Method for communicating in a network and radio stations associated

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for communicating in a network comprising a primary station and at least one secondary station, the secondary station comprising a buffer containing data packets to be transmitted to the primary station, the method comprising the secondary station transmitting an indication of the buffer status to the primary station, whereby the indication comprises information about the history of the buffer.

1 . A method of operating a primary station for communicating in a network that comprises a primary station and at least one secondary station, wherein the at least one secondary station comprises a buffer containing data to be transmitted to the primary station, the method comprising:
 receiving from the at least one secondary station on an uplink channel, an indication of the status of a buffer of the at least one secondary station, the buffer containing data for transmission to the primary station, wherein the indication comprises quality of service (QoS) information including the age of the oldest data in the buffer, and   allocating a transmission resource to the at least one secondary station in accordance with the received indication, the allocation allowing the at least one secondary station to transmit data from its buffer.   
     
     
         2 . A method of operating a secondary station for communicating in a network that comprises a primary station and at least one secondary station, wherein the at least one secondary station comprises a buffer containing data to be transmitted to the primary station, the method comprising:
 determining an indication of the status of a buffer containing data to be transmitted to the primary station, wherein the indication comprises quality of service (QoS) information including the age of the oldest data in the buffer, wherein the indication is transmitted in a buffer status report (BSR), and   transmitting, the BSR on an uplink channel to the primary station, the indication of the status of the buffer.   
     
     
         3 . A secondary station for communicating with a primary station, the secondary station comprising:
 a buffer containing data for transmission to the primary station, a processor configured to determine an indication of the status of a buffer containing data to be transmitted to the primary station, wherein the indication comprises quality of service (QoS) information including the age of the oldest data in the buffer, wherein the indication is transmitted in a buffer status report (BSR), and   a transmitter for transmitting the indication of the status of the buffer in the buffer status report (BSR) on an uplink channel to the primary station.   
     
     
         4 . The secondary station of  claim 3 , wherein the indication is transmitted in a buffer status report (BSR) comprising the identity of one or more groups of logical channels and an indicator indicating the amount of data corresponding to each of the one or more groups of logical channels currently residing in the at least one secondary station's buffer awaiting transmission. 
     
     
         5 . The secondary station of  claim 3 , wherein the data in the buffer comprises data packets, the quality of service (QoS) information includes an indication of the age of the oldest data packet selected from those packets belonging to a group of logical channels having similar quality of service (QoS) requirements, whose packets are currently stored in the buffer. 
     
     
         6 . The secondary station of  claim 5 , wherein the indication of the age of the oldest data is an indication of whether the age is above a predetermined age threshold. 
     
     
         7 . The secondary station of  claim 3 , wherein the data in the buffer comprises data packets and the quality of service (QoS) information includes an indication of the number of data packets dropped by the secondary station. 
     
     
         8 . The secondary station of  claim 7 , wherein the number of data packets dropped is estimated for a group of logical channels. 
     
     
         9 . The secondary station of  claim 7 , wherein the number of data packets dropped is estimated for each group of multiple groups of logical channels. 
     
     
         10 . The secondary station of  claim 3 , wherein the indication is received at the primary station depending on the secondary station satisfying one or more predetermined conditions of transmission. 
     
     
         11 . The secondary station of  claim 10 , wherein the data in the buffer comprises data packets and the one or more predetermined transmission conditions comprises:
 a condition that a priority of any of the data packets in the buffer is above a predetermined priority threshold,   a condition that the rate of arrival of data in the buffer is above a predetermined arrival rate threshold,   a condition that the number of data packets in the buffer is above a predetermined stored number threshold,   a condition that the number of data packets that have arrived in the buffer is above a predetermined arrival number threshold,   a condition that the amount of data in the buffer is above a predetermined storage threshold.   
     
     
         12 . The secondary station of  claim 3 , comprising transmitting unconditionally at regular intervals, an indication of the buffer status without including the information about the history of the buffer. 
     
     
         13 . A primary station for communicating with at least one secondary station, the primary station comprising:
 receiver for receiving from the at least one secondary station on an uplink channel, an indication of the status of a buffer of the at least one secondary station, the buffer containing data for transmission to the primary station, wherein the indication comprises quality of service (QoS) information including the age of the oldest data in the buffer, and   a processor for allocating a transmission resource to the at least one secondary station in accordance with the received indication, the allocation allowing the at least one secondary station to transmit the data from its buffer for reception by the primary station.   
     
     
         14 . The primary station of  claim 13 , wherein data in the buffer comprises data packets and the information about the history of the buffer comprises an indication of the age of the oldest data packet selected from those packets belonging to a group of logical channels having similar quality of service (QoS) requirements, whose packets are currently stored in the buffer. 
     
     
         15 . The primary station of  claim 13 , wherein the indication of the age of the oldest data packet is an indication of whether the age is above a predetermined threshold. 
     
     
         16 . The primary station of  claim 13 , wherein the information about history of the buffer comprises an indication of the number of data packets dropped by the secondary station. 
     
     
         17 . The primary station of  claim 13 , wherein the number of data packets dropped is estimated for a group of logical channels. 
     
     
         18 . The primary station of  claim 13 , wherein the number of data packets dropped is estimated for each respective group of multiple groups of logical channels. 
     
     
         19 . The primary station of  claim 13 , wherein the information about the history of the buffer comprises an indication of the number of data packets that are currently under retransmission. 
     
     
         20 . The primary station of  claim 13 , wherein the indication is received at the primary station depending on the secondary station satisfying one or more predetermined conditions of transmission. 
     
     
         21 . The primary station of  claim 13 , wherein the one or more predetermined transmission conditions comprises:
 a condition that a priority of any of the data packets in the buffer is above a predetermined priority threshold,   a condition that the rate of arrival of data in the buffer is above a predetermined arrival rate threshold,   a condition that the number of data packets in the buffer is above a predetermined number threshold,   a condition that the number of data packets arrived in the buffer is above a predetermined arrival number threshold, and   a condition that the amount of data in the buffer is above a predetermined storage threshold.   
     
     
         22 . The primary station of  claim 20 , comprising receiving from the secondary station an indication of the buffer status without including the information about the history of the buffer unconditionally at regular intervals. 
     
     
         23 . A tangible computer-readable storage-medium that is not a transitory propagating signal or wave, the medium modified by control information including instructions for performing a method in a primary station for communicating in a network that comprises a primary station and at least one secondary station, the method comprising:
 receiving from the at least one secondary station on an uplink channel, an indication of the status of a buffer of the at least one secondary station, the buffer containing data packets for transmission to the primary station, wherein the indication comprises quality of service (QoS) information including the age of the oldest data in the buffer, and   allocating a transmission resource to the at least one secondary station in accordance with the received indication, the allocation allowing the at least one secondary station to transmit one or more of the data packets from its buffer.   
     
     
         24 . A tangible computer-readable storage-medium that is not a transitory propagating signal or wave, the medium modified by control information including instructions for performing a method in a secondary station for communicating in a network that comprises a primary station and at least one secondary station, wherein the at least one secondary station comprises a buffer containing data packets to be transmitted to the primary station, the method comprising:
 determining an indication of the status of a buffer containing data to be transmitted to the primary station, wherein the indication comprises quality of service (QoS) information including the age of the oldest data in the buffer, wherein the indication is transmitted in a buffer status report (BSR), and   transmitting, the BSR on an uplink channel to the primary station, the indication of the status of the buffer.