WO2022006818A1

WO2022006818A1 - Network entity device, user equipment, and method for dynamic adjustment of mbms transmission areas

Info

Publication number: WO2022006818A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/101099
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ahmed MOHAMMED MIKAEIL; Jia SHENG
Original assignee: JRD Communication (Shenzhen) Ltd.
Priority date: 2020-07-09
Filing date: 2020-07-09
Publication date: 2022-01-13
Also published as: CN115885524A

Abstract

A method for dynamic adjustment of multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) transmission areas is proposed. A network entity groups user equipments (UEs) into a number of UE groups. Each of the UE groups is associated with one of MBMS sub-areas, and the MBMS sub-areas belongs to an MBMS area. The network entity generates MBMS transmission configuration of the sub-areas, and transmits the configuration of the sub-areas to the UEs. The UEs receives and decode MBMS services/data according to the configuration of the sub-areas.

Description

NETWORK ENTITY DEVICE, USER EQUIPMENT, AND METHOD FOR DYNAMIC ADJUSTMENT OF MBMS TRANSMISSION AREAS

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication, and more particularly, to a multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) system.

Background Art

Multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) is a point-to-multipoint interface designed to provide efficient delivery of broadcast and multicast services in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) cellular networks. MBMS traffic may be transmitted in a physical multicast channel (PMCH) , and unicast traffic may be transmitted in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) . MBMS delivers multicast services within a single cell using single cell point to multipoint (SC-PTM) transmission, and delivers broadcast services within a group of multiples cells using multimedia broadcast multicast service single frequency network (MBSFN) transmission. SC-PTM uses the same Long Term Evolution (LTE) downlink (DL) shared channel and subframe structure for transmission while MBSFN defines new channels and has a different subframe structure than a regular subframe LTE to ensure the transmission over a group of cells.

Technical Problem

In current standard, a generalized MBMS area configuration is provided for all UEs within the MBMS area. MBMS related radio resources are allocated to physical multicast channels (PMCHs) irrespective of an actual number of ongoing sessions and UE channel conditions. No mechanism is available to a UE to request dynamic adjustment of MBMS transmission area configuration.

Additionally, using different resource allocation methods for MBMS traffic carried by PMCHs and unicast traffic carried by PDSCHs requires UE to change receiption behavior and increases UEs design complexity.

Technical Solution

A first aspect of the disclosure provides a method executable in a network entity device, comprising: grouping a plurality of user equipments (UEs) into a number of UE groups in a number of multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) sub-areas. Each of the UE groups is associated with one of the sub-areas, the MBMS sub-areas are located in an MBMS area. The method further comprises generating configuration of the sub-areas, and transmitting the configuration of the sub-areas to the plurality of UEs.

A second aspect of the disclosure provides a method executable in a user equipment (UE) , comprising: transmitting an indication message comprising channel quality and service interests of the UE. The indication message is utilized for associating the UE with a first multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) sub-area among a plurality of MBMS sub-areas. The plurality of MBMS sub-areas belongs to an MBMS area. The method further comprises receiving configuration of the first MBMS sub-area, and receiving and decoding MBMS session according to the configuration of the first MBMS sub-area.

A third aspect of the disclosure provides a network entity device comprising a transceiver and a processor connected with the transceiver. The processor is configured to execute the following steps comprising:grouping a plurality of user equipments (UEs) into a number of UE groups in a number of multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) sub-areas, wherein each of the UE groups is associated with one of the sub-areas, the MBMS sub-areas are located in an MBMS area; generating configuration of the sub-areas; and transmitting the configuration of the sub-areas to the plurality of UEs.

A fourth aspect of the disclosure provides a user equipment (UE) comprising a transceiver and a processor connected with the transceiver. The processor is configured to execute the following steps comprising: transmitting an indication message comprising channel quality and service interests of the UE, wherein the indication message is utilized for associating the UE with a first multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) sub-area among a plurality of MBMS sub-areas, wherein the plurality of MBMS sub-areas belongs to an MBMS area; receiving configuration of the first MBMS sub-area; and receiving and decoding MBMS session according to the configuration of the first MBMS sub-area.

The disclosed method may be implemented in a chip. The chip may include a processor, configured to call and run a computer program stored in a memory, to cause a device in which the chip is installed to execute the disclosed method.

The disclosed method may be programmed as computer executable instructions stored in non-transitory computer readable medium. The non-transitory computer readable medium, when loaded to a computer, directs a processor of the computer to execute the disclosed method.

The non-transitory computer readable medium may comprise at least one from a group consisting of: a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, a Read Only Memory, a Programmable Read Only Memory, an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, EPROM, an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory and a Flash memory.

The disclosed method may be programmed as computer program product, that causes a computer to execute the disclosed method.

The disclosed method may be programmed as computer program, that causes a computer to execute the disclosed method.

Advantageous Effects

The invention provides a mechanism allowing dynamic control and adjustment of MBSFN area transmission configuration based on the user distribution and service requirements. The invention further provides the following advantages at user equipment (UE) side and network side.

UE side effects include:

● Improved MBMS reception quality: The disclosed mthod provides improved UE reception qulaity compared to current MBMS standard. The current MBMS standard defines generalised MBMS configuration in which the same modulation and coding scheme (MCS) is applied for all UEs within the MBMS area irrespective of actual channel quality condition of the UEs. The disclosed method allows selesting different optimal MCSs for different UEs according to actual channel quality condtions of the UEs, thus to improve MBMS reception quality at UE side.

● Reduced UE processing power requirements: Selecting an optimal MCS can aslo help in reducing UE processing power requirements. In the disclosed method, for example, a UE with high channel quality condition may receive MBMS using a high MCS. In current MBMS standard with pre-configured and generalized MCS allocation, such a UE may be configured with a low MCS, which could lead to a situation that the UE takes a greater number of reception intervals to receive and decode an amount of data than the UE would do with an optimal MCS being selected.

● Reduced UE design complexity: The disclosed method allows a UE to use the same resource allocation method for both MBMS in PMCH and unicat in PDSCH. Further, the disclosed method allows a UE to use the same resource allocation method for MBMS data channel MTCH (multicast traffic channel) and singnalling channel MCCH (multicast control channel) . A UE may thus utilize a unified behaviour or mechanism when receiving and decoding these channels.

Network side effects include:

● Efficient resource utilization: As operators need to optimize MCS selection for an MBSFN service area, the optimization process entails a base station utilizing efficient mearuement tools and efforts to choose the maximum MCS that meets the UE coverage requirement. Selecting a low MCS for eMBMS data delivery may achieve good user coverage at the expense of occupying radio resources for unicast, and selecting a higher MCS may lead to over-provisioning of the resources to MBMS service. The disclosed method allows a network scheduler to optimize MCS selection for MBMS delivery based on UEs channel condition.

Description of Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure or related art, the following figures will be described in the embodiments are briefly introduced. It is obvious that the drawings are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, a person having ordinary skill in this field can obtain other figures according to these figures without paying the premise.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of 5G core network.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing MBMS areas according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the disclosed method.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the disclosed method.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing example of dynamic adjustment of MBSFN area configuration. according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a system for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the disclosure are described in detail with the technical matters, structural features, achieved objects, and effects with reference to the accompanying drawings as follows. Specifically, the terminologies in the embodiments of the present disclosure are merely for describing the purpose of the certain embodiment, but not to limit the disclosure. In the description, network may be referred to a radio access network (RAN) , a core network (CN) , or a combination of the RAN and CN. The RAN may include one or more RAN entities, and the CN may include one or more CN entities.

The invention is related to wireless communication, more specifically the multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) system. A method for dynamic control of multicast-broadcast transmission area is provided. In the disclosure, UEs send messages indicating UE channel quality conditions, location information as well as service interests to the network via radio resource control (RRC) messages, uplink control information (UCI) , or medium access control (MAC) control elements (CEs) . An example of the RRC message may include reference signal received quality (RSRQ) , a signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) , and a temporary mobile group identity (TMGI) . An example of the UCI may include a channel quality indicator (CQI) , SINR, and a service interest indication. An example of the MAC CE may include a service interest indication. Based on the indication messages received from UEs, the network categorizes the UEs within an MBSFN area into different MBSFN sub-areas based on the channel quality conditions and the service interests of the UEs in the indication messages. The network associates MBMS sessions to UEs based on the service interests of the UEs, and dynamically updates downlink transmission configuration including RAN resource allocation to the sessions based on mean channel quality values of the MBSFN sub-areas. The network sends the transmission configuration update including the session association and RAN resource allocation update to the UEs so that each UE can efficiently receive the MBMS service/services broadcasted in the MBSFN sub-area into which the UE is categorized.

With reference to FIG. 1, a telecommunication system including a UE 10a, a UE 10b, a base station (BS) 200a, and a network entity device 300 executes the disclosed method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 1 is shown for illustrative not limiting, and the system may comprise more UEs, BSs, and CN entities. Connections between devices and device components are shown as lines and arrows in the FIGs. The UE 10a may include a processor 11a, a memory 12a, and a transceiver 13a. The UE 10b may include a processor 11b, a memory 12b, and a transceiver 13b. The base station 200a may include a processor 201a, a memory 202a, and a transceiver 203a. The network entity device 300 may include a processor 301, a memory 302, and a transceiver 303. Each of the

processors

11a, 11b, 201a, and 301 may be configured to implement proposed functions, procedures and/or methods described in the description. Layers of radio interface protocol may be implemented in the

processors

11a, 11b, 201a, and 301. Each of the

memory

12a, 12b, 202a, and 302 operatively stores a variety of program and information to operate a connected processor. Each of the

transceiver

13a, 13b, 203a, and 303 is operatively coupled with a connected processor, transmits and/or receives radio signals or wireline signals. The UE 10a may be in communication with the UE 10b through a sidelink. The base station 200a may be an eNB, a gNB, or one of other types of radio nodes, and may configure radio resources and MBSFN sub-areas for the UE 10a and UE 10b.

Each of the

processor

11a, 11b, 201a, and 301 may include an application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) , other chipsets, logic circuits and/or data processing devices. Each of the

memory

12a, 12b, 202a, and 302 may include a read-only memory (ROM) , a random access memory (RAM) , a flash memory, a memory card, a storage medium and/or other storage devices. Each of the

transceiver

13a, 13b, 203a, and 303 may include baseband circuitry and radio frequency (RF) circuitry to process radio frequency signals. When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules, procedures, functions, entities and so on, that perform the functions described herein. The modules can be stored in a memory and executed by the processors. The memory can be implemented within a processor or external to the processor, in which those can be communicatively coupled to the processor via various means are known in the art.

The network entity device 300 may be a node in a CN. CN may include LTE CN or 5G core (5GC) which includes user plane function (UPF) , session management function (SMF) , mobility management function (AMF) , unified data management (UDM) , policy control function (PCF) , control plane (CP) /user plane (UP) separation (CUPS) , authentication server (AUSF) , network slice selection function (NSSF) , and the network exposure function (NEF) .

The 5G NR system reuses as much as possible the current unicast service architecture and procedures to deliver for MBMS services. For example, with reference to FIG. 2, the application function (AF) 212 in a 5GC 220 is enhanced by introducing a new network function called multicast service function (MSF) which provides MBMS service layer functionality via Npcf or Nnef interface. The network exposure function (NEF) and the policy control function (PCF) 213 are enhanced to exchange 5G MBMS quality of service (QoS) and service area related information with AF 212, and the session policy related information with the session management function (SMF) 214. The functions of the user plane function (UPF) 216 are enhanced to support the configuration/controls of MBMS flows. The access and mobility function (AMF) 215 is also enhanced to support managing of transmission resources for MBMS across next generation radio access network (NG-RAN)

nodes

210 and 211. Interfaces N2, N3, N6, and N7 are defined in 5G related standards.

MBMS operation is detailed in the following. In the description, the disclosed method is performed in a system comprising a plurality of UEs and a network. The network may comprise at least one of the base station 200a and the network entity device 300. The UEs may comprise the UEs 10a and 10b.

MBMS in 5G NR is targeting efficient delivery of multimedia broadcast/multicast services with flexibility on resource allocation and latency to support a wide range of emerging 5G application and services, such as public safety, mission critical (MC) , vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and Internet protocol television (IPTV) applications. To facilitate efficient delivery of MBMS services, the disclosed method proposes that the 5G MBMS system supports dynamic control of MBMS transmission area configuration based on the user distribution and service requirements. The disclosure provide a mechanism for dynamic control and adjustment of MBSFN area configuration based on both user distribution and service requirements (session related IDs, QoS information) . The user distribution includes channel quality and other location information, and the service requirements session related identifiers (IDs) , and quality of service (QoS) information. A brief introduction about MBSFN area definition and the possible MBMS area configuration in 5G NR is provided in the following for better understanding the proposed method.

Examples of MBMS area configuration are detailed in the following:

In LTE MBMS, an MBSFN area is defined as a group of cells within an MBSFN synchronization area that are coordinated to achieve transmission of MBMS services. Multiple cells can belong to an MBSFN area, and each cell can be part of up to eight MBSFN areas. An MBSFN synchronization area is defined as a group of eNodeB base stations synchronized to perform MBSFN transmissions. An identical waveform with extended CP is transmitted by all cells within MBSFN synchronization area to UEs, so that the UEs can identify an MBMS service in the MBSFN synchronization area. An MBSFN area may support a plurality of physical multicast channels (PMCHs) , such as 15 PMCHs. Each PMCH corresponds to a multicast channel (MCH) . Each MCH can multiplex a plurality of multicast logical channels, such as 29 channels. Each MBSFN area may have one multicast control channel (MCCH) . Thus, one MCH may multiplex one MCCH and a plurality of multicast traffic channels (MTCHs) , and other MCHs may similarly multiplex a plurality of MTCHs. In 5G NR, different MBSFN area scenarios are desired to reflect gNB split architecture in the 5G NR network. The gNB split architecture in the 5G NR introduces new elements in RAN side such as gNB-centralized unit (CU) and gNB distributed unit (DU) . Embodiments of the disclosure may be applied to scenarios depending on the network elements, such as gNB-CU, gNB-DU and the cells, involved in MBSFN area configuration as shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 shows an example of NR MBMS network architecture, the architecture comprises the 5G NR core 220 interconnected to a gNB-CU 31 and a gNB-CU 32 using a control plane interface N2 and a user plane interface N3. The gNB-CU 31 is interconnected to a gNB-DU 311 and a gNB-DU 312 over F1 interface, and connected to the gNB-CU 32 over X2 logical interface. FIG. 3 shows three MBSFN scenarios including:

1) Intra-gNB-DU MBSFN scenario: All cells involved in an MBSFN area are in one coverage area 311a of the gNB-DU 311. A MAC entity in the gNB-DU 311 enforces radio resource scheduling and allocation. No external interface is involved in the scenario so that expected delays for MBMS transmission is low and no synchronization protocol is needed.

2) Inter-gNB-DU MBSFN scenario: All cells involved in an MBSFN area belongs to two or more gNB-DU. For example, two cells in coverage area 311a and a cell in coverage area 312a of the gNB-DU 312 involved in an MBSFN area 31a belongs the gNB-

DUs

311 and 312. The gNB-CU 31 enforces radio resource scheduling and allocation, and an F1 interface is involved in the scenario. As expected delay for MBMS transmission is still low and no synchronization protocol is needed.

3) Inter-CU MBSFN scenario: Cells involved in an MBSFN area are spread over several gNB-DUs where these gNB-DUs belong to two or more gNB-CUs. An anchor/master CU enforces the radio resource scheduling and allocation, and both Xn and F1 interfaces are involved in the scenario. Expected delay for MBMS transmission is medium and a synchronization protocol is required.

Table 1 shows delay and synchronization requirements for different NR MBMS scenarios:

Table 1: Delay and synchronization requirements for different NR MBMS scenarios

Scenario	Interfaces involved	Expected delay	Synchronization
Intra-gNB-DU	-	Low	Not needed
Inter-gNB-DU	F1	Low	Not needed
Inter-gNB-CU	F1, Xn	Medium	Needed

To facilitate efficient delivery of MBNS services in such diverse MBSFN area scenarios, a new mechanism allowing dynamic adjustment of MBSFN areas is desirable for MBMS in NR networks. The disclosure provides a method for dynamic adjustment of MBMS transmission areas based on UE channel quality and service requirements. The method is applicable in all of the above-mentioned scenarios including intra-DU MBSFN, inter-DU MBSFN, and inter-CU MBSFN area. The intra-DU MBSFN scenario is described as an example in detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosed method.

Overall description of the disclosed method is given in the following.

With reference to FIG. 4, the disclosure provides a method for dynamic adjustment of multicast/broadcast transmission area according to the UE distribution and service requirements of UEs. The UE distribution includes at least one of channel quality and location info. The location info of UEs may be represented by reference signal time difference (RSTD) and/or others positioning assistance information such as angel of arrival and Cell-ID etc. In the disclosed method, a plurality of user equipments (UEs) send indication messages to the network (block 400) . Each indication message sent by a UE indicates service interests and channel quality of the UE. The indication message may be carried in a RRC message, uplink control information (UCI) , a MAC control element, or any combination thereof. An example of the RRC message may include reference signal received quality (RSRQ) , a signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) , and a temporary mobile group identity (TMGI) . An example of the UCI may include a channel quality indicator (CQI) , SINR, and a service interest indication. An example of the MAC CE may include a service interest indication. The service interest indication may include indication of traffic type or service type within a logical channel.

Based on the indication messages received from the UEs, the network groups the UEs within an MBSFN area into a number of groups or MBSFN sub-areas based on channel quality and service interests of the UEs (block 401) . Upon on reception of the indication messages from the UEs, the network first determines based on the service interests in the indication message a number of session clusters, and classifies the UEs into the session clusters based on channel quality and the service interests of the UEs. The service interests of a UE may include QoS requirements of the service (s) which the UE is interested to receive. The network clusters UEs into a number of channel quality groups that equals to the number of the session clusters. For example, the network, such as a CN entity or a base station, places UEs having similar channel quality values into a same channel quality group, or in other words, a same channel quality cluster. For each channel quality cluster, the network identifies a mean channel quality value of the channel quality cluster and associates each cluster with an MBSFN sub-area. The network categorized the UEs into MBSFN sub-areas based on differences of actual channel quality values of the UEs to mean channel quality values of the channel quality clusters.

The network associates MBMS sessions to the UEs based on service interests of the UEs and dynamically allocates RAN resources for these sessions based on the channel quality mean value of all UEs within each MBSFN sub-area (block 402) . For each MBSFN sub-area, the network dynamically allocates transmission configuration including the RAN resource configuration for downlink transmission toward the UEs within the MBSFN sub-areas based on the channel quality mean value of the MBSFN sub-area. The downlink transmission configuration comprises sessions associated with the MBSFN sub-area. The RAN resource configuration comprises MCS and transport block size (TBS) associated the MBSFN sub-area.

The network sends the transmission configuration toward the UEs in a current scheduling interval and sends update of the transmission configuration to the UEs according to the updated reports form UEs in a next scheduling interval so that each UE receives and decodes the configuration and the configuration update of the MBSFN sub-area to receive the MBMS services in the sessions associated with the service interests of the UE (blocks 403) .

With reference to FIG. 5, the disclosure provides a method allowing one or more UEs, such as one or both of the UEs 10a and 10b, to receive MBMS and unicast service in the 5G NR system. The process in the FIG. 5 may be applied to each of a plurality of UEs in an RRC connected mode. For example, for each of the plurality of UEs, the UE determines channel quality and intended service interests of the UE and generates an indication message including the channel quality and the service interests (step 311) . The UE and sends the indication message including channel quality and the service interests to the network (NW) , such as one or both of the base station 200a and the NW entity 300 (step 312) . The indication message is utilized for associating the UE with a specific multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) sub-area among a plurality of MBMS sub-areas. The specific MBMS sub-area is referred to as a first sub-area in the following. The plurality of MBMS sub-areas belongs to an MBMS area. In response to the indication message, the NW determines MBMS area configuration, such as PMCH configuration, MBSFN sub-area configuration, and MBMS sessions, and sends the configuration to the UE (step 313) . The NW sends the MBMS area configuration to the UE and sends MBMS sessions to the UE according to the configuration (step 314) . The UE receives and decodes MBMS sessions according to the configuration of the first MBMS sub-area. the configuration of the first MBMS sub-area comprises configuration parameters for MBMS sessions in the first MBMS sub-area and the configuration parameters for PMCHs in the first MBMS sub-area. The method of FIG. 5 may be applied to a plurality of UEs.

In an example where an MBSFN area under a coverage area of gNB-DU comprising a plurality of UEs, such as UE1, UE2, UE3, UE4, U5, UE6, and UE7. These UEs are interested in four services, and these services can be grouped into three clusters (S1, S2) , (S3) and (S4) based on QoS requirements of the services. For example, the QoS requirements may be represented by at least one or more of QoS class identifier (QCI) , guaranteed bit rate (GBR) , maximum bit rate (MBR) , latency, and pack loss rate (PLR) . As shown in Table 2, each UE send an indication message comprising a channel quality (CQ) measurement report as well as an indication of service interests of the UE to the network. As shown in Table 3, when receiving the indication messages from the UEs within an MBSFN area, the network determines a number of session clusters into which the UEs are to be clustered based on the service interests in the indication messages which includes QoS requirements of the UEs. In the example, UEs with service interests for services S1 and S2 are classified into a first session cluster. UEs with service interests for service S3 are classified into a second session cluster. UEs with C service interests for service S4 are classified into a third session cluster.

The network classifies UEs into a number of channel quality clusters according to channel quality reports from UEs and set the number of the channel quality clusters to be equal to the total number of these session clusters. As shown in Table 3, three session clusters are associated with three channel quality clusters. The network places the UEs that have similar channel quality into the same channel quality cluster. In the example, UEs with CQ values 1.0 and 1.5 are classified into a first CQ cluster and a first session cluster. UEs with CQ values 2.9 and 3.0 are classified into a second CQ cluster and a second session cluster. UEs with CQ values 4.8, 5.5, and 5.9 are classified into a third CQ cluster and a third session cluster.

As shown in Table 4, the network identifies the CQ mean value of each cluster and associating each CQ mean value with a group representing an MBSFN sub-area. The network groups UEs into the MBSFN sub-areas based on the differences of UE CQ to the QC mean values of the channel quality clusters. The networks assigns sessions for UEs within each MBSFN sub-area based on services interests of the UEs. Then, the networks allocates the RAN resources for PMCH downlink channels for the sessions of an MBSFN sub-area according to the CQ mean value of that particular MBSFN sub-area. Examples of the CQ mean value includes 1.25 for MBSFN sub-area A1, 2.95 for MBSFN sub-area A2, and 5.4 for MBSFN sub-area A3. The network scrambles the PMCHs of each MBSFN sub-area using a specific radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the MBSFN sub-area and transmits MBMS sessions in the PMCH toward UEs so that only the UEs associated with the MBSFN sub-area with the RNTI can decode and descramble the PMCH transmission using the RNTI. Accordingly, only UEs that belong to the specific sub-area are able to identify and decode PMCH transmission associated with that particular MBSFN sub-area. For example, following the context of FIG. 5, the UE descrambes the PMCHs in the first MBMS sub-area using a specific RNTI of the first MBMS sub-area. The UE decodes the PMCHs according to a bitmap that defines radio resources within a radio frame allocated for the PMCHs. The bitmap may comprise one of a frame-based bitmap, subframe-based bitmap, and slot-based bitmap, and the bitmap is included in the configuration of the first MBMS sub-area. The disclosed method enhances MBMS reception quality because each PMCH transmission of a sub-area is encoded according to actual sub-area channel quality, and helps in directing the MBMS sessions to UEs according to service interests of the UE.

Table 2: Indication Message Content

Table 3: Reports Clustering

Table 4: UEs grouping into MBSFN sub-areas

To capture rapid changes on user distribution and service requirements, such as SINR changes due to UE movement within the MBSFN area, the network dynamically adjusts allocation of MBMS sessions and RAN resources according to change on UEs channel quality and service interest reports.

FIG. 6 illustrates how the network update allocation of sessions and RAN resources of an MBSFN area according to change on UE distribution and service requirements across areas. Four examples depicted as (a) , (b) , (c) , and (d) are shown in FIG. 6. Different examples have different UE distribution and service requirements. In each example of FIG. 6 a schematic diagram of a system with UE distribution in an MBSFN area is associated with allocated RAN resources represented by a number of TBS for sessions and subframes for PMCH transmission.

The example (a) shows RAN resources in current LTE MBMS allocation mechanism. In the example, RAN resource allocation is fixed for an MBSFN area. As shown in the example (a) of FIG. 6, seven RAN resources are allocated for MBMS delivery to seven UEs, and the network reuses the allocation over time irrespective of change on UEs channel quality or service requirements until configuration of the resource allocation is changed, for example, by an operations and maintenance (O&M) entity. Configuration of resource allocation according to the disclosed method is shown in examples (b) , (c) , and (b) . Each example in FIG. 6 represents configuration of resource allocation for a single MBFSN area in a specific period, referred to as a configuration adjustment interval or a scheduling interval. FIG. 6 (b) shows configuration of resource allocation in first area configuration adjustment interval, the network groups the UEs into three MBMSN sub-areas (A1, A2, A3) , assigns sessions according to service requirements of UEs in each MBSFN sub-area, and allocates the RAN resources for the sessions to the UEs based on average channel quality values of the MBSFN sub-areas. The network allocates less RAN resources to the MBSFN sub-area A2 and A3 as compared to the pervious LTE allocation mechanism. This is due to fact that the resources allocated for each MBSFN sub-area is determined by a network scheduler, which selects the best MCS and TBS to meet UEs channel quality and service requirements within each MBSFN sub-area, resulting in efficient utilization of RAN resources. FIG. 6 (c) shows configuration of resource allocation in the second configuration adjustment interval. Even less RAN resources than the first interval are allocated for the sessions to the UEs because the sessions of service S2 associated with UE3 and UE4 have been stopped. FIG. 6 (d) shows configuration of resource allocation in the third adjustment interval. Only two instances of RAN resources are allocated for the entire MBSFN area. Because the UEs associated with the sub-area A2 move very close to the gNB-DU and obtain good channel quality, the gNB allocate a high MCS and less amount of RAN resources for the sessions to the UEs.

According to the current design of MBMS in TS-36.331 and TS 36.300, when an MBMS capable UE enters an MBSFN area or interested to receive an MBMS service, the UE first acquires the SystemInformationBlockType2 (SIB2) , which is broadcasted on the broadcast control channel (BCCH) by the MBMS cell of the MBSFN area in which the UE is located. After reading content of SIB2, the UE acquires the MBMS subframe allocation information defined by mbsfn-SubframeConfigList information elements (IE) . The IE indicates which radio frames are reserved for PMCH or MBMS transmission, and which radio frames are reserved for PDSCH or unicast transmission. After determining the subframes that are allocated for MBMS, if the UE is interested to receive MBMS services, the UE proceeds to acquire and read SystemInformationBlockType13 (SIB13) , which carries the information required to acquire the MBMS control information associated with one or more MBSFN areas. The set of information included in SIB13 includes the MBMS-NotificationConfig IE, which specifies the MBMS notification configuration applicable for all MBSFN areas, and the mbsfn-AreaInfoList IE. The MBSFN-AreaInfoList IE contains the information required to acquire the MBMS control information associated with one or more MBSFN areas. The MBMS control information includes the MBSFN area identifier and the MCCH channel configuration information. The MCCH channel configuration information includes an MCCH modification period (mcch-ModificationPeriod-NR) , a repetition period (mcch-RepetitionPeriod) , an MCCH offset (mcch-Offset) , the subframe that may carry MCCH scheduling (sf-AllocInfo) , the MCS applicable to theses subframes, and the first subframes of MCH Scheduling Information (MSI) period (i.e. the singnallingMCS) .

After acquiring and reading MCCH configurations, the UE obtains the MCCH channel which carries a message known as MCCH-Message that contians the MBSFNAreaConfiguration message. The MBSFNAreaConfiguration message provides the all information required for scheduling MBMS services for an MBSFN area. The information includes the CommonSF-AllocPatternList, the commonSF-AllocPeriod, and the PMCH-InfoList IEs. The CommonSF-AllocPatternList is the common subframe allocation (CSA) pattern list and defines pattern of subframes within a radio frame that are allocated for the MBSFN area. The pattern of subframes represents the subframes defined by the bitmap of MBSFN-SubframeConfig IE within the mbsfn-SubframeConfigList. The commonSF-AllocPeriod or the CSA period defines how many radio frames the allocation patterns defined by commonSF-Alloc are to be repeated. The PMCH-InfoList IE provides configuration of all PMCH (s) that belong to the MBSFN area as well as configuration of session (s) that are carried by each PMCH. The PMCH-InfoList IE may include configuration for up to 15 PMCH with up to 29 sessions per PMCH, in which each session is associated with an individual MTCH. For each PMCH, information about which MBSFN subframes carries that PMCH (start, end) as well as a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) in DataMCS IE applicable for the subframes of the PMCH or MCH as indicated by the field commonSF-Alloc of CommonSF-AllocPatternList. After decoding PMCH, the UE acquires the MCH Scheduling Information (MSI) which carries the scheduling information of MTCH. The logical channel IDs of MTCH are also mapped to a temporary mobile group identity (TMGI) which maps sessions to associated MBMS service (s) in the application layer.

Currently, no indication or report is communicated by a UE to the network for purpose of dynamic adjustment of MBMS transmission area configuration. Although a mechanism such as the MBMS measurement using MeasResultListMBSFN-r12 has been included in LTE the standard release-12. However, the purpose of including such measurement indication was to enhance the overall MBMS operations by identifying coverage holes, adding cells to an MBSFN area, or removing cells from an MBSFN area, and identifying long-term MCS, location of packet loss, and a forward error correction (FEC) rate. Therefore, in LTE, MBMS measurement only includes signal strength related measurement such as PMCH RSRP and RSRQ, and the error rate related measurements such as MCH-BLER as shown in Table 6.

Table 6: MeasResultListMBSFN-r12 IE.

In an embodiment of the disclosed method, UEs send indication messages indicating channel quality and service interests of the UEs to the network for dynamic adjustment of MBMS transmission area. The indication message could be transmitted via a RRC message, a UCI report, or a MAC control element. An example of the RRC message may include reference signal received quality (RSRQ) and/or RSRA and/OR a signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) , and a temporary mobile group identity (TMGI) . An example of the UCI may include a channel quality indicator (CQI) , SINR, and a service interest indication. An example of the MAC CE may include the MAC CE and the indication of traffic/service type within the MAC header , which may be specified by a logical channel identifier. For RRC based MBSFN measurement, SINR related measurement may include MBSFN SINR and/or an MBSFN supportable channel quality indicator (CQI) report as complement to the signal strength related and error rate related measurement. The MBSFN SINR and MBSFN CQI are indicated by the parameters sinrResultMBSFN-nr and CqiResultMBSFN-nr respectively in MeasResultListMBSFN-NR IE in Table 7.

UCI based and MAC CE based indications indicating the service interests and the channel quality are provided together by UE to the network. Similarly, RRC message-based indication indicating MBMS channel quality measurements and the MBMS service interests are provided together within the same RRC signaling message to the network by indicating for example the TMGIs within the MBSFN measurement message or by indicating the channel quality, such as RSRQ, RSRP or SINR of the interested MBMS frequency within the service indication message.

Table 7: MeasResultListMBSFN-NR IE.

As shown in Table 8, for MBSFNAreaConfiguration-rxx message (where xx indicates an LTE release) , which provides the information required for scheduling MBMS service within an MBSFN area, a fixed number of resources, such as subframes and radio frames, are configured in advance for the PMCH (s) that carrying sessions associated with the MBSFN area. These resources are allocated to PMCH (s) irrespective of an actual number of ongoing sessions and UE channel conditions. In other words, a bitmap is pre-configured in advance by the commonSF- Alloc IE to define the subframes that are reserved in downlink to carry PMCH (s) , and a fixed repetition period is set by commonSF-AllocPeriod-rxx IE to define periodicity for which the reserved subframes repeat in a radio frame basis regardless of the number of ongoing sessions. The periodicity may range from i.e. 40ms to 2560ms. Such kind of configuration can lead to inefficient utilization of radio resources by MBMS services in NR.

Table 8: MBSFNAreaConfiguration-rxx Message

An embodiment of the disclosed method including in NR an MBSFNAreaConfiguration-NR message, such as MBSFNAreaConfiguration-NR IEs in Table 9, as a class extension within a message dedicated for carrying the MBSFN area configuration in NR, such as a MCCH-Message in Table 9, or as a non-critical extension to the MBSFNAreaConfiguration-rxx message such as MBSFNAreaConfiguration-rxx IEs in Table 10. This is beneficiary when some NR MBMS features are supported in older MBMS releases.

Table 9: MCCH-Message Message

Table 10: MBSFNAreaConfiguration-rxx

An embodiment of the disclosed method, instead of only statically pre-configuring the resources in advance for PMCH (s) by commonSF-Alloc IE, allows also the network, such as a network scheduler, to determine a required number of PMCH (s) to be configured based on the indication message received from UEs including UEs channel quality and service requirements. The network may further dynamically allocates an amount of radio resources, such as a number of subframes, slots, and/or min-slots, that are required to carry these configured PMCHs within the allocated periodicity. The allocated periodicity may be referred to as a scheduling interval or an allocation interval or transmission time interval (TTI) . The network allocates an amount of radio resources to each of the required number of PMCHs within an scheduling interval. The radio resources is configurable in a unit of subframe, slot, or min-slot.

An embodiment of the disclosed method, instead of using only a pre-configured a bitmap to define the subframes within a radio frame that are reserved and allocated for the PMCHs, allows also the network scheduler to determine the bitmap based on actual resources requirements of both unicast carried in PDSCHs and MBMS carried in PMCHs within the scheduling interval. The network may obtain the actual resources requirements of MBMS from the indication messages from the UEs. Additionally, as shown in Table 11, an embodiment of the disclosed method proposes three options for indicating resources allocated by the scheduler including:

1) Frame-based bitmap indication indicating the subframes within a radio frame allocated for PMCH (s) ;

2) Subframe-based bitmap indication indicating the slots within a subframe allocated for PMCH (s) ; and

3) Slot-based bitmap indication indicating mini-slots within a slot allocated for PMCH (s) .

One reason behind introducing such kind of indication is to unify the MBMS and unicast user plane scheduling. Similar to scheduling intervals used for unicast carried in PDSCHs, an embodiment of the disclosed method provides scheduling intervals for MBMS carried in PMCHs. Another reason is to introduce an unit with finer granularity of allocation, i.e., subframes, slots and mini-slots that allows network scheduler to apply different scheduling settings for different MBMS traffic types or different QoS requirements as indicated by the QoS flow ID (QFI) within an MBMS protocol data unit (PDU) session. The network allocates an amount of radio resources to each of the required number of PMCHs within an scheduling interval. The allocated radio resources are configurable in a unit of a subframe, a slot, or a min-slot through a dynamic allocation method, and the radio resources are configurable based on a unit of one radio frame through a static allocation method. The network may configure the unit of the allocated radio resources for different traffic types. The service interests of the UE may include indication of one of the different traffic types. Additionally, the network may configure the unit of the allocated radio resources for different QoS requirements. The service interests of the UE may include a QFI indicating one of the different QoS requirements.

Similarly, the scheduling interval are configurable in a unit of a subframe, a slot, or a min-slot through a dynamic allocation method, and the scheduling interval are configurable based on a unit of one radio frame through a static allocation method. The network may configure the unit of the scheduling interval for different traffic types. The service interests of the UE may include indication of one of the different traffic types. Additionally, the network may configure the unit of the scheduling interval or different QoS requirements. The service interests of the UE may include a QFI indicating one of the different QoS requirements.

An embodiment of the disclosed method introduces within MBSFNAreaConfiguration-NR a new IE, namely MBMS-AllocationPattern-nr to indicate both the static and dynamic allocation methods and the resources allocation as well as the bitmaps used for indications of both cases. As shown in Table 12, commonSF-Alloc-nr and commonSF-Allocperiod-nr indicate the bitmap and the allocation periods the used in static allocation method, shown asStatic_alloc in Tables 12, 13, and 15, whereas MBMS-Alloc-sf, MBMS-Alloc-sl and MBMS-Alloc-ms are bitmaps respectively specifies the frame based indication, subframe based indication, and slots based indication used for dynamic allocation method, shown as dynamic_alloc in Tables 12, 13, and 15) . In Table 11, the number of mini-slots per slot is determined assuming a normal cyclic prefix and assuming a mini-slot includes two, four, and seven OFDM symbols respectively. NR numerology μ is variable that indicates subcarrier spacing and symbol length used in NR

In an embodiment of the disclosed method, the network selects to apply either static or dynamic configuration for the MBMS services based on service type or QoS requirement of UEs such as e.g., quality of service class identifier (QCI) such as data/bit rate, latency and packet loss rate, and different channel quality conditions.

Table 11: The bitmap size for frame-based, subframe-based and slot-based indications

Table 12: MBSFNAreaConfiguration-NR Message

For the dynamic allocation method instead of using a configurable repetition period during which the resources reserved for PMCH (s) are repeated, an embodiment of the disclosed method allows the network, such as a network scheduler, to define an allocation interval, such as duration of one or more frames, subframes, slots, or even mini-slots, within which the time domain resources, such as subframes, slots, mini-slots, or symbols, and frequency domain resources are dynamically allocated to PMCH (s) . As shown in Table 13, an embodiment of the disclosed method introduces within the MBSFNAreaConfiguration-NR a new IE namely MBMS-Alloc-interval to define the allocation interval or scheduling interval.

Table 13: MBSFNAreaConfiguration-NR Message

In current standard, a generalized area configuration is provided for all UEs within the MBMS area. In such configuration, such as the configuration provided by PMCH-InfoList-rxx in Table 14, the same configuration is applied for all PMCHs configured for an MBSFN area irrespective of the UEs channel quality conditions within the MBSFN area or the service requirements of MBMS sessions carried by the configured PMCHs. This kind of configuration could lead to performance degradation in both UE side and network side, due to the fact that different UEs within MBMS area may have different service requirement i.e., Quality of Service Class Identifier (QCI) such as data/bit rate, latency and packet loss rate, and different channel quality conditions, and may require different MBMS configuration.

Table 14: PMCH-InfoList-rxx.

In an embodiment of the disclosed method, the network groups UEs within the MBSFN area into different MBSFN sub-areas and to provide sessions and PMCH configuration for each MBSFN sub-area individually. Specifically, the network, such as a network scheduler, clusters sessions in an MBSFN area into a number of session clusters based on UE service interests, which may include QoS requirement such as QCI information. The sessions provided for each MBSFN sub-area may be sessions that carry MBMS bearers and services, and may be indicated by MBMS-SessionInfoList-r9. PMCH configuration may be detailed with reference to Table 18.

In an embodiment of the disclosed method, the network groups UEs within the MBSFN area into a different MBSFN sub-area, by clustering UEs into a number of channel quality clusters according to channel quality of the UEs. The number of channel quality clusters is equal to the number of session clusters. Each channel quality cluster is associated with an individual MBSFN sub-area. The network dynamically allocates RAN resources for sessions in each MBSFN sub-area based on the average or mean value of channel quality of all UEs within the MBSFN sub-area. Accordingly, an embodiment of the disclosed method introduces within the MBSFNAreaConfiguration-NR message a new IE namely, NofSubAreaPerMBSFN, to indicate the number of MBSFN sub-areas into which the UEs can be grouped during a scheduling interval specified, for example, by MBMS-Alloc-interval. Furthermore, as shown in Table 15, the PMCH-InfoList IE is redefined to provide a set of PMCH (s) with different configuration for each of the MBSFN sub-areas instead of providing a generalized configuration for all PMCHs of an MBSFN area, .

Table 15: MBSFNAreaConfiguration-NR

As shown in Table 16, an embodiment of the disclosed method introduces a new IE namely PMCH-SubAreaInfo-NR IE to specify the individual PMCH configuration associated with a particular MBSFN sub-area, and to introduce within the IE a PMCH-SubAreaConfigList IE to indicate configuration parameters for all PMCH (s) configured for the sub-area. The sub-area may be indicated by SubAreaID or a parameter MBSFN-SubAreaId. Furthermore, an embodiment of the disclosed method introduces PMCH-SubArea-Config IE within the PMCH- SubArea-ConfigList to specify configuration parameters for each individual PMCH as indicated by pmch-Config-nr and the configuration parameters for the sessions that are carried by the PMCH as indicated by mbms-SessionInfoList-nr.

An embodiment of the disclosed method optionally scrambles the PCMH (s) configured for an individual MBSFN sub-area using a specific RNTI, such as RNTI specified by SubArea-RNTI, so as to differentiate the PMCH broadcasted in each MBSFN sub-area and to improve the PMCH decoding performance at UE side. For example, the PMCH (s) of an MBSFN sub-area are configured based on UE SNR values in the MBSFN sub-area different from UE SNR values in other MBSFN sub-areas to improve PMCH decoding performance at UE side.

Table 16: PMCH-SubAreaInfoList-NR IE

For each individual PMCH configured for an MBSFN sub-area as specified by a PMCH-Config-rxx IE, a multicast traffic channel (MTCH) is configured to carry MBMS user data. MTCH is carried on PMCH, and PMCH presents in subframes reserved for MBMS according to a configurable periodicity, for example, ranging from 10 ms to 10240 ms defined by the MCH scheduling information or MSI, such as mch-SchedulingPeriod-rxx. As shown in Table 17, the periodicity only concerns the time domain scheduling, the frequency domain scheduling including the MCS and TBS or RBs allocation for PMCH, and the others lower layer configurations are all semi-statically configured which could lead to inefficient utilization of RAN resources. Using different resource allocation methods for MBMS traffic carried by PMCHs and unicast traffic carried by PDSCHs requires UE to change the reception behavior and increases UEs design complexity.

Table 17: PMCH-Config-rxx IE

In an embodiment of the disclosed method, a network scheduler dynamically allocates the frequency domain resources, such as MCS, TBS and radio blocks (RBs) , to each configured PMCH in a way similar to resource allocation method used for unicast PDSCH, and uses an MSI scheduling interval similar to the scheduling interval used for unicast PDSCH scheduling, such as duration on subframe, slot, or mini-slot basis. As shown in Table 18 accordingly, an embodiment of the disclosed method introduces PMCH-Config-NR IE within PMCH-SubArea-Config to indicate the dynamic resource allocation for PMCH (s) in an MBSFN sub-area as PMCH configuration associated with the MBSFN sub-area, and to define within the IE PMCH-Config-NR the following parameters:

1- dataMCS-PMCH: the parameter that indicates the MCS selected by the scheduler form an MCS table such as TS 38.214-Table 5.1.3.1-1, TS 38.214-Table 5.1.3.1-2, and TS 38.214-Table 5.1.3.1-3 according to the mapping of UEs RSRP /RSRSQ/SNR or CQI measurements to an MCS value;

2- resourceAllocation: the parameter that indicates resources allocation in frequency domain used for PMCH, including a downlink resource allocation type, such as those defined in TS 38.214 -5.1.2.2;

3- rbg-Size: the parameter that indicates resource block group configuration according to a bandwidth part (BWP) size, such as those given in TS 38.214 -Table 5.1.2.2.1-1 and Table 6.1.2.2.1-1;

4- prb-BundlingType: the parameter that indicates the physical resource block (PRB) bundle type and bundle size (s) ;

5- pmch-TimeDomainAllocationList: the parameter that indicates the start and length for the time domain resource allocation in units of symbols for PMCH, such as those specified in TS 38.214 5.1.2.1; and

6- mch-SchedulingPeriod-nr: the parameter that indicates the periodicity or the scheduling interval used for MSI scheduling.

For the others lower layer configurations such as the interleaving configuration, zero-Power (ZP) CSI-RS resources configuration, and others, an embodiment of the disclosed method uses for PMCH as much as possible configuration mechanism similar to the configuration used for unicast PDSCH channel. As shown in Table 18, an embodiment of the disclosed method uses the same resource allocation method for both PMCH that carry MBMS user data in MTCHs and PMCH that carry MBMS signalling in MCCHs to provide efficient and reliable MBMS control information scheduling according to UEs channel quality and service requirements.

Table 18: PMCH-Config-NR.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example system 700 for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Embodiments described herein may be implemented into the system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software. FIG. 7 illustrates the system 700 including a radio frequency (RF) circuitry 710, a baseband circuitry 720, a processing unit 730, a memory/storage 740, a display 750, a camera 760, a sensor 770, and an input/output (I/O) interface 780, coupled with each other as illustrated.

The processing unit 730 may include a circuitry, such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors may include any combinations of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors, such as graphics processors and application processors. The processors may be coupled with the memory/storage and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems running on the system.

The baseband circuitry 720 may include a circuitry, such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors may include a baseband processor. The baseband circuitry may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation, encoding, decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may support communication with 5G NR, LTE, an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN) , a wireless local area network (WLAN) , a wireless personal area network (WPAN) . Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry. In various embodiments, the baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in a baseband frequency. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency.

The RF circuitry 710 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 710 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in a radio frequency. For example, in some embodiments, RF circuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency.

In various embodiments, the transmitter circuitry, control circuitry, or receiver circuitry discussed above with respect to the UE, eNB, or gNB may be embodied in whole or in part in one or more of the RF circuitries, the baseband circuitry, and/or the processing unit. As used herein, “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) , an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) , and/or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry, the processing unit, and/or the memory/storage may be implemented together on a system on a chip (SOC) .

The memory/storage 740 may be used to load and store data and/or instructions, for example, for system. The memory/storage for one embodiment may include any combination of suitable volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) ) , and/or non-volatile memory, such as flash memory. In various embodiments, the I/O interface 780 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system. User interfaces may include, but are not limited to a physical keyboard or keypad, a touchpad, a speaker, a microphone, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, and a power supply interface.

In various embodiments, the sensor 770 may include one or more sensing devices to determine environmental conditions and/or location information related to the system. In some embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to, a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry and/or RF circuitry to communicate with components of a positioning network, e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) satellite. In various embodiments, the display 750 may include a display, such as a liquid crystal display and a touch screen display. In various embodiments, the system 700 may be a mobile computing device such as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device, a netbook, an ultrabook, a smartphone, etc. In various embodiments, system may have more or less components, and/or different architectures. Where appropriate, methods described herein may be implemented as a computer program. The computer program may be stored on a storage medium, such as a non-transitory storage medium.

The embodiment of the present disclosure is a combination of techniques/processes that can be adopted in 3GPP specification to create an end product.

A person having ordinary skill in the art understands that each of the units, algorithm, and steps described and disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure are realized using electronic hardware or combinations of software for computers and electronic hardware. Whether the functions run in hardware or software depends on the condition of application and design requirement for a technical plan. A person having ordinary skill in the art can use different ways to realize the function for each specific application while such realizations should not go beyond the scope of the present disclosure. It is understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art that he/she can refer to the working processes of the system, device, and unit in the above-mentioned embodiment since the working processes of the above-mentioned system, device, and unit are basically the same. For easy description and simplicity, these working processes will not be detailed.

It is understood that the disclosed system, device, and method in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be realized with other ways. The above-mentioned embodiments are exemplary only. The division of the units is merely based on logical functions while other divisions exist in realization. It is possible that a plurality of units or components are combined or integrated in another system. It is also possible that some characteristics are omitted or skipped. On the other hand, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling, direct coupling, or communicative coupling operate through some ports, devices, or units whether indirectly or communicatively by ways of electrical, mechanical, or other kinds of forms.

The units as separating components for explanation are or are not physically separated. The units for display are or are not physical units, that is, located in one place or distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units are used according to the purposes of the embodiments. Moreover, each of the functional units in each of the embodiments can be integrated in one processing unit, physically independent, or integrated in one processing unit with two or more than two units.

If the software function unit is realized and used and sold as a product, it can be stored in a readable storage medium in a computer. Based on this understanding, the technical plan proposed by the present disclosure can be essentially or partially realized as the form of a software product. Or, one part of the technical plan beneficial to the conventional technology can be realized as the form of a software product. The software product in the computer is stored in a storage medium, including a plurality of commands for a computational device (such as a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to run all or some of the steps disclosed by the embodiments of the present disclosure. The storage medium includes a USB disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM) , a random access memory (RAM) , a floppy disk, or other kinds of media capable of storing program codes.

MBMS in NR is targeting efficient delivery of a wide variety of broadcast-multicast services in NR, which requires dynamic adjustment of MBMS areas according to user distribution or service requirements. The invention provides a method that allows dynamic adjustment of MBMS area configuration according to UE distribution and/or service requirements. The disclosure provides a method that support dynamic control of MBMS area satisfying both the user distribution and service requirements, such as QoS, data rate, latency, and packet loss rate. Additionally, the disclosure provides dynamic and smart control of broadcast/multicast transmission areas by allowing the UE configurable MBMS transmission areas based on UE service interests and channel quality.

While the present disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements made without departing from the scope of the broadest interpretation of the appended claims.

Claims

A method executable in a network entity device, comprising:

grouping a plurality of user equipments (UEs) into a number of UE groups in a number of multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) sub-areas, wherein each of the UE groups is associated with one of the sub-areas, the MBMS sub-areas belongs to an MBMS area;

generating configuration of the sub-areas; and

transmitting the configuration of the sub-areas to the plurality of UEs.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving indication messages from the plurality of UEs, where each indication message in the indication messages is received from one UE among the plurality of UEs and comprises channel quality and service interests of the UE, and the indication messages comprise channel quality and service interests of the plurality of UEs; and

grouping the plurality of UEs into a number of session clusters based on the service interests of the plurality of UEs.
The method of claim 2, further comprising:

grouping the plurality of UEs into a number of channel quality clusters based on channel quality of the plurality of UEs.
The method of claim 3, wherein the number of channel quality clusters is equal to the number of session clusters.
The method of claim 4, where a parameter indicating the number of MBMS sub-areas is included in MBMS area configuration, the number of MBMS sub-areas is equal to the number of channel quality clusters, and the MBMS area configuration includes the configuration of the sub-areas.
The method of claim 3, further comprising:

obtaining a channel quality mean value in each of the channel quality clusters to form channel quality mean values of the channel quality clusters; and

grouping the plurality of UEs into the MBMS sub-areas based on channel quality mean values of the channel quality clusters.
The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing configuration parameters for sessions and configuration parameters for physical multicast channels (PMCHs) for each of the MBMS sub-areas, wherein the configuration parameters for the sessions and the configuration parameters for the PMCHs are included in the configuration of the sub-areas.
The method of claim 7, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises configuration of frequency domain and time domian resources allocation for the PMCHs.
The method of claim 8, wherein the configuration of frequency domain resources for the PMCHs comprises at least one of MCS, TBS, and RBs.
The method of claim 7, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates resource block group configuration according to a bandwidth part (BWP) size.
The method of claim 7, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates the physical resource block (PRB) bundle type and bundle size.
The method of claim 7, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates a start and length for time domain resource allocation for the PMCHs.
The method of claim 3, further comprising:

scrambling PMCHs of each MBMS sub-area in the MBMS sub-areas using a specific radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the MBMS sub-area; and

transmitting MBMS sessions in the PMCHs toward UE.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

including MBMS area configuration as a class extension within a message dedicated for carrying MBMS single frequency network (MBSFN) area configuration, wherein the MBMS area configuration includes the configuration of the sub-areas.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

including MBMS area configuration as a non-critical extension within a message dedicated for carrying MBMS single frequency network (MBSFN) area configuration, wherein the MBMS area configuration includes the configuration of the sub-areas.
The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining a required number of PMCHs to be configured based on the indication message from the plurality of UEs; and allocating an amount of radio resources to each of the required number of PMCHs within an scheduling interval.
The method of claim 16, wherein alloction of the radio resources is configurable in a unit of a subframe, a slot, or a min-slot through a dynamic allocation method, and allocation of the radio resources is configurable in a unit of one or more radio frames through a static allocation method.
The method of claim 17, wherein the unit is configurable for different traffic types, and the service interests of the UE includes indication of one of the different traffic types.
The method of claim 17, wherein the unit is configurable for different quality of service (QoS) requirements, the service interests of the UE includes a QoS flow identifier (QFI) indicating one of the different QoS requirements.
The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining a bitmap to define the radio resources within a radio frame that are allocated for the PMCHs, wherein the bitmap comprises one of a frame-based bitmap, subframe-based bitmap, and slot-based bitmap, and the bitmap is included in MBMS area configuration.
The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining the scheduling interval, wherein the scheduling interval is configurable in a unit of subframe, slot, or min-slot.
A method executable in a user equipment (UE) , comprising:

transmitting an indication message comprising channel quality and service interests of the UE, wherein the indication message is utilized for associating the UE with a first multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) sub-area among a plurality of MBMS sub-areas, wherein the plurality of MBMS sub-areas belongs to an MBMS area;

receiving configuration of the first MBMS sub-area; and

receiving and decoding MBMS session according to the configuration of the first MBMS sub-area.
The method of claim 22, wherein the configuration of the first MBMS sub-area comprises configuration parameters for MBMS sessions in the first MBMS sub-area and the configuration parameters for PMCHs in the first MBMS sub-area.
The method of claim 23, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises configuration of frequency domain and time domain resources for the PMCHs.
The method of claim 24, wherein the configuration of frequency domain resources for the PMCHs comprises at least one of MCS, TBS, and RBs.
The method of claim 23, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates resource block group configuration according to a bandwidth part (BWP) size.
The method of claim 23, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates the physical resource block (PRB) bundle type and bundle size.
The method of claim 23, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates a start and length for time domain resource allocation for the PMCHs.
The method of claim 23, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates a scheduling interval used for MSI scheduling.
The method of claim 29, wherein the scheduling interval is configurable in a unit of subframe, slot, or min-slot.
The method of claim 23, further comprising:

descrambling the PMCHs in the first MBMS sub-area using a specific radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the first MBMS sub-area.
The method of claim 23, further comprising:

decoding the PMCHs according to a bitmap that defines radio resources within a radio frame allocated for the PMCHs, wherein the bitmap comprises one of a frame-based bitmap, subframe-based bitmap, and slot-based bitmap, and the bitmap is included in the configuration of the first MBMS sub-area.
A network entity device, comprising:

a transceiver; and

a processor connected with the transceiver and configured to execute the following steps comprising:

grouping a plurality of user equipments (UEs) into a number of UE groups in a number of multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) sub-areas, wherein each of the UE groups is associated with one of the sub-areas, the MBMS sub-areas belongs to an MBMS area;

generating configuration of the sub-areas; and

transmitting the configuration of the sub-areas to the plurality of UEs.
The device of claim 33, wherein the processor further executes the following steps comprising:

receiving indication messages from the plurality of UEs, where each indication message in the indication messages is received from one UE among the plurality of UEs and comprises channel quality and service interests of the UE, and the indication messages comprise channel quality and service interests of the plurality of UEs; and

grouping the plurality of UEs into a number of session clusters based on the service interests of the plurality of UEs.
The device of claim 34, wherein the processor further executes the following steps comprising:

grouping the plurality of UEs into a number of channel quality clusters based on channel quality of the plurality of UEs.
The device of claim 35, wherein the number of channel quality clusters is equal to the number of session clusters.
The device of claim 36, where a parameter indicating the number of MBMS sub-areas is included in MBMS area configuration, the number of MBMS sub-areas is equal to the number of channel quality clusters, and the MBMS area configuration includes the configuration of the sub-areas.
The device of claim 35, wherein the processor further executes the following steps comprising:

obtaining a channel quality mean value in each of the channel quality clusters to form channel quality mean values of the channel quality clusters; and

grouping the plurality of UEs into the MBMS sub-areas based on channel quality mean values of the channel quality clusters.
The device of claim 35, wherein the processor further executes the following steps comprising:

providing configuration parameters for sessions and configuration parameters for physical multicast channels (PMCHs) for each of the MBMS sub-areas, wherein the configuration parameters for the sessions and the configuration parameters for the PMCHs are included in the configuration of the sub-areas.
The device of claim 39, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises configuration of frequency domain and time domain resources for the PMCHs.
The device of claim 40, wherein the configuration of frequency domain resources for the PMCHs comprises at least one of MCS, TBS, and RBs.
The device of claim 39, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates resource block group configuration according to a bandwidth part (BWP) size.
The device of claim 39, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates the physical resource block (PRB) bundle type and bundle size.
The device of claim 39, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates a start and length for time domain resource allocation for the PMCHs.
The device of claim 35, wherein the processor further executes the following steps comprising:

scrambling PMCHs of each MBMS sub-area in the MBMS sub-areas using a specific radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the MBMS sub-area; and

transmitting MBMS sessions in the PMCHs toward UE.
The device of claim 31, wherein the processor further executes the following steps comprising:

including MBMS area configuration as a class extension within a message dedicated for carrying MBMS single frequency network (MBSFN) area configuration, wherein the MBMS area configuration includes the configuration of the sub-areas.
The device of claim 31, wherein the processor further executes the following steps comprising:

including MBMS area configuration as a non-critical extension within a message dedicated for carrying MBMS single frequency network (MBSFN) area configuration, wherein the MBMS area configuration includes the configuration of the sub-areas.
The device of claim 35, wherein the processor further executes the following steps comprising:

determining a required number of PMCHs to be configured based on the indication message from the plurality of UEs; and

allocating an amount of radio resources to each of the required number of PMCHs within an scheduling interval.
The device of claim 48, wherein allocating of the radio resources is configurable in a unit of a subframe, a slot, or a min-slot through a dynamic allocation method, and allocating of the radio resources is configurable in a unit of one or more radio frames through a static allocation method.
The device of claim 49, wherein the unit is configurable for different traffic types, and the service interests of the UE includes indication of one of the different traffic types.
The device of claim 49, wherein the unit is configurable for different quality of service (QoS) requirements, the service interests of the UE includes a QoS flow identifier (QFI) indicating one of the different QoS requirements.
The device of claim 49, wherein the processor further executes the following steps comprising:

determining a bitmap to define the radio resources within a radio frame that are allocated for the PMCHs, wherein the bitmap comprises one of a frame-based bitmap, subframe-based bitmap, and slot-based bitmap, and the bitmap is included in MBMS area configuration.
The device of claim 48, wherein the processor further executes the following steps comprising:

determining the scheduling interval, wherein the scheduling interval is configurable in a unit of subframe, slot, or min- slot.
A user equipment (UE) , comprising:

a transceiver; and

a processor connected with the transceiver and configured to execute the following steps comprising:

transmitting an indication message comprising channel quality and service interests of the UE, wherein the indication message is utilized for associating the UE with a first multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) sub-area among a plurality of MBMS sub-areas, wherein the plurality of MBMS sub-areas belongs to an MBMS area;

receiving configuration of the first MBMS sub-area; and

receiving and decoding MBMS session according to the configuration of the first MBMS sub-area.
The user equipment of claim 54, wherein the configuration of the first MBMS sub-area comprises configuration parameters for MBMS sessions in the first MBMS sub-area and the configuration parameters for PMCHs in the first MBMS sub-area.
The user equipment of claim 55, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises configuration of frequency domain and time domain resources for the PMCHs.
The user equipment of claim 56, wherein the configuration of frequency domain resources for the PMCHs comprises at least one of MCS, TBS, and RBs.
The user equipment of claim 55, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates resource block group configuration according to a bandwidth part (BWP) size.
The user equipment of claim 55, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates the physical resource block (PRB) bundle type and bundle size.
The user equipment of claim 55, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates a start and length for time domain resource allocation for the PMCHs.
The user equipment of claim 55, wherein the configuration parameters for the PMCHs comprises a parameter that indicates a scheduling interval used for MSI scheduling.
The user equipment of claim 61, wherein the scheduling interval is configurable in a unit of subframe, slot, or min-slot.
The user equipment of claim 55, wherein the processor further executes the following steps comprising:

descrambling the PMCHs in the first MBMS sub-area using a specific radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the first MBMS sub-area.
The user equipment of claim 55, wherein the processor further executes the following steps comprising:

decoding the PMCHs according to a bitmap that defines radio resources within a radio frame allocated for the PMCHs, wherein the bitmap comprises one of a frame-based bitmap, subframe-based bitmap, and slot-based bitmap, and the bitmap is included in the configuration of the first MBMS sub-area.
A chip, comprising:

a processor, configured to call and run a computer program stored in a memory, to cause a device in which the chip is installed to execute any of the methods of claims 1 to 21.
A chip, comprising:

a processor, configured to call and run a computer program stored in a memory, to cause a device in which the chip is installed to execute any of the methods of claims 22 to 32.
A computer readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute any of the methods of claims 1 to 21.
A computer readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute any of the methods of claims 22 to 32.
A computer program product, comprising a computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute any of the methods of claims 1 to 21.
A computer program product, comprising a computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute any of the methods of claims 22 to 32.
A computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute any of the methods of claims 1 to 21.
A computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute any of the methods of claims 22 to 32.