Improving the performance of a wireless time division duplex, tdd, system

TECHNICAL FIELD

0001The proposed technology generally relates to wireless communications technology and more specifically concerns a method of operating a communication unit in a wireless Time Division Duplex, TDD, system, and a communication unit configured for operation in a wireless TDD system, as well as a corresponding computer program and computer-program product, and an apparatus for operating a communication unit in a wireless TDD system.

BACKGROUND

0002A TDD system refers to a communication system in which the transmissions in two directions, e.g. uplink and downlink, between two transmission points are separated by the allocation of different time slots. Usually, the transmissions utilize the same frequency band. The transceiver residing in each communication point switches between the transmitting and receiving modes in accordance with the allocated time slots. Existing TDD systems include DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication), TD-CDMA (Time Division - Code Division Multiple access) and LTE-TDD (Long-Term Evolution - Time-Division Duplex) system.

0003The Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication (DECT) standard is a world-wide standard developed for cordless phones. The spectrum used for DECT is in Europe 1880 - 1900 MHz, and in USA 1910 - 1920 MHz. The 20 MHz in Europe is then divided into 10 frequency channels of 2 MHz each, and in the USA there are 5 frequency channels of 2 MHz each. These frequency channels are multiplexed using TDD for uplink and downlink using the terminology frame. One frame contains 12 time slots for uplink (UL), and 12 time slots for downlink (DL). The frame is 10 ms long. The frequency and time division used in DECT (in the case of Europe) uses a multi-frame structure composed of 16 frames.

0004In the DECT standard, Fixed Part (FP) identities refer to access points to which devices can connect. The devices, traditionally cordless phones, are referred to as Portable Part (PP) identities. In a typical voice call scenario, a FP-to-PP connection will use one time-slot in uplink and one time-slot in downlink, being fixed on one frequency. Uplink and downlink time-slots are separated by 12 time-slots (5 ms). Using 1 time-slot in uplink and 1 in downlink is referred to as using 1 duplex channel. Using this terminology, there are in total 120 duplex channels. Since a FP typically is fixed on one frequency, a single FP can use up 12 duplex channels. If higher throughput is needed, one FP-to-PP connection may use more channels.

0005One mode of operation in DECT is synchronized operation. This means that multiple FPs are synchronized in their time-slot operation. The general concept is illustrated in <figref idref="f0003">FIG. 3</figref> and <figref idref="f0004">FIG. 4</figref>.

0006In the example of <figref idref="f0003">FIG. 3</figref>, PP 1 is associated to FP A and PP 2 is associated to FP B. The two FPs are operating in synchronized mode, meaning they are aligned and synchronized in time.

0007This is further illustrated in <figref idref="f0004">FIG. 4</figref>, where it can be noted that that PP 1 is allocated DL slot 3 and UL slot 15 while PP 2 is allocated slot 6 in DL and slot 18 in UL. Since the FPs are synchronized, the slots 3 and 15 are black-listed and unavailable for usage in FP 2, while the slots 6 and 18 are black-listed and unavailable for usage in FP 1. Note that <figref idref="f0004">FIG. 4</figref> only depicts one frequency channel. Naturally, all channels would be available for both FPs if the FPs were using different frequencies.

0008DECT also supports unsynchronized operation, where there is no alignment between the time-slots belonging to different DECT networks. Referring to the example shown in <figref idref="f0003">FIG. 3</figref>, the time-slots may appear as illustrated in <figref idref="f0005">FIG. 5</figref>.

0009The example shown in <figref idref="f0004">FIG. 4</figref> represents two duplex bearers operating on the same carrier frequency. A duplex bearer realizes bi-directional communication by forming the super frame which consists of the DL and UL time slots. The DECT also supports a double duplex bearer which is a pair of duplex bearers on different carrier frequencies. By establishing a duplex bearer between two nodes, the link between the nodes can utilize two carrier frequencies at the same time. Therefore, higher data rate may be achieved by using the double duplex bearer. <figref idref="f0006">FIG. 6</figref> illustrates a double duplex bearer. It should be noticed that the two carriers are synchronized in time.

0010Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) and critical Machine Type Communications (cMTC) typically require very low latencies. The actual requirements vary depending on the use case. For example, one-way radio access network latencies in the order of 0.5 ms to 5 ms are commonly needed in use cases targeting indoor industrial applications.

0011For the purpose of explaining some problem aspects, DECT is merely used as an example, and any TDD system could generally be considered.

0012DECT provides unlicensed access to exclusive spectrum, and is available globally. This makes DECT an attractive technology for cMTC and URLLC, and there is a current proposal in ETSI to evolve DECT towards URLLC for the automation industry. One problem is that the TDD technique cannot deliver the short latencies that are required in many URLLC use cases.

0013As shown in <figref idref="f0004">FIG. 4</figref>, a node in a DECT system gets one transmission opportunity every 24 time slots, i.e. every 10 ms. Therefore, the maximum one direction latency is 10 ms in the DECT system. Assuming the time a data packet arriving in an empty buffer is uniformly distributed, the averaging latency introduced by the system is 5 ms. When the round trip time (RTT) delay is considered, the minimum RTT delay, i.e. the interval between a DL and an UL transmission, is 5 ms. Such latency cannot fulfill the requirements of many services, e.g. cMTC communications.

0014<patcit id="pcit0001" dnum="WO2012122676A"><text>WO 2012/122676</text></patcit> relates to a method and apparatus for use in a system where a user equipment may be associated with an access node and may be in range of another access node, and timing information is used for defining a time period when the user equipment transmits and/or receives signals from at least one of the access nodes. when the user equipment transmits and/or receives signals from at least one of the access nodes.

0015<patcit id="pcit0002" dnum="US2001043572A"><text>US 2001/043572</text></patcit> relates to a method and system for multiple access communication, and more specifically concerns a virtual Frequency Division Duplex, FDD, base station having two base station sub-units, each of which comprises a base station transmitter and a base station receiver, and also a TDD base station adapted to support FDD communication.

0016<patcit id="pcit0003" dnum="US20150341932A"><text>US 2015/0341932</text></patcit> relates to a wireless router or residential gateway capable of distinguishing power-sensitive wireless sensors and providing separate treatment thereto.

0017<patcit id="pcit0004" dnum="US2008004070A1"><text>US 2008/004070 A1</text></patcit> relates to a controlling apparatus configured to: search for at least one predetermined conversion function, check a system time of at least one radio protocol, define a common multiradio reference time, convert the system time of at least one radio protocol to the common multiradio reference time with the at least one conversion function and process control commands in the common multiradio reference time, and/or convert the common multiradio reference time to the system time of at least one radio protocol with the at least one conversion function and process control commands in the system time.

0018<patcit id="pcit0005" dnum="EP0670640A2"><text>EP 0670640 A2</text></patcit> discloses an arrangement for a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)/TDD radio communication system with a structure for combining time slots.

0019DECT; DECT evolution technical study; Requirements and technical analysis for further evolution of DECT and DECT ULE"; <nplcit id="ncit0001" npl-type="s"><text>ETSI TECHNICAL REPORT; vol. DECT, no. V1.1.1 30 June 2017, pages 1-84</text></nplcit> addresses DECT Ultra Low Energy (ULE) variants with high reliability and low latency intended primarily for industry automation scenarios; Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) high bit rate multibearer solutions intended primarily for the professional audio industry; and introduction to the long term evolution of DECT based on OFDM.

0020There is a general need for improvements of the performance of TDD systems such as DECT, e.g. with respect to latency but also throughput.

SUMMARY

0021It is a general object to improve the performance of Time Division Duplex, TDD, systems.

0022According to a first aspect, there is provided a method according to claim 1.

0023In this way, it is possible to improve the performance of a wireless TDD system, e.g. with respect to throughput and latency.

0024The proposed technology also allows a useful extension of the capabilities of existing TDD systems, such as DECT, while being compliant with current regulations and industry standards.

0025According to a second aspect, there is provided a communication unit according to claim 13.

0026Further details are defined in the dependent claims.

0027Other advantages will be appreciated when reading the detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

0028The embodiments, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by making reference to the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li><figref idref="f0001">FIG. 1</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system.</li><li><figref idref="f0002">FIG. 2</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the time and frequency resource structure of the PHY layer in DECT.</li><li><figref idref="f0003">FIG. 3</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of two network nodes such as Fixed Part entities and associated wireless devices such as Portable Part entities.</li><li><figref idref="f0004">FIG. 4</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of synchronized DECT operation with respect to the time slot structures of different network nodes.</li><li><figref idref="f0005">FIG. 5</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of unsynchronized DECT operation with respect to the time slot structures of different network nodes.</li><li><figref idref="f0006">FIG. 6</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the time slot structures of a pair of duplex bearers on different carriers, a so-called double duplex bearer.</li><li><figref idref="f0007">FIG. 7</figref> is a schematic flow diagram illustrating an example of a method of operating a first communication unit in a wireless TDD system.</li><li><figref idref="f0008">FIG. 8</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a relative time offset between the time slot structures of two different logical units according to an embodiment.</li><li><figref idref="f0009">FIG. 9</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of a relative time offset between the time slot structures of two different logical units according to an embodiment.</li><li><figref idref="f0010">FIG. 10</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of a first communication unit and a second communication unit adapted for point-to-point communication with each other using coordinated logical units.</li><li><figref idref="f0011">FIG. 11</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of a communication unit configured for operation in a wireless TDD system according to an embodiment.</li><li><figref idref="f0012">FIG. 12</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating another example of a communication unit, being adapted for connection to a network device for receiving information representing a time slot allocation and/or a relative offset between time slot structures.</li><li><figref idref="f0013">FIG. 13</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the proposed technology from a layered communication protocol perspective.</li><li><figref idref="f0014">FIG. 14</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of communication between a FP super entity having two logical FPs and a PP super entity having two logical PPs according to an embodiment.</li><li><figref idref="f0015">FIG. 15</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of two logical FPs according to an embodiment.</li><li><figref idref="f0016">FIG. 16</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of two logical FPs according to an embodiment.</li><li><figref idref="f0017">FIG. 17</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating two different examples of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of two logical FPs according to an embodiment, with overlapping reservation of two consecutive time slots.</li><li><figref idref="f0018">FIG. 18</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of communication between a FP super entity having two logical FPs and three PP super entities, each having two logical PPs according to an embodiment.</li><li><figref idref="f0019">FIG. 19</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of two logical FPs according to an embodiment adapted for the configuration of <figref idref="f0018">FIG. 18</figref>.</li><li><figref idref="f0020">FIG. 20</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of communication between a FP super entity having four physical FPs, each having a corresponding logical FP, and a PP super entity having four logical PPs according to an embodiment.</li><li><figref idref="f0021">FIG. 21</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of four logical FPs according to an embodiment adapted for the configuration of <figref idref="f0020">FIG. 20</figref>.</li><li><figref idref="f0022">FIG. 22</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of four logical FPs according to an embodiment adapted for the configuration of <figref idref="f0020">FIG. 20</figref>.</li><li><figref idref="f0023">FIG. 23</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of two logical FPs according to an embodiment adapted for the configuration of <figref idref="f0014">FIG. 14</figref>.</li><li><figref idref="f0024">FIG. 24</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a FP super entity having two logical FPs and a PP super entity having two logical PPs from a layered communication protocol perspective.</li><li><figref idref="f0025">Fig. 25A</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of a communication unit configured for operation in a wireless Time Division Duplex, TDD, system according to an embodiment.</li><li><figref idref="f0025">Fig. 25B</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating another example of a communication unit configured for operation in a wireless Time Division Duplex, TDD, system according to an embodiment.</li><li><figref idref="f0025">Fig. 25C</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating yet another example of a communication unit configured for operation in a wireless Time Division Duplex, TDD, system according to an embodiment.</li><li><figref idref="f0026">Fig. 26</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a computer-implementation according to an example, which is not part of the claimed invention.</li><li><figref idref="f0027">Fig. 27</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an apparatus for operating a communication unit in a wireless TDD system according to an example, which is not part of the claimed invention.</li></ul>

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

0029Throughout the drawings, the same reference designations are used for similar or corresponding elements.

0030In the following, the general non-limiting term "communication unit" includes network nodes and/or associated wireless communication devices.

0031As used herein, the non-limiting term "network node" may refer to an access point, base station, a fixed part entity, or similar radio network node including also access controllers and the like, or even a distributed network node.

0032As used herein, the non-limiting terms "wireless communication device" and "wireless device" may refer to a terminal or station, STA, User Equipment, UE, a portable part entity, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a Personal Digital Assistant, PDA, equipped with radio communication capabilities, a smart phone, a laptop or Personal Computer, PC, equipped with an internal or external mobile broadband modem, a tablet PC with radio communication capabilities, a target device, a device to device UE, a machine type UE or UE capable of machine to machine communication, iPad, customer premises equipment, CPE, laptop embedded equipment, LEE, laptop mounted equipment, LME, USB dongle, a portable electronic radio communication device, a sensor device equipped with radio communication capabilities or the like. In particular, the term "wireless device" should be interpreted as a non-limiting term comprising any type of wireless device communicating with a radio network node in a wireless communication system or any device equipped with radio circuitry for wireless communication according to any relevant standard for wireless communication.

0033<figref idref="f0007">FIG. 7</figref> is a schematic flow diagram illustrating an example of a method of operating a first communication unit in a wireless TDD system. In such a TDD system, communication in two directions between the first communication unit and a second communication unit is separated by allocation of different time slots.

0034Basically, the method comprises: <ul id="ul0002" list-style="none"><li>S1: activating, for the first communication unit, at least two logical units for operation with communication circuitry for enabling communication on the same frequency channel with communication circuitry and corresponding logical units in the second communication unit, each logical unit being allocated at least one time slot for each of the two directions in a time slot structure, wherein the time slot structure is clocked in time by a reference clock; and</li><li>S2: coordinating the operation of the logical units of the first communication unit by introducing a relative time offset between the time slot structures of the logical units for controlling communication delay and enabling the offset to be maintained by using the same reference clock for the logical units. In this way, it is possible to improve the performance of a wireless TDD system, e.g. with respect to throughput and latency.</li></ul>

0035By using several logical units, each being allocated at least one time slot for each of the two directions, the throughput performance can be improved.

0036By coordinating the operation of the logical units using an appropriate relative time offset between the time slot structures of the logical units it is possible to control the communication delay and/or latency. By way of example, it is possible to provide a significant latency reduction.

0037As an example, the offset may be determined based on a latency requirement and/or a throughput requirement.

0038The proposed technology also allows a useful extension of the capabilities of existing TDD systems, such as DECT, while being compliant with current regulations and industry standards.

0039<figref idref="f0008">FIG. 8</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a relative time offset between the time slot structures of two different logical units according to an embodiment.

0040In this example, the time slot structure is based on frames of time slots, wherein each frame comprises a first set of consecutive time slots eligible for communication in a first direction and a second set of consecutive time slots eligible for communication in a second direction. For example, the operation of the logical units is coordinated by offsetting the time slot structures of the logical units such that the first set of time slots of a first one of the logical units (LU1) and the second set of time slots of a second one of the logical units (LU2) are overlapping in time.

0041<figref idref="f0009">FIG. 9</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of a relative time offset between the time slot structures of two different logical units according to an embodiment.

0042By way of example, the first set of time slots of a first one of the logical units (LU1) may be downlink time slots and the second set of time slots of a second one of the logical units (LU2) may be uplink time slots to provide an overlap between uplink and downlink time slots of the logical units.

0043Alternatively, the proposed technology may be regarded as a coordination of the operation of the logical units by offsetting the time slot structures of the logical units such that an allocated time slot for communication in a first direction for a first one of the logical units (LU1) is located at position i and an allocated time slot for communication in a second direction for a second one of the logical units (LU2) is located at position i±N, where N is less than half the number of time slots in a frame.

0044By way of example, considering a DECT system, where each frame comprises 24 time slots, 12 time slots for the uplink and 12 time slots for the downlink, N is preferably less than 12.

0045The lower the value of N, the greater the overlap between the first set of time slots of a first one of the logical units (LU1) and the second set of time slots of a second one of the logical units (LU2).

0046As an example, it may be practical to select N to accommodate the switching time required to switch between reception mode and transmission mode, and/or the packet processing time required to process a received packet. In other words, N may be selected so that the relevant node has time to switch between reception and transmission and/or time to process a received packet before starting transmission in the opposite direction.

0047For example, N may be equal to 1 or 2. This provides a substantial latency reduction.

0048In a particular example, the operation of the logical units may be coordinated such that a first set of time slots allocated for communication in a first direction for a first one of the logical units and a second set of time slots allocated for communication in a second direction for a second one of the logical units are overlapping in time, where each set of time slots comprises at least one time slot that is allowed for communication and at least one time slot that is disabled for communication to avoid collisions.

0049For example, the operation of the logical units may be coordinated such that priority in time is given to communication in the first direction in that the time slot(s) allowed for communication in the first direction occurs in a frame before the time slot(s) allowed for communication in the second direction.

0050Optionally, the operation of the logical units may be coordinated such that priority in time is then changed to communication in the second direction in that the time slot(s) allowed for communication in the second direction occurs in a frame before the time slot(s) allowed for communication in the first direction.

0051Preferably, the time slot allocation including disabling the use of some time slots and/or the offset determination may be performed dynamically at run-time.

0052<figref idref="f0010">FIG. 10</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of a first communication unit and a second communication unit adapted for point-to-point communication with each other using coordinated logical units. The first communication unit 100 comprises a number, K ≥ 2, of logical units 110-1, ..., 110-K adapted for operation with communication circuitry 120 for enabling communication on the same frequency channel with communication circuitry 220 and corresponding logical units 210 in the second communication unit 200.

0053Each logical unit 110 is allocated at least one time slot for each of the two directions in a time slot structure, wherein the time slot structure is clocked in time by a reference clock.

0054The first communication unit 100 also comprises a coordination unit 130 configured to coordinate the operation of the logical units 110 of the communication unit 100 by introducing a relative time offset between the time slot structures of the logical units 110 for controlling communication delay and enabling the offset to be maintained by using the same reference clock for the logical units 110.

0055Similarly, the second communication unit 200 also comprises a coordination unit 230 configured to coordinate the operation of the logical units 210 of the communication unit 200.

0056In a particular example, for each logical unit, information representing the time slot structure and/or allocated time slots is advertised through signaling between the first communication unit 100 and the second communication unit 200.

0057As an example, information representing the number of logical units and the relative time offset between the time slot structures of the logical units may be determined based on the received signaling, and the logical units of the first communication unit 100 may be paired with the logical units of the second communication unit 200.

0058<figref idref="f0011">FIG. 11</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of a communication unit configured for operation in a wireless TDD system according to an embodiment. In this example, the communication unit 100 comprises a time slot allocation unit 140 for performing allocation of time slots.

0059<figref idref="f0012">FIG. 12</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating another example of a communication unit 100, being adapted for connection to a network device 150 for receiving information representing a time slot allocation and/or a relative offset between time slot structures.

0060<figref idref="f0013">FIG. 13</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the proposed technology from a layered communication protocol perspective. In this example, each logical unit has its own Medium Access Control, MAC, unit for cooperation with an upper MAC unit common for the logical units, and the upper MAC controls the flow of packet data units to and/or from the MAC units of the logical units based on latency requirements of the packet data units.

0061In a physically distributed implementation, the PHY layer and MAC layer of one of the logical units may be implemented together with the upper MAC unit in the same physical entity, as schematically indicated by the dashed lines in <figref idref="f0013">FIG. 13</figref>.

0062Alternatively, the PHY and MAC layers of both/all logical units may be implemented together with the upper MAC unit, as well as additional layers, in the same physical entity.

0063In a particular, non-limiting example, the wireless TDD system is a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication, DECT, system and the logical units are operated in unsynchronized DECT mode, but coordinated in time by providing the offset between the time slot structures of the logical units and using the same reference clock.

0064For example, the first communication unit 100 may be a network node and the second communication unit 200 may be a wireless device.

0065The first communication unit 100 may be responsible for allocating time slots and/or determining the relative time offset, as indicated in <figref idref="f0012">FIG. 12</figref>.

0066Alternatively, the first communication unit 100 receives information representing the allocation of time slots and/or the relative time offset is from a network device 150 such as a cloud-based network device, as indicated in <figref idref="f0013">FIG. 13</figref>.

0067In another example, the first communication unit 100 may be a wireless device and the second communication unit 200 may be a network node.

0068In the embodiments described herein, the network node may for example be an access point, a base station, a fixed part entity, or even a distributed network node. Similarly, the wireless device may for example be a User Equipment, a portable part entity, a mobile station or a terminal.

0069For a better understanding, the proposed technology will now be described with reference to non-limiting examples relating to DECT. It should be understood that the proposed technology is not limited thereto, but may be generally applicable to any TDD system.

0070In this context, a basic idea is to introduce logical parts, i.e. logical FPs and logical PPs to extend the possibilities of DECT. Also, the concepts of a super-FP, also referred to as a FP super entity, and a super-PP, also referred to as a PP super entity, are introduced, each of which contains multiple logical FPs and logical PPs.

0071Each logical FP/PP can be seen as a TDD transceiver. The time references of the multiple logical links between pairs of the logical FP and PP nodes are shifted by a certain number of time slots. By allocating certain time slots of each logical link to the transmission between the super-FP and super-PP, the transmission latency can be reduced and throughput increased. A certain muting pattern for each logical link may also be introduced to avoid transmission/reception interference in the same node.

0072By way of example, a super-FP or super-PP may be distributed over separate physical entities, thus providing additional spatial diversity, or may reside physically in the same network node.

0073As the applications of wireless technologies expand from voice to mobile broadband to industrial automation and critical machine type communications, it becomes necessary to design new air interfaces that can cope with new, often more stringent requirements. However, the standardization of new wireless technologies, the allocation of new spectrum and the development of new chipsets is a lengthy and expensive process. The invention discloses methods to reduce latency in TDD wireless systems, which although not ideally suited for industrial automation, may still prove useful to fill an industry need, due to the advantages of being compatible with existing TDD systems and having advantageous spectrum allocations, and hence avoiding the need for new spectrum, standardization or chipset development.

0074The proposed method can achieve lower latency and higher throughput compared to prior art solutions. The one-direction latency may be reduced by at least half with the proposed method, and latencies as low as 0.5 ms can be achieved.

0075The proposed method is also compliant with the current DECT regulations, so that the method may be applied to current products without violation of the regulations. This may facilitate the re-use of existing chipsets for industrial automation, and/or accelerate the introduction of DECT in industrial applications.

0076In other words, the proposed technology discloses ways of reducing latency in TDD systems. For the sake of clarity and concreteness, the proposed technology will now be illustrated through the non-limiting example of a DECT system. A logical FP may be anything from a complete independent TX/RX chain to a purely logical device sharing all physical components with another logical FP. Let a super-FP be a FP containing multiple logical FPs. Thus, a super-FP may be realized in practice in many ways. For example, a super-FP may be constructed as a set of interconnected but separate wireless nodes, each possessing its own TX/RX chains and implementing one FP. Another possible realization is as one network node implementing the functionality of several logical FP's in one chipset and having only one TX/RX chain. Similarly, we may let a super-PP contain multiple logical PPs.

0077These FPs may then work under the regulations for unsynchronized DECT, while they in fact may have full synchronization capabilities with each other. Thus, we let a physical super-FP include possibly multiple logical FPs. Note that although the examples here assume integer offsets where channels experience perfect time alignment, we could also consider scenarios where perfect time alignment is not there. For example, we could consider having odd multiples of half a time slot as offset between two logical devices.

0078To better understand the strength of using the logical devices, reference can be made to the following examples.

0079<figref idref="f0014">FIG. 14</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of communication between a FP super entity having two logical FPs and a PP super entity having two logical PPs according to an embodiment. In this example, the FP super entity, or super-FP, includes two logical FPs, FP A and FP B. Furthermore, the PP super entity, or super-PP, includes two logical PPs, PP 1 and PP 2. As illustrated in <figref idref="f0014">FIG. 14</figref>, FP A is connected to PP 1 and FP B is connected to PP 2.

0080In this example, FP A and FP B may be operated in the unsynchronized DECT mode while having synchronized clocks. This enables us to let FP B keep a constant time-offset compared to FP A, e.g. with precisely 12 time slots (5 ms) difference, e.g. as illustrated in <figref idref="f0015">FIG. 15</figref>. Thus, FP A and FP B are in fact time synchronized, but operating under the unsynchronized mode. In other words, while the time slot boundaries are aligned, the frames are not time aligned. The links between the two pairs of logical nodes operate in the same frequency band.

0081<figref idref="f0015">FIG. 15</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of two logical FPs according to an embodiment. In the example of <figref idref="f0015">FIG. 15</figref>, time-slots that are hashed out have been disabled to avoid collisions. Thus, FP A has disabled time-slots 3 and 15, while FP B has disabled time-slots 2 and 14. Assume then that PP 1 is connected to FP A using the time-slots 2 and 14, and that PP 2 is connected to FP B using the time-slots 15 and 3, keeping in mind that there is a 12 time slot offset between the time slot structures (time references) of FP A and FP B.

0082Using this methodology, a super-PP that receives a message on logical PP 1 can respond to the super-FP using logical PP 2. Using <figref idref="f0015">FIG. 15</figref> as a reference, if the super-PP gets the message in time slot 2 of logical PP 1, it can respond in the next time slot, i.e. time slot 15 of logical PP 2, because of the 12 time slot offset.

0083In absolute terms, time slot number 2 of logical FP A (connected to PP 1) and time slot number 15 of logical FP B (connected to PP 2) are separated by one time slot. Thus, the super-FP could get a round-trip time of less than 1 ms.

0084In practice, the PP will often want to decode the DL transmission prior to UL transmission and thus requires some time to perform the packet processing before transmitting in UL. In this case a different time offset might be better suited, as illustrated in <figref idref="f0016">FIG. 16</figref>.

0085<figref idref="f0017">FIG. 17</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating two different examples of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of two logical FPs according to an embodiment, with overlapping reservation of two consecutive time slots.

0086In the example of <figref idref="f0017">FIG. 17</figref>, channel reservation is done for two consecutive slots which overlap in time for the both time structures (for both logical FPs), similar to the example illustrated in <figref idref="f0015">FIG. 15</figref>, but with the possibility to change the priority of the directions DL-before-UL vs. UL-before-DL. This arrangement allows the possibility to dynamically give priority to the downlink direction or the uplink direction depending on the use case without the need to re-select the channels or the slots. To change the priority between downlink or uplink, some extra signaling is required which can be piggybacked on control bits within the transmitted packets.<b>Fel! Hittar inte referenskälla.</b> It is possible to dynamically change from the top to the bottom and vice versa.

0087<figref idref="f0018">FIG. 18</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of communication between a FP super entity having two logical FPs and three PP super entities, each having two logical PPs according to an embodiment.

0088In the example of <figref idref="f0018">FIG. 18</figref>, several super PPs connect to one super FP. In this example we have three super PPs connected to one super FP. The two logical PPs of super PP 1 are referred to as PP 11 and PP 12. The two logical PPs of super PP 2 are referred to as PP 21 and PP 22, and the two logical PPs of super PP 3 are referred to as PP 31 and PP 32.

0089<figref idref="f0019">FIG. 19</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of the logical FPs according to an embodiment adapted for the configuration of <figref idref="f0018">FIG. 18</figref>. It can be seen precisely which timeslot is used by which logical PP. The time-slots that are hashed out have been disabled in order to avoid collisions.

0090<figref idref="f0020">FIG. 20</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of communication between a FP super entity having four physical FPs, each having a corresponding logical FP, and a PP super entity having four logical PPs according to an embodiment.

0091In this example, a super FP includes four logical FPs distributed over four interconnected physical entities, and a super PP including four logical PPs. The four physical FPs are preferably interconnected by a wired connection. This setup is relevant when a higher throughput is required, allowing for higher throughput and better latency. Having separate TX and RX chains also provides spatial diversity and better link performance.

0092<figref idref="f0021">FIG. 21</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of four logical FPs according to an embodiment adapted for the configuration of <figref idref="f0020">FIG. 20</figref>. As before, the time-slots that are hashed out have been disabled in order to avoid collisions.

0093<figref idref="f0022">FIG. 22</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of four logical FPs according to an embodiment adapted for the configuration of <figref idref="f0020">FIG. 20</figref>.

0094In this particular example, since according to the DECT standard, each FP/PP pair may use up to three channels, it is indeed possible to assign all time-slots to one communication pair as shown in <figref idref="f0022">FIG. 22</figref>. This allocation provides for low latency and high throughput. There are alternative allocations to achieve the same usage.

0095<figref idref="f0023">FIG. 23</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the time slot allocation for the coordinated time slot structures of two logical FPs according to an embodiment adapted for the configuration of <figref idref="f0014">FIG. 14</figref>.

0096The DECT standard, like other TDMA standards, allows for consecutive time-slot allocations, which can be useful to increase data rates or reliability via robust channel coding. In the example of <figref idref="f0023">FIG. 23</figref>, the proposed technology employs such a consecutive time-slot allocation. The time-slots that are hashed out are disabled in order to avoid collisions.

0097<figref idref="f0024">FIG. 24</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a FP super entity having two logical FPs and a PP super entity having two logical PPs from a layered communication protocol perspective.

0098For example, consider Packet data units (PDU) originating from upper layers having low latency requirements. These Low Latency PDUs arrive at an Upper MAC logical entity which selects the best logical MAC to fulfill their latency requirement. The Upper MAC logical entity has access to all the required information such as which logical entity of the super device will provide the least latency at a given moment of time.

0099For example, consider the system illustrated in <figref idref="f0014">FIG. 14</figref>, the MAC entity of FP A and FP B may thus be connected to a Super-FP Upper MAC, as illustrated in <figref idref="f0024">FIG. 24</figref>. When the Super-FP Upper MAC serves a Low Latency PDU, the FP MAC providing lower latency at that particular moment in time will be selected for delivering the PDU to the super-PP device. Similarly, when a super-PP device has a low latency PDU to serve, the super-PP Upper MAC will select to utilize either PP 1 MAC or PP 2 MAC in order to minimize the time to deliver the PDU.

0100For example, referring to the time slot allocation of <figref idref="f0015">FIG. 15</figref>, a PDU is delivered from the super-FP to the super-PP utilizing the logical FP A to logical PP 1 at slot 2 of the logical FP A. Assuming that the hardware processes the packet fast and it is delivered at least to the super-PP Upper MAC entity or Upper layers, it is feasible to have a Low Latency PDU as a reply to the super-FP. This Low Latency PDU will be delivered from the super-PP Upper MAC downwards, and it follows that logical PP 2 is selected to deliver the PDU to logical FP B because slot 15 of logical FP B is the fastest option to deliver the packet to the super-FP node. If more processing time is required, referring to the time slot allocation of <figref idref="f0016">FIG. 16</figref>, there may be one or more intermediate time slots for providing more time for data processing. However, the same slots as before where selected to serve the low latency PDU.

0101It will be appreciated that the methods and arrangements described herein can be implemented, combined and re-arranged in a variety of ways.

0102For example, embodiments may be implemented in hardware, or in software for execution by suitable processing circuitry, or a combination thereof.

0103The steps, functions, procedures, modules and/or blocks described herein may be implemented in hardware using any conventional technology, such as discrete circuit or integrated circuit technology, including both general-purpose electronic circuitry and application-specific circuitry.

0104Alternatively, or as a complement, at least some of the steps, functions, procedures, modules and/or blocks described herein may be implemented in software such as a computer program for execution by suitable processing circuitry such as one or more processors or processing units.

0105Examples of processing circuitry includes, but is not limited to, one or more microprocessors, one or more Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs), video acceleration hardware, and/or any suitable programmable logic circuitry such as one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or one or more Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs).

0106It should also be understood that it may be possible to re-use the general processing capabilities of any conventional device or unit in which the proposed technology is implemented. It may also be possible to re-use existing software, e.g. by reprogramming of the existing software or by adding new software components.

0107According to an aspect of the proposed technology there is provided a communication unit 100 configured for operation in a wireless Time Division Duplex, TDD, system, in which communication in two directions between the communication unit 100 and another communication unit 200 is separated by allocation of different time slots.

0108For example, reference can once again be made to <figref idref="f0010">FIG. 10</figref>, <figref idref="f0011">FIG. 11</figref>, and <figref idref="f0012">FIG. 12</figref>.

0109The communication unit 100 is configured to activate at least two logical units 110 for operation with communication circuitry 120 for enabling communication on the same frequency channel with communication circuitry 220 and corresponding logical units 210 in the other communication unit 200. Each logical unit 110 is allocated at least one time slot for each of the two directions in a time slot structure, wherein the time slot structure is clocked in time by a reference clock.

0110The communication unit 100 is configured to coordinate the operation of the logical units 110 of the communication unit by introducing a relative time offset between the time slot structures of the logical units 110 for controlling communication delay and enabling the offset to be maintained by using the same reference clock for the logical units 110.

0111By way of example, the communication unit 100 may be configured to operate on a time slot structure that is based on frames of time slots, wherein each frame comprises a first set of consecutive time slots eligible for communication in a first direction and a second set of consecutive time slots eligible for communication in a second direction. The communication unit 100 is also configured to coordinate the operation of the logical units 110 by offsetting the time slot structures of the logical units such that the first set of time slots of a first one of the logical units and the second set of time slots of a second one of the logical units are overlapping in time.

0112For example, the communication unit 100 may be configured to coordinate the operation of the logical units 110 by offsetting the time slot structures of the logical units such that an allocated time slot for communication in a first direction for a first one of the logical units is located at position i and an allocated time slot for communication in a second direction for a second one of the logical units is located at position i±N, where N is less than half the number of time slots in a frame.

0113In a particular example, the wireless TDD system is a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication, DECT, system. The logical units 110 are preferably configured to be operated in unsynchronized DECT mode, but coordinated in time by providing the relative time offset between the time slot structures of the logical units 110 and using the same reference clock.

0114By way of example, the communication unit 100 may be a network node configured for communication with a wireless device. For example, the network node may be an access point, a base station, a fixed part entity, or even a distributed network node.

0115Alternatively, the communication unit 100 is a wireless device configured for communication with a network node.

0116For example, the wireless device may be a User Equipment, a portable part entity, a mobile station or a terminal.

0117<figref idref="f0025">Fig. 25A</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of a communication unit configured for operation in a wireless Time Division Duplex, TDD, system according to an embodiment.

0118In this particular example, the communication unit 300 comprises a processor 310 and a memory 320, the memory 320 comprising instructions executable by the processor 310, whereby the processor is operative to perform the functions described herein, including activating the logical units and coordinating the operation of the logical units.

0119Optionally, the communication unit 300 may also include an input/output (I/O) unit 330. The I/O unit 330 may include functions for wired and/or wireless communication with other devices and/or network nodes in the network. In a particular example, the I/O unit 330 may be based on radio circuitry for communication with one or more other nodes, including transmitting and/or receiving information. The I/O unit 330 may be interconnected to the processor 310 and/or memory 320. By way of example, the I/O unit 330 may include any of the following: a receiver, a transmitter, a transceiver, input port(s) and/or output port(s).

0120<figref idref="f0025">Fig. 25B</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating another example of a communication unit configured for operation in a wireless Time Division Duplex, TDD, system according to an embodiment.

0121In this example, the communication unit 300 is based on a hardware circuitry implementation. Particular examples of suitable hardware circuitry include one or more suitably configured or possibly reconfigurable electronic circuitry, e.g., Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), FPGAs, or any other hardware logic such as circuits based on discrete logic gates and/or flip-flops interconnected to perform specialized functions in connection with suitable registers (REG), and/or memory units (MEM).

0122<figref idref="f0025">Fig. 25C</figref> is a schematic block diagram illustrating yet another example of a communication unit configured for operation in a wireless Time Division Duplex, TDD, system according to an embodiment.

0123In this example, the communication unit 300 is based on combination of both processor(s) 310 and hardware circuitry 315 in connection with suitable memory unit(s) 320. The communication unit 300 comprises one or more processors 310, memory 320 including storage for software (SW) and data, and one or more units of hardware circuitry 315. The overall functionality is thus partitioned between programmed software for execution on one or more processors 310 and one or more pre-configured or possibly reconfigurable hardware circuits 315. The actual hardware-software partitioning can be decided by a system designer based on a number of factors including processing speed, cost of implementation and other requirements.

0124<figref idref="f0026">Fig. 26</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a computer-implementation according to an example, which is not part of the claimed invention. In this particular example, at least some of the steps, functions, procedures, modules and/or blocks described herein are implemented in a computer program 425; 435, which is loaded into the memory 420 for execution by processing circuitry including one or more processors 410. The processor(s) 410 and memory 420 are interconnected to each other to enable normal software execution. An optional input/output device 440 may also be interconnected to the processor(s) 410 and/or the memory 420 to enable input and/or output of relevant data such as input parameter(s) and/or resulting output parameter(s).

0125The term 'processor' should be interpreted in a general sense as any system or device capable of executing program code or computer program instructions to perform a particular processing, determining or computing task.

0126The processing circuitry including one or more processors 410 is thus configured to perform, when executing the computer program 425, well-defined processing tasks such as those described herein.

0127The processing circuitry does not have to be dedicated to only execute the above-described steps, functions, procedure and/or blocks, but may also execute other tasks.

0128In a particular example, which is not part of the claimed invention, there is provided a computer program 425; 435 for enabling, when executed by a processor 410, operation of a communication unit in a wireless Time Division Duplex, TDD, system, in which communication in two directions between the communication unit and another communication unit is separated by allocation of different time slots.

0129The computer program 425; 435 comprises instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the processor 410 to: <ul id="ul0003" list-style="dash" compact="compact"><li>activate, for the communication unit, at least two logical units for operation with communication circuitry for enabling communication on the same frequency channel with communication circuitry and corresponding logical units in the second communication unit, each logical unit being allocated at least one time slot for each of the two directions in a time slot structure, wherein the time slot structure is clocked in time by a reference clock; and</li><li>coordinate the operation of the logical units of the communication unit by introducing a relative time offset between the time slot structures of the logical units for controlling communication delay and enabling the offset to be maintained by using the same reference clock for the logical units.</li></ul>

0130The proposed technology also provides a carrier comprising the computer program, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

0131By way of example, the software or computer program 425; 435 may be realized as a computer program product, which is normally carried or stored on a computer-readable medium 420; 430, in particular a non-volatile medium. The computer-readable medium may include one or more removable or non-removable memory devices including, but not limited to a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), a Blu-ray disc, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory, a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) storage device, a flash memory, a magnetic tape, or any other conventional memory device. The computer program may thus be loaded into the operating memory of a computer or equivalent processing device for execution by the processing circuitry thereof.

0132The flow diagram or diagrams presented herein may be regarded as a computer flow diagram or diagrams, when performed by one or more processors. A corresponding apparatus may be defined as a group of function modules, where each step performed by the processor corresponds to a function module. In this case, the function modules are implemented as a computer program running on the processor.

0133The computer program residing in memory may thus be organized as appropriate function modules configured to perform, when executed by the processor, at least part of the steps and/or tasks described herein.

0134<figref idref="f0027">Fig. 27</figref> is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an apparatus for operating a communication unit in a wireless TDD system according to an example, which is not part of the claimed invention.

0135The apparatus 500 is adapted for operating a communication unit in a wireless Time Division Duplex, TDD, system, in which communication in two directions between the communication unit and another communication unit is separated by allocation of different time slots.

0136Basically, the apparatus 500 comprises: <ul id="ul0004" list-style="dash" compact="compact"><li>an activation module 510 for activating, for the communication unit, at least two logical units for operation with communication circuitry for enabling communication on the same frequency channel with communication circuitry and corresponding logical units in the other communication unit, each logical unit being allocated at least one time slot for each of the two directions in a time slot structure, wherein the time slot structure is clocked in time by a reference clock; and</li><li>a coordination module 520 for coordinating the operation of the logical units of the communication unit by introducing a relative time offset between the time slot structures of the logical units for controlling communication delay and enabling the offset to be maintained by using the same reference clock for the logical units.</li></ul>

0137Alternatively it is possible to realize the module(s) in <figref idref="f0027">FIG. 27</figref> predominantly by hardware modules, or alternatively by hardware, with suitable interconnections between relevant modules. Particular examples include one or more suitably configured digital signal processors and other known electronic circuits, e.g. discrete logic gates interconnected to perform a specialized function, and/or Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) as previously mentioned. Other examples of usable hardware include input/output (I/O) circuitry and/or circuitry for receiving and/or sending signals. The extent of software versus hardware is purely implementation selection.

0138It is becoming increasingly popular to provide computing services (hardware and/or software) in network devices such as network nodes and/or servers where the resources are delivered as a service to remote locations over a network. By way of example, this means that functionality, as described herein, can be distributed or re-located to one or more separate physical nodes or servers. The functionality may be re-located or distributed to one or more jointly acting physical and/or virtual machines that can be positioned in separate physical node(s), i.e. in the so-called cloud. This is sometimes also referred to as cloud computing, which is a model for enabling ubiquitous on-demand network access to a pool of configurable computing resources such as networks, servers, storage, applications and general or customized services.

0139There are different forms of virtualization that can be useful in this context, including one or more of: <ul id="ul0005" list-style="bullet"><li>Consolidation of network functionality into virtualized software running on customized or generic hardware. This is sometimes referred to as network function virtualization.</li><li>Co-location of one or more application stacks, including operating system, running on separate hardware onto a single hardware platform. This is sometimes referred to as system virtualization, or platform virtualization.</li><li>Co-location of hardware and/or software resources with the objective of using some advanced domain level scheduling and coordination technique to gain increased system resource utilization. This is sometimes referred to as resource virtualization, or centralized and coordinated resource pooling.</li></ul>

0140Although it may often desirable to centralize functionality in so-called generic data centers, in other scenarios it may in fact be beneficial to distribute functionality over different parts of the network.

0141A Network Device (ND) may generally be seen as an electronic device being communicatively connected to other electronic devices in the network.

0142By way of example, the network device may be implemented in hardware, software or a combination thereof. For example, the network device may be a special-purpose network device or a general purpose network device, or a hybrid thereof.

0143A special-purpose network device may use custom processing circuits and a proprietary operating system (OS), for execution of software to provide one or more of the features or functions disclosed herein.

0144A general purpose network device may use common off-the-shelf (COTS) processors and a standard OS, for execution of software configured to provide one or more of the features or functions disclosed herein.

0145By way of example, a special-purpose network device may include hardware comprising processing or computing resource(s), which typically include a set of one or more processors, and physical network interfaces (NIs), which sometimes are called physical ports, as well as non-transitory machine readable storage media having stored thereon software. A physical NI may be seen as hardware in a network device through which a network connection is made, e.g. wirelessly through a wireless network interface controller (WNIC) or through plugging in a cable to a physical port connected to a network interface controller (NIC). During operation, the software may be executed by the hardware to instantiate a set of one or more software instance(s). Each of the software instance(s), and that part of the hardware that executes that software instance, may form a separate virtual network element.

0146By way of another example, a general purpose network device may for example include hardware comprising a set of one or more processor(s), often COTS processors, and network interface controller(s) (NICs), as well as non-transitory machine readable storage media having stored thereon software. During operation, the processor(s) executes the software to instantiate one or more sets of one or more applications. While one embodiment does not implement virtualization, alternative embodiments may use different forms of virtualization - for example represented by a virtualization layer and software containers. For example, one such alternative embodiment implements operating system-level virtualization, in which case the virtualization layer represents the kernel of an operating system (or a shim executing on a base operating system) that allows for the creation of multiple software containers that may each be used to execute one of a sets of applications. In an example embodiment, each of the software containers (also called virtualization engines, virtual private servers, or jails) is a user space instance (typically a virtual memory space). These user space instances may be separate from each other and separate from the kernel space in which the operating system is executed; the set of applications running in a given user space, unless explicitly allowed, cannot access the memory of the other processes. Another such alternative embodiment implements full virtualization, in which case: 1) the virtualization layer represents a hypervisor (sometimes referred to as a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM)) or the hypervisor is executed on top of a host operating system; and 2) the software containers each represent a tightly isolated form of software container called a virtual machine that is executed by the hypervisor and may include a guest operating system.

0147A hypervisor is the software/hardware that is responsible for creating and managing the various virtualized instances and in some cases the actual physical hardware. The hypervisor manages the underlying resources and presents them as virtualized instances. What the hypervisor virtualizes to appear as a single processor may actually comprise multiple separate processors. From the perspective of the operating system, the virtualized instances appear to be actual hardware components.

0148A virtual machine is a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine; and applications generally do not know they are running on a virtual machine as opposed to running on a "bare metal" host electronic device, though some systems provide para-virtualization which allows an operating system or application to be aware of the presence of virtualization for optimization purposes.

0149The instantiation of the one or more sets of one or more applications as well as the virtualization layer and software containers if implemented, are collectively referred to as software instance(s). Each set of applications, corresponding software container if implemented, and that part of the hardware that executes them (be it hardware dedicated to that execution and/or time slices of hardware temporally shared by software containers), forms a separate virtual network element(s).

0150The virtual network element(s) may perform similar functionality compared to Virtual Network Element(s) (VNEs). This virtualization of the hardware is sometimes referred to as Network Function Virtualization (NFV)). Thus, NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which could be located in data centers, NDs, and Customer Premise Equipment (CPE). However, different embodiments may implement one or more of the software container(s) differently. For example, while embodiments are illustrated with each software container corresponding to a VNE, alternative embodiments may implement this correspondence or mapping between software container-VNE at a finer granularity level; it should be understood that the techniques described herein with reference to a correspondence of software containers to VNEs also apply to embodiments where such a finer level of granularity is used.

0151According to yet another embodiment, there is provided a hybrid network device, which includes both custom processing circuitry/proprietary OS and COTS processors/standard OS in a network device, e.g. in a card or circuit board within a network device ND. In certain embodiments of such a hybrid network device, a platform Virtual Machine (VM), such as a VM that implements functionality of a special-purpose network device, could provide for para-virtualization to the hardware present in the hybrid network device.

0152The embodiments described above are merely given as examples, and it should be understood that the proposed technology is not limited thereto. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations and changes may be made to the embodiments without departing from the present scope as defined by the appended claims. In particular, different part solutions in the different embodiments can be combined in other configurations, where technically possible.