Patent ID: 8798102

Claim:
A method for scheduling uplink transmission of data packets between a user side and a network side in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: estimating, on the network side, the timing with which data packets are being available for uplink transmission in a User Equipment (UE) on the user side, wherein said data packets are assumed to be generated periodically and available for uplink transmission with a given periodicity unless subjected to unexpected delay; performing, on the network side, uplink scheduling in accordance with the estimated timing to provide time alignment of UE data packet availability and allocated resources for uplink transmission; detecting, on the network side, lost time alignment of UE data packet availability and allocated resources for uplink transmission based on reception of a predefined UE response on the uplink data channel that differs from the expected periodically generated data packets; and determining, on the network side and in response to lost time alignment, an updated estimate of the timing with which data packets are being available for uplink transmission in the UE based on information representative of an alignment interval within which data packets are being available for uplink transmission in the UE after detection of lost time alignment; and performing, on the network side, uplink scheduling in accordance with the updated estimate of the timing with which data packets are being available for uplink transmission in the UE to re-establish time alignment of UE data packet availability and allocated resources for uplink transmission.