illustrates the operation of a base station302and a UE308in accordance with at least some aspects of Embodiment 1 described above. Optional steps are represented with dashed lines. As illustrated, the base station302optionally determines (e.g., decides) to enable bundling for a specific HARQ process(es) (step400). For example, the base station302may determine to enable bundling for a HARQ process(es) for which HARQ mechanism(s) have been disabled. Notably, the HARQ process(es) for which bundling is enabled is a subset of all configured HARQ processes. The base station402provides an indication to the UE302of the HARQ process(es) for which bundling is enabled (step402). This indication can be provided to the UE308in any suitable manner such as e.g. indicated dynamically in the received DCI using a bit indication, indicated using a specific RNTI(s), indicated using a MAC CE, indicated semi-static signaling such as, e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, or the like. Optionally, in some embodiments, the base station302also provides, to the UE308, an indication of the number of bundles to use (step404).

At the UE308, the UE308receives the indication in step402and optionally the indication in step404and, based on the received indication(s), determines that bundling is enabled for the specific indicated HARQ process(es) (step406). The UE308and the base station312then perform DL/UL data transmission/reception associated with the indicated HAR process(es) with bundling enabled (step408).

Embodiment 2

In one embodiment, bundling of non-contiguous received/transmitted TBs is enabled for a specific HARQ process(es). If configured, this would allow the network or UE to send TBs with the same HARQ process ID not necessarily contiguously, i.e., non-contiguous bundling. This would allow the transmitter to spread transmissions to achieve time diversity and avoid temporary radio propagation obstacles such as fast fading and, if delay tolerable, even slow fading mechanisms.

The current NR specification states that if the UE is configured with aggregationFactor>1 (i.e., bundling is enabled), the same symbol allocation is applied across the aggregationFactor consecutive slots, and the UE may expect that the TB is repeated within each symbol allocation among each of the aggregationFactor consecutive slots.

A non-contiguous bundling pattern (i.e., a pattern that defines the location of the bundled TBs, e.g., in time (and optionally frequency)) can be indicated to the UE in any suitable manner such as e.g., by RRC, DCI bitmap, etc. or by a number of retransmissions plus NDI.

Example: The bundling is configured with a period of X slots, and the same symbol allocation is applied every X-th slot. As a result, the total transmission duration of a bundle is X*aggregationFactor slots.

FIG.5illustrates the operation of a base station302and a UE308in accordance with at least some aspects of Embodiment 2 described above. Optional steps are represented with dashed lines. As illustrated, the base station302optionally determines (e.g., decides) to enable non-contiguous bundling for a specific HARQ process(es) (step500). For example, the base station302may determine to enable non-contiguous bundling for a HARQ process(es) for which HARQ mechanism(s) have been disabled. Notably, the HARQ process(es) for which non-contiguous bundling is enabled is a subset of all configured HARQ processes. The base station302provides an indication to the UE302of the HARQ process(es) for which bundling is enabled (step502). This indication can be provided to the UE308in any suitable manner such as e.g. indicated dynamically in the received DCI using a bit indication, indicated using a specific RNTI(s), indicated using a MAC CE, indicated semi-static signaling such as, e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, or the like. Optionally, in some embodiments, the base station302also provides, to the UE308, an indication of the number of bundles to use and/or a non-contiguous bundling pattern(s) for the indicated HARQ process(es) (step504).

At the UE308, the UE308receives the indication in step502and optionally the indication in step504and, based on the received indication(s), determines that non-contiguous bundling is enabled for the specific indicated HARQ process(es) (step506). The UE308and the base station312then perform DL/UL data transmission/reception associated with the indicated HAR process(es) with non-contiguous bundling enabled (step508).

It should be noted that, in step500, the base station302may determine to configure a first HARQ process for contiguous bundling and second HARQ process for non-contiguous bundling. In this case, the base station302can, for example, indicate to the UE308in step502that bundling is enabled for both the first and second HARQ processes. Then, the base station302may provide a further indication to the UE308that the bundling for the second HARQ process is non-contiguous, e.g., by indicating a respective non-contiguous bundling pattern to the UE308, e.g., in step504. Then, in step408, contiguous bundling is used for the first HARQ process and non-contiguous bundling is used for the second HARQ process.

Embodiment 2A

The current NR specification requires generating possibly different redundancy versions of the TB, and a version of the TB is transmitted at each transmission occasion from the total of aggregationFactor transmission occasions in a bundle. In one embodiment, instead, the codeword could be directly generated, rate matched, modulated and mapped to all the resource elements from the available symbols assigned to the TB.

Example: DCI indicates the assignment of Y symbols in a slot using Z resource blocks. Bundling is configured with a period of X slots, and the same symbol allocation is applied every X-th slot. So in total, there would be 12*Z*Y* aggregationFactor resource elements minus not available resource elements (such as those used by reference signals). The codeword for the TB is generated, rate matched, and the corresponding bits are modulated and mapped to the available resource elements.

Embodiment 3

In one embodiment, a HARQ process timer for bundling of (non-) contiguous TBs is provided. Similar to bundling of X non-contiguous TBs for a certain HARQ process (e.g., identified by a certain HARQ process ID), the UE keeps monitoring for a specific HARQ process ID while the HARQ process timer is running. When the timer expires, the UE uses the received bundle of TBs, with possibly different redundancy versions, to decode the TB. The timer could be connected to each HARQ process, and the network (e.g. the base station302) should not reuse the same HARQ process ID until the timer has expired or if the NDI is toggled. If configured, it would allow the network to send a TB multiple times depending on the load. For times of low load, more redundancy could be achieved and at high load, less redundancy. This embodiment can be used regardless of whether HARQ feedback is turned on or off (i.e., regardless of whether HARQ mechanism(s) are deactivated for the respective HARQ process).

Example: If HARQ process ID 4, 5 and 6 is configured for HARQ process ID bundling with a HARQ process timer set to X ms, the receiver would store all received TBs for a process ID, possibly with different redundancy version, until the timer expires. The received TBs would then be combined before decoding to reduce the probability of decoding error.

FIG.6illustrates the operation of a base station302and a UE308in accordance with at least some aspects of Embodiment 3 described above. Optional steps are represented with dashed lines. As illustrated, the base station302optionally determines (e.g., decides) to enable (non-contiguous) bundling for a specific HARQ process(es) (step600). For example, the base station302may determine to enable (non-contiguous) bundling for a HARQ process(es) for which HARQ mechanism(s) have been disabled. Notably, the HARQ process(es) for which (non-contiguous) bundling is enabled is a subset of all configured HARQ processes. The base station302provides an indication to the UE302of the HARQ process(es) for which bundling is enabled (step602). This indication can be provided to the UE308in any suitable manner such as e.g. indicated dynamically in the received DCI using a bit indication, indicated using a specific RNTI(s), indicated using a MAC CE, indicated semi-static signaling such as, e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, or the like. Optionally, in some embodiments, the base station302also provides, to the UE308, an indication HARQ process timer value(s) for the HARQ process(es) for which bundling is enabled (step604). This indication may be provided to the UE308in any suitable manner such as, e.g., dynamically in the received DCI using a bit indication, using a specific RNTI(s), using a MAC CE, using semi-static signaling such as, e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, or the like. Note that if bundling is enabled for two or more specific HARQ processes, a single HARQ process timer value may be indicated for all of these HARQ processes or separate HARQ process timer values may be indicated for the separate HARQ processes.

At the UE308, the UE308receives the indication in step602and optionally the indication in step604and, based on the received indication(s), determines that bundling is enabled for the specific indicated HARQ process(es) (step606). The UE308starts a HARQ process timer(s) for the indicated HARQ process(es), where the HARQ process timer(s) is set to a value(s) indicated by the base station302in step604or set to value(s) that are otherwise defined for configured. The UE308and the base station312then perform DL/UL data transmission/reception associated with the indicated HAR process(es) with bundling enabled while the respective HARQ process timer(s) is running (step508).

Embodiment 4

Here, a number of example variations for how HARQ process specific bundling is indicated to the UE308are described.

In some embodiment, RRC is used to provide the indication to enable bundling for a specific HARQ process(es). Two examples of RRC configuration are as follows:1. For example, in some embodiments, the RRC configuration can include a table that includes, for each configured HARQ process: (a) the number of repetitions (e.g., the aggregation factor for the HARQ process), (b) an indication of whether HARQ is disabled or not for the specific HARQ process, and/or (c) an indication as to whether non-contiguous bundling is allowed for the HARQ process.2. As another example, the RRC configuration can include configuration for only the specific HARQ process(es) for which HARQ mechanism(s) have been disabled. Instead of indicating for which HARQ process IDs HARQ has been turned off, this can be implicitly determined.a. Example: If 4 Information Elements (IEs) are included in the RRC configuration, then the HARQ process IDs 0, 1, 2, 3 have been turned off and the corresponding bundling in those IEs should be used according to the order of the IEs.

In some other embodiments, a combination of RRC and MAC CE or a combination of RRC and DCI is used to configure bundling for a specific HARQ process(es).

In some other embodiments, RRC configures a set of bundling and HARQ on/off states for given HARQ process or common to all HARQ processes. MAC CE or DCI may then indicate which of the preconfigured states becomes active/deactive. Option 1 is that each HARQ process is configured with N possible states, where one state can mean bundling is assumed and no HARQ, or bundling is assumed and HARQ is also enabled. Option 2, the configuration state is common for all HARQ processes and MAC CE or DCI indicated which state is assumed for the UE. The states may be indexed such that those can be referred by MAC CE or predefined ordering is assumed. E.g. first bit in MAC CE refers to first state in the list of configured states.

In some other embodiments, a combination of RRC and RNTI to activate/deactivate bundling for a specific HARQ process(es) is used.

In some other embodiments, DCI is used to configure bundling for a specific HARQ process(es).

In some other embodiments, given the mapping that configures the amount of bundles for each HARQ process ID, in MAC CE or DCI the amount of bundling on each HARQ process is controlled by either signalling increase, decrease or maintain. As an example, if the current bundling number is 32 for HARQ process ID 4, then if MAC CE signals an increase on HARQ process ID then the bundling number is increased to 64.

Embodiment 5

In case a UE is configured with bundling in both contiguous or non-contiguous mode, the UE can try to decode the data after each received TB within the bundle. In case the UE is able to decode the data, it can discard future TBs within the same bundle (same HARQ process ID), this will lead to energy savings at the UE side. Optionally, the UE can feedback to the NW indicating successful transmission of the TB and thus NW could terminate transmission early (instead of blindly sending aggregationFactor times of the TB).

Since the network is interested in sending as much information as possible, while minimizing the resource overhead. The UE can feedback the decoding information of the bundle to enable the network to set optimal TB sizes, bundling parameters, MCS, in order to optimize the resource utilization for future communication with said UE. The UE reported feedback could be, e.g.:the number of used TBs within the bundle needed to decode the data,indices of the needed TBs to decode the data, and/orsignal quality information of each TB.

Embodiment 6

A parameter for logical channel prioritization, LCP, that can be indicated in e.g. a grant is provided. If this indication is included, the UE may only include data from specific LCH that are allowed to send data on HARQ processes with HARQ Feedback disabled. If not included, any LCH are valid for the grant.

Example: HARQ process IDs 4 and 5 are configured to not send HARQ feedback. A grant is received in the UE to be used together with HARQ process ID=4. The LCP in the is then only allowed to include data from LCHs that indicates that data from these buffers are ok to be sent without feedback.

FIG.7illustrates the operation of a base station302and a UE308in accordance with at least some aspects of Embodiment 6. Optional steps are represented with dashed lines. As illustrated, the base station302optionally determines (e.g., decides) an indication for mapping data (step700). The base station302provides to the UE302of an indication for mapping data that can be sent on one or more of specific HARQ processes (step702). This indication can be provided to the UE308in any suitable manner such as e.g. in a grant, indicated dynamically in the received DCI using a bit indication, indicated using a specific RNTI(s), indicated using a MAC CE, indicated semi-static signaling such as, e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, or the like.

At the UE308, the UE308receives the indication in step702(step704). The UE308and the base station312then perform transmission/reception of a transmission based on the received indication (step706).

Embodiment 7

In some embodiments, a repetition is configured for a certain logical channel with a certain logical channel priority. This can be configured directly by RRC in LogicalChannelConfig IE with a parameter giving the repetition order. This means then when receiving MAC SDU from such logical channel, MAC entity forms the configured number of MAC PDUs of the same MAC SDU.

Additional Description Applicable to All Embodiments

FIG.8is a schematic block diagram of a radio access node800according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The radio access node800may be, for example, the base station302or the combination of the base station302and the base station antenna304described above. As illustrated, the radio access node800includes a control system802that includes one or more processors804(e.g., Central Processing Units (CPUs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and/or the like), memory806, and a network interface808. The one or more processors804are also referred to herein as processing circuitry. In addition, in some embodiments, the radio access node800includes one or more radio units810that each includes one or more transmitters812and one or more receivers814coupled to one or more antennas816. The radio units810may be referred to or be part of radio interface circuitry. In some embodiments, the radio unit(s)810is external to the control system802and connected to the control system802via, e.g., a wired connection (e.g., an optical cable). For example, the control system802may be implemented in the base station302, and the radio unit(s)810and antennas816may be implemented in the base station antenna304. However, in some other embodiments, the radio unit(s)810and potentially the antenna(s)816are integrated together with the control system802. The one or more processors804operate to provide one or more functions of a radio access node800(e.g., one or more functions of the base station, eNB, or gNB) as described herein. In some embodiments, the function(s) are implemented in software that is stored, e.g., in the memory806and executed by the one or more processors804.

FIG.9is a schematic block diagram that illustrates a virtualized embodiment of the radio access node800according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. This discussion is equally applicable to other types of network nodes. Further, other types of network nodes may have similar virtualized architectures.

As used herein, a “virtualized” radio access node is an implementation of the radio access node800in which at least a portion of the functionality of the radio access node800is implemented as a virtual component(s) (e.g., via a virtual machine(s) executing on a physical processing node(s) in a network(s)). As illustrated, in this example, the radio access node800includes one or more processing nodes900coupled to or included as part of a network(s)902via the network interface808. Each processing node900includes one or more processors904(e.g., CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, and/or the like), memory906, and a network interface908. Optionally, the radio access node800includes the control system802and/or the radio unit(s)810, depending on the particular implementation.

In this example, functions910of the radio access node800described herein (e.g., functions of the base station, eNB, or gNB described herein) are implemented at the one or more processing nodes900or distributed across the control system802and the one or more processing nodes900in any desired manner. In some particular embodiments, some or all of the functions910of the radio access node800described herein are implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in a virtual environment(s) hosted by the processing node(s)900. Notably, in some embodiments, the control system802may not be included, in which case the radio unit(s)810can communicate directly with the processing node(s)900via an appropriate network interface(s).

In some embodiments, a computer program including instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to carry out the functionality of radio access node800or a node (e.g., a processing node900) implementing one or more of the functions910of the radio access node800in a virtual environment according to any of the embodiments described herein is provided. In some embodiments, a carrier comprising the aforementioned computer program product is provided. The carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable medium such as memory).

FIG.10is a schematic block diagram of the radio access node800according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. The radio access node800includes one or more modules1000, each of which is implemented in software. The module(s)1000provide the functionality of the radio access node800described herein. This discussion is equally applicable to the processing node900ofFIG.9where the modules1000may be implemented at one of the processing nodes900or distributed across multiple processing nodes900and/or distributed across the processing node(s)900and the control system802.

FIG.11is a schematic block diagram of a UE1100according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated, the UE1100includes one or more processors1102(e.g., CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, and/or the like), memory1104, and one or more transceivers1106each including one or more transmitters1108and one or more receivers1110coupled to one or more antennas1112. The transceiver(s)1106includes radio-front end circuitry connected to the antenna(s)1112that is configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna(s)1112and the processor(s)1102, as will be appreciated by on of ordinary skill in the art. The processors1102are also referred to herein as processing circuitry. The transceivers1106are also referred to herein as radio circuitry. In some embodiments, the functionality of the UE1100(i.e., the functionality of the UE) described above may be fully or partially implemented in software that is, e.g., stored in the memory1104and executed by the processor(s)1102. Note that the UE1100may include additional components not illustrated inFIG.11such as, e.g., one or more user interface components (e.g., an input/output interface including a display, buttons, a touch screen, a microphone, a speaker(s), and/or the like and/or any other components for allowing input of information into the UE1100and/or allowing output of information from the UE1100), a power supply (e.g., a battery and associated power circuitry), etc.

In some embodiments, a computer program including instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to carry out the functionality of the UE1100according to any of the embodiments described herein is provided. In some embodiments, a carrier comprising the aforementioned computer program product is provided. The carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable medium such as memory).

FIG.12is a schematic block diagram of the UE1100according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. The UE1100includes one or more modules1200, each of which is implemented in software. The module(s)1200provide the functionality of the UE1100described herein.

With reference toFIG.13, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunication network1300, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises an access network1302, such as a RAN, and a core network1304. The access network1302comprises a plurality of base stations1306A,1306B,1306C, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs, or other types of wireless Access Points (APs), each defining a corresponding coverage area1308A,1308B,1308C. Each base station1306A,1306B,1306C is connectable to the core network1304over a wired or wireless connection1310. A first UE1312located in coverage area1308C is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station1306C. A second UE1314in coverage area1308A is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station1306A. While a plurality of UEs1312,1314are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station1306.

The telecommunication network1300is itself connected to a host computer1316, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, or as processing resources in a server farm. The host computer1316may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. Connections1318and1320between the telecommunication network1300and the host computer1316may extend directly from the core network1304to the host computer1316or may go via an optional intermediate network1322. The intermediate network1322may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private, or hosted network; the intermediate network1322, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network1322may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system ofFIG.13as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs1312,1314and the host computer1316. The connectivity may be described as an Over-the-Top (OTT) connection1324. The host computer1316and the connected UEs1312,1314are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via the OTT connection1324, using the access network1302, the core network1304, any intermediate network1322, and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection1324may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection1324passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, the base station1306may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from the host computer1316to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE1312. Similarly, the base station1306need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE1312towards the host computer1316.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station, and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference toFIG.14. In a communication system1400, a host computer1402comprises hardware1404including a communication interface1406configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system1400. The host computer1402further comprises processing circuitry1408, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuitry1408may comprise one or more programmable processors, ASICs, FPGAs, or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The host computer1402further comprises software1410, which is stored in or accessible by the host computer1402and executable by the processing circuitry1408. The software1410includes a host application1412. The host application1412may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as a UE1414connecting via an OTT connection1416terminating at the UE1414and the host computer1402. In providing the service to the remote user, the host application1412may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection1416.

The communication system1400further includes a base station1418provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware1420enabling it to communicate with the host computer1402and with the UE1414. The hardware1420may include a communication interface1422for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system1400, as well as a radio interface1424for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection1426with the UE1414located in a coverage area (not shown inFIG.14) served by the base station1418. The communication interface1422may be configured to facilitate a connection1428to the host computer1402. The connection1428may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown inFIG.14) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the embodiment shown, the hardware1420of the base station1418further includes processing circuitry1430, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, ASICs, FPGAs, or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The base station1418further has software1432stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

The communication system1400further includes the UE1414already referred to. The UE's1414hardware1434may include a radio interface1436configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection1426with a base station serving a coverage area in which the UE1414is currently located. The hardware1434of the UE1414further includes processing circuitry1438, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, ASICs, FPGAs, or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE1414further comprises software1440, which is stored in or accessible by the UE1414and executable by the processing circuitry1438. The software1440includes a client application1442. The client application1442may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE1414, with the support of the host computer1402. In the host computer1402, the executing host application1412may communicate with the executing client application1442via the OTT connection1416terminating at the UE1414and the host computer1402. In providing the service to the user, the client application1442may receive request data from the host application1412and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection1416may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application1442may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

It is noted that the host computer1402, the base station1418, and the UE1414illustrated inFIG.14may be similar or identical to the host computer1316, one of the base stations1306A,1306B,1306C, and one of the UEs1312,1314ofFIG.13, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown inFIG.14and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that ofFIG.13.

InFIG.14, the OTT connection1416has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host computer1402and the UE1414via the base station1418without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. The network infrastructure may determine the routing, which may be configured to hide from the UE1414or from the service provider operating the host computer1402, or both. While the OTT connection1416is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).

The wireless connection1426between the UE1414and the base station1418is 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 UE1414using the OTT connection1416, in which the wireless connection1426forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve e.g., data rate, latency, and/or power consumption and thereby provide benefits such as e.g., reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, better responsiveness, and/or extended battery lifetime.

A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency, and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection1416between the host computer1402and the UE1414, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection1416may be implemented in the software1410and the hardware1404of the host computer1402or in the software1440and the hardware1434of the UE1414, or both. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection1416passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which the software1410,1440may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection1416may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the base station1418, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station1418. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating the host computer1402's measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency, and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that the software1410and1440causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection1416while it monitors propagation times, errors, etc.

FIG.15is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE which may be those described with reference toFIGS.13and14. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references toFIG.15will be included in this section. In step1500, the host computer provides user data. In sub-step1502(which may be optional) of step1500, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step1504, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In step1506(which may be optional), 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 step1508(which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

FIG.16is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE which may be those described with reference toFIGS.13and14. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references toFIG.16will be included in this section. In step1600of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional sub-step (not shown) the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step1602, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step1604(which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

FIG.17is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE which may be those described with reference toFIGS.13and14. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references toFIG.17will be included in this section. In step1700(which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step1702, the UE provides user data. In sub-step1704(which may be optional) of step1700, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In sub-step1706(which may be optional) of step1702, the UE executes a client application which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed client application may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE initiates, in sub-step1708(which may be optional), transmission of the user data to the host computer. In step1710of 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.18is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE which may be those described with reference toFIGS.13and14. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references toFIG.18will be included in this section. In step1800(which may be optional), in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In step1802(which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step1804(which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include Digital Signal Processor (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

While processes in the figures may show a particular order of operations performed by certain embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that such order is exemplary (e.g., alternative embodiments may perform the operations in a different order, combine certain operations, overlap certain operations, etc.).

Group S Embodiments

1. A method performed by a wireless device for mapping data to specific HARQ processes, the method comprising at least one of:receiving (WT402) an indication that maps data that can be sent on one or more of specific HARQ processes; andtransmitting/receiving (WT406) a transmission for the specific HARQ process based on the received indication.

2. The method of embodiment 1 wherein the indication comprises a parameter for logical channel prioritization, LCP.

3. The method of embodiment 1 or 2 wherein the indication is a grant or within a grant.

4. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 3 further comprising including only data from specific logical channels, LCH, that are allowed to send data on HARQ processes with HARQ feedback disabled, based on the received indication.

5. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 3 wherein based on the received indication and/or absence of a received indication, the wireless device interprets that any logical channel, LCH, is valid for a grant.

6. The method of embodiment 1 or 2 further comprising receiving (WT104), from the base station, an indication of a number of repetitions to use for bundling for the specific HARQ process.

Group T Embodiments

7. A method performed by a base station for mapping data to specific HARQ processes, the method comprising at least one of:determining (e.g., deciding) an indication for mapping data (step WT400). sending (WT402) to a user equipment an indication that maps data that can be sent on one or more of specific HARQ processes.

8. The method of embodiment 1 wherein the indication comprises a parameter for logical channel prioritization, LCP.

9. The method of embodiment 1 or 2 wherein the indication is a grant or within a grant.

10. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 3 further comprising including only data from specific logical channels, LCH, that are allowed to send data on HARQ processes with HARQ feedback disabled, based on the received indication.

11. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 3 wherein based on the received indication and/or absence of a received indication, the wireless device interprets that any logical channel, LCH, is valid for a grant.

12. The method of embodiment 1 or 2 further comprising receiving (WT104), from the base station, an indication of a number of repetitions to use for bundling for the specific HARQ process.

Group A Embodiments

1. A method performed by a wireless device for enabling bundling for a specific HARQ process, the method comprising at least one of: receiving (402,502,602), from a base station, an indication that bundling of transport blocks is enabled for a specific HARQ process (or a specific subset of all configured HARQ processes); determining (406,506,606) that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process based on the received indication; andtransmitting/receiving (408,508,610) a transmission for the specific HARQ process with bundling enabled.

2. The method of embodiment 1 wherein the specific HARQ process is a HARQ process for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated.

3. The method of embodiment 1 or 2 further comprising receiving (404), from the base station, an indication of a number of repetitions to use for bundling for the specific HARQ process.

4. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 3 wherein non-contiguous bundling is allowed for the specific HARQ process.

5. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 3 wherein the bundling for the specific HARQ process is non-contiguous bundling.

6. The method of embodiment 4 or 5 further comprising receiving (504), from the base station, an indication of a non-contiguous bundling pattern to be used for non-contiguous bundling for the specific HARQ process.

7. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 6 wherein, for bundling for the specific HARQ process, a codeword for the transmission is generated, rate matched, and mapped to resource elements from available symbols assigned to each transport block used for the bundling.

8. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 7 further comprising:starting (608) a timer upon determining (606) that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process based on the received indication;wherein transmitting/receiving (408,508,610) the transmission for the specific HARQ process with bundling enabled comprises transmitting/receiving (610) the transmission for the specific HARQ process with bundling enabled while the timer is running.

9. The method of embodiment 8 wherein the transmission is a downlink transmission, and transmitting/receiving (610) the transmission for the specific HARQ process with bundling enabled while the timer is running comprises:receiving two or more bundled transport blocks for the specific process while the timer is running; anddecoding a transport block for the downlink transmission using the two or more bundled transport blocks (e.g., after the timer has expired).

10. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein receiving the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises receiving the indication via dynamic signaling (e.g., in a DCI message scheduling the transmission, in a MAC CE, by using a specific RNTI) or semi-static signaling (e.g., RRC signaling).

11. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein receiving the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises receiving a DCI message scheduling the transmission, wherein the DCI message comprises a NDI field that is repurposed to provide the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process.

12. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein receiving the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises receiving the indication via RRC signaling.

13. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein receiving the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises receiving indication via a combination of RRC signaling and dynamic signaling (e.g., MAC CE or DCI).

14. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein receiving the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises receiving the indication via a combination of RRC signaling and a specific RNTI.

15. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein receiving the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises receiving a DCI message comprising the indication.

16. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein receiving the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises receiving a message to increase bundling (e.g., increase aggregation factor) for the specific HARQ process.

17. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein receiving the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises receiving a message to decrease bundling (e.g., decrease aggregation factor) for the specific HARQ process.

18. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein receiving the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises receiving a message to maintain bundling (e.g., maintain aggregation factor) for the specific HARQ process.

19. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 18 wherein the transmission is a downlink transmission, and the method further comprises attempting to decode the transmission before all transport blocks in a respective bundle have been received.

20. The method of embodiment 19 further comprising discarding all remaining transport blocks in the respective bundle if the attempt to decode the transmission is successful.

21. The method of embodiment 19 or 20 further comprising providing feedback to the base station comprising information related to decoding of the bundle.

22. The method of any one of the embodiments 1 to 21 wherein the base station is a base station of a satellite-based radio access network.

23. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 22 wherein transmitting/receiving the transmission comprises transmitting/receiving the transmission via a satellite link.

24. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising:providing user data; andforwarding the user data to a host computer via the transmission to the base station.

Group B Embodiments

25. A method performed by a base station for enabling bundling for a specific HARQ process, the method comprising at least one of:sending (402,502,602), to a wireless device, an indication that bundling of transport blocks is enabled for a specific HARQ process (or a specific subset of all configured HARQ processes); andtransmitting/receiving (408,508,610), to/from the wireless device, a transmission for the specific HARQ process with bundling enabled.

26. The method of embodiment 25 wherein the specific HARQ process is a HARQ process for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated.

27. The method of embodiment 25 or 26 further comprising sending (404), to the wireless device, an indication of a number of repetitions to use for bundling for the specific HARQ process.

28. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 27 wherein non-contiguous bundling is allowed for the specific HARQ process.

29. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 27 wherein the bundling for the specific HARQ process is non-contiguous bundling.

30. The method of embodiment 28 or 29 further comprising sending (504), to the wireless device, an indication of a non-contiguous bundling pattern to be used for non-contiguous bundling for the specific HARQ process.

31. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 30 wherein, for bundling for the specific HARQ process, a codeword for the transmission is generated, rate matched, and mapped to resource elements from available symbols assigned to each transport block used for the bundling.

32. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 31 further comprising providing, to the wireless device, a value for a timer related to bundling for the specific HARQ process.

33. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 32 wherein sending the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises sending the indication via dynamic signaling (e.g., in a DCI message scheduling the transmission, in a MAC CE, by using a specific RNTI) or semi-static signaling (e.g., RRC signaling).

34. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 32 wherein sending the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises sending a DCI message scheduling the transmission, wherein the DCI message comprises a NDI field that is repurposed to provide the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process.

35. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 32 wherein sending the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises sending the indication via RRC signaling.

36. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 32 wherein sending the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises sending indication via a combination of RRC signaling and dynamic signaling (e.g., MAC CE or DCI).

37. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 32 wherein sending the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises sending the indication via a combination of RRC signaling and a specific RNTI.

38. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 32 wherein sending the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises sending a DCI message comprising the indication.

39. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 32 wherein sending the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises sending a message to increase bundling (e.g., increase aggregation factor) for the specific HARQ process.

40. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 32 wherein sending the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises sending a message to decrease bundling (e.g., decrease aggregation factor) for the specific HARQ process.

41. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 32 wherein sending the indication that bundling is enabled for the specific HARQ process comprises sending a message to maintain bundling (e.g., maintain aggregation factor) for the specific HARQ process.

42. The method of embodiment 25 or 32 further comprising receiving, from the wireless device, feedback comprising information related to decoding of the bundle.

43. The method of any one of the embodiments 25 to 42 wherein the base station is a base station of a satellite-based radio access network.

44. The method of any one of embodiments 25 to 43 wherein transmitting/receiving the transmission comprises transmitting/receiving the transmission via a satellite link.

45. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising:obtaining user data; andforwarding the user data to a host computer or a wireless device.

Group C Embodiments

46. A wireless device for deactivating HARQ mechanisms, the wireless device comprising:processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; andpower supply circuitry configured to supply power to the wireless device.

47. A base station for deactivating HARQ mechanisms, the base station comprising:processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; andpower supply circuitry configured to supply power to the base station.

48. A User Equipment, UE, for deactivating HARQ mechanisms, the UE comprising:an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals;radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry;the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments;an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry;an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; anda battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

49. A communication system including a host computer comprising:processing circuitry configured to provide user data; anda communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a User Equipment, UE;wherein the cellular network comprises a base station having a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station's processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

50. The communication system of the previous embodiment further including the base station.

51. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.

52. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein:the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; andthe UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.

53. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising:at the host computer, providing user data; andat the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the base station performs any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

54. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the base station, transmitting the user data.

55. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host computer by executing a host application, the method further comprising, at the UE, executing a client application associated with the host application.

56. A User Equipment, UE, configured to communicate with a base station, the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform the method of the previous 3 embodiments.

57. A communication system including a host computer comprising:processing circuitry configured to provide user data; anda communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a User Equipment, UE;wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE's components configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

58. The communication system of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a base station configured to communicate with the UE.

59. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein:the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; andthe UE's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.

60. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising:at the host computer, providing user data; andat the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

61. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the UE, receiving the user data from the base station.

62. A communication system including a host computer comprising:communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a User Equipment, UE, to a base station;wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE's processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

63. The communication system of the previous embodiment, further including the UE.

64. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface configured to communicate with the UE and a communication interface configured to forward to the host computer the user data carried by a transmission from the UE to the base station.

65. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein:the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; andthe UE's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data.

66. The communication system of the previous 4 embodiments, wherein:the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing request data; andthe UE's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data in response to the request data.

67. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising:at the host computer, receiving user data transmitted to the base station from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

68. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the UE, providing the user data to the base station.

69. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising:at the UE, executing a client application, thereby providing the user data to be transmitted; andat the host computer, executing a host application associated with the client application.

70. The method of the previous 3 embodiments, further comprising:at the UE, executing a client application; andat the UE, receiving input data to the client application, the input data being provided at the host computer by executing a host application associated with the client application;wherein the user data to be transmitted is provided by the client application in response to the input data.

71. A communication system including a host computer comprising a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a User Equipment, UE, to a base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station's processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

72. The communication system of the previous embodiment further including the base station.

73. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.

74. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein:the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; andthe UE is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data to be received by the host computer.

75. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising:at the host computer, receiving, from the base station, user data originating from a transmission which the base station has received from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

76. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the base station, receiving the user data from the UE.

77. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising at the base station, initiating a transmission of the received user data to the host computer.

Abbreviations

At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. If there is an inconsistency between abbreviations, preference should be given to how it is used above. If listed multiple times below, the first listing should be preferred over any subsequent listing(s).3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership ProjectBS Base StationBL/CE Bandwidth Limited/Coverage ExtendedCP Cyclic PrefixDRX Discontinuous ReceptionGEO Geostationary OrbitGPS Global Positioning SystemGW GatewayLEO Low Earth OrbitLTE Long Term EvolutionMAC Medium Access ControlMEO Medium Earth OrbitMsg1 Message 1Msg2 Message 2Msg3 Message 3Msg4 Message 4NGSO Non-Geostationary OrbitNR New RadioRTT Round-Trip TimeRRC Radio Resource ControlSI System InformationSR Scheduling RequestsTA Timing AdvanceUE User EquipmentSC_PTM Single-cell point-to-multipointSC_MTCH Single-cell multicast traffic channelSC_MCCH Single-cell multicast control channelHARQ Hybrid automatic repeat request

Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.