Methods and apparatus for signalling buffer status information

摘要

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for reporting buffer status information to a communication network control element 10 when transmission via both a licensed and unlicensed spectrum is conducted and offloading of traffic to the unlicensed spectrum is executed. After an offloading value indicating the amount of traffic which can be offloaded from transmission over the licensed spectrum to transmission over the unlicensed spectrum is estimated, a user equipment (UE 20) determines a buffer size of at least one transmission buffer used in transmission over the licensed spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum. Then, buffer status information is sent to an enhanced node B (eNB 10) where the estimated offloading value is considered. The eNB can make more accurate resource allocation over the licensed band in view of the offloading value. The offload maybe to transmission via device-to-device (D2D) resources while sharing a common transmission buffer.