Adaptive data radio bearer mapping for multicast/broadcast in wireless networks

A method for mapping radio bearers in a wireless network, comprising:

• determining a data transmission flow having predefined Quality of Service (QOS) profile containing multicast/broadcast service data to a plurality of user equipments serviced by a data transmission network node;
• determining currently allocable air interface communication resources;
• when the currently allocable air interface communication resources is below a threshold value, allocating a single radio bearer for multicast/broadcast of the multicast/broadcast service data to the plurality of user equipments;
• and
• when the currently allocable air interface communication resource relative to a number of user equipments serviced by the data transmission network node is above a threshold value:
• allocating at least two independent radio bearers correspondingly to at least two sets of user equipments for respectively unicasting or multicasting/broadcasting the multicast/broadcast service data to the at least two sets of user equipments;
• configuring the data transmission network node to transmit the multicast/broadcast service data independently via the at least two independent radio bearers each containing the data transmission flow.

A method performed by a user equipment, comprising:

• receiving a first resource allocation from a data transmission network node containing an operation of addition/release/modification of a unicast radio bearer wherein the unicast radio bearer is allocated to the user equipment and is not shared by other user equipments;
• receiving a second resource allocation from the data transmission network node containing an operation of addition/release/modification of a multicast/broadcast radio bearer;
• configuring the unicast radio bearer and the multicast/broadcast radio bearer in the user equipment according to the first resource allocation and the second resource allocation;
• and
• requesting one or more lower layers to receive multicast/broadcast service data of a multicast/broadcast session from the data transmission network node targeting a plurality of user equipments via the unicast radio bearer or the multicast/broadcast radio bearer or both.

One or more network devices or a user equipment comprising one or more processors and one or more memories, wherein the one or more processors are configured to read computer code from the one or more memories to:

• determine a data transmission flow having a predefined Quality of Service (QOS) profile containing multicast/broadcast service data to a plurality of user equipments;
• map the data transmission flow to a first radio bearer for transmitting the multicast/broadcast service data to a first set of user equipments among the plurality of user equipments;
• map the data transmission flow to a second radio bearer independent of the first radio bearer for transmitting the multicast/broadcast service data to a second set of user equipments among the plurality of user equipments;
• and
• configure the one or more network devices or a user equipment to transmit the multicast/broadcast service data independently via the at least the first radio bearers and the second radio bearer each carrying the data transmission flow.