US-12621905-B2 - Method and RLC entity for timer management in wireless communication system

US12621905B2US 12621905 B2US12621905 B2US 12621905B2US-12621905-B2

Abstract

A method for timer management in a radio link control (RLC) layer in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes activating, by an RLC entity, a timer at first time, in response to receiving a first set of data packets from at least one user equipment (UE) in an RLC receiving window and deactivating, by the RLC entity, the timer at second time, in response to receiving a second set of data packets from the at least one UE in the RLC receiving window. Further, the method includes determining, by the RLC entity, whether there is at least one missing data packet in the RLC receiving window, and reactivating the timer and prohibiting generation of a status report, in response to determining that there is the at least one missing data packet, or generating the status report, if there is no the at least one missing data packet.

Inventors

Aneesh DESHMUKH
Gopinatha Reddy SADHU
Nayan OSTWAL
Anshuman Nigam

Assignees

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20230210
Priority Date: 20211004

Claims (10)

1 . A method for timer management in a radio link control (RLC) layer in a wireless communication system, the method comprises: activating, by an RLC entity, a timer at first time, in response to receiving a first set of data packets from at least one user equipment (UE) in an RLC receiving window; deactivating, by the RLC entity, the timer at second time, in response to receiving a second set of data packets from the at least one UE in the RLC receiving window before the timer expires; determining, by the RLC entity, whether there is at least one missing data packet in the RLC receiving window after the timer expires; when it is determined that there is the at least one missing data packet in the RLC receiving window after the timer expires, reactivating, by the RLC entity, the timer and prohibiting a generation of a status report until the reactivated timer expires; and when it is determined that there are no missing data packets in the RLC receiving window after the timer expires, generating, by the RLC entity, the status report and starting the timer, wherein the timer includes a first flag for reassembly of the at least one missing data packet and a second flag for the status report, wherein, when it is determined that there is the at least one missing data packet in the RLC receiving window after the timer expires, the first flag and the second flag are set to a true, and wherein, when it is determined that there are no missing data packets in the RLC receiving window after the timer expires, the second flag is set to a false.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the timer functions simultaneously as a first timer and a second timer of the RLC layer, and wherein the first timer is used to detect that there is the at least one missing data packet in the RLC receiving window, and the second timer is used to prohibit a transmission of the status report associated with the at least one missing data packet.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the timer is implemented as a single timer for the RLC layer of the at least one UE and the RLC entity when a value of the timer and a value of a poll timer are same.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the single timer is implemented as one of a single shot timer specific to the RLC entity and a periodic timer for multiple RLC entities associated with the RLC layer.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the timer is implemented as the periodic timer when timer values configured for each of the multiple RLC entities are same.
6 . A radio link control (RLC) entity for timer management in an RLC layer in a wireless communication system, the RLC entity comprises: a transceiver; memory, comprising one or more storage media, storing instructions; and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the RLC entity to: activate a timer at first time, in response to receiving a first set of data packets from at least one UE in an RLC receiving window, deactivate the timer at second time, in response to receiving a second set of data packets from the at least one UE in the RLC receiving window before the timer expires, determine whether there is at least one missing data packet in the RLC receiving window after the timer expires, when it is determined that there is the at least one missing data packet in the RLC receiving window after the timer expires, reactivate the timer and prohibit a generation of a status report until the reactivated timer expires, and when it is determined that there are no missing data packets in the RLC receiving window after the timer expires, generate the status report and starting the timer, wherein the timer includes a first flag for reassembly of the at least one missing data packet and a second flag for the status report, wherein, when it is determined that there is the at least one missing data packet in the RLC receiving window after the timer expires, the first flag and the second flag are set to a true, and wherein, when it is determined that there are no missing data packets in the RLC receiving window after the timer expires, the second flag is set to a false.
7 . The RLC entity of claim 6 , wherein the timer functions simultaneously as a first timer and a second timer of the RLC layer, wherein the first timer is used to detect that there is the at least one missing data packet in the RLC receiving window, and wherein the second timer is used to prohibit a transmission of the status report associated with the at least one missing data packet.
8 . The RLC entity of claim 6 , wherein the timer is implemented as a single timer for the RLC layer of the at least one UE and the RLC entity when a value of the timer and a value of a poll timer are same.
9 . The RLC entity of claim 8 , wherein the single timer is implemented as one of a single shot timer specific to the RLC entity and a periodic timer for multiple RLC entities associated with the RLC layer.
10 . The RLC entity of claim 9 , wherein the timer is implemented as the periodic timer when timer values configured for each of the multiple RLC entities are same.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) This application is a continuation application, claiming priority under § 365(c), of an International application No. PCT/KR2021/014494, filed on Oct. 18, 2021, which is based on and claims the benefit of an Indian patent application number 202041045706, filed on Oct. 20, 2020, in the Indian Patent Office, and of an Indian patent application number 202041045706, filed on Oct. 4, 2021, in the Indian Patent Office, the disclosure of each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND 1. Field The disclosure relates to wireless communication. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a method and a radio link control (RLC) entity for timer management in a wireless communication system. 2. Description of Related Art In general, operation of each RLC acknowledgement mode (AM) entity in systems of 5th generation (5G), Beyond 5G, 6th generation (6G) wireless network requires two timers at receiver side and one timer at transmitter side. Timers are generally implemented as large lines of codes which require significant memory and processing to be supported for timer events such as for example start, restart, stop and expiry. In some systems, the timers are implemented using hardware timers and are limited in number. In other systems, there are other timers as well in the system apart from RLC timers. The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the disclosure. SUMMARY Network equipment supports thousands of user equipments (UEs) simultaneously and therefore multiple RLC entities for each of the UEs. Each RLC entity requires at least three timers. This poses a huge requirement on memory and processing to support timer framework. Additionally, there are multiple other timers required for other NW functionality apart from the RLC. In low cost or low end devices, there is a possibility to reduce processing requirement for the timer by optimizing or reducing the number of timers which needs to be supported. With increasing number of required RLC entities to be supported in future or parallel sub-flows implementation for single dedicated radio bearer (DRB) flow, the overhead on the need of timers to be supported will rise exponentially and hence the same needs to be addressed. Actual timers can be reduced by using time stamps to take decisions based on time expired since an event for timer start. However, such implementations are not possible for the RLC timer as they may cause functional errors. An event of timer expiry is necessary and hence, some timers have to execute. Aspects of the disclosure are to address at least the above-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the disclosure is to provide a method and an RLC entity for timer management in an RLC layer in a wireless communication system using a new timer generated by combining functionalities of existing t-Reassembly Timer and t-Status prohibit timer of the RLC layer. The use of new timer instead of multiple timers significantly reduces memory requirements as well as processing requirements at the RLC entity, thereby optimizing available resources. Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the presented embodiments. In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, a method for timer management in a radio link control (RLC) layer in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes activating, by an RLC entity, a timer at first time, in response to receiving a first set of data packets from at least one UE in an RLC receiving window and deactivating, by the RLC entity, the timer at second time, in response to receiving a second set of data packets from the least one UE in the RLC receiving window. The method also includes determining, by the RLC entity, whether there is at least one missing data packet in the RLC receiving window. Further, the method includes reactivating the timer and prohibiting generation of a status report, in response to determining that there is the at least one missing data packet, and generating the status report, in response to determining that there is no the at least one missing data packet. In an embodiment, the timer is generated by combining of a first timer and a second timer of the RLC layer, and the first timer is used to detect that there is the at least one missing data packet in the RLC receiving window and the second timer is used to prohibit a transmission of the status report associated with the at least one missing data packet. In another embodiment, the timer is implemented as a single timer for the RLC layer of the at least one UE