Patent ID: 12200676

DESCRIPTION

Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

The following sets forth specific details, such as particular embodiments or examples for purposes of explanation and not limitation. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that other examples may be employed apart from these specific details. In some instances, detailed descriptions of well-known methods, nodes, interfaces, circuits, and devices are omitted so as not obscure the description with unnecessary detail. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the functions described may be implemented in one or more nodes using hardware circuitry (e.g., analog and/or discrete logic gates interconnected to perform a specialized function, ASICs, PLAs, etc.) and/or using software programs and data in conjunction with one or more digital microprocessors or general purpose computers. Nodes that communicate using the air interface also have suitable radio communications circuitry. Moreover, where appropriate the technology can additionally be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of computer-readable memory, such as solid-state memory, magnetic disk, or optical disk containing an appropriate set of computer instructions that would cause a processor to carry out the techniques described herein.

Hardware implementation may include or encompass, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, a reduced instruction set processor, hardware (e.g., digital or analogue) circuitry including but not limited to application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC) and/or field programmable gate array(s) (FPGA(s)), and (where appropriate) state machines capable of performing such functions.

Embodiments described herein relate to methods and apparatuses to allow for flexible bandwidth utilisation. In particular, a first radio frequency bandwidth for a first radio frequency branch may be determined based on one or more factors associated with traffic served by a plurality of radio frequency bandwidth parts (e.g. subcarriers).

The invention introduces a mechanism to allow scheduler to determine each radio frequency bandwidth part's (here, radio frequency bandwidth part may be a partial frequency range in an entire carrier) branch number.

FIG.2illustrates a method for configuring communication between a base station and at least one wireless device, the base station using an antenna array, wherein antenna ports in the antenna array are coupled to radio frequency branches. It will be appreciated that each antenna port in the antenna array may be coupled to one or more physical antennas. The method may be performed by a scheduler in a network. The scheduler may form part of the base station or may be another node in the network.

In step201, the method comprises determining a first radio frequency bandwidth (RFBW) for a first radio frequency branch (RF branch) based on one or more factors associated with traffic served by a plurality of radio frequency bandwidth parts. The plurality of radio frequency bandwidth parts may each comprise one or more subcarrier. The plurality of radio frequency bandwidth parts may for example comprise a first radio frequency bandwidth part and a second radio frequency bandwidth part. For example, the first radio frequency bandwidth part may comprise a first set of subcarriers, and the second radio frequency bandwidth part may comprise a second set of subcarriers.

Step201may further comprise determining a second RFBW for a second RF branch based on the one or more factors associated with the traffic served by the plurality of radio frequency bandwidth parts.

In step202, the method comprises configuring the first RF branch to serve frequencies within the first RFBW.

Step202may further comprise configuring the second radio frequency branch to serve frequencies within the second radio frequency bandwidth. In some examples, the first RFBW and the second RFBW partially overlap.

Effectively, in step201, the method allows for the allocation of different RFBWs to different RF branches based on the radio frequency bandwidth parts of the system, and what traffic they are carrying. In other words, the allocation of the different RFBWs may be performed unevenly across the total bandwidth, in order to accommodate for differing requirements of different radio frequency bandwidth parts. For example, in some cases a first radio frequency bandwidth part (of the plurality of radio frequency bandwidth parts) is served by a first number of RF branches and a second radio frequency bandwidth part (of the plurality of radio frequency bandwidth parts) is served by a second number of RF branches, wherein the first number is different to the second number.

It will, however, be appreciated that in some examples, the traffic being served by the radio frequency bandwidth parts in the system may be best served by evenly split RFBWs, for example as illustrated inFIG.1. However, the method ofFIG.2allows for the RFBWs to be distributed differently in some circumstances.

The impacts of not using all available RF branches to serve each radio frequency bandwidth part may be similarly to those described above with reference toFIG.1. However, by allowing for the allocation of the RFBWs to be flexible, the impact on each radio frequency bandwidth part is not fixed and may be adjusted to account for the traffic being served by each radio frequency bandwidth part.

FIG.3illustrates an example of the allocation of RFBWs to different RF branches according to some embodiments.

In this example, the total bandwidth served by the system spans from frequency F1to frequency F2. The RF branch1serves a first RFBW from F3to F2. The RF branch2and RF branch4serve a second RFBW from F4to F5. The RF branch3serves a third RFBW from F6to F7. RF branch5serves a fourth RFBW from F8to F9. RF branch6serves a fifth RFBW from F1to F10.

As can be seen, in this example therefore, the radio frequency bandwidth part, Part1is served by 4 RF branches namely RF branches1to4. Radio frequency bandwidth part, Part2RF branches2to6. Radio frequency bandwidth part, Part3, is served by RF branches2and4to6. The radio frequency bandwidth parts are therefore served by a different numbers of RF branches.

In this example, the RFBWs served by the different branches partially overlap, however, it will be appreciated that in some examples, the different RFBWs may not overlap.

In some examples the RFBWs may be configured for use in an uplink direction or a downlink direction. In other words, the configuration may be different for the uplink and downlink directions. For example, the method ofFIG.2may comprise allocating the first radio frequency bandwidth to a first radio frequency branch for use in uplink communication, and allocating a second radio frequency bandwidth to the first radio frequency branch for use in downlink communication. This difference in the uplink and downlink configurations may be due to differing considerations applied for the uplink and downlink directions.

In some examples, step201ofFIG.2may comprise determining the first number based on the one or more factors associated with the first radio frequency bandwidth part; and selecting the first radio frequency bandwidth for the first radio frequency branch based on the first number.

In some examples, the one or more factors comprises whether the first radio frequency bandwidth part is serving a wireless device having at least one radio condition not meeting a predetermined criteria. For example, wireless devices located towards a cell edge may represent a power limited case (e.g. a power related radio condition may not meet a predetermined criteria). These wireless devices may benefit from being served by a higher number of RF branches. A wireless device may have a limited maximum output power (normally 23 dBm in 4G/5G). This maximum output power may then determine the coverage of in the uplink direction. It may be that the only way to increase the uplink coverage is to increase the antenna gain of the base station. This may be performed by using more antenna elements, and therefore more RF branches in the base station to serve the first radio frequency bandwidth part. Similarly in the downlink direction, by using more RF branches when transmitting to a particular wireless device, the antenna gain, but also the total power used for this wireless device may be increased.

For example, wireless devices having a radio condition not meeting a predetermined criteria may comprise wireless devices to which serval HARQ retransmissions has been performed. In this case, the HARQ process may fail if next HARQ retransmission fails again, and if HARQ process fail, it will may trigger Radio Link Control RLC retransmission which may result in too much latency for uplink data transmission, or packet drops for VoIP services.

In these examples, the step201may comprise, responsive to the first radio frequency bandwidth part serving a wireless device having at least one radio condition not meeting a predetermined criteria, setting the first number as higher than if the first radio frequency bandwidth part was not serving a wireless device at least one radio condition not meeting a predetermined condition. In other words, it will be appreciated that in these examples increasing the uplink allocated bandwidth to each wireless device, may not be beneficial to uplink throughput (due to power limitation of the wireless device), but increasing the uplink number of receiving RF branches may improve the uplink sensitivity.

In some examples, the one or more factors comprises whether the first radio frequency bandwidth part is serving a wireless device having high or low Guaranteed Bit Rate, GBR, requirement.

In these examples step201may comprise responsive to the first radio frequency bandwidth part serving a wireless device having a first GBR requirement, setting the first number as higher than if the first radio frequency bandwidth part was serving a wireless device having a second GBR requirement higher than the first GBR requirement.

In some examples, the one or more factors comprises a number of wireless devices served by the first radio frequency bandwidth part.

In these examples step201may comprise determining the first number such that the first number increases with the number of wireless devices served by the first radio frequency bandwidth part.

For example, it may be desirable for more RF branches to be allocated to a radio frequency bandwidth part if multiple wireless devices are performing MU-MIMO (Multi-User MIMO) with high number of multiplexing layers (which may cause interference especially MU-MIMO self-interference). In this example, increasing the number of uplink receiving RF branches may significantly increase uplink interference suppression capability at base station side. On the other hand, if a wireless device is in a cell center and served as SU-MIMO (Single User MIMO) mode or MU-MIMO but with lower number of multiplexing layers, the wireless device may have relatively a higher power headroom to support more bandwidth if each radio frequency bandwidth part's channel capacity is reduced due to a low number of RF branches serving the radio frequency bandwidth part. In this case, the base station may use fewer receiving RF branches to serve the wireless device with required throughput.

In general, it will be appreciated that some wireless devices may be adequately served with fewer receiving RF branches, while other wireless devices may require more RF branches. The scheduler may allocate a number of RF branches to the radio frequency bandwidth parts, and may then allocate RFBWs to the RF branches accordingly.

For some common channels, for example Sounding Reference Signals SRS, in order for the base station to receive full frequency coverage, the base station may receive multiple SRS on fractional frequency pieces on different branches, and may combine the signals received on the different branches to determine an SRS covering total bandwidth.

For downlink (DL) communication different channels may use different approaches to adapt flexible RFBW.

For example, step201may comprise responsive to the first radio frequency bandwidth part serving a synchronization signal block SSB channel, setting the first number as equal to a total number of radio frequency branches. In other words, in order to transmit the SSB channel with enough power, it may be transmitted on all RF branches. In this example, the SSB channel may be attributed to only part of the RFBW served by each branch, for example, as illustrated inFIG.4a. The overlapping parts of each RFBW for each RF branch are serving the SSB channel, but the remaining parts of each RFBW may be flexibly used for data transmission. A similar procedure may be performed in response to the first radio frequency bandwidth part serving a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) (PDCCH in Control-resource set (CORESET)) (instead of SSB). The PDSCH is self-contained channel with Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), therefore the wireless device will not assume inter-TTI filtering DMRS, and hence dynamically changing the partial BW allocation based on scheduler is allowable.

Alternatively, in order to transmit the SSB channel with enough power, the SSB channel may be transmitted across the entire RFBW of only some of the radio frequency branches, as illustrated inFIG.4b. InFIG.4bthe full RFBW of RF branches1and2is used to transmit the SSB. In other words, step201may comprise responsive to the first radio frequency bandwidth part serving a synchronization signal block, SSB, channel, configuring the SSB channel to be transmitted using the entire radio frequency bandwidth of the RF branches allocated to the first radio frequency bandwidth part.

For some channels, for example Channel State Information Reference Signals (CSI-RS) it may be necessary for the channel to be transmitted across the full total bandwidth. For example, for acquiring Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) information and any related link adaption. In these circumstances, frequency hopping may be used.

For example, the method may comprise, responsive to transmitting a channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, using a first RFBW on a first radio frequency branch in a first transmission time interval, transmitting the CSI-RS using a second RFBW on the first radio frequency branch in a second transmission time interval. In this example, the first radio frequency bandwidth and the second radio frequency bandwidth may together cover the total bandwidth served by the antenna array. It will be appreciated that any number of frequency hops may be used to cover the full total bandwidth. A similar procedure may be performed for transmitting LTE PDCCH and/or CRS (instead of CSI-RS).

The scheduling based on CSI-RS may be periodic, semi-persistent or aperiodic.

FIG.5illustrates an example in which two CSI-RS are transmitted. In this example two frequency hops are utilized. It will be appreciated that in some examples more than two CSI-RS may be transmitted, and/or more than two frequency hops may be used.

In the first time instance (i.e the first frequency hop), illustrated by the left hand graph, the RF branch1transmits CSI-RS1using RFBW1and RF branch2transmits CSI-RS2using RFBW1. In the same time instance (e.g. the first time instance), RF branch3transmits CSI-RS1using RFBW2and RF branch4transmits CSI-RS2using RFBW2. In this example, each branch may be required to transmit the CSI-RS across the full total bandwidth, therefore in the second time instance (e.g. the second frequency hop) represented by the right hand graph, the RF branches transmit the same CSI-RS on the other RFBW. For example, in the second time instance, the RF branch1transmits CSI-RS1on using RFBW2and RF branch2transmits CSI-RS2using RFBW2. Similarly, RF branch3transmits CSI-RS1on RFBW1and RF branch4transmits CSI-RS2on RFBW1.

FIG.6illustrates uplink scheduling of wireless devices according to some embodiments.

For each Transmission Time Interval (TTI), the scheduler may be responsible for detailed traffic allocation on different frequency resources. The scheduler may therefore be responsible for controlling UL RFBW configuration. However, the scheduler is not standardized, but implementation specific.FIG.6therefore illustrates an example of how the scheduler may perform the method inFIG.2.

In this example, the method ofFIG.2may further comprise determining a subset of wireless devices, wherein each wireless device in the subset is sensitive to a number of radio frequency branches serving a radio frequency bandwidth part associated with the wireless device. In other words, the scheduler may determine which wireless devices would benefit from a higher number of RF branches serving them. The methods described above may be utilized to make this determination.

In the example ofFIG.6, the subset of wireless devices comprises wireless devices UE1, UE2and UE3which are determined to be wireless devices that are sensitive to the number of RF branches serving them.

The method may then further comprise scheduling the subset of wireless devices such that the radio frequency bandwidth parts serving the subset of wireless devices comprise contiguous frequency resources. In other words, the scheduler may place the wireless devices that require a high number of RF branches close together within the total bandwidth (for example at one end of the total bandwidth), for example, so that as many as possible of the subset of wireless devices fall within a single RFBW601. The RFBW601that the subset of wireless devices has been allocated to, may then be more easily allocated to a high number of RF branches. This is compared to say, if the subset of wireless devices were split across the total bandwidth, then more RF branches would be required to serve the same number of wireless devices.

The RFBW601that the subset of wireless devices has been allocated to may then be allocated to a number of RF branches, wherein the number of RF branches is set as the highest number of RF branches required by any one of the subset of wireless devices. For example, if UE1requires 50 RF branches, UE2requires 48 RF branches, and UE3requires 40 branches, then the RFBW601will be allocated to 50 branches.

The method may then further comprise calculating a remaining number of RF branches. For example, the remaining number of RF branches may be the total number of RF branches minus the number of RF branches allocated to RFBW601. In this example, the remaining number of branches is (supposing a 64 RF branch TRX system) therefore 64−50=14.

The remaining number of RF branches (e.g. the14remaining RF branches) may then be allocated to the other wireless devices (e.g. those falling outside of the subset of wireless devices) in a legacy fashion (for example an equal number of RF branches serving each radio frequency bandwidth part).

FIG.7illustrates an example of implementation of a base station700according to some embodiments.

In order to support providing different RFBWs at different RF branches in order to span a total radio frequency bandwidth, Local Oscillators (LOs)701ato701nmay be coupled to each RF branch702ato702n. The Local Oscillators may then be configured by the scheduler (which may form part of the base station, or may form part of a different node in the network, which may remotely control the LOs in the base station). By programming the LOs with different values, the central frequencies of the RFBW provided by each RF branch may be dynamically adjusted.

Each RF branch702ato702nmay comprise an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)703a multiplier704to shift the central frequency of the RFBW, an antenna705(or plurality of antennas coupled to an antenna port), an amplifier such as a low noise amplifier (LNA)706configured to amplify the received signal. Each RF branch may then further comprise a phase shifter707and an Automatic Gain Control (AGC)708.

For a TDD structure, adjustments to the LOs may be applied during guard bands or specific subframes, for example, to avoid impact to DL or UL traffic. For example, changing UL LO for the next UL slot may be performed during a prior DL slot if different LO's are used for UL and DL.

For an FDD structure, the adjustments to the LOs may be interrupt traffic, so scheduling may be necessary to avoid adjustments to the LOs occurring during transmitting or receiving.

InFIG.7a LO for a zero-IF receiver is illustrated, but similar structures may be applied for a transmitter also.

FIG.8illustrates how the different RFBWs received in each branch (RF Branch1,2and N illustrated here) may be converted in the digital domain, for example using digital numerically controlled oscillator (NCO) conversion.

FIG.9illustrates a scheduler900comprising processing circuitry (or logic)901. The processing circuitry901controls the operation of the scheduler900and can implement the method described herein in relation to a scheduler900. The processing circuitry901can comprise one or more processors, processing units, multi-core processors or modules that are configured or programmed to control the scheduler900in the manner described herein. In particular implementations, the processing circuitry901can comprise a plurality of software and/or hardware modules that are each configured to perform, or are for performing, individual or multiple steps of the method described herein in relation to the scheduler900.

Briefly, the scheduler900is configured to determine a first radio frequency bandwidth for a first radio frequency branch based on one or more factors associated with traffic served by a plurality of radio frequency bandwidth parts, and configure the first radio frequency branch to serve frequencies within the first radio frequency bandwidth.

In some embodiments, the scheduler900may optionally comprise a communications interface902. The communications interface902of the scheduler900can be for use in communicating with other nodes, such as other virtual nodes. For example, the communications interface902of the scheduler900can be configured to transmit to and/or receive from other nodes requests, resources, information, data, signals, or similar. The processing circuitry901of scheduler900may be configured to control the communications interface902of the scheduler900to transmit to and/or receive from other nodes requests, resources, information, data, signals, or similar.

Optionally, the scheduler900may comprise a memory903. In some embodiments, the memory903of the scheduler900can be configured to store program code that can be executed by the processing circuitry901of the scheduler900to perform the method described herein in relation to the scheduler900. Alternatively or in addition, the memory903of the scheduler900, can be configured to store any requests, resources, information, data, signals, or similar that are described herein. The processing circuitry901of the scheduler900may be configured to control the memory903of the scheduler900to store any requests, resources, information, data, signals, or similar that are described herein.

With reference toFIG.10, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunication network1010, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises an access network1011, such as a radio access network, and a core network1014. The access network1011comprises a plurality of base stations1012a,1012b,1012c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area1013a,1013b,1013c. Each base station1012a,1012b,1012cis connectable to the core network1014over a wired or wireless connection1015. A first user equipment (UE)1091located in coverage area1013cis configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station1012c. A second UE1092in coverage area1013ais wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station1012a. While a plurality of UEs1091,1092are 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 station1012. It will be appreciated that the base station1012may comprise a scheduler as described above with reference toFIGS.2to9, or may be controller by a scheduler as described above.

The telecommunication network1010is itself connected to a host computer1030, 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 computer1030may 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. The connections1021,1022between the telecommunication network1010and the host computer1030may extend directly from the core network1014to the host computer1030or may go via an optional intermediate network1020. The intermediate network1020may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; the intermediate network1020, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network1020may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system ofFIG.10as a whole enables connectivity between one of the connected UEs1091,1092and the host computer1030. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection1050. The host computer1030and the connected UEs1091,1092are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via the OTT connection1050, using the access network1011, the core network1014, any intermediate network1020and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection1050may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection1050passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, a base station1012may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from a host computer1030to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE1091. Similarly, the base station1012need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE1091towards the host computer1030.

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.11. In a communication system1100, a host computer1110comprises hardware1115including a communication interface1116configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system1100. The host computer1110further comprises processing circuitry1118, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuitry1118may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The host computer1110further comprises software1111, which is stored in or accessible by the host computer1110and executable by the processing circuitry1118. The software1111includes a host application1112. The host application1112may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as a UE1130connecting via an OTT connection1150terminating at the UE1130and the host computer1110. In providing the service to the remote user, the host application1112may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection1150.

The communication system1100further includes a base station1120provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware1125enabling it to communicate with the host computer1110and with the UE1130. The hardware1125may include a communication interface1126for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system1100, as well as a radio interface1127for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection1170with a UE1130located in a coverage area (not shown inFIG.11) served by the base station1120. The communication interface1126may be configured to facilitate a connection1160to the host computer1110. The connection1160may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown inFIG.11) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the embodiment shown, the hardware1125of the base station1120further includes processing circuitry1128, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The base station1120further has software3101stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

The communication system1100further includes the UE1130already referred to. Its hardware1113may include a radio interface1115configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection1170with a base station serving a coverage area in which the UE1130is currently located. The hardware1113of the UE1130further includes processing circuitry1138, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE1130further comprises software1131, which is stored in or accessible by the UE1130and executable by the processing circuitry1138. The software1131includes a client application1110. The client application1110may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE1130, with the support of the host computer1110. In the host computer1110, an executing host application1112may communicate with the executing client application1110via the OTT connection1150terminating at the UE1130and the host computer1110. In providing the service to the user, the client application1110may receive request data from the host application1112and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection1150may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application1110may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

It is noted that the host computer1110, base station1120and UE1130illustrated inFIG.11may be identical to the host computer1030, one of the base stations1012a,1012b,1012cand one of the UEs1091,1092ofFIG.10, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown inFIG.11and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that ofFIG.10.

InFIG.11, the OTT connection1150has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host computer1110and the use equipment1130via the base station1120, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from the UE1130or from the service provider operating the host computer1110, or both. While the OTT connection1150is 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 connection1170between the UE1130and the base station1120is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. [If the radio-related invention has not yet been formulated at the time of drafting a provisional application, the expression “embodiments described throughout this disclosure” is meant to refer to the radio-related embodiments disclosed elsewhere in the application.] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE1130using the OTT connection1150, in which the wireless connection1170forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the coverage of the system by allocating more RF branches to wireless devices with poor radio coverage (for example located at the cell edge).

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 connection1150between the host computer1110and UE1130, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection1150may be implemented in the software1111of the host computer1110or in the software1131of the UE1130, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection1150passes; 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 software1111,1131may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection1150may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the base station1120, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station1120. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating the host computer's1110measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that the software1111,1131causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection1150while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

FIG.12is 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.10and11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references toFIG.12will be included in this section. In a first step1210of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional substep1211of the first step1210, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In a second step1220, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In an optional third step1230, the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional fourth step1240, the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

FIG.13is 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.10and11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references toFIG.13will be included in this section. In a first step1310of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown) the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In a second step1320, 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 an optional third step1330, the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

FIG.14is 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.10and11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references toFIG.14will be included in this section. In an optional first step1410of the method, the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in an optional second step1420, the UE provides user data. In an optional substep1421of the second step1420, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In a further optional substep1411of the first step1410, 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 an optional third substep1430, transmission of the user data to the host computer. In a fourth step1440of 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.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.10and11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references toFIG.15will be included in this section. In an optional first step1510of the method, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In an optional second step1520, the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In a third step1530, the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

There is therefore provided methods and apparatuses for flexibly allocating RFBWs to different RF branches across a total bandwidth. A scheduler may allocate a different number of RF branches to serve radio frequency bandwidth parts associated with different wireless devices, for example, depending on their demand. In UL, more RF branches may be allocated to wireless devices having poor radio conditions, or to wireless devices under some GBR constraint. In DL, different RFBWs may be allocated to different channels depending on channel specific requirements. In particular embodiments described herein may be compatible with standard, and therefore easy to implement, may have no impact on traffic, may be flexible for different base station configurations, provide improved resource and energy efficiency capacity, may not require extra processing, and the resource allocation may follow traffic demand.