RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefits of priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/321,353, entitled “Adaptable TDD scheme for mobile IAB Cells” and filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office on March 18, 2022, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to adaptable TDD schemes for mobile IAB cells, in a wireless communication system.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) Overview

[0004] Fifth Generation (5G) networks are being designed and deployed considering a dense deployment of small cells in order to simultaneously serve more User Equipments (UEs) with higher throughput and lower delay. However, building from scratch a completely new infrastructure is costly and takes time. Deploying a wireless backhaul is then envisioned to be a viable approach to enable flexible and dense networks. This solution was standardized in Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) release 16, under the term Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB), to support wireless relaying in new-generati on-radio access network (NG-RAN) and has continued in release 17.

[0005] IAB is based on the Centralized Unit-Distributed Unit (CU-DU) split that was standardized in release 15. The CU is in charge of the radio resource control (RRC) and the packet data convergence protocol (PCDP), whereas the DU is in charge of the radio link control (RLC) and media access control (MAC). The Fl interface connects the CU and the DU. The CU-DU split facilitates separating physical CU and DU, while also allowing a single CU to be connected to multiple DUs. Fig. 1 shows the basic architecture of IAB.

[0006] For example, Fig. 1 consists of a single IAB donor connected to the core network. The IAB donor serves three direct IAB child nodes through two collocated DUs at the donor for wireless backhauling. The center IAB node in turn serves two IAB nodes through wireless backhaul. All IAB nodes in the figure backhaul traffic both related to UEs connected to it, and other backhaul traffic from child/downstream IAB nodes.

[0007] The main components of the IAB architecture are:

[0008] - an IAB Node: a node that allows wireless access to the UEs while also backhauling the traffic to other nodes. The IAB node consists of at least one DU that provides access to connected UEs. The IAB node also consists of a mobile termination (MT) that connects to other IAB nodes or donors in the uplink direction for backhaul.

[0009] - an IAB Donor: a node that provides UEs an interface to the core network and wireless functionality to other lAB-nodes to backhaul their traffic to the core network.

[0010] The defining feature of IAB is the use of wireless spectrum for both access of UEs and backhauling of data through IAB donors. Thus, there needs to be a clear separation of access and backhaul resources to avoid interference between them. This separation of access and backhaul resources cannot be handled during network planning due to the dynamic nature of IAB. Interference mitigation can consequently be obtained through frequent signal measurements.

[0011] In release (Rel.) 16, IAB was standardized with basic support for multi-hop multi-path backhaul for directed acyclic graph (DAG) topology, no mesh-based topology was supported. Rel. 16 also supports Quality of Service (QoS) prioritization of backhaul traffic and flexible resource usage between access and backhaul. Current discussions in release 17 are on topology enhancements for IAB with partial migration of IAB nodes for Radio Link Failure (RLF) recovery and load balancing.

[0012] Reference can be made to the information below, for further information about already standardized IAB work:

[0013] - Ma apatha, Chantha et al. “On Integrated Access and Backhaul Networks: Current

Status and .Potential sT JEEE Open Journal, of the .Comrnuni nations ..Society 1..(202(B. 1374-1 89;

[0014] - 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.300, Section 4.7;

[0015] - 3GPP TS 38.874 Study on IAB (Not yet in standards).

[0016] In release 18, it is expected that the different RAN groups will work towards enhancing functionalities of IAB through:

[0017] - Focus on mobile IAB (mIAB)/vehicle mounted relays (VMR) providing 5G coverage enhancement to onboard and surrounding UEs.

[0018] The initial use cases for mlAB/VMR are expected to be based on 3GPP Technical

Report (TR) 22.839.

[0019] One of the main use cases of a mlAB cell is to serve the UEs which are residing in a vehicle with the vehicle mounted relay. Other relevant use cases for mlABs involve a mobile/nomadic IAB network node mounted on a vehicle that provides extended coverage. This involves scenarios where additional coverage is required during special events like concerts or, during disasters. The nomadic IAB node provides access to surrounding UEs, while the backhaul traffic from the nomadic IAB node is transmitted wirelessly either with the help of IAB donors or Non-terrestrial networks (NTN). A nomadic IAB node also reduces or even eliminates signal strength loss due to vehicle penetration for UEs that are present in the vehicles.

[0020] Some advantages of mlAB are:

[0021] - Reducing/ eliminating the vehicle penetration loss (especially at high frequency), and

[0022] - Reducing/eliminating multiple handovers.

[0023] Interference Management in mlAB scenarios

[0024] A challenge that appears in scenarios with mlAB/VMRs is the interference management. Two major types of interference present in these scenarios are the self-interference and the dynamic interference between moving cells and crossed fixed cells that may occur when these cells use the same/adjacent frequency spectrum. These two types of interference are explained in the following.

[0025] Self-interference

[0026] Fig. 2 presents 4 possible simultaneous operation modes in which an mlAB can operate. In transmission modes A and B, the DU-part and the MT -part of an mlAB node perform the same actions (either receive or transmit data), while in transmission modes C and D they perform opposite actions. More specifically, in transmission mode A, the MT-part and the DU- part of an mlAB node simultaneously receive data. In transmission mode B, the DU-part and the MT-part are both transmitting. In transmission mode C, the MT-part receives data, while the DU- part transmits. In transmission mode D, the MT-part transmits while the DU-part receives data. Transmission modes C and D are often referred to as IAB full duplex (FD).

[0027] Although FD is commonly used to represent the situation where a single device transmits and receives data simultaneously, throughout this disclosure, the FD mode, in the context of mlAB, refers to the situation where the MT-part of the mlAB node transmits data in the backhaul, while its DU-part receives data from access UEs, or vice versa (the MT-part receives and the DU-part transmits). In FD mode, the part which is transmitting may cause strong interference in the part that is receiving, which is the so-called self-interference. Self-interference can only be mitigated in very specific scenarios, e.g., where both the DU and MT parts of the mlAB node are very isolated from each other or complex signal processing strategies in analog and digital domains are employed. Thus, in order to avoid the problem of self-interference, the network usually allows an mlAB node to only operate in transmission modes A and B, resulting in the Time Division Duplex (TDD) scheme as illustrated in Fig. 3 (for example for an IAB network operating with maximum of two hops, i.e., an IAB network where an mlAB node cannot be served by another mlAB node). [0028] Dynamic interference between moving cells and crossed fixed cells that may occur when these cells use the same frequency spectrum

[0029] In dense areas, e.g., next to bus stations, the TDD scheme presented in Fig. 3 (i.e., for transmission modes A and B as shown in Fig. 2) may cause high interference between the IAB donor cell and the mlAB node cell. Fig. 4 illustrates the two cases (cases 01 and 02) of interference that occur when the IAB donor is in downlink (DL) and the IAB node is in uplink (UL), i.e., transmission mode A of Fig. 2, and the two cases (cases 03 and 04) that occur when the IAB donor is in UL and the IAB node is in DL, i.e., transmission mode B of Fig. 2.

[0030] More specifically, in case 01 of Fig. 4, a pedestrian receiving data in the DL (link B) from an IAB donor may suffer interference (link Aimed) from an in-vehicle passenger transmitting in the UL (link A) to an mlAB node deployed inside a bus. In case 02 of Fig. 4, the DU part of an IAB node receiving data in the UL (link A) from a passenger may suffer interference (link Cinterf) from the macro base station (BS) when it transmits in the DL (link C) to a pedestrian. In case 03 of Fig. 4, a passenger receiving data in the DL (link D) may suffer interference (link Einterf) from a pedestrian transmitting in the UL to its serving IAB donor (link E). In case 04 of Fig. 4, an IAB donor receiving data in the uplink (link F) from a pedestrian may suffer interference (link Dinted) from the DU part of an IAB node transmitting in the DL (link D).

[0031] In mlAB scenarios, to deal with the interference problem presented in Fig. 4, a candidate solution is to schedule different frequency bands for onboard and outside UEs, e.g., mmWave and sub-6GHz for onboard and outside UEs, respectively. Another adopted solution is to consider in-band transmissions and handle the interference by identifying the interfering links and performing radio resource management, e.g., power control and selective time/frequency scheduling. Indeed, in-band communications give more flexibility in, e.g., resource allocation, at the cost of complexity.

SUMMARY

[0032] There currently exist certain challenge(s). As mentioned above, adopting a fixed TDD scheme as the one presented in Fig. 3 avoids self-interference, but the system may still suffer from high interference in dense scenarios.

[0033] From a spectral efficiency point-of-view, using different frequency spectrum for the IAB donor and the mlAB nodes may not be an efficient solution for handling interference in mlAB scenarios. Besides, in lightly loaded scenarios, these solutions may result in unused frequency resources, which are expensive and scarce assets.

[0034] Regarding the solutions with in-band transmissions that handle the interference by identifying the interfering links and performing radio resource management, e.g., power control and selective time/frequency scheduling, they might suffer from scalability and signaling overhead, if not well optimized. Also, e.g., power control may not be feasible/desirable for an IAB node. More specifically, in dense scenarios, identifying all the pairs of links that interfere with each other and that should not share the same resources might demand a lot of signaling. Furthermore, in dense scenarios, power control may not be enough to avoid interference due to the proximity of the network nodes.

[0035] Solutions that fit well both lightly loaded and dense scenarios, without problems of scalability in dense scenarios need to be further investigated.

[0036] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges.

[0037] For example, an mlAB node can share with the network its capabilities and, based on these capabilities, a network node, e.g., an IAB donor, can configure the mlAB node with one or multiple adaptable TDD schemes (ATSs), selecting one of them as the active one, where an ATS is a TDD scheme that can be re-configured based on pre-defined criteria, e.g., measured interference, mlAB node location and/or data traffic information. Meanwhile, the mlAB node can periodically collect relevant information, e.g., its own location, interference measurements, packet error rate in Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ), buffer size, etc. The relevant information can be later reported to the network, e.g., to the IAB donor, and based on a received report and/or on its own collected information, the IAB donor or other network nodes that take part in the network configuration may re-configure the mlAB node with a new ATS. Furthermore, the IAB donor may configure the mlAB node with autonomous actions that can be triggered in response to pre-defined criteria, e.g., a set of ATSs is pre-configured and stored in the mlAB node and activated autonomously based upon the parent IAB node (cell identity/identifier (ID)) which the IAB node connects to. Moreover, neighbor IAB donors can also exchange relevant information in order to update their own ATSs.

[0038] The proposed solution is applicable not only in scenarios with simultaneous operations of MT and DU, as illustrated in Fig. 2, or scenarios with fixed standardized TDD schemes, but also in scenarios with dynamic TDD.

[0039] There are provided a method in a network node (e.g. mlAB node). The method comprises: obtaining a configuration of one or more TDD schemes for transmitting or receiving data; using a first TDD scheme, from the one or more configured TDD schemes, as an active TDD scheme for transmitting or receiving data; and determining a second TDD scheme, from the one or more configured TDD schemes, as the active TDD scheme for transmitting or receiving data, based on information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme. A network node (e.g. mlAB node) with processing circuitry and network interfaces is also provided to performing this method.

[0040] There is also provided a method in a network node (e.g. donor node). The method comprises: configuring the second network node with one or more TDD schemes; indicating, to the second network node, a first TDD scheme from the one or more configured TDD schemes to be used as an active TDD scheme for transmitting or receiving data; and determining a second TDD scheme from the one or more configured TDD schemes to use as the active TDD scheme, based on information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme. A network node (e.g. donor node) with processing circuitry and network interfaces is also provided to performing this method.

[0041] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s):

[0042] - Providing a scalable and simple way to control the interference in the communication system that is suitable for both dense deployments and lightly load scenarios;

[0043] - Depending on the selected ATS, prioritization to different links/directions can be given, e.g., high priority to UEs associated to the IAB donor can be given when an ATS with more slots for access in downlink/uplink for the IAB donor, while blank slots are defined for backhaul and/or access in the mlAB;

[0044] - Possible interference coordination via ATS selection by message exchange between neighbor IAB donors; and

[0045] - Reduced signaling load when compared to other interference management solutions, especially in dense deployments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0046] Exemplary embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to the following figures, in which:

[0047] Fig. 1 illustrates an example of an IAB architecture.

[0048] Fig. 2 illustrates an example of 4 possible simultaneous operation modes in an IAB network.

[0049] Fig. 3 illustrates an example of a TDD scheme avoiding self-interference.

[0050] Fig. 4 illustrates examples of interference in a mlAB scenario.

[0051] Fig. 5 illustrates examples of ATSs, with the difference between ATS 01 and the other

ATSs is that in the other ATSs there are blank time slots, meaning that during these time slots it is not allowed either data transmission or reception by the concerned node.

[0052] Fig. 6 illustrates an example of a signaling exchange allowing the reconfiguration of an adaptable TDD scheme used by an mlAB, according to an embodiment. [0053] Fig. 7 illustrates a flow chart of a method in a network node (e.g. mlAB node), according to an embodiment.

[0054] Fig. 8 illustrates a flow chart of a method in a network node (e.g. mlAB node), according to an embodiment.

[0055] Fig. 9 illustrates a flow chart of a method in a network node (e.g. donor node), according to an embodiment.

[0056] Fig. 10 shows an example of a communication system, according to an embodiment.

[0057] Fig. 11 shows a schematic diagram of a UE, according to an embodiment.

[0058] Fig. 12 shows a schematic diagram of a network node, according to an embodiment.

[0059] Fig. 13 illustrates a block diagram of a host.

[0060] Fig. 14 illustrates a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment.

[0061] Fig. 15 shows a communication diagram of a host.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0062] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0063] Generally stated, an IAB donor or other network nodes that take part in the network configuration is capable of configuring a set of ATSs for its child mlAB node, defining a default ATS and updating/reconfiguring the ATS, according to specified criteria and provided system information. Moreover, neighbor IAB donors can exchange messages aiming at enabling interference coordination by updating their own ATSs. Furthermore, this disclosure provides examples of relevant system information that should be collected for ATS updates, how this information should be exchanged between a network node, e.g., an IAB donor and an mlAB node, and provides means for an autonomous update of ATSs by the mlAB node with minimum intervention of the IAB donor.

[0064] Turning to Fig. 5, this figure presents examples of ATSs. For example, four ATSs are illustrated, i.e., ATS 01, ATS 02, ATS 03 and ATS 04. The main difference between ATS 01 and the other ATSs is that in the other ATSs, there are blank time slots, meaning that during these time slots neither data transmission nor reception is allowed. In an example, the IAB donor can: [0065] - initially configure an mlAB node with these four ATSs;

[0066] - select one of them as the default ATS to be active;

[0067] - define criteria according to which the active ATS is re-configured either by the IAB donor or autonomously by the mlAB node (with appropriate report to the IAB donor, for example); [0068] - optionally, share with neighbor IAB donors the ATS scheme chosen for the mlAB node under its control.

[0069] For example, the IAB donor can set ATS 02 as the default ATS to be active and define situations where the other ATSs would be the active one, e.g.:

[0070] - ATS 01 will be active when the measured interference level is below a pre-defined threshold. In this situation, the IAB donor and the mlAB node will be allowed to simultaneously transmit/receive data since the interference would not be a problem;

[0071] - ATS 03 will be active in situations in which interference between the IAB donor and mlAB node is a problem and the IAB donor wants to give priority to its own served links, e.g., access links of connected UEs and backhaul links of served IAB nodes, in order to improve their Quality of Service (QoS);

[0072] - ATS 04 will be active in situations in which interference between the IAB donor and mlAB node is a problem and the IAB donor wants to give priority to the UEs served by the mlAB node so as to improve their QoS.

[0073] The re-configuration of the ATS may be assisted by/based on a report sent by the mlAB node to the IAB donor, the reporting including relevant information, such as estimated interference, location, etc. One characteristic of the reported information is that it indicates the suitability of the active ATS, i.e., how suitable the current ATS is for the current environment conditions.

[0074] The choice of the most suitable ATS can be performed either based on classical control-based optimization, i.e., there is a parameter and a threshold, if the value of the parameter crosses the threshold, an action is triggered, or based on a model (e.g., a machine learning model) that regularly outputs a decision about the most suitable ATS.

[0075] Fig. 6 illustrates a signaling diagram for a method 100 of selecting an ATS at an mlAB node in an IAB network.

[0076] At step 110: the mlAB node receives from a network node, e.g., from its IAB donor, the configuration of one or multiple ATSs and uses one of the configured ATSs to receive/transmit data. For example, the mlAB can use a default ATS or an ATS that is configured for an initial use. [0077] Meanwhile, at step 120, the mlAB node periodically collects relevant information, e.g., its own location, interference measurements, data buffer size at the mlAB and served UEs, packet error rate at HARQ, etc.

[0078] The collected relevant information can be reported to the IAB donor either in a specific report or included in another report, e.g., a measurement report (step 130). The report of the relevant information may be sent by the mlAB node to the network element, e.g., the IAB donor, either periodically or based on triggering events.

[0079] The IAB donor node can also collect its own information (in step 140).

[0080] Based on the received report from the mlAB node and/or on its own collected information, the IAB donor (or the other network element) may want to re-configure the mlAB node with a new ATS. To do so, the IAB node can select a new ATS that is appropriate for the mlAB node, e.g. based on the received report and/or own collected information. Optionally, in step 150, an IAB donor may exchange relevant information with neighbor IAB donors aiming at agreeing on the ATS that will be selected/used.

[0081] Then, in step 160, the IAB donor node can send a message to the mlAB node to reconfigure the mlAB node with the newly selected ATS.

[0082] Furthermore, the IAB donor may configure the mlAB node with autonomous actions that can be triggered in response to pre-defined criteria, e.g., it can autonomously change the active ATS. In step 170, based on its gathered information, the mlAB node can decide to change ATS and selects a new one. In such a case, the mlAB will inform the IAB donor about the selected ATS. Upon receipt of the message, the IAB donor can decide if the configuration update is acceptable and, if it is, the IAB donor can share the information with neighbor IAB donors.

[0083] In step 180, the IAB donor can reconfigure its own ATS, based on e.g. the gathering of relevant information (see step 140).

[0084] In step 190, the other network nodes or neighbors IAB nodes can also reconfigure their own ATS.

[0085] More details are provided below regarding the different steps in method 100.

[0086] Confi uration of an ATS (e.g. Step 110)

[0087] In one example/embodiment, in order to configure one or multiple ATSs, a network node, e.g., the IAB donor, first configures the most aggressive ATS (in which the IAB donor and the mlAB node can simultaneously transmit/receive data in all time slots) by informing the mlAB node in which time slots it is allowed to transmit data in the downlink and/or in which time slots it is allowed to receive data in the uplink.

[0088] In one possibility, this can be done by sending to the mlAB node the number of time slots of the most aggressive ATS pattern, i.e., how long the most aggressive ATS pattern is, and: [0089] - The index of the time slots that should be used in the downlink (so the mlAB node understands that the other should be used in the uplink); or

[0090] - The index of the time slots that should be used in the uplink (so the mlAB node understands that the other should be used in the downlink); [0091] - A flag indicating whether the indexes refer to downlink or uplink can also be sent.

[0092] In another possibility, this can be done by sending a binary word, i.e., a vector of

‘zeros’ and ‘ones’ with size equal to the number of time slots of the most aggressive ATS pattern in which, for instance, a ‘zero (0)’ in the i-th bit of this vector means that the i-th time slot of the ATS pattern should be used in the downlink while an ‘one (1)’ means ‘uplink’, or vice-versa.

[0093] After indicating the most aggressive ATS, the IAB donor or other network nodes can configure the other ATSs by informing which time slots of the most aggressive ATS the mlAB node should consider as blank slots. This configuration may be performed:

[0094] - by explicitly informing the indexes of the slots; or

[0095] - by sending a binary word, i.e., a vector of ‘zeros’ and ‘ones’ with the same size as the number of time slots in which, for instance, an ‘one (1)’ means that a blank slot should be considered in that time slot and a ‘zero (0)’ means that transmission/reception in that time slot is allowed according to the most aggressive ATS, or vice-versa.

[0096] In another embodiment, the slots of different ATSs may differ not only by being blank or not, but also by having different transmission directions. In this case, when re-configuring the active ATS, neighbor IAB donors can be contacted in order to perform interference coordination. [0097] In another embodiment, the mlAB node may be configured with multiple ATS configurations, each having an identifier that can later be used to refer to a given configuration. When the multiple ATS configurations are configured, e.g., in an RRC message, the mlAB node may also receive an indication of which configuration is to be initially considered active, i.e., which one is to be used upon reception of the message.

[0098] In one alternative, an mlAB node is configured by the IAB donor or other network nodes with an ATS upon the occurrence of an event, such as, for example, a handover, mobility, reconfiguration with sync, Primary and secondary cell (PSCell) addition, PSCell change, beam failure detection, beam failure recovery, connection setup, transition from RRC IDLE to RRC CONNECTED, when the mlAB node is turned on, when the mlAB node is registered to the network, radio link failure (RLF)/Re-establishment, topology adaptation, etc.

[0099] In one variant, the mlAB node indicates to the IAB donor its capabilities, signaling that it supports a given type of ATS (e.g., ATS based on its location, or ATS based on measured Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), etc.) and/or the type of relevant information it has (e.g. sensor information, etc.).

[0100] The parameters of the ATS can be part of an RRC message, such as RRC Reconfiguration message, e.g., Handover (HO) command, RRC Reconfiguration, or RRC Connection Setup when entering in RRC CONNECTED. [0101] An mlAB node may declare a failure (e.g., a reconfiguration failure), if the IAB donor or other network nodes tries to configure it with a configuration of an ATS that it does not support (e.g., it does not have the capabilities required to collect given information required to update the ATS); alternatively, the mlAB node can indicate to the IAB donor (e.g., in an RRC Reconfiguration Complete) that it does not support the ATS that the IAB donor has tried to configure it with.

[0102] In another embodiment, the mlAB node is configured with more than one ATS configurations, possibly for a similar purpose, but the configurations may differ depending on a feature, e.g., network area/cell/ set of beams/ SSBs, frequency, frequency range, etc. The mlAB node can receive an indication from the IAB donor for activating at least one of the ATS configurations. For example, there could be different ATS configurations for different frequency ranges, e.g., FR1 has ATS-config-frl and FR2 has ATS-config-fr2.

[0103] In a sub-option, a configuration message from the network node (e.g. IAB donor) can jointly adapt the ATS and the frequency being used by the mlAB node for transmission/reception. [0104] Gathering relevant information (e.g. Step 120 or 140)

[0105] Relevant information is the information taken as input in order to decide whether the active ATS configuration should be updated. More specifically, the gathering of relevant information by the mlAB node enables it to evaluate the suitability of the active ATS and possibly take actions such as indicate to the IAB donor that a pre-defined condition was triggered (so that the IAB donor can take further actions, such as re-configure the ATS).

[0106] In one embodiment, relevant information can be a measurement of interference, e.g., RSRQ, Signal to Interference & Noise Ratio (SINR), etc. Different ranges of measured interference level can be associated with different ATSs. For example, if the interference level is above a pre-defined upper bound threshold, the most conservative ATS should be adopted in order to avoid interference, where a conservative ATS might be a TDD pattern with slots of silence in which the mlAB node neither transmits nor receives data to not interfere with/ suffer interference from other components of the network. Ranges of lower values of interference can be associated with more aggressive ATSs, where an aggressive ATS can be a TDD pattern in which the mlAB node transmits/receives data while other components of the network are also transmitting/receiving data. Therefore, when the interference level is outside some pre-defined ranges, then the ATS can be changed in order to be able to adapt to the different interference conditions. [0107] In another embodiment, the packet error rate at HARQ can be relevant information. It could be used to estimate the level of interference in the system. Thus, if the packet error rate is above a given threshold, a more conservative ATS can be configured.

[0108] In another embodiment, the buffer size at the IAB donor, mlAB node and/or UEs can also be taken into account when configuring/activating an ATS. For example, if the current ATS is the most aggressive one (without blank slots) and the buffer size at the UEs associated to the mlAB is growing fast, an ATS that prioritizes UL slots for access at the mlABs and UL for backhaul could be chosen.

[0109] In another embodiment, relevant information can be the mlAB node location. Geographic areas previously known as areas with high level of interference, e.g., city center, can be associated with more conservative ATSs, while geographic areas known as areas with low level of interference, e.g., highways, can be associated with more aggressive ATSs.

[0110] The mlAB node location information can be used by the IAB donor to identify whether the mlAB node is within the cell-edge area and/or which neighbor IAB donors and/or mlAB nodes can be affected by the presence of that mlAB node. Based on this, the serving IAB donor may perform interference coordination together with neighbor IAB donors by agreeing which ATSs they should use.

[OHl] In a sub-option, the time is also a relevant information. A given location can be associated with different ATSs according to the time of day. For example, on one hand, if a given area has high level of interference during the day, then, for this time (e.g. day), conservative ATSs would be active. On the other hand, if this same area has low level of interference in the middle of the night, then more aggressive ATSs would be active at this time (e.g. night).

[0112] In another embodiment, transmission characteristics are relevant information. If an mlAB node knows that data transmission/reception to serve its connected UEs will not interfere with/suffer interference from surrounding UEs due to specific transmission characteristics, such as, low transmission power, more aggressive ATSs can be considered, otherwise, conservative ATSs should be used.

[0113] In another embodiment, the class type of the served UEs is a relevant information. For example, mlAB nodes serving emergency services, security services, public utilities (e.g., water/gas suppliers), etc., can be allowed to use aggressive ATSs in pre-defined occasions even if this can cause interference in the surrounding UEs.

[0114] In another embodiment, predictions of the previously mentioned information are also relevant information. Predictions might allow anticipating the proper configuration step. [0115] In another embodiment, the combination of some of the mentioned relevant information is also a relevant information.

[0116] Furthermore, it is also possible for the IAB donor or other network nodes to estimate/compute relevant information such as interference level in a given area, trajectory prediction of an mlAB node, etc. The estimation can be, for example, based on previously reported information that is used as input of Artificial Intelligence (Al) solutions, e.g., mlAB nodes’ historic of location/time can be used to learn potential areas of interference.

[0117] Report of relevant information (e.g. step 130)

[0118] In one embodiment, the collected relevant information, such as measurements of interference level (e.g., RSRQ), is included in already standardized reports, e.g., measurement reports. For example, the collected relevant information is only included in a standardized report if a configuration report sent by the IAB donor contains an indication that the mlAB node shall include ATS relevant information in a standardized report, i.e., that is configured by the IAB donor.

[0119] In one example, ATS relevant information can be gathered together in a specific report, where the information to be reported is configured by the IAB donor.

[0120] In another embodiment, instead of reporting exact values, e.g., RSRP value, geographic coordinates, etc., the mlAB node can report indication flags. For example, instead of reporting the measured value of RSRQ/SINR, the mlAB node may simply indicate in the report that the interference level is high, by including a flag in the report (assuming that the IAB donor is aware that the flag means the interference level is above a certain value).

[0121] In another embodiment, the report of relevant information can be either periodic or triggered by an event, where an event can be defined as follows. The mlAB node continuously monitors a relevant information or a subset of them. Upon X consecutive occurrences of the relevant information satisfying a pre-defined condition (e.g., location is within a pre-defined area), the mlAB node starts a timer T. If Y consecutive occurrences of the relevant information satisfies another pre-defined condition prior to the expiring of timer T (e.g., location is now within another pre-defined area), timer T stops. Otherwise, the timer expires and the mlAB node triggers a relevant information report.

[0122] Execution of autonomous actions (e.g. step 170)

[0123] The method 100 also comprises an mlAB node performing autonomous actions based on the collected relevant information, e.g., the interference level or an event that may imply a change in the interference level. Some of the autonomous actions are: [0124] - Continue using a default ATS configuration based on a rule, which can be, e.g., if the interference level is higher than a pre-defined threshold, continue using the default ATS;

[0125] - Switch the active ATS to another ATS previously configured by the IAB donor based on the triggering of an event, as defined earlier above. For example, an event can be, if the interference level is between pre-defined values, switch to another ATS. This could be beneficial even if the IAB donor is able to compute/calculate the interference level, as the mlAB node could use its own estimation to switch the active ATS without the need for the IAB donor to signal for that. In addition, there could be additional configurations, such as a hysteresis and/or time-to- trigger like parameter: a given configuration of an ATS is only changed if a given event is stable (e.g., interference level considering a given offset remained below a given threshold for at least a given interval of time). When a switch of an active ATS is performed, this fact can be reported to the IAB donor;

[0126] - Make the relevant information available, e.g., interference level measurement, location, etc., so that it is included in specific reports, e.g., measurement report, when that is triggered.

[0127] Besides of being based on classical control-based optimization, (i.e., there is a parameter and a threshold, if the value of the parameter crosses the threshold, something is triggered), the choice of the most suitable ATS can also be based on a machine learning model that regularly outputs a decision about the most suitable ATS. For example, the mlAB node most likely has a known moving trajectory. Then, a machine learning model can be used to exploit the information about the location, time and previous measurements (for example, from the mlAB node passing recently) to define a proper ATS (and, frequency, power control parameter, etc.) that with high probability is appropriate (without doing a lot of measurements). Then, if it did not work well (for instance, many failures, etc.), the ATS is updated among the candidate ones that have been previously shared between the IAB donor and mlAB node. The backup ATSs can be determined beforehand so that the mlAB node can immediately switch to one of them.

[0128] TDD configuration adaptation based upon preconfigured route

[0129] In an embodiment, it is claimed that the ATS is pre-configured and stored in the mlAB node and activated autonomously based upon the parent IAB node (cell ID) which the IAB node connects to.

[0130] As part of a handover, when the mlAB node changes parent IAB nodes, the ATS is reconfigured automatically.

[0131] Table 1 shows an ATS configuration, that can be pre-configured and/or stored in the mlAB node. Table 1 : ATS configuration

[0132] This ATS configuration can also be considered as the default/initial configuration that the mlAB shall apply if there is no other ATS configuration received as part of the reconfiguration. Each ATS configuration index represents a TDD pattern with specific DL/UL timeslots.

[0133] The default configuration can be based upon some pre-planned network activity, where to minimize the interference a certain pre-configured scheme can be chosen and which changes (i.e. another pre-configured scheme is by default activated) as the mlAB moves from one region to another and adapted based upon parents ATS scheme.

[0134] The proposed solution is applicable not only in scenarios with simultaneous operation of MT and DU, as illustrated in Fig. 2, or scenarios with fixed standardized TDD schemes, but also in scenarios with dynamic TDD.

[0135] Fig. 7 illustrates a flow chart of a method 200, performed by a first network node (such as a mlAB node), for receiving and transmitting data, in an IAB network. The first network node is configured with one or more ATSs (e.g. 4 as seen in Fig. 5). Method 200 comprises:

[0136] Step 210: using a first TDD scheme, from the one or more TDD schemes, as an active TDD scheme for transmitting or receiving data;

[0137] Step 220: collecting information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme (or information that indicates the suitability of the active TDD scheme); and

[0138] Step 230: based on the collected information, using a second TDD scheme as the active TDD scheme for transmitting or receiving data.

[0139] Now turning to Fig. 8, an example of a flow chart of a method 300, performed by a first network node (such as a mlAB node), for receiving and/or transmitting data, in an IAB network is described. The first network node can be a mlAB node. Method 400 comprises:

[0140] Step 310: obtaining a configuration of one or more TDD schemes for transmitting or receiving data;

[0141] Step 320: using a first TDD scheme, from the one or more configured TDD schemes, as an active TDD scheme for transmitting or receiving; and [0142] Step 330: determining a second TDD scheme, from the one or more configured TDD schemes, as the active TDD scheme for transmitting or receiving data, based on information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme.

[0143] In some examples, the first TDD scheme can be a default TDD that has been configured. The default TDD scheme can be an aggressive ATS, as described earlier in the disclosure. In some examples, obtaining the configuration of the one or more TDD schemes (e.g. ATSs) can comprise receiving the configuration from a donor node. In another example, the mlAB node is pre-configured with the one or more TDD schemes. In some examples, the mlAB node can collect the information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme. The information collected can be any information that can be relevant for evaluating (or indicating) the suitability of the active TDD scheme. In some examples, collecting the information comprises: measuring interference level (e.g. RSRQ, SINR) between the first network node and a second network node (e.g. IAB donor). In some examples, using the second TDD scheme based on the collected information comprises using the second TDD scheme when the measured interference level is higher than a threshold. In some examples, collecting the information further comprises collecting one or more of or a combination of one or more of: a packet error rate at HARQ, a buffer size at the first network node and at a second network node (IAB donor), a location of the first network node (geographic area, cell edge area), a time of the day, and a type of services provided by the first network node. In some examples, the determination by the first network node that the second TDD scheme is to be used as the active TDD scheme is based on the collected information. In some examples, the first network node is configured to perform autonomous actions triggered based on pre-defined criteria (e.g. some of the collected information being superior to a threshold). In some examples, the first network node can send a report to a second network node, the report comprising the collected information. In some examples, the first network node can receive, from the second network node, an indication of the second TDD scheme to be used as the active TDD scheme for transmitting or receiving data. In some examples, the indication can comprise a bitmap/vector for indicating the changes from the first TDD scheme to the second TDD scheme. In some examples, the first network node can send capability information to the second network node, the capability information being related to supporting a certain type of TDD schemes. In some examples, the configuration of the one or more TDD schemes can be based on one or more of the following: routes, current location, current serving cell, buffer size, traffic loads, and signal measurements. In some examples, the change from the first TDD scheme to the second TDD comprises replacing one or more uplink or downlink slots in the first TDD scheme with one or more silence slots in the second TDD scheme for interference avoidance. [0144] Fig. 9 illustrates an example of a flow chart of a method 400 performed by a first network node (e.g. IAB donor) in connection with a second network node (e.g. mlAB node) in an IAB network. The method 400 comprises:

[0145] Step 410: configuring the second network node with one or more TDD schemes;

[0146] Step 420: indicating, to the second network node, a first TDD scheme from the one or more TDD schemes to be used as an active TDD scheme for transmitting or receiving data; and [0147] Step 430: determining a second TDD scheme from the one or more TDD schemes to use as the active TDD scheme, based on information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme. [0148] For example, the one or more TDD schemes can be the ATSs, as illustrated in Fig. 5. [0149] In some examples, the first TDD scheme can be a default ATS configured via RRC, which can be an aggressive ATS. In some examples, the first network node can collect the information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme (or information that indicates or allows for evaluating the suitability of the active ATS/TDD scheme). In some examples, the information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme comprises measuring interference level (e.g. RSRQ, SINR) between the first network node and a second network node. In some examples, the information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme further comprises one or more of or a combination of one or more of: a packet error rate at HARQ, a buffer size at the first network node and at a second network node, a location of the second network node (geographic area, cell edge area), a time of the day, and a type of services provided by the second network node. In some examples, the first network node can send an indication of the second TDD scheme to the second network node. In some examples, the method may collect the information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme. Also, collecting the information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme may comprise receiving the information from the second network node. In some examples, the information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme comprises measurements of interference level between the first network node and a second network node. In some examples, determining a second TDD scheme comprises using the second TDD scheme when the measurements of interference level are outside a range. In some examples, the method may receive a report from the second network node, the report comprising the information for reconfiguring the active TDD scheme. In some examples, determining the second TDD scheme may comprise determining a TDD scheme based on the collected information and the received report. In some examples, the indication of the second TDD scheme may comprise a bitmap for indicating changes from the first TDD scheme to the second TDD scheme. In some examples, the method may receive capability information from the second network node, the capability information being related to supporting a certain type of TDD schemes. In some examples, the configuration of the one or more TDD schemes may further be based on one or more of the following: routes, a current location, a current serving cell, a buffer size, traffic loads, and signal measurements. In some examples, the change from the first TDD scheme to the second TDD comprises replacing one or more uplink or downlink slots in the first TDD scheme with one or more silence slots in the second TDD scheme for interference avoidance. In some examples, the change from the first TDD scheme to the second TDD comprises replacing one or more silence slots in the first TDD scheme with one or more uplink or downlink slots in the second TDD scheme. In some examples, the first network node can send the second TDD scheme to a third network node.

[0150] Fig. 10 shows an example of a communication system 1000 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0151] In the example, the communication system 1000 includes a telecommunication network 101002 that includes an access network 1004, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 101006, which includes one or more core network nodes 1008. The access network 101004 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 1010a and 1010b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 1010, or any other similar 3 ^rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. The network nodes 1010 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 1012a, 1012b, 1012c, and 1012d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1012) to the core network 1006 over one or more wireless connections.

[0152] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 1000 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 1000 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

[0153] The UEs 1012 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 1010 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 1010 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 1012 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 1002 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 1002.

[0154] In the depicted example, the core network 1006 connects the network nodes 1010 to one or more hosts, such as host 1016. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 1006 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 1008) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 1008. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0155] The host 1016 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 1004 and/or the telecommunication network 1002, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 1016 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0156] As a whole, the communication system 1000 of Fig. 10 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox. [0157] In some examples, the telecommunication network 1002 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 1002 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 1002. For example, the telecommunications network 1002 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)/Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0158] In some examples, the UEs 1012 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 1004 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 1004. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi -RAT or multi -standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0159] In the example, the hub 1014 communicates with the access network 1004 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 1012c and/or 1012d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 1010b). In some examples, the hub 1014 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 1014 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 1006 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 1014 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 1010, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 1014. As another example, the hub 1014 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 1014 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 1014 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 1014 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 1014 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0160] The hub 1014 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 1010b. The hub 1014 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 1014 and UEs (e.g., UE 1012c and/or 1012d), and between the hub 1014 and the core network 1006. In other examples, the hub 1014 is connected to the core network 1006 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 1014 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 1004 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 1010 while still connected via the hub 1014 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 1014 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 1010b. In other embodiments, the hub 1014 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 1010b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.

[0161] Fig. 11 shows a UE 1100 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs, including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0162] The UE 1100 includes processing circuitry 1102 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1104 to an input/output interface 1106, a power source 1108, a memory 1110, a communication interface 1112, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Fig. 11. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0163] The processing circuitry 1102 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 1110. The processing circuitry 1102 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 1102 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0164] In the example, the input/output interface 1106 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 1100. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0165] In some embodiments, the power source 1108 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 1108 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 1108 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 1100 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 1108. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 1108 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 1100 to which power is supplied.

[0166] The memory 1110 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically EPROM (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, etc. In one example, the memory 1110 includes one or more application programs 1114, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 1116. The memory 1110 may store, for use by the UE 1100, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0167] The memory 1110 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 1110 may allow the UE 1100 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 1110, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0168] The processing circuitry 1102 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 1112. The communication interface 1112 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1122. The communication interface 1112 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1118 and/or a receiver 1120 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 1118 and receiver 1120 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1122) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0169] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 1112 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short- range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/intemet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0170] A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 1100 shown in Fig. 11.

[0171] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0172] Fig. 12 shows a network node 1200 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NRNodeBs (gNBs)).

[0173] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0174] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi -standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0175] The network node 1200 includes a processing circuitry 1202, a memory 1204, a communication interface 1206, and a power source 1208. The network node 1200 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 1200 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NBs. In such a scenario, each unique NB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 1200 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 1204 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 1210 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 1200 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1200, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z- wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 1200.

[0176] The processing circuitry 1202 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1200 components, such as the memory 1204, to provide network node 1200 functionality. For example, the processing circuitry 1202 is configured to perform any actions/operations/blocks of Fig. 7, Fig. 8 or Fig. 9, whether the network node is an mlAB node or an IAB donor.

[0177] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1202 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1202 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1212 and baseband processing circuitry 1214. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1212 and the baseband processing circuitry 1214 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1212 and baseband processing circuitry 1214 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0178] The memory 1204 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, RAM, ROM, mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device- readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 1202. The memory 1204 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 1202 and utilized by the network node 1200. The memory 1204 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1202 and/or any data received via the communication interface 1206. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1202 and memory 1204 is integrated.

[0179] The communication interface 1206 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 1206 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 1216 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 1206 also includes radio front-end circuitry 1218 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 1210. Radio front-end circuitry 1218 comprises filters 1220 and amplifiers 1222. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 may be connected to an antenna 1210 and processing circuitry 1202. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1210 and processing circuitry 1202. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio frontend circuitry 1218 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1220 and/or amplifiers 1222. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 1210. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1210 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1218. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1202. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

[0180] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 1200 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1218, instead, the processing circuitry 1202 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1210. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1212 is part of the communication interface 1206. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 1206 includes one or more ports or terminals 1216, the radio front-end circuitry 1218, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1212, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 1206 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1214, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0181] The antenna 1210 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1210 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1218 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 1210 is separate from the network node 1200 and connectable to the network node 1200 through an interface or port. [0182] The antenna 1210, communication interface 1206, and/or the processing circuitry 1202 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1210, the communication interface 1206, and/or the processing circuitry 1202 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

[0183] The power source 1208 provides power to the various components of network node 1200 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 1208 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1200 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1200 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 1208. As a further example, the power source 1208 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0184] Embodiments of the network node 1200 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 12 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 1200 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1200 and to allow output of information from the network node 1200. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1200.

[0185] Fig. 13 is a block diagram of a host 1300, which may be an embodiment of the host 1016 of Fig. 10, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 1300 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and/or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 1300 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0186] The host 1300 includes processing circuitry 1302 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1304 to an input/output interface 1306, a network interface 1308, a power source 1310, and a memory 1312. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figs. 11 and 12, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 1300.

[0187] The memory 1312 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 1314 and data 1316, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for the host 1300 or data generated by the host 1300 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 1300 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 1314 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application programs 1314 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 1300 may select and/or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. The host application programs 1314 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0188] Fig. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1400 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1400 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized.

[0189] Applications 1402 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0190] Hardware 1404 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1406 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1408a and 1408b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1408), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1406 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1408.

[0191] The VMs 1408 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1406. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1402 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1408, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0192] In the context of NFV, a VM 1408 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1408, and that part of hardware 1404 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 1408 on top of the hardware 1404 and corresponds to the application 1402.

[0193] Hardware 1404 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1404 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1404 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 1410, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1402. In some embodiments, hardware 1404 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1412 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0194] Fig. 15 shows a communication diagram of a host 1502 communicating via a network node 1504 with a UE 1506 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE 1012a of Fig. 10 and/or UE 1100 of Fig. 11), network node (such as network node 1010a of Fig. 10 and/or network node 1200 of Fig. 12), and host (such as host 1016 of Fig. 10 and/or host 1300 of Fig. 13) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Fig. 15.

[0195] Like host 1300, embodiments of host 1502 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 1502 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host 1502 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 1506 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1550 extending between the UE 1506 and host 1502. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 1550.

[0196] The network node 1504 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 1502 and UE 1506. The connection 1560 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 1006 of Fig. 10) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0197] The UE 1506 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 1506 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 1506 with the support of the host 1502. In the host 1502, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 1550 terminating at the UE 1506 and host 1502. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1550 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 1550. [0198] The OTT connection 1550 may extend via a connection 1560 between the host 1502 and the network node 1504 and via a wireless connection 1570 between the network node 1504 and the UE 1506 to provide the connection between the host 1502 and the UE 1506. The connection 1560 and wireless connection 1570, over which the OTT connection 1550 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 1502 and the UE 1506 via the network node 1504, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

[0199] As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 1550, in step 1508, the host 1502 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 1506. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 1506 that shares data with the host 1502 without explicit human interaction. In step 1510, the host 1502 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 1506. The host 1502 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 1506. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 1506 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 1506. The transmission may pass via the network node 1504, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 1512, the network node 1504 transmits to the UE 1506 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 1502 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1514, the UE 1506 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 1506 associated with the host application executed by the host 1502.

[0200] In some examples, the UE 1506 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 1502. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 1502. Accordingly, in step 1516, the UE 1506 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of the UE 1506. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 1506 initiates, in step 1518, transmission of the user data towards the host 1502 via the network node 1504. In step 1520, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 1504 receives user data from the UE 1506 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 1502. In step 1522, the host 1502 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1506. [0201] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1506 using the OTT connection 1550, in which the wireless connection 1570 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve, e.g., the data rate, latency, power consumption and thereby provide benefits such as e.g., reduced user waiting time, improved content resolution, better responsiveness, extended battery lifetime.

[0202] In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 1502. As another example, the host 1502 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 1502 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 1502 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host 1502 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 1502 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and/or transmitting data.

[0203] In some examples, 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 connection 1550 between the host 1502 and UE 1506, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 1502 and/or UE 1506. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 1550 passes; 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 software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 1550 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 1504. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host 1502. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 1550 while monitoring propagation times, errors, [0204] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0205] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and/or by end users and a wireless network generally.