Latency reduction in 5g and 6g networks

An apparatus for a distributed unit (DU) of an access node (AN), the apparatus comprising:

• processing circuitry configured to:
• decode, from a central unit (CU) of the AN, an indication of an expected packet for ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC);
• in response to reception of the indication, determine a size of a. transport block (TB) for the expected packet and a resource allocation to accommodate the TB based on the size of the TB;
• decode, after reception of the indication, an actual packet associated with the expected packet;
• and
• encode, for transmission, the actual packet in a TB for the actual packet using the resource allocation;
• and
• a memory configured to store the resource allocation.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of user equipment (UE), the one or more processors to configure the UE to, when the instructions are executed:

• receive, from an access node (AN), an indication of a payload size of an ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) packet in at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH);
• receive, from the AN, a single packet mode transport block (TB) that contains the packet;
• remove a cyclic redundancy code (CRC) from the packet;
• extract a payload of the packet after removal of the CRC, the payload comprising a ciphered Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) service data unit (SDU);
• in parallel operations:
• decipher the payload in a PDCP layer, and
• provide a medium access control (MAC) packet data unit (PDU) to a MAC layer for processing of a MAC header of the packet and a Radio Link Control (RLC) for processing of an RLC header of the packet;
• and
• after the parallel operations are completed, deliver results of the parallel operations to lower layers of a protocol stack of a protocol that is implemented by the one or more processors.