METHOD AND SYSTEM TO IMPLEMENT CONFIGURABLE TIMERS AT THE RADIO LINK CONTROL LAYER IN A WIRELESS NETWORK

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/399,331, filed August 19, 2022, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] Embodiments of the invention relate to the field of networking; and more specifically, to implementing configurable timers at the Radio Link Control Layer in a wireless network.

BACKGROUND ART

[0003] In a wireless network, the Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol may be implemented for a radio interface between a wireless device (e.g., a user equipment (UE)) and a network node (e.g., a base station). The network node and wireless device may operate in an Acknowledged mode (AM), where the receiving side provides acknowledgement to the sender side during data transfer.

[0004] The acknowledgement in the AM mode may be managed by multiple RLC timers. For example, a reassembly timer sets a time limit for a receiving side of an AM RLC entity to reassemble protocol data units (PDUs) of a radio bearer, and another timer sets a time limit for the AM RLC entity to prohibit transmission of a status PDU to a peer AM RLC entity for the radio bearer. Existing approaches set these RLC timers at a set of values that do not change based on different data rates of a radio bearer between the network node and wireless device. Yet these RLC timers at one set of values that is optimal for one data rate of a radio bearer are often suboptimal for another data rate of the same radio bearer, and the suboptimal RLC timers result in (1) high volumes of retransmission, which reduces RLC data transfer efficiency, and/or (2) a large buffer consumption at the wireless device and/or the network node, which affects other applications that share the same buffer storage space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Embodiments include methods, network nodes, storage medium, and computer program to implement configurable Radio Link Control (RLC) timers for data transfer through a radio interface between a wireless device and a network node in a wireless network. In one embodiment, a method comprises: detecting a change of a data rate of a radio bearer between the network node and a wireless device; determining a radio condition for the radio bearer between the network node and wireless device; determining one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device; and causing update of one or more of a first timer and a second timer for the radio bearer based on the change of the data rate of the radio bearer, the radio condition for the radio bearer, and the one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device, the first timer setting a first time limit for a receiving side of an acknowledgement mode radio link control (AM RLC) entity to reassemble protocol data units (PDUs) of the radio bearer, the second timer setting a second time limit for the receiving side of the AM RLC entity to prohibit transmission of a status PDU to a peer AM RLC entity for the radio bearer.

[0006] In one embodiment, a network node comprises a processor and machine-readable storage medium that provides instructions that, when executed by the processor, are capable of causing the electronic device to perform: detecting a change of a data rate of a radio bearer between the network node and a wireless device; determining a radio condition for the radio bearer between the network node and wireless device; determining one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device; and causing update of one or more of a first timer and a second timer for the radio bearer based on the change of the data rate of the radio bearer, the radio condition for the radio bearer, and the one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device, the first timer setting a first time limit for a receiving side of an acknowledgement mode radio link control (AM RLC) entity to reassemble protocol data units (PDUs) of the radio bearer, the second timer setting a second time limit for the receiving side of the AM RLC entity to prohibit transmission of a status PDU to a peer AM RLC entity for the radio bearer.

[0007] In one embodiment, a machine-readable storage medium that provides instructions that, when executed, are capable of causing the electronic device to perform: detecting a change of a data rate of a radio bearer between the network node and a wireless device; determining a radio condition for the radio bearer between the network node and wireless device; determining one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device; and causing update of one or more of a first timer and a second timer for the radio bearer based on the change of the data rate of the radio bearer, the radio condition for the radio bearer, and the one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device, the first timer setting a first time limit for a receiving side of an acknowledgement mode radio link control (AM RLC) entity to reassemble protocol data units (PDUs) of the radio bearer, the second timer setting a second time limit for the receiving side of the AM RLC entity to prohibit transmission of a status PDU to a peer AM RLC entity for the radio bearer. [0008] By implementing embodiments as described, configurable Radio Link Control (RLC) timers are set for data transfer through a radio interface between a wireless device and a network node in a wireless network. These configurable RLC timers may be adjusted based on the transmission data rate, radio condition, and load condition in the radio system, resulting in lower volumes of retransmission and/or less buffer consumption at the wireless device and/or network node.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] The invention may best be understood by referring to the following description and accompanying drawings that are used to illustrate embodiments of the invention. In the drawings:

[0010] Figure 1 illustrates a Radio Link Control (RLC) architecture to implement embodiments of the invention.

[0011] Figure 2 illustrates data transfer at the Radio Link Control (RLC) Layer in relation to the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer and the Media Access Control (MAC) layer.

[0012] Figure 3 illustrates data transmission and receipt from a network node (distributed unit) to a wireless device (a user equipment) per some embodiments.

[0013] Figure 4 illustrates the operations to configure the downlink Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers per some embodiments.

[0014] Figure 5 illustrates the operations to configure the uplink Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers per some embodiments.

[0015] Figure 6 illustrates the operations to configure the downlink Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers in new radio dual connectivity (NR-DC) per some embodiments.

[0016] Figure 7 illustrates the operations to configure the uplink Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers in new radio dual connectivity (NR-DC) per some embodiments.

[0017] Figure 8 illustrates the operations to configure the downlink Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers in Evolved-Universal Terrestrial Radio Access-New Radio (EN-DC) per some embodiments.

[0018] Figure 9 is a flow diagram illustrating the operations to configure the Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers per some embodiments.

[0019] Figure 10 illustrates a network node implementing the operations to configure the downlink Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers per some embodiments.

[0020] Figure 11 illustrates a wireless network per some embodiments.

[0021] Figure 12 illustrates a user equipment per some embodiments. [0022] Figure 13 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.

[0023] Figure 14 illustrates a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer per some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features, and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

Radio Link Control (RLC) architecture

[0025] Embodiments of the invention are implemented in the Radio Link Control (RLC) architecture. The RLC protocol is used for a radio interface, e.g., between a network node (also referred to as node) and a wireless device. Figure 1 illustrates a Radio Link Control (RLC) architecture to implement embodiments of the invention. The RLC architecture may be implemented in a wireless network within the third/fourth/fifth Generation (3G/4G/5G) infrastructure. The RLC architecture 100 is used for communication through a radio air-interface between a network node (e.g., a base station such as gNodeB (gNB), eNodeB (eNB)) 104 and a wireless device (e.g., a user equipment (UE)) 102.

[0026] Relative to the RLC layer, each of network node 104 and wireless device 102 implements upper layers such as the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer and the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer and lower layers such as the Media Access Control (MAC) layer (also referred as a MAC sublayer as it, the RLC layer, and the PDCP layer in combination correspond to the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model Layer 2) and the physical (PHY) layer.

[0027] The RLC layer includes multiple entities that are referred to as RLC entities. These RLC entities are explained in standards such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS) 138 322 V15.5.0, entitled “Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol specification” and dated May 2019. Briefly, an RLC entity can be configured to perform data transfer in one of the following three modes: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), or Acknowledged Mode (AM). Consequently, an RLC entity is categorized as a TM RLC entity, an UM RLC entity, or an AM RLC entity depending on the mode of data transfer of the RLC entity. Note that a 3GPP TS standard is also published as a European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) TS.

[0028] Embodiments of the invention may be implemented for AM RLC entities. An AM RLC entity consists of a transmitting side and a receiving side. The transmitting side 120 of an AM RLC entity 150 receives RLC Service Data Units (SDUs) from upper layer through service access point (SAP) and sends RLC PDUs to its peer AM RLC entity 152 via lower layers through a logical channel. The receiving side 122 of the AM RLC entity 150 delivers RLC SDUs to upper layer and receives RLC PDUs from its peer AM RLC entity 152 via lower layers. The receiving side 122 may provide positive or negative acknowledgement of data receipt to the peer AM RLC entity 152.

[0029] Figure 2 illustrates data transfer at the Radio Link Control (RLC) Layer in relation to the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer and the Media Access Control (MAC) layer. To transfer data, one layer receives input PDUs from its upper layer as its SDUs (payloads) and output the resulting PDUs to its lower layer.

[0030] For example, at the RLC layer 254, the transmitting side of an RLC entity receives a PDCP PDU 202 from the PDCP layer 252, embeds the PDCP PDU 202 as a RLC SDU 204, and adds an RLC header to form RLC PDU 272. RLC PDU 272 is then sent to the MAC layer 256, which embeds it as a MAC SDU 206, adds a MAC header to form a MAC PDU to be sent to its next lower layer.

[0031] A PDU may be segmented when it is sent to its next lower layer. For example, at the RLC layer 254, an RLC entity receives a PDCP PDU 212 from the PDCP layer 252. The size of PDCP PDU 212 is too big to be embedded in a single RLC SDU, and the RLC entity segments it into two segments, SDU segments 214 and 216, each of which is then added with a RLC header to generate a RLC PDU, and the resulting RLC PDUs 274 and 276 are then sent to the MAC layer 256, which embeds them as MAC SDUs 218 and 219, and adds their respective MAC headers to form MAC PDUs to be sent to its next lower layer.

[0032] In the reverse direction, the receiving side of an RLC entity at the RLC layer 254 extracts MAC SDUs from the MAC layer 256 to form RLC PDUs that include RLC SDUs and SDU segments and sends the RLC PDUs to assemble and order. [0033] For transmitting and receiving data, transmission and reception buffers are used to store data before the data is confirmed to be received successfully. For example, on the wireless device side (e.g., a UE), the buffer is often referred to as Layer 2 buffer (also referred to as L2 buffer and shown at reference 234), which stores data in the RLC transmission windows and RLC reception and reassembly windows and also in PDCP reordering windows for all radio bearers (also referred to as data radio bearers, DRBs), as described in 3GPP TS 138 306 V15.16.0, entitled “User Equipment (UE) radio access capabilities” and dated January 2022. In dual connectivity cases, the L2 buffer stores data from both Master Cell Group (MCG) and Secondary Cell Group (SCG). Note that the L2 buffer 234 includes the buffer storage needed to perform PDCP reordering as well, thus it is used at both the RLC and PDCP layers. At a mobile unit, the storage space for data at the L2 buffer 234 in a wireless device is expensive thus having a relatively limited size for buffering the data in comparison to the corresponding buffers (not shown) in its counterpart network nodes.

[0034] Figure 3 illustrates data transmission and receipt from a network node (distributed unit) to a wireless device (a user equipment) per some embodiments. The transmission from the transmitting distributed unit (DU) to a user equipment, where the former maintains a transmitting window 302 and the latter a receiving window 304.

[0035] The number of PDU(s) are transmitted according to the MAC Transport Block (TB) size. If the MAC TB size is not large enough to transmit a complete RLC PDU, the RLC PDU is then segmented. The MAC TB size depends upon the scheduled bytes - which is based on the radio condition.

[0036] In the RLC AM mode, every RLC PDU is sent with a sequence number (SN) in ascending order and stored in the re-transmission buffer. The segmentation information (SI) field indicates whether an RLC PDU contains a complete RLC SDU or the first, middle, last segment of an RLC SDU. As shown, the RLC PDUs with the sequence number 3 contain two SDU segments (with the first of size 1000 and the second of size 231), while the rest of the RLC PDUs each contain a complete RLC SDU. As the RLC AM mode supports Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) to ensure reliable delivery, the RLC status PDU message is sent by the UE to indicate the current status of RLC PDUs received at the UE (not shown).

[0037] In data transmission at the RLC layer, a number of RLC timers are defined to set time limits on different operations, including (1) a reassembly timer and (2) a timer to prohibit the RLC status PDU messages.

[0038] (1). The reassembly timer sets a time limit for a receiving side of an acknowledged mode (AM) RLC entity to reassemble PDUs of a radio bearer (a DRB). The reassembly timer is used by the AM RLC entity and receiving unacknowledged mode (UM) RLC entity in order to detect loss of RLC PDUs at a lower layer. Only one reassembly timer per RLC entity is running at a given time.

[0039] (2) The timer to prohibit the RLC status PDU messages sets a time limit for a receiving side of an AM RLC entity to prohibit transmission of a status PDU to a peer AM RLC entity for a radio bearer.

[0040] The RLC timers are defined in standards such as 3GPP TS 138 322 V15.5.0 mentioned above. While the description below uses the specific terms defined in 3GPP TS 138 322 V15.5.0 for the reassembly timer, which is “t-Reassembly”, and the timer to prohibit the RLC status PDU message, which is “t-StatusProhibif ’, embodiments of the invention are applicable to the reassembly timer and timer to prohibit RLC status report in other standards or proprietary implementations of the RLC AM mode as well.

[0041] The t-Reassembly and t-StatusProhibit timers are used at the receiving end of an AM RLC entity thus are set for both wireless devices (e.g., UEs) and network nodes (e.g., base stations), and the timers for the transmission from a network node to a wireless device are referred to as downlink timers (downlink (DI or DL) timers) shown at references 350 and 352 (denoted as t-ReassemblyDl and t-StatusProhibitDl herein below), while the timers for the transmission from a wireless device to a network node are referred to as uplink timers (uplink (U1 or UL) timers) shown at references 360 and 362 (denoted as t-ReassemblyUl and t- StatusProhibitUl). Embodiments of the invention implement a variety of ways to configure these timers to improve data transmission efficiency.

Issues with Fixed Timers Regarding Buffer Usage and Inflight RLC PDUs

[0042] It is the purpose of the PDCP protocol to ensure in-order delivery of any PDCP SDUs that it has received from a lower layer (RLC). To achieve this, the PDCP layer may use a data buffer for temporarily storing any PDCP SDUs that are out-of-order. In the downlink direction, this buffer at the receiving side, which is within a wireless device such as a UE, is a common buffer for Layer 2 (e.g., L2 buffer 234) and used for both master cell group (MCG) and secondary cell group (SCG) when operating in dual connectivity.

[0043] When RLC data transfer operates in dual connectivity between one wireless device and MCG/SCG base stations, the PDCP sequence number (SN) difference between MCG and SCG needs to be small to not overflow this buffer, because buffer overflow occurrence has a severe impact on network congestion, as avoidance protocols used in TCP may be triggered and results in lower throughput.

[0044] The PDCP receiver uses the PDCP reordering buffer while waiting for PDCP SDUs that are out of order. Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) retransmissions or RLC retransmissions might result in PDCP SDUs being out of order. PDCP PDUs are stored in the L2 buffer until missing PDCP PDUs are received or when the t-Reordering timer (another timer) expires.

[0045] In the case of RLC retransmission, when the next status report is sent, the missing RLC PDUs are included as negative acknowledgements (NACKs) and trigger an RLC retransmission. In existing approaches, a t-Reassembly timer has been set for a radio bearer prior to RLC data transfer and the t-Reassembly timer is not configurable in real-time.

[0046] Yet a suitable timer duration for the t-Reassembly timer is hard to select. The t- Reassembly timer needs to be long enough to allow multiple MAC HARQ retransmissions under normal conditions before RLC NACK. With high packet rates (indicting high data transmission rates), the timer values used in normal conditions cause a lot of buffering in both sender and receiver. Thus, while a short t-Reassembly timer causes insufficient MAC HARQ retransmission, which triggers retransmission in a higher layer and thus degrades data transfer efficiency, a long t-Reassembly timer causes a high buffer usage and potentially affects other applications at the RLC layer or another layer (e.g., L2 layer buffer is shared on a wireless device).

[0047] Similar to the t-Reassembly timer, a t-StatusProhibit timer has been set for a radio bearer prior to RLC data transfer and the t-StatusProhibit timer is not configurable real-time in existing approaches, and a suitable t-StatusProhibit timer is hard to select as well.

[0048] The t-StatusProhibit timer limits the amount of feedback to the RLC sender. If the t- StatusProhibit timer is running when a status report is triggered by a poll or an expiring t- Reassembly timer, no status report is sent to the RLC sender. This reduces the number of status reports but also increases the time for feedback to reach the RLC sender.

[0049] When packet rates are high, large buffers are required to retransmit packets. In addition, a high packet rate also makes it difficult to keep the PDCP sequence numbers in sync from MCG and SCG in the limited Layer 2 buffer in the receiver at a wireless device and packet loss might occur. Thus, a long t-StatusProhibit timer also causes a high buffer usage and potentially degrades data transfer efficiency when the packet rate is high.

[0050] On the other hand, using a t-StatusProhibit timer that is too short will result in increased load on the network and on the air interface because more status reports are sent from the receiver to the sender. When the data rate over the air interface is very high, the amount of RLC PDUs sent over the air interface and not yet acknowledged may become rather large when one or more RLC retransmissions are triggered. The RLC sender needs to keep a copy of all the RLC PDUs that it has sent in case it needs to retransmit the RLC PDUs later, and the RLC sender also needs to reserve unique sequence numbers for all of these RLC PDUs in an RLC transmit window. All of the RLC PDUs that have been sent but not yet acknowledged are denoted as inflight RLC PDUs (also referred to as RLC data-in-flight).

[0051] During a data transfer, one or more RLC retransmissions can happen, which immediately increases the amount of inflight RLC PDUs, and therefore it is important to keep the RLC detected round-trip duration (DRTD) as short as possible, where the RLC DRTD is the time from transmission of a specific RLC PDU until it is acknowledged by the receiving side. The longer the RLC DRTD is, the bigger buffer is needed to store all the RLC PDUs and also for handling a sufficient long sequence number range in order to track each individual RLC PDU. Yet a short RLC DRTD costs increasing processing cycles, since there is a need to frequently send RLC status reports from the RLC receiver to the RLC sender (requiring a short t-StatusProhibit timer) and this results in higher load on both the sender and the receiver.

[0052] Thus, it may be acceptable to transmit frequent status reports (requiring a short t- StatusProhibit timer) when there is a high data rate; but if the data rate is too low, the corresponding cost of sending the status reports may be unnecessarily high.

[0053] Additionally, a short t-StatusProhibit timer may potentially result in multiple ARQ retransmissions of the same data if a status NACK report is sent while ARQ retransmission of previously requested retransmitted data is in flight but delayed by HARQ retransmissions. That is, too short t-StatusProhibit timer may degrade network performance.

[0054] In summary, the t-Reassembly and the t-StatusProhibit timers need to be long enough to allow multiple MAC HARQ retransmissions and to avoid too high load in the RLC sender and receiver, yet these timers need to be short enough to ensure that the PDCP reordering buffer does not become too large and that the amount of inflight RLC PDUs does not become too big. Such goldilocks timer settings are hard to achieve a priori, and changing wireless network conditions, traffic patterns, and network node/wireless device status make fixed timer settings suboptimal at best and hindering RLC data transfer efficiency.

Configurable Timers

[0055] As discussed, when the amount of inflight RLC PDUs is kept to a minimum and the PDCP reordering buffer is kept as small as possible, RLC data transfer is the most efficient during the time of high data rates over the air interface. Thus, it is advantageous to shorten the RLC timers such as t-Reassembly and t-StatusProhibit for specific bears when the air interface experiences high data rates. Table 1 shows results from experiments that test the relationship between the durations of t-Reassembly and the t-StatusProhibit timers and the numbers of inflight RLC PDUs and PDCP PDUs in the receiver reordering buffer. Table 1. Duration of t-Reassembly and the t-StatusProhibit timers and corresponding inflight RLC PDU and buffer usage

[0056] As shown by the experiments, the shorter settings of t-StatusProhibit and t-Reassembly reduce the needed PDCP reordering buffer size and reduce the number of inflight RLC PDUs, with the data rate between 5 to 8 Gbps (a relatively high data transmission rate) and with a rather short round trip time (RTT) of around 4 ms between the wireless device and network node. [0057] Thus, in some embodiments, the t-StatusProhibit and the t-Reassembly timers are set to shorter values when it can safely be done (e.g., at a relative high data transmission rate, a relatively good radio condition, and/or a relatively low load condition), and this is done to reduce the need for buffering of data and thereby enabling higher data rates over the air interface. As shown in Table 1, when the t-StatusProhibit and the t-Reassembly timers are set to longer values, the number of inflight RLC PDUs will be higher and the required size of the PDCP reordering buffer will be bigger compared to when these timers are set to shorter values. [0058] Yet the t-StatusProhibit and the t-Reassembly timers should not always be set to short values, because that may result in higher load both for the RLC sender and receiver, and if the wireless device (e.g., UE) is in bad radio condition, data transfer performance will suffer. Thus, with a high air interface rate and the radio condition of the wireless device being known to be rather good, shorter values are set to these timers, otherwise when the rate is rather low or if the radio condition is poor, these timers can be set to higher values.

[0059] Based on these observations, embodiments of the invention set different duration values to the RLC timers including the t-StatusProhibit and the t-Reassembly timers for a radio bearer based on various factors, including one or more of the following measured or estimated values: [0060] (1). Measured or estimated transmission data rate. If this rate goes above (or below) a certain threshold, these RLC timers may be set to shorter (or longer) values than what is set by default or what is currently set. The threshold may be one of multiple of thresholds, crossing each of them may result in a different timer value - for example, t-Reassembly may be set to 5ms, 10ms, 15 ms, 20ms, or 25ms when the measured or estimated data rate exceeds the threshold of 4 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 2 Gbps, or 1 Gbps, respectively.

[0061] (2). Measured or estimated radio condition. When the radio condition is good (or bad), these RLC timers may be set to shorter (or longer) values than what is set by default or what is currently set. Similar to the first factor, multiple thresholds may be established for the radio condition, each corresponding to a different set of the RLC timer values in some embodiments. [0062] (3). Measured estimated load condition in the radio system. When the load is low (or high), these RLC timers may be set to shorter (or longer) values than what is set by default or what is currently set. Similar to the first and second factors, multiple thresholds may be established for the load condition, each corresponding to a different set of the RLC timers in some embodiments.

[0063] While some measured or estimated values of these factors may be a single value, others may include multiple values. For example, the transmission data rate for the radio bearer is a single rate in some embodiments. Yet the radio condition may be indicated by multiple values including one or more of a data loss rate (e.g., block error rate), a modulation/coding rate, a retransmission rate (e.g., the ones at the MAC layer, RLC layer, and/or PDCP layer) for the radio bearer or multiple radio bearers, each may correspond to a set of thresholds in some embodiments.

[0064] Similarly, the load condition may be indicated by resource consumption in the corresponding wireless device or network node. The resource consumption may be indicated by, in a wireless device or network node, the usage of one or more execution resources (e.g., central processing unit (CPU) or graphics processing unit (GPU)), the usage of the storage space (e.g., the occupied buffer in absolute value or relative to the maximum allowed buffer size, which are for the inflight RLC PDUs in some embodiments), the bandwidth usage on the radio interface for RLC data transfer (e.g., the ones for uplink and/or downlink), the number of radio bearers that are in use, or another load condition indication of the corresponding wireless device or network node, each may correspond to a set of thresholds in some embodiments as well.

[0065] Each of the three factors may be evaluated by quantitative analysis and/or qualitative analysis. In the quantitative analysis, the measured or estimated values of one or more of the three factors are compared to one or more thresholds and crossing a threshold may cause one or both timers to be updated to new value(s) from the existing one(s). Alternatively/additionally, each of the measured or estimated values by itself or the threshold comparison results may be given a weight, and the sum of these values and/or the threshold comparison results, both of which may carry weights, is the value used to indicate what the desired timer value(s) should be for the system condition. Obviously, when the weight is zero for a particular measured or estimated value or threshold comparison result for the particular measured or estimated value, the quantitative/qualitative analysis ignores that particular measured or estimated value in determining the desired timer value(s). That is, in some embodiments, one or more of three factors (the transmission data rate, radio condition, and load condition in the radio system), or a particular measurement of a factor that includes multiple measurements may be ignored in determining the desired timer value(s).

[0066] In the qualitative analysis, the measured or estimated values of one or more of the three factors are given a ranking. For example, the radio condition is deemed to be “good” when one or more of the multiple values discussed herein above are in certain ranges. For another example, the load in a wireless device or network node is deemed to be “low” when the measured or estimated usages of the execution resources, storage space, the bandwidth usage, and/or the number of radio bearers that are in use are below their corresponding thresholds. The rankings of these factors can then be combined (e.g., used weighted sum approach discussed herein above) to determine whether or not to update the t-StatusProhibit and/or the t-Reassembly timers, if one or both timers are determined to be in need of update, to which duration(s) the timer value(s) are to be updated.

[0067] The update of the t-StatusProhibit and/or the t-Reassembly timers based on the quantitative analysis and/or qualitative analysis may be performed in real-time or near real-time as the measured or estimated values are obtained. The update may be based on the quantitative analysis and/or qualitative analysis may implement one or more machine learning models with some or all of the measured or estimated values as input values, and the new t-StatusProhibit and/or the t-Reassembly timer duration(s) as the output values. The machine learning models may use supervised learning, unsupervised learning, semi -supervised learning, or other types of learning. It can use artificial neural networks, decision trees, support-vector machines, regression analysis, Bayesian networks, genetic algorithms, or any other framework. The machine learning models may be trained by adjusting the weights on different input values with the one or more goals of reducing the inflight RLC PDUs and the PDCP PDUs in reordering buffers (see Table 1), increasing the data transfer rate, and/or reducing retransmission at the higher layers. [0068] With the configurable RLC timers, the needed data buffer sizes, including needed reordering buffer sizes, can be reduced in both downlink and uplink directions (at the wireless device and the corresponding base station(s), respectively).

[0069] At the wireless device, the L2 buffer is shared and used for RLC transmissions, reception and reordering windows, as well as PDCP reordering window. Additionally, the L2 buffer is shared by both master cell group (MCG) and secondary cell group (SCG) when dual connectivity to a network node (e.g., a base station) is implemented. If the L2 buffer is too small for the data rates, packets will be dropped and performance with TCP will suffer. In multiconnectivity scenarios, more frequent RLC feedback (e.g., more frequent status reports) caused by shorter t-StatusProhibit and t-Reassembly timers will allow the sender to better decide which path to use for future packets in order to reduce the age difference between the packets on the different paths, resulting in less reordering which in turn results in less latency on TCP layer or equivalent layer protocol.

[0070] The configurable RLC timers thus enable higher data rates with less memory buffer usage and/or more frequent status reports. With reduced buffer usage and/or more frequent status reports, the network node will have a more granular understanding on the instantaneous data rates for both MCG and SCG, and therefore embodiments of the invention may be better at choosing MCG or SCG for the traffic between them and a wireless device. Furthermore, reduced buffer usage and/or more frequent status reports allows embodiments of the invention to handle larger time differences on PDCP layer in receiving reordering buffer since the buffer can contain more packets while waiting for missing packets from the other cell groups. This makes RLC data transfer more robust and less likely to lose packets in some scenarios.

[0071] Additionally, the configurable RLC timers also reduce the peak number of TCP acknowledge packets. Since configuring the t-StatusProhibit and t-Reassembly timers to be shorter is triggered only for the wireless devices with high data rates, the increased load of higher frequency of RLC status reports is limited. Other wireless devices that have worse conditions and require higher tReassemblyDl timer to be able to do more HARQ retransmissions are not affected.

Operations per Some Embodiments

[0072] Embodiments of the invention implement one or more configurable RLC timers such as the t-Reassembly and the t-StatusProhibit timers based on various factors as discussed herein above. The configuration of these RLC timers may be performed in a variety of ways in different wireless networks, and a few non-limiting examples are discussed herein.

[0073] Embodiments of the invention are applicable for RLC data transfers through a single connectivity and dual connectivity (DC) (or even connectivity with more than two connecting points) between a wireless device and one or more network nodes, and examples of single and dual connectivity are discussed herein as examples. The embodiments of the invention may be applied to a Radio Access Network (RAN) architecture that includes a network node implementing a centralized unit (CU) and distributed unit (DU) split, and the former may split further into (1) a control plane (CP) entity referred to as (CU-CP or CU-C), and (2) a data plane (DP) entity referred to as (CU-DP or CU-D), which may also be referred to as a user plane entity (CU-UP, or CU-U). Such split enables the implementation of CU-CP and CU-DP in different locations. In dual connectivity, one of the network nodes connecting to a wireless device is referred to as the master node (MN) while the other is referred to as the secondary node (SN). [0074] Figure 4 illustrates the operations to configure the downlink Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers per some embodiments. The operations at system 400 are performed between a wireless device 402 (e.g., a UE) and a node 420 (e.g., a base station such as an eNB or gNB) with single connectivity for the RLC data transfer. The numerical order of the operations shows a non-limiting example.

[0075] In some embodiments, node 420 includes a centralized unit control plane (CU-CP) 424, a centralized unit user plane (CU-UP) 426, and a distributed unit (DU) 422, and the interfaces (e.g., El, Fl, X2/Xn, RRC interfaces) used in communication within these entities and between these entities and the wireless device 402 (and similar entities in Figures 5 to 8) are defined in standards such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards. For example, these defining 3GPP standards include 3GPP TS 38.473 V15.16.0, entitled “Fl Application Protocol (F1AP)” and dated January 2022, 3GPP TS 38.423 V15.15.0, entitled “Xn Application Protocol (XnAP)” and dated May 2022, 3GPP TS 38.463 V15.10.0, entitled “El Application Protocol (E1AP)” and dated May 2022, 3 GPP TS 38.331 V15.17.0, entitled “NR Radio Resource Control (RRC)” and dated May 2022, 3GPP TS 36.331 V15.17.0, entitled “E-UTRA Radio Resource Control (RRC)” and dated May 2022, and 3GPP TS 36.423 VI 5.13, entitled “E- UTRAN X2 Application Protocol (X2AP)” and dated May 2022. Thus, the discussion of the operations herein does not provide more details about these entities and interfaces.

[0076] At reference 452, CU-UP 426 notifies CU-CP 424 through an El interface about a changed data rate of a radio bearer. The changed data rate may be the measured or estimated transmission data rate discussed herein above. In some embodiments, the notification may be for an increase or decrease of the data rate, and the notification may be issued when the measured or estimated transmission of the radio bearer is above or below a certain threshold, which may be one of a set of thresholds for the data rate.

[0077] CU-CP 424 then determines whether to change the duration(s) of one or more downlink RLC timers for the radio bearer, including t-ReassemblyDl and/or the t- StatusProhibitDl timers and to what duration value(s) the Downlink RLC timers are changed if a change is needed. Such determination is based on the measured/estimated transmission data rate, radio condition, and/or load condition in the radio system (wireless device 402 and/or node 420) using the quantitative analysis and/or qualitative analysis, as discussed herein.

[0078] Once CU-CP 424 determines that an update of the one or more downlink RLC timers is needed, it sends a UE context modification request message to DU 422 through an Fl interface at reference 454 to request the timer update. The UE context modification request message may indicate the duration value(s) to which the downlink RLC timers are required to change in some embodiments. The indication may include the duration value(s) themselves; and altematively/additionally, the UE context modification request message may include one or more settings to notify from where DU 422 is to obtain the desired duration value(s) (e.g., indicating a memory location to obtain the value(s)) or to implicitly indicate the duration value(s) to which the downlink RLC timers are required to change (e.g., setting indicating to change to the default value(s)). In some embodiments, the indication is a timer value change flag, which is set when the request includes changing the one or more of the first and second timers.

[0079] Alternatively, DU 422, instead of CU-CP 424, determines whether to change the duration(s) of one or more downlink RLC timers for the radio bearer, including t-ReassemblyDl and/or the t-StatusProhibitDl timers and to what duration value(s) the Downlink RLC timers are changed when a change is needed. In these embodiments, the UE context modification request message indicates the data rate change to DU 422, which then makes the determination of updating the RLC timer duration(s). Note that the data rate change may be indicated through setting a flag in the UE context modification request message.

[0080] Furthermore, in some alternative embodiments, CU-CP 424 may determine whether to change the duration(s) of one or more downlink RLC timers for the radio bearer, including t- ReassemblyDl and/or the t- StatusProhibitDl timers, while DU 422 makes the determination of to what duration value(s) the Downlink RLC timers are changed when a change is needed.

[0081] While the exemplary embodiments in this Section start with a changed data rate of a radio bearer, other changes may also trigger the update of the RLC timers. For example, the update may be initiated because of a changed radio condition and/or load condition in the radio system, as discussed herein above. When the changed radio condition and/or load condition in the radio system triggers CU-CP 424 and/or DU 422 to update the RLC timers, it may consider non-triggering state of other factors.

[0082] For example, the message through the El interface may be a changed radio condition of a radio bearer, and CU-CP 424 and/or DU 422 consider the data rate of the radio bearer and the load condition in the radio system to decide whether to change the duration(s) of one or more downlink RLC timers for the radio bearer, including t-ReassemblyDl and/or the t- StatusProhibitDl timers and to what duration value(s) the Downlink RLC timers are changed if a change is needed.

[0083] For another example, the message through the El interface may be a changed load condition of the radio system (e.g., network node 420 or wireless device 402), and CU-CP 424 and/or DU 422 consider the data rate of the radio bearer and the radio condition of the radio bearer to decide whether to change the duration(s) of one or more downlink RLC timers for the radio bearer, including t-ReassemblyDl and/or the t-StatusProhibitDl timers and to what duration value(s) the Downlink RLC timers are changed if a change is needed.

[0084] At reference 456, DU 422 builds a cell group configuration RRC container (e.g., CellGroupConfig RRC container) with the desired timer value(s) and responds to the request with a UE context modification response message including the cell group configuration RRC container through an Fl interface to CU-CP 424 at reference 458. In an alternative embodiment, instead of building a container, the RLC timer reconfiguration is performed by using a cell group configuration message such as a “CellGroupConfig” at reference 456.

[0085] CU-CP 424 then sends an RRC reconfiguration message to wireless device 402 at reference 470, and wireless device 402 makes the change and sets the RLC timers to the desired values. The reconfiguration message may indicate the duration value(s) to which the downlink RLC timers are required to change in some embodiments. The indication may include the duration value(s) themselves; and alternatively/additionally, the reconfiguration message may include one or more settings to notify from where wireless device 402 is to obtain the desired duration value(s) (e.g., indicating a memory location to obtain the value(s)) or to implicitly indicate the duration value(s) to which the downlink RLC timers are required to change (e.g., setting indicating to change to the default value(s)).

[0086] Figure 5 illustrates the operations to configure the uplink Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers per some embodiments. The operations are similar to the ones in Figure 4, and the same or similar references indicate the same or similar entities and/or operations. One difference is that no communication to a wireless device is required when the operations are to change the one or more uplink RLC timers including t-ReassemblyUl and/or the t-StatusProhibitUl timers, as the uplink RLC timers are in the node 520. Additionally, no RRC container needs to be built at DU 522, and reconfiguration may be performed at DU 522 directly as shown at reference 556. [0087] Figure 6 illustrates the operations to configure the downlink Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers in new radio dual connectivity (NR-DC) per some embodiments. The operations in Figure 6 are similar to the ones in Figure 4, and the same or similar references indicate the same or similar entities and/or operations. One difference is that dual connectivity includes two network nodes, a master node 610 (used by a master cell group (MCG)) and a secondary node 620 (used by a secondary cell group (SCG)).

[0088] The operations start at the secondary node 620, and the operations within are similar to the ones in node 420 as explained relating to Figure 4. After the UE context modification response confirms the change of the one or more timers at reference 658, CU-CP 624 sends a S- node modification required message to CU-CP 614 of master node 610 through the Xn interface at reference 660, requesting the same change of the one or more timers at master node 610. Upon receiving the S-node modification required message, CU-CP 614 performs similar operations as CU-CP 624 and causes the change of the one or more uplink RLC timers including t-ReassemblyDl and/or the t-StatusProhibitDl timers through building a cell group configuration RRC container, which is then included in a UE context modification response message. Note that a single RRC reconfiguration message is sent to wireless device 602 for the desired RLC timer values after both master node 610 and secondary node 620 have made their own RLC timer updates at references 664 and 656, respectively. In an alternative embodiment, instead of building a container, the RLC timer reconfiguration is performed by using a cell group configuration message such as a “CellGroupConfig” at references 664 and 656.

[0089] Once the settings for the one or more downlink RLC timers at master node 610 for the radio bearer are changed to the same desired values as the ones at secondary node 620, CU-CP 614 causes wireless device 602 to change the corresponding one or more downlink RLC timers for the radio bearer at wireless device 602, similar to the operations described in Figure 4.

[0090] Note while the changed data rate message is shown as being transmitted from the CU- UP 626 at secondary node 620, the changed data rate message may be transmitted from the CU- UP (not shown) of master node 610 in an alternative embodiment. In other words, the changed data rate message may be sourced from either the master node or secondary node in embodiments of the inventions.

[0091] Figure 7 illustrates the operations to configure the uplink Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers in new radio dual connectivity (NR-DC) per some embodiments. The operations in Figure 7 are similar to the ones in Figure 6, and the same or similar references indicate the same or similar entities and/or operations. One difference is that no communication to a wireless device is required when the operations are to change the one or more uplink RLC timers including t-ReassemblyUl and/or the t-StatusProhibitUl timers, as the uplink RLC timers are in primary node 702 or secondary node 720. Additionally, no RRC container needs to be built at DU 712 or DU 722, and reconfiguration may be performed at these DUs directly as shown at references 756 and 764. [0092] Figure 8 illustrates the operations to configure the downlink Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers in Evolved-Universal Terrestrial Radio Access-New Radio (EN-DC) per some embodiments. The operations in Figure 8 are similar to the ones in Figure 6, and the same or similar references indicate the same or similar entities and/or operations. One difference is that 4G is supported in the system and X2 interface is implemented between master node 810 and secondary node 820 instead of the Xn interface implemented between master node 610 and secondary node 620. Additionally, Fl interface is not supported in master node 810, which now has less operations as shown.

[0093] The configuration of the uplink Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers in EN-DC is similar to the uplink RLC timer configuration in NR-DC, and the difference between its implementation and the ones in Figure 7 is similar to the difference between Figures 6 and 8 thus is not repeated.

[0094] Figure 9 is a flow diagram illustrating the operations to configure the Radio Link Control Layer (RLC) timers per some embodiments. The operations are performed by a network node in a wireless network, as discussed herein.

[0095] At reference 902, the network node detects a change of a data rate of a radio bearer between the network node and a wireless device. At reference 904, the network node determines a radio condition for the radio bearer between the network node and wireless device. At reference 906, the network node determines one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device.

[0096] At reference 908, the network node causes update of one or more of a first timer and a second timer for the radio bearer based on the change of the data rate of the radio bearer, the radio condition for the radio bearer, and the one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device, the first timer setting a first time limit for a receiving side of an acknowledgement mode radio link control (AM RLC) entity to reassemble protocol data units (PDUs) of the radio bearer, the second timer setting a second time limit for the receiving side of the AM RLC entity to prohibit transmission of a status protocol data unit (PDU) to a peer AM RLC entity for the radio bearer. The first and second timers may be uplink or downlink timers. In some embodiments, the first timer is denoted as t-StatusProhibit and the second timer is denoted as t-Reassembly.

[0097] In some embodiments, detecting the change of the data rate of the radio bearer comprises determining the change of the data rate crossing a first threshold.

[0098] In some embodiments, determining the radio condition for the radio bearer comprises determining a data retransmission rate of the radio bearer crossing a second threshold. Altematively/additionally, the determination of the radio condition comprises determining a data loss rate or a modulation/coding rate.

[0099] In some embodiments, determining the load conditions of the network node and wireless device comprises determining resource consumption at the network node or the wireless device crossing a third threshold. In some embodiments, the resource consumption is indicated by the usage of one or more execution resources, storage space, bandwidth usage on the radio interface, or the number of radio bearers that are in use.

[00100] In some embodiments, the update of the one or more of the first and second timers comprises setting the one or more of the first and second timers to a lower value when the data rate is higher than a first threshold, the radio condition for the radio bearer indicating data retransmission of the radio bearer is lower than a second threshold, and the one or more load conditions indicating buffer consumption at the network node or the wireless device is higher than a third threshold.

[00101] In some embodiments, the update of the one or more of the first and second timers comprises setting the one or more of the first and second timers to a higher value when the data rate is lower than a fourth threshold, the radio condition for the radio bearer indicating data retransmission of the radio bearer is higher than a fifth threshold, and the one or more load conditions indicating buffer consumption at the network node or the wireless device is lower than a six threshold.

[00102] In some embodiments, detecting the change of the data rate of the radio bearer comprises receiving a changed data rate message through an El interface from a centralized unit user plane (CU-UP).

[00103] In some embodiments, in response to receiving the changed data rate message at a centralized unit control plane (CU-CP), a context modification request for the wireless device indicating at least one of a timer value change and the change of the data rate, is sent from the CU-CP to a distributed unit (DU) through an Fl interface. In some embodiments, the indication is a timer value change flag, which is set when the request includes changing the one or more of the first and second timers.

[00104] In some embodiments, in response to receiving the context modification request for the wireless device at the DU, a cell group configuration radio resource control (RRC) container is built with one or more updated first and second timers.

[00105] In some embodiments, a bearer modification response message is sent through the Fl interface from the DU to the CU-CP indicating the cell group configuration RRC container.

[00106] In some embodiments, in response to receiving the bearer modification response message indicating the cell group configuration RRC container at the CU-UP, the network node sends a secondary node modification request message to a master network node, which sets a cell group configuration with the one or more updated first and second timers.

[00107] In some embodiments, when the first and second timers are implemented in the wireless device, the method further comprises the master network node sending a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message indicating the one or more updated first and second timers, based on which the wireless device updates the first and second timers on the wireless device for the radio bearer. In these embodiments, the first and second timers are downlink RLC timers discussed herein above.

[00108] Note that in some embodiments, a change of the radio condition of the radio bearer, instead of the change of the data rate of the radio bearer indicated at reference 902, initiates the update of the one or more of the first and/or second timers, as discussed herein above relating to Figure 4. In that case, the operations include detecting the change of the radio condition of the radio bearer; determining a data rate of the radio bearer; determining one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device; and causing the update of the one or more of the first and second timers for the radio bearer based on the three factors, similar to what is described relating to reference 908.

[00109] Additionally/alternatively, a change of one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device initiates the update of the one or more of the first and/or second timers, as discussed herein above relating to Figure 4 as well. In that case, the operations include detecting the change of one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device; determining a data rate of the radio bearer; determining the radio condition of the radio bearer; and causing the update of the one or more of the first and second timers for the radio bearer based on the three factors, similar to what is described relating to reference 908.

Devices Implementing Embodiments of the Invention

[00110] Figure 10 illustrates a network node implementing dedicated queues per some embodiments. The network node 1002 may be implemented using custom application-specific integrated-circuits (ASICs) as processors and a special-purpose operating system (OS), or common off-the-shelf (COTS) processors and a standard OS. In some embodiments, the network node 1002 implements nodes 420, 520, 620, 720, or 820.

[00111] The network node 1002 includes hardware 1040 comprising a set of one or more processors 1042 (which are typically COTS processors or processor cores or ASICs) and physical NIs 1046, as well as non-transitory machine-readable storage media 1049 having stored therein software 1050. During operation, the one or more processors 1042 may execute the software 1050 to instantiate one or more sets of one or more applications 1064A-R. While one embodiment does not implement virtualization, alternative embodiments may use different forms of virtualization. For example, in one such alternative embodiment, the virtualization layer 1054 represents the kernel of an operating system (or a shim executing on a base operating system) that allows for the creation of multiple instances 1062A-R called software containers that may each be used to execute one (or more) of the sets of applications 1064A-R. The multiple software containers (also called virtualization engines, virtual private servers, or jails) are user spaces (typically a virtual memoiy space) that are separate from each other and separate from the kernel space in which the operating system is run. The set of applications running in a given user space, unless explicitly allowed, cannot access the memory of the other processes. In another such alternative embodiment, the virtualization layer 1054 represents a hypervisor (sometimes referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM)) or a hypervisor executing on top of a host operating system, and each of the sets of applications 1064A-R run on top of a guest operating system within an instance 1062A-R called a virtual machine (which may in some cases be considered a tightly isolated form of software container) that run on top of the hypervisor - the guest operating system and application may not know that they are running on a virtual machine as opposed to running on a “bare metal” host electronic device, or through paravirtualization the operating system and/or application may be aware of the presence of virtualization for optimization purposes. In yet other alternative embodiments, one, some, or all of the applications are implemented as unikernel(s), which can be generated by compiling directly with an application only a limited set of libraries (e.g., from a library operating system (LibOS) including drivers/libraries of OS services) that provide the particular OS services needed by the application. As a unikemel can be implemented to run directly on hardware 1040, directly on a hypervisor (in which case the unikernel is sometimes described as running within a LibOS virtual machine), or in a software container, embodiments can be implemented fully with unikemels running directly on a hypervisor represented by virtualization layer 1054, unikemels running within software containers represented by instances 1062A-R, or as a combination of unikemels and the above-described techniques (e.g., unikernels and virtual machines both run directly on a hypervisor, unikernels, and sets of applications that are run in different software containers).

[00112] The software 1050 contains an AM RLC entity timer configurator 1055 that performs operations described with reference to operations as discussed relating to Figures 4 to 9. The AM RLC entity timer configurator 1055 may be instantiated within the applications 1064A-R. The instantiation of the one or more sets of one or more applications 1064A-R, as well as virtualization if implemented, are collectively referred to as software instance(s) 1052. Each set of applications 1064A-R, corresponding virtualization construct (e.g., instance 1062A-R) if implemented, and that part of the hardware 1040 that executes them (be it hardware dedicated to that execution and/or time slices of hardware temporally shared), forms a separate virtual electronic device 1060A-R.

[00113] A network interface (NI) may be physical or virtual. In the context of IP, an interface address is an IP address assigned to an NI, be it a physical NI or virtual NI. A virtual NI may be associated with a physical NI, with another virtual interface, or stand on its own (e.g., a loopback interface, a point-to-point protocol interface). An NI (physical or virtual) may be numbered (a NI with an IP address) or unnumbered (an NI without an IP address).

A Wireless Network per Some Embodiments

[00114] Although the subject matter described herein may be implemented in any appropriate type of system using any suitable components, the embodiments disclosed herein are described in relation to a wireless network, such as the example wireless network illustrated in Figure 11. For simplicity, the wireless network of Figure 11 only depicts network 1106, network nodes 1160 and 1160b, and WDs 1110, 1110b, and 1110c. In practice, a wireless network may further include any additional elements suitable to support communication between wireless devices or between a wireless device and another communication device, such as a landline telephone, a service provider, or any other network node or end device. Of the illustrated components, network node 1160 and wireless device (WD) 1110 are depicted with additional detail. The wireless network may provide communication and other types of services to one or more wireless devices to facilitate the wireless devices’ access to and/or use of the services provided by, or via, the wireless network.

[00115] The wireless network may comprise and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio network or other similar type of system. In some embodiments, the wireless network may be configured to operate according to specific standards or other types of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, particular embodiments of the wireless network may implement communication standards, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G standards; wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards; and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave and/or ZigBee standards.

[00116] Network 1106 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks, IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet data networks, optical networks, wide-area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), wired networks, wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks to enable communication between devices.

[00117] Network node 1160 and WD 1110 comprise various components described in more detail below. These components work together in order to provide network node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providing wireless connections in a wireless network. In different embodiments, the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices, relay stations, 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.

[00118] As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the wireless network to enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the wireless 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 new radio (NR) NodeBs (gNBs)). Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and may then also 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). Yet further examples of network nodes include 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), core network nodes (e.g., mobile switching centers (MSCs), mobility management entities (MMEs)), operational and management (O & M) nodes, operation support system (OSS) nodes, selfoptimized network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).. As another example, a network node may be a virtual network node as described in more detail below. More generally, however, network nodes may represent any suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to enable and/or provide a wireless device with access to the wireless network or to provide some service to a wireless device that has accessed the wireless network.

[00119] In Figure 11, network node 1160 includes processing circuitry 1170, device readable medium 1180, interface 1190, auxiliary equipment 1184, power source 1186, power circuitry 1187, and antenna 1162. Although network node 1160 illustrated in the example wireless network of Figure 11 may represent a device that includes the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise network nodes with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that a network node comprises any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Moreover, while the components of network node 1160 are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, a network node may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g., device readable medium 1180 may comprise multiple separate hard drives as well as multiple RAM modules).

[00120] Similarly, network node 1160 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 network node 1160 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 NodeB’ s. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, network node 1160 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate device readable medium 1180 for the different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 1162 may be shared by the RATs). Network node 1160 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1160, such as, for example, GSM, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), LTE, NR, WiFi, 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 1160.

[00121] Processing circuitry 1170 is configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being provided by a network node. These operations performed by processing circuitry 1170 may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry 1170 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.

[00122] Processing circuitry 1170 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 1160 components, such as device readable medium 1180, network node 1160 functionality. For example, processing circuitry 1170 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 1180 or in memory within processing circuitry 1170. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1170 may include a system on a chip (SOC).

[00123] In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1170 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1172 and baseband processing circuitry 1174. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1172 and baseband processing circuitry 1174 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 1172 and baseband processing circuitry 1174 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[00124] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being provided by a network node, base station, eNB or other such network device may be performed by processing circuitry 1170 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 1180 or memory within processing circuitry 1170. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 1170 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readable storage medium or not, processing circuitry 1170 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry 1170 alone or to other components of network node 1160, but are enjoyed by network node 1160 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.

[00125] Device readable medium 1180 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, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (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 processing circuitry 1170. Device readable medium 1180 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry 1170 and, utilized by network node 1160. Device readable medium 1180 may be used to store any calculations made by processing circuitry 1170 and/or any data received via interface 1190. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1170 and device readable medium 1180 may be considered to be integrated.

[00126] Interface 1190 is used in the wired or wireless communication of signalling and/or data between network node 1160, network 1106, and/or WDs 1110. As illustrated, interface 1190 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 1194 to send and receive data, for example to and from network 1106 over a wired connection. Interface 1190 also includes radio front end circuitry 1192 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna 1162. Radio front end circuitry 1192 comprises filters 1198 and amplifiers 1196. Radio front end circuitry 1192 may be connected to antenna 1162 and processing circuitry 1170. Radio front end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1162 and processing circuitry 1170. Radio front end circuitry 1192 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 1192 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1198 and/or amplifiers 1196. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 1162. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 1162 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry 1192. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 1170. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

[00127] In certain alternative embodiments, network node 1160 may not include separate radio front end circuitry 1192, instead, processing circuitry 1170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 1162 without separate radio front end circuitry 1192. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuitry 1172 may be considered a part of interface 1190. In still other embodiments, interface 1190 may include one or more ports or terminals 1194, radio front end circuitry 1192, and RF transceiver circuitry 1172, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and interface 1190 may communicate with baseband processing circuitry 1174, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[00128] Antenna 1162 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna 1162 may be coupled to radio front end circuitry 1190 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna 1162 may comprise one or more omni-directional, sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receive radio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz. An omni-directional antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals in any direction, a sector antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals from devices within a particular area, and a panel antenna may be a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in a relatively straight line. In some instances, the use of more than one antenna may be referred to as multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO). In certain embodiments, antenna 1162 may be separate from network node 1160 and may be connectable to network node 1160 through an interface or port.

[00129] Antenna 1162, interface 1190, and/or processing circuitry 1170 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, antenna 1162, interface 1190, and/or processing circuitry 1170 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

[00130] Power circuitry 1187 may comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node 1160 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Power circuitry 1187 may receive power from power source 1186. Power source 1186 and/or power circuitry 1187 may be configured to provide power to the various components of network node 1160 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). Power source 1186 may either be included in, or external to, power circuitry 1187 and/or network node 1160. For example, network node 1160 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry 1187. As a further example, power source 1186 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry 1187. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail. Other types of power sources, such as photovoltaic devices, may also be used.

[00131] Alternative embodiments of network node 1160 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 11 that may be responsible 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, network node 1160 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into network node 1160 and to allow output of information from network node 1160. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node 1160.

[00132] As used herein, wireless device (WD) refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise noted, the term WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE). Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information through air. In some embodiments, a WD may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a WD may be designed to transmit information to a network on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the network. Examples of a WD include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless cameras, a gaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance, a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a tablet, a laptop, a laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop-mounted equipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, etc. A WD may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and may in this case be referred to as a D2D communication device. As yet another specific example, in an Internet of Things (loT) scenario, a WD may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another WD and/or a network node. The WD may in this case be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the WD may be a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home or personal appliances (e.g., refrigerators, televisions, etc.) personal wearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other scenarios, a WD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation. A WD as described above may represent the endpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may be referred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described above may be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobile device or a mobile terminal.

[00133] As illustrated, wireless device 1110 includes antenna 1111, interface 1114, processing circuitry 1120, device readable medium 1130, user interface equipment 1132, auxiliary equipment 1134, power source 1136 and power circuitry 1137. WD 1110 may include multiple sets of one or more of the illustrated components for different wireless technologies supported by WD 1110, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, WiMAX, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to mention a few. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or set of chips as other components within WD 1110.

[00134] Antenna 1111 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected to interface 1114. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna 1111 may be separate from WD 1110 and be connectable to WD 1110 through an interface or port. Antenna 1111, interface 1114, and/or processing circuitry 1120 may be configured to perform any receiving or transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a WD. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a network node and/or another WD. In some embodiments, radio front end circuitry and/or antenna 1111 may be considered an interface.

[00135] As illustrated, interface 1114 comprises radio front end circuitry 1112 and antenna

1111. Radio front end circuitry 1112 comprise one or more filters 1118 and amplifiers 1116. Radio front end circuitry 1114 is connected to antenna 1111 and processing circuitry 1120, and is configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1111 and processing circuitry 1120. Radio front end circuitry 1112 may be coupled to or a part of antenna 1111. In some embodiments, WD 1110 may not include separate radio front end circuitry 1112; rather, processing circuitry 1120 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 1111. Similarly, in some embodiments, some or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1122 may be considered a part of interface 1114. Radio front end circuitry 1112 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 1112 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1118 and/or amplifiers 1116. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 1111. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 1111 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry

1112. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 1120. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

[00136] Processing circuitry 1120 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 WD 1110 components, such as device readable medium 1130, WD 1110 functionality. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features or benefits discussed herein. For example, processing circuitry 1120 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 1130 or in memory within processing circuitry 1120 to provide the functionality disclosed herein. [00137] As illustrated, processing circuitry 1120 includes one or more of RF transceiver circuitry 1122, baseband processing circuitry 1124, and application processing circuitry 1126. In other embodiments, the processing circuitry may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. In certain embodiments processing circuitry 1120 of WD 1110 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 1122, baseband processing circuitry 1124, and application processing circuitry 1126 may be on separate chips or sets of chips. In alternative embodiments, part or all of baseband processing circuitry 1124 and application processing circuitry 1126 may be combined into one chip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry 1122 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In still alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1122 and baseband processing circuitry 1124 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processing circuitry 1126 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet other alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1122, baseband processing circuitry 1124, and application processing circuitry 1126 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 1122 may be a part of interface 1114. RF transceiver circuitry 1122 may condition RF signals for processing circuitry 1120.

[00138] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being performed by a WD may be provided by processing circuitry 1120 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 1130, which in certain embodiments may be a computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 1120 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 device readable storage medium or not, processing circuitry 1120 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry 1120 alone or to other components of WD 1110, but are enjoyed by WD 1110 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally. [00139] Processing circuitry 1120 may be configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations, as performed by processing circuitry 1120, may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry 1120 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD 1110, 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.

[00140] Device readable medium 1130 may be operable to store a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry 1120. Device readable medium 1130 may include computer memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory (ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., a hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., 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 processing circuitry 1120. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1120 and device readable medium 1130 may be considered to be integrated.

[00141] User interface equipment 1132 may provide components that allow for a human user to interact with WD 1110. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment 1132 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the user to provide input to WD 1110. The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interface equipment 1132 installed in WD 1110. For example, if WD 1110 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if WD 1110 is a smart meter, the interaction may be through a screen that provides usage (e.g., the number of gallons used) or a speaker that provides an audible alert (e.g., if smoke is detected). User interface equipment 1132 may include input interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. User interface equipment 1132 is configured to allow input of information into WD 1110, and is connected to processing circuitry 1120 to allow processing circuitry 1120 to process the input information. User interface equipment 1132 may include, for example, a microphone, a proximity or other sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display, one or more cameras, a universal serial bus (USB) port, or other input circuitry. User interface equipment 1132 is also configured to allow output of information from WD 1110, and to allow processing circuitry 1120 to output information from WD 1110. User interface equipment 1132 may include, for example, a speaker, a display, vibrating circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, or other output circuitry. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices, and circuits, of user interface equipment 1132, WD 1110 may communicate with end users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit from the functionality described herein.

[00142] Auxiliary equipment 1134 is operable to provide more specific functionality which may not be generally performed by WDs. This may comprise specialized sensors for doing measurements for various purposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wired communications etc. The inclusion and type of components of auxiliary equipment 1134 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.

[00143] Power source 1136 may, in some embodiments, be in the form of a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic devices or power cells, may also be used. WD 1110 may further comprise power circuitry 1137 for delivering power from power source 1136 to the various parts of WD 1110 which need power from power source 1136 to carry out any functionality described or indicated herein. Power circuitry 1137 may in certain embodiments comprise power management circuitry. Power circuitry 1137 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source; in which case WD 1110 may be connectable to the external power source (such as an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Power circuitry 1137 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliver power from an external power source to power source 1136. This may be, for example, for the charging of power source 1136. Power circuitry 1137 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from power source 1136 to make the power suitable for the respective components of WD 1110 to which power is supplied.

User Equipment per Some Embodiments

[00144] Figure 12 illustrates one embodiment of a UE in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, a user equipment or UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter). UE 12200 may be any UE identified by the 3 ^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-IoT UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE. UE 1200, as illustrated in Figure 12, is one example of a WD configured for communication in accordance with one or more communication standards promulgated by the 3 ^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 3GPP’s GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards. As mentioned previously, the term WD and UE may be used interchangeable. Accordingly, although Figure 12 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to a WD, and vice-versa.

[00145] In Figure 12, UE 1200 includes processing circuitry 1201 that is operatively coupled to input/output interface 1205, radio frequency (RF) interface 1209, network connection interface 1211, memory 1215 including random access memory (RAM) 1217, read-only memory (ROM) 1219, and storage medium 1221 or the like, communication subsystem 1231, power source 1233, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Storage medium 1221 includes operating system 1223, application program 1225, and data 1227. In other embodiments, storage medium 1221 may include other similar types of information. Certain UEs may utilize all of the components shown in Figure 12, or only a subset of the components. 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.

[00146] In Figure 12, processing circuitry 1201 may be configured to process computer instructions and data. Processing circuitry 1201 may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute machine instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory, such as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate array (FPGA), ASIC, etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored program, 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 1201 may include two central processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a form suitable for use by a computer.

[00147] In the depicted embodiment, input/output interface 1205 may be configured to provide a communication interface to an input device, output device, or input and output device. UE 1200 may be configured to use an output device via input/output interface 1205. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from UE 1200. The output device may be 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. UE 1200 may be configured to use an input device via input/output interface 1205 to allow a user to capture information into UE 1200. The input device may 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 presencesensitive 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, another like sensor, or any combination thereof. For example, the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.

[00148] In Figure 12, RF interface 1209 may be configured to provide a communication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna. Network connection interface 1211 may be configured to provide a communication interface to network 1243a. Network 1243a may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network 1243a may comprise a Wi-Fi network. Network connection interface 1211 may be configured to include a receiver and a transmitter interface used to communicate with one or more other devices over a communication network according to one or more communication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, synchronous optical network (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), or the like. Network connection interface 1211 may implement receiver and transmitter functionality appropriate to the communication network links (e.g., optical, electrical, and the like). The transmitter and receiver functions may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.

[00149] RAM 1217 may be configured to interface via bus 1202 to processing circuitry 1201 to provide storage or caching of data or computer instructions during the execution of software programs such as the operating system, application programs, and device drivers. ROM 1219 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processing circuitry 1201. For example, ROM 1219 may be configured to store invariant low-level system code or data for basic system functions such as basic input and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokes from a keyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory. Storage medium 1221 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable readonly memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, floppy disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, or flash drives. In one example, storage medium 1221 may be configured to include operating system 1223, application program 1225 such as a web browser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application, and data file 1227. Storage medium 1221 may store, for use by UE 1200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[00150] Storage medium 1221 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), floppy disk drive, 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 microDIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a subscriber identity module or a removable user identity (SIM/RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof. Storage medium 1221 may allow UE 1200 to access computer-executable instructions, application programs or 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 in storage medium 1221, which may comprise a device readable medium.

[00151] In Figure 12, processing circuitry 1201 may be configured to communicate with network 1243b using communication subsystem 1231. Network 1243a and network 1243b may be the same network or networks or different network or networks. Communication subsystem 1231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with network 1243b. For example, communication subsystem 1231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication such as another WD, UE, or base station of a radio access network (RAN) according to one or more communication protocols, such as IEEE 802.11, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), WiMax, or the like. Each transceiver may include transmitter 1233 and/or receiver 1235 to implement transmitter or receiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links (e.g., frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter 1233 and receiver 1235 of each transceiver may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately. [00152] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of communication subsystem 1231 may include 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. For example, communication subsystem 1231 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPS communication. Network 1243b may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local -area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network 1243b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-field network. Power source 1213 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE 1200. [00153] The features, benefits and/or functions described herein may be implemented in one of the components of UE 1200 or partitioned across multiple components of UE 1200. Further, the features, benefits, and/or functions described herein may be implemented in any combination of hardware, software or firmware. In one example, communication subsystem 1231 may be configured to include any of the components described herein. Further, processing circuitry 1201 may be configured to communicate with any of such components over bus 1202. In another example, any of such components may be represented by program instructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry 1201 perform the corresponding functions described herein. In another example, the functionality of any of such components may be partitioned between processing circuitry 1201 and communication subsystem 1231. In another example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

Virtualization Environment per Some Embodiments

[00154] Figure 13 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1300 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 a node (e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node) or to a device (e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type of communication device) 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 (e.g., via one or more applications, components, functions, virtual machines or containers executing on one or more physical processing nodes in one or more networks).

[00155] In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in one or more virtual environments 1300 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes 1330. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node is not a radio access node or does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node), then the network node may be entirely virtualized. [00156] The functions may be implemented by one or more applications 1320 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) operative to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein. Applications 1320 are run in virtualization environment 1300 which provides hardware 1330 comprising processing circuitry 1360 and memory 1390. Memory 1390 contains instructions 1395 executable by processing circuitry 1360 whereby application 1320 is operative to provide one or more of the features, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.

[00157] Virtualization environment 1300, comprises general-purpose or special-purpose network hardware devices 1330 comprising a set of one or more processors or processing circuitry 1360, which may be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processors, dedicated Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or any other type of processing circuitry including digital or analog hardware components or special purpose processors. Each hardware device may comprise memory 1390-1 which may be non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions 1395 or software executed by processing circuitry 1360. Each hardware device may comprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) 1370, also known as network interface cards, which include physical network interface 1380. Each hardware device may also include non-transitory, persistent, machine-readable storage media 1390-2 having stored therein software 1395 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry 1360. Software 1395 may include any type of software including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers 1350 (also referred to as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines 1340 as well as software allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.

[00158] Virtual machines 1340, comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1350 or hypervisor. Different embodiments of the instance of virtual appliance 1320 may be implemented on one or more of virtual machines 1340, and the implementations may be made in different ways.

[00159] During operation, processing circuitry 1360 executes software 1395 to instantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer 1350, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM). Virtualization layer 1350 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to virtual machine 1340.

[00160] As shown in Figure 13, hardware 1330 may be a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1330 may comprise antenna 13225 and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1330 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., such as in a data center or customer premise equipment (CPE)) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration (MANO) 13100, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1320. [00161] 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.

[00162] In the context of NFV, virtual machine 1340 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 virtual machines 1340, and that part of hardware 1330 that executes that virtual machine, be it hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and/or hardware shared by that virtual machine with others of the virtual machines 1340, forms a separate virtual network element (VNE).

[00163] Still in the context of NFV, Virtual Network Function (VNF) is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more virtual machines 1340 on top of hardware networking infrastructure 1330 and corresponds to application 1320 in Figure 13. [00164] In some embodiments, one or more radio units 13200 that each include one or more transmitters 13220 and one or more receivers 13210 may be coupled to one or more antennas 13225. Radio units 13200 may communicate directly with hardware nodes 1330 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. [00165] In some embodiments, some signalling can be effected with the use of control system 13230 which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes 1330 and radio units 13200.

Telecommunication Network Connected via an Intermediate Network to a Host Computer [00166] With reference to Figure 14, a communication system includes telecommunication network 1410, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network 1411, such as a radio access network, and core network 1414. Access network 1411 comprises a plurality of base stations 1412a, 1412b, 1412c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 1413a, 1413b, 1413c. Each base station 1412a, 1412b, 1412c is connectable to core network 1414 over a wired or wireless connection 1415. A first UE 1491 located in coverage area 1413c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 1412c. A second UE 1492 in coverage area 1413a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 1412a. While a plurality of UEs 1491, 1492 are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station 1412.

[00167] Telecommunication network 1410 is itself connected to host computer 1430, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. Host computer 1430 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. Connections 1421 and 1422 between telecommunication network 1410 and host computer 1430 may extend directly from core network 1414 to host computer 1430 or may go via an optional intermediate network 1420. Intermediate network 1420 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network 1420, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, intermediate network 1420 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

[00168] The communication system of Figure 14 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs 1491, 1492 and host computer 1430. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1450. Host computer 1430 and the connected UEs 1491, 1492 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection 1450, using access network 1411, core network 1414, any intermediate network 1420 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTT connection 1450 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection 1450 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, base station 1412 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from host computer 1430 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE 1491. Similarly, base station 1412 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 1491 towards the host computer 1430.

[00169] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein above are described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

Terms

[00170] Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features, and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

[00171] References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and so forth, indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[00172] The description and claims may use the terms “coupled” and “connected,” along with their derivatives. These terms are not intended as synonyms for each other. “Coupled” is used to indicate that two or more elements, which may or may not be in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, co-operate or interact with each other. “Connected” is used to indicate the establishment of wireless or wireline communication between two or more elements that are coupled with each other. A “set,” as used herein, refers to any positive whole number of items including one item.

[00173] An electronic device stores and transmits (internally and/or with other electronic devices over a network) code (which is composed of software instructions and which is sometimes referred to as a computer program code or a computer program) and/or data using machine-readable media (also called computer-readable media), such as machine-readable storage media (e.g., magnetic disks, optical disks, solid state drives, read only memory (ROM), flash memory devices, phase change memory) and machine-readable transmission media (also called a carrier) (e.g., electrical, optical, radio, acoustical, or other form of propagated signals - such as carrier waves, infrared signals). Thus, an electronic device (e.g., a computer) includes hardware and software, such as a set of one or more processors (e.g., of which a processor is a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA), other electronic circuitry, or a combination of one or more of the preceding) coupled to one or more machine-readable storage media to store code for execution on the set of processors and/or to store data. For instance, an electronic device may include non-volatile memory containing the code since the non-volatile memory can persist code/data even when the electronic device is turned off (when power is removed). When the electronic device is turned on, that part of the code that is to be executed by the processor(s) of the electronic device is typically copied from the slower non-volatile memory into volatile memory (e.g., dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), static random-access memory (SRAM)) of the electronic device. Typical electronic devices also include a set of one or more physical network interface(s) (NI(s)) to establish network connections (to transmit and/or receive code and/or data using propagating signals) with other electronic devices. For example, the set of physical NIs (or the set of physical NI(s) in combination with the set of processors executing code) may perform any formatting, coding, or translating to allow the electronic device to send and receive data whether over a wired and/or a wireless connection. In some embodiments, a physical NI may comprise radio circuitry capable of (1) receiving data from other electronic devices over a wireless connection and/or (2) sending data out to other devices through a wireless connection. This radio circuitry may include transmitter(s), receiver(s), and/or transceiver(s) suitable for radio frequency communication. The radio circuitry may convert digital data into a radio signal having the proper parameters (e.g., frequency, timing, channel, bandwidth, and so forth). The radio signal may then be transmitted through antennas to the appropriate recipient(s). In some embodiments, the set of physical NI(s) may comprise network interface controller(s) (NICs), also known as a network interface card, network adapter, or local area network (LAN) adapter. The NIC(s) may facilitate in connecting the electronic device to other electronic devices allowing them to communicate with wire through plugging in a cable to a physical port connected to an NIC. One or more parts of an embodiment of the invention may be implemented using different combinations of software, firmware, and/or hardware.

[00174] A network node (also referred as network device or simply node) is an electronic device that communicatively interconnects other electronic devices on the network (e.g., other network devices, end-user devices). Some network nodes are “multiple services network nodes” that provide support for multiple networking functions (e.g., routing, bridging, switching, Layer 2 aggregation, session border control, Quality of Service, and/or subscriber management), and/or provide support for multiple application services (e.g., data, voice, and video). A wireless device (e.g., a UE) is also an electronic device that communicates with another wireless device or a network node in some embodiments.

[00175] The terms “module,” “logic,” and “unit” used in the present application, may refer to a circuit for performing the function specified. In some embodiments, the function specified may be performed by a circuit in combination with software such as by software executed by a general purpose processor.

[00176] Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00177] The term unit may have conventional meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices, and/or electronic devices and may include, for example, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules, processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks, procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and so on, as such as those that are described herein.

EMBODIMENTS

1. A method to be implemented in a network node of a wireless network, comprising: detecting (902) a change of a data rate of a radio bearer between the network node and a wireless device; determining (904) a radio condition for the radio bearer between the network node and wireless device; determining (906) one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device; and causing (908) update of one or more of a first timer and a second timer for the radio bearer based on the change of the data rate of the radio bearer, the radio condition for the radio bearer, and the one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device, the first timer setting a first time limit for a receiving side of an acknowledgement mode radio link control (AM RLC) entity to reassemble protocol data units (PDUs) of the radio bearer, the second timer setting a second time limit for the receiving side of the AM RLC entity to prohibit transmission of a status PDU to a peer AM RLC entity for the radio bearer.

2. The method of embodiment 1, wherein detecting the change of the data rate of the radio bearer comprises determining the change of the data rate crossing a first threshold. 3. The method of embodiment 1 or 2, wherein determining the radio condition for the radio bearer comprises determining a data retransmission rate of the radio bearer crossing a second threshold.

4. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 3, wherein determining the load conditions of the network node and wireless device comprises determining resource consumption at the network node or the wireless device crossing a third threshold.

5. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein the update of the one or more of the first and second timers comprises setting the one or more of the first and second timers to a lower value when the data rate is higher than a first threshold, the radio condition for the radio bearer indicating data retransmission of the radio bearer is lower than a second threshold, and the one or more load conditions indicating buffer consumption at the network node or the wireless device is higher than a third threshold.

6. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein updating the one or more of the first and second timers comprise setting the one or more of the first and second timers to a higher value when the data rate is lower than a fourth threshold, the radio condition for the radio bearer indicating data retransmission of the radio bearer is higher than a fifth threshold, and the one or more load conditions indicating buffer consumption at the network node or the wireless device is lower than a six threshold.

7. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein detecting the change of the data rate of the radio bearer comprises receiving a changed data rate message through an El interface from a centralized unit user plane (CU-UP).

8. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein in response to receiving the changed data rate message at a centralized unit control plane (CU-CP), a context modification request for the wireless device indicating at least one of a timer value change and the change of the data rate, is sent from the CU-CP to a distributed unit (DU) through an Fl interface.

9. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein in response to receiving the context modification request for the wireless device at the DU, a cell group configuration radio resource control (RRC) container is built with one or more updated first and second timers.

10. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 9, wherein a context modification response message is sent through the Fl interface from the DU to the CU-CP indicating the cell group configuration RRC container. 11. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein in response to receiving the context modification response message indicating the cell group configuration RRC container at the CU- UP, the method further comprises sending a secondary node modification request message to a master network node, which sets a cell group configuration with the one or more updated first and second timers.

12. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 11, wherein when the first and second timers are implemented in the wireless device, the method further comprises the master network node sending a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message indicating the one or more updated first and second timers, based on which the wireless device updates the first and second timers on the wireless device for the radio bearer.

13. A network node (1002), comprising: a processor (1042) and non-transitory machine-readable storage medium (1049) that provides instructions that, when executed by the processor (1042), are capable of causing the processor (1042) to perform: detecting (902) a change of a data rate of a radio bearer between the network node and a wireless device; determining (904) a radio condition for the radio bearer between the network node and wireless device; determining (906) one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device; and causing (908) update of one or more of a first timer and a second timer for the radio bearer based on the change of the data rate of the radio bearer, the radio condition for the radio bearer, and the one or more load conditions of the network node and wireless device, the first timer setting a first time limit for a receiving side of an acknowledgement mode radio link control (AM RLC) entity to reassemble protocol data units (PDUs) of the radio bearer, the second timer setting a second time limit for the receiving side of the AM RLC entity to prohibit transmission of a status PDU to a peer AM RLC entity for the radio bearer.

14. The network node of embodiment 13, wherein detecting the change of the data rate of the radio bearer comprises determining the change of the data rate crossing a first threshold.

15. The network node of embodiment 13 or 14, wherein determining the radio condition for the radio bearer comprises determining a data retransmission rate of the radio bearer crossing a second threshold. 16. The network node of any of embodiments 13 to 15, wherein determining the load conditions of the network node and wireless device comprises determining resource consumption at the network node or the wireless device crossing a third threshold.

17. The network node of any of embodiments 13 to 16, wherein the update of the one or more of the first and second timers comprises setting the one or more of the first and second timers to a lower value when the data rate is higher than a first threshold, the radio condition for the radio bearer indicating data retransmission of the radio bearer is lower than a second threshold, and the one or more load conditions indicating buffer consumption at the network node or the wireless device is higher than a third threshold.

18. The network node of any of embodiments 13 to 16, wherein updating the one or more of the first and second timers comprise setting the one or more of the first and second timers to a higher value when the data rate is lower than a fourth threshold, the radio condition for the radio bearer indicating data retransmission of the radio bearer is higher than a fifth threshold, and the one or more load conditions indicating buffer consumption at the network node or the wireless device is lower than a six threshold.

19. The network node of any of embodiments 13 to 18, wherein detecting the change of the data rate of the radio bearer comprises receiving a changed data rate message through an El interface from a centralized unit user plane (CU-UP).

20. The network node of any of embodiments 13 to 19, wherein in response to receiving the changed data rate message at a centralized unit control plane (CU-CP), a context modification request for the wireless device indicating at least one of a timer value change and the change of the data rate, is sent from the CU-CP to a distributed unit (DU) through an Fl interface.

21. The network node of any of embodiments 13 to 20, wherein in response to receiving the context modification request for the wireless device at the DU, a cell group configuration radio resource control (RRC) container is built with one or more updated first and second timers.

22. The network node of any of embodiments 13 to 21, wherein a context modification response message is sent through the Fl interface from the DU to the CU-CP indicating the cell group configuration RRC container.

23. The network node of any of embodiments 13 to 22, in response to receiving the context modification response message indicating the cell group configuration RRC container at the CU- UP, causing the processor to further perform: sending a secondary node modification request message to a master network node, which sets a cell group configuration with the one or more updated first and second timers.

24. The network node of any of embodiments 13 to 23, wherein when the first and second timers are implemented in the wireless device, the master network node is to send a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message indicating the one or more updated first and second timers, based on which the wireless device updates the first and second timers on the wireless device for the radio bearer.

25. A machine-readable storage medium (1049) that provides instructions that, when executed by a processor (1042), are capable of causing the processor (1042) to perform any of methods 1 to 12.