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Glossary

TBF (Temporary Block Flow) in 3GPP: meaning and where it is specified

Published 2026-10-16Updated 2026-10-16

At a glance

Term
TBF
Stands for
Temporary Block Flow
Defined in
3GPP TR 21.905 V19.2.0, clause 4
Used in
TS 43.064, TS 44.060, TS 44.160

In plain words

TBF means Temporary Block Flow, as listed in the vocabulary entry. TS 43.064 describes it as a physical connection between two RR entities supporting "the unidirectional transfer of LLC PDUs on packet data physical channels.". TS 44.060 describes a physical connection supporting unidirectional transfer of upper layer PDUs on packet data physical channels. TS 44.160 describes a logical connection between two MAC entities supporting unidirectional transfer of upper-layer PDUs on basic physical sub-channels.

Source: 3GPP TS 43.064 V19.0.0, clause 6.6.4.2. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/43_series/43.064/43064-j00.zip

Sources

  1. 3GPP TR 21.905 V19.2.0, clause 4. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/21_series/21.905/21905-j20.zip
  2. 3GPP TS 43.064 V19.0.0, clause 6.6.4.2. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/43_series/43.064/43064-j00.zip
  3. 3GPP TS 44.060 V19.0.0, clause 5.2.1. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/44_series/44.060/44060-j00.zip
  4. 3GPP TS 44.160 V15.0.0, clause 5.2.1. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/44_series/44.160/44160-f00.zip

How this page was made

The facts box comes straight from the 3GPP TDoc list and specification archive as indexed by 3GPP Scout. An AI model (GPT-6 Luna) wrote the paragraph and named the source of each sentence. Code checked every quote word for word against the stored source text and every number against the cited source. A second AI model from another company (Claude Opus 5.5) reviewed the paragraph against the same sources. The 3GPP documents themselves govern.