Methods providing QFI harmonization between RAN and 5GC and related wireless terminals, base stations, and core network nodes

A wireless terminal comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• memory coupled to the processor and having instructions stored therein that are executable by the processor to cause the wireless terminal to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from the base station, the RRC message including information regarding at least one Quality of Service (Qos) flow, each QoS flow being either reflective or non-reflective;
• providing communication of a first data packet between the wireless terminal and the base station using a non-reflective QoS flow, the first data packet including a first data field and a first Service Data Application Protocol (SDAP) header field with a QoS Flow Identity (QFI), the QFI being used for the first data packet based on the information from the RRC message, and the first SDAP header field including the QFI of the first SDAP header field and a Reflective QOS to DRB mapping Indication (RDI) without a Reflective QoS Indicator (RQI);
• and
• providing communication of a second data packet between the wireless terminal and the base station using a reflective QoS flow, the second data packet including a second data field and a second SDAP header field with a QFI that is used for the second data packet based on the information from the RRC message, a length of the QFI of the second SDAP header field being less than a length of the QFI of the first SDAP header field, and the second SDAP header field including the QFI of the second SDAP header field, an RQI of the second SDAP header field, and an RDI.

A method of operating a base station of a wireless communication network in communication with a wireless terminal, the method comprising:

• receiving information from a Core Network (CN) node regarding at least one Quality of Service (QoS) flow, each QoS flow being either reflective or non-reflective;
• transmitting a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message to the wireless terminal based on the information;
• providing communication of a first data packet between the base station and the wireless terminal using a non-reflective QoS flow, the first data packet including a data field and a first Service Data Application Protocol (SDAP) header field with a QoS Flow Identity (QFI) the QFI being used for the first data packet based on the information from the CN node, and the first SDAP header field including the QFI of the first SDAP header field and a Reflective QOS to DRB mapping Indication (RDI) without a Reflective QoS Indicator (RQI);
• and
• providing communication of a second data packet between the base station and the wireless terminal using a reflective QoS flow, the second data packet including a second data field and a second SDAP header field with a QFI, that is used for the second data packet based on the information from the CN node, and a length of the QFI of the second SDAP header field being less than a length of the QFI of the first SDAP header field.

A base station comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• memory coupled to the processor and having instructions stored therein that are executable by the processor to cause the base station to perform operations comprising:
• receiving information from a Core Network (CN) node regarding at least one Quality of Service (QoS) flow, each QoS flow being either reflective or non-reflective;
• transmitting a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message to the wireless terminal based on the information;
• providing communication of a first data packet between the base station and the wireless terminal using a non-reflective QoS flow, the first data packet including a data field and a first Service Data Application Protocol (SDAP) header field with a QOS Flow Identity (QFI) the QFI being used for the first data packet based on the information from the CN node, and the first SDAP header field including the QFI of the first SDAP header field and a Reflective QOS to DRB mapping Indication (RDI) without a Reflective QoS Indicator (RQI);
• and
• providing communication of a second data packet between the base station and the wireless terminal using a reflective QoS flow, the second data packet including a second data field and a second SDAP header field with a QFI, that is used for the second data packet based on the information from the CN node, and a length of the QFI of the second SDAP header field being less than a length of the QFI of the first SDAP header field.