Buffer status reporting in wireless communication systems

A method performed by a user equipment, the user equipment being configurable to communicate with a radio access node via a plurality of communication protocols, wherein the plurality of communication protocols comprise one or more of:

• a packet data convergence protocol;
• radio link control protocol;
• or media access control protocol, and to communicate with a core network node via at least one congestion-controlled application transport protocol, the method comprising:
• generating a buffer status report comprising an indication of a first amount of data available for transmission from the user equipment, the first amount of data being an amount of data stored in a buffer for data conforming to the congestion-controlled application transport protocol;
• and
• transmitting the buffer status report to the radio access node.

A method performed by a radio access node, the method comprising:

• receiving a buffer status report from a user equipment, the user equipment being configurable to communicate with the radio access node via a plurality of communication protocols, wherein the one or more communication protocols comprise one or more of:
• a packet data convergence protocol;
• a radio link control protocol;
• or a media access control protocol, and to communicate with a core network node via at least one congestion-controlled application transport protocol, wherein the buffer status report comprises an indication of a first amount of data available for transmission from the user equipment, the first amount of data being an amount of data stored in a buffer for data conforming to the congestion-controlled application transport protocol;
• preparing an uplink grant comprising an indication of radio resources to be used by the user equipment for transmitting a second amount of data in an uplink transmission, wherein the second amount of data varies as a function of the first amount of data;
• and
• transmitting the uplink grant to the user equipment.

A user equipment, the user equipment being configurable to communicate with a radio access node via a plurality of communication protocols, wherein the one or more communication protocols comprise one or more of:

• a packet data convergence protocol;
• a radio link control protocol;
• or a media access control protocol, and to communicate with a core network node via at least one congestion-controlled application transport protocol, the user equipment comprising processing circuitry and a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the user equipment to:
• generate a buffer status report comprising an indication of a first amount of data available for transmission from the user equipment, the first amount of data being an amount of data stored in a buffer for data conforming to the congestion-controlled application transport protocol;
• and
• transmit the buffer status report to the radio access node.

A radio access node, the radio access node comprising processing circuitry and a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the radio access node to:

• receive a buffer status report from a user equipment, the user equipment being configurable to communicate with the radio access node via a plurality of communication protocols, wherein the one or more communication protocols comprise one or more of:
• a packet data convergence protocol;
• a radio link control protocol;
• or a media access control protocol, and to communicate with a core network node via at least one congestion-controlled application transport protocol, wherein the buffer status report comprises an indication of a first amount of data available for transmission from the user equipment, the first amount of data being an amount of data stored in a buffer for data conforming to the congestion-controlled application transport protocol;
• prepare an uplink grant comprising an indication of radio resources to be used by the user equipment for transmitting a second amount of data in an uplink transmission, wherein the second amount of data varies as a function of the first amount of data;
• and
• transmit the uplink grant to the user equipment.