WO2020037587A1

WO2020037587A1 - Detection of cross-link interference between terminal devices

Info

Publication number: WO2020037587A1
Application number: PCT/CN2018/101885
Authority: WO
Inventors: Xinghua Shi
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2018-08-23
Filing date: 2018-08-23
Publication date: 2020-02-27
Anticipated expiration: 2021-02-23
Also published as: CN112602346A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method, device, apparatus and computer readable storage media for detecting cross-link interference between terminal devices. In example embodiments, a predetermined number of groups of cells are determined where each of the groups comprises nonadjacent cells. The predetermined number of orthogonal resources are then determined for detection of cross-link interference between terminal devices in the predetermined number of groups. In this way, the efficiency of CLI detection of the terminal devices may be improved.

Description

DETECTION OF CROSS-LINK INTERFERENCE BETWEEN TERMINAL DEVICES

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method, device, apparatus and computer readable storage media for detecting cross-link interference between terminal devices.

BACKGROUND

To enable coordinated scheduling for dynamic Time Division Duplex (TDD) deployment, cross-link interference (CLI) between user equipment (UEs) in different cells may be measured and reported to a serving New Radio (NR) NodeBs (or gNBs) . The Sounding Reference Signal-Reference Signal Received Power (SRS-RSRP) or Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) based UE-UE CLI measurement scheme is discussed in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) . For example, the linear average of the total received power as the RSSI may be detected by the UE in certain Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of the measurement time resource (s) in a measurement bandwidth over the configured resource elements for the CLI measurement.

The total received power information could provide the interference profile for the victim downlink (DL) UE. However, convention approaches for the UE-UE CLI measurement could not obtain the RSSI information for all the victim UEs by an effective and efficient mechanism. At the same time, there is a need to reduce the measurement cost for all the victim UEs to detect the UE-UE CLI.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method, device, apparatus and computer readable storage media for detecting cross-link interference between terminal devices.

In a first aspect, a device is provided at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the device to determine a predetermined number of groups of cells, each of the groups comprising nonadjacent cells. The device is further caused to determine the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for detection of cross-link interference between terminal devices in the predetermined number of groups

In a second aspect, a method is provided. In the method, a predetermined number of groups of cells are determined where each of the groups comprises nonadjacent cells. The predetermined number of orthogonal resources are then determined for detection of cross-link interference between terminal devices in the predetermined number of groups.

In a third aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to the second aspect.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium that stores a computer program thereon. The computer program, when executed by a processor of a device, causes the device to perform the method according to the second aspect.

It is to be understood that the summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an example method in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example cell deployment according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example cell deployment according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example cell deployment according to yet other embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example CLI measurement subframe 600 in the case of K=2 groups of cells according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example CLI measurement subframe 600 in the case of K=3 groups of cells according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example CLI measurement subframe 600 in the case of K=4 groups of cells according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to any suitable device at a network side of a communication network. The network device may include any suitable device in an access network of the communication network, for example, including a base station (BS) , a relay, an access point (AP) , a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a NR NodeB (gNB) , a Remote Radio Module (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and the like.

As used herein, the term “terminal device” refers to a device capable of, configured for, arranged for, and/or operable for communications with a network device or a further terminal device in a communication network. The communications may involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic signals, radio waves, infrared signals, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information over air. In some embodiments, the terminal device may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the terminal device may transmit information to the network device on predetermined schedules, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the network side.

Examples of the terminal device include, but are not limited to, user equipment (UE) such as smart phones, wireless-enabled tablet computers, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , and/or wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) . For the purpose of discussion, some embodiments will be described with reference to UEs as examples of the terminal devices, and the terms “terminal device” and “user equipment” (UE) may be used interchangeably in the context of the present disclosure.

As used herein, the term “UL terminal device” or “UL UE” refers to a terminal device transmitting signals in uplink (UL) . As used herein, the term “DL terminal device” or “DL UE” refers to a terminal device receiving signals in DL.

As used herein, the term “cell” refers to a serving area covered by one or more network devices. One cell may comprise serve sectors depending on antenna arrangement of the network device and may several terminal devices.

As used herein, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) : (i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and (ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” , and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term “includes” and its variants are to be read as open terms that mean “includes, but is not limited to” . The term “based on” is to be read as “based at least in part on” . The term “one embodiment” and “an embodiment” are to be read as “at least one embodiment” . The term “another embodiment” is to be read as “at least one other embodiment” . Other definitions, explicit and implicit, may be included below.

As described above, the UE-UE CLI may be measured based on the SRS-RSRP or RSSI by detecting the linear average of the total received power in certain OFDM symbols in a measurement bandwidth over the configured resource elements for the CLI measurement. In this way, an interference source may be identified at a coarser granularity, and the measurement complexity and overhead may not be very high.

To obtain more precise CLI-RSSI measurement results, a conventional RSSI measurement scheme allows symbol-level indications of starting positions for all UEs to flexibly configure the starting positions of the RSSI measurement. In this scheme, the cost of the measurement resource depends on the number of measured cells. For example, this scheme only considers direct cell-level CLI measurement. The number of configured orthogonal resources within each measured period should no less than the number of measured cells, where each resource corresponds to one cell. Moreover, different cell identities (IDs) of the measured cells are required for different UEs. As a result, it is difficult to optimize coordinated configurations of the measurement resources for all the UEs so as to reduce the measurement resource cost.

The inventor finds that some aspects may be considered to design an effective and efficient UE-UE CLI measurement scheme. For example, all victim DL UEs may obtain the interference profile from major potential aggressive UL UEs. Moreover, complicated measurements may be avoided if the resulting performance benefit could not rival the measurement cost.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a coordinated cell grouping scheme. With this scheme, a cluster of cells are divided into a predetermined number of groups of cells, and each group comprises nonadjacent cells. The predetermined number of orthogonal resources are determined for detection of cross-link interference between terminal devices in the groups. For example, for each group, a resource may be selected from the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for a terminal device in the group to detect interferences from terminal devices in other groups. As such, the orthogonal resources are used in different groups for the UE-UE CLI measurements, and one resource of the orthogonal resources is reused in one group.

Since the UL terminal devices in the nonadjacent cells are not close to the victim DL terminal devices, the CLI from these UL terminal devices is not dominant. The total interference power from major potential aggressive UL terminal devices could be measured even when the inter-cell cross-link interference powers from a part of nonadjacent cells are ignored. In this way, all the victim DL terminal devices can obtain the interference profile from major potential aggressive UL terminal devices under limited measurement resource cost. The efficiency of CLI detection of the terminal devices may be improved.

FIG. 1 shows an example environment 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. The environment 100, which is a part of a communication network, deploys a cluster of cells 105-1, ..., 105-n (collectively referred to as a cell 105) with individual radio frame configurations (RFCs) . Each cell 105-1, ..., 105-n contains one network device 110-1, ..., 110-n (collectively referred to as a network device 110) and several terminal devices 115-1, ..., 115-i, 115-3, ..., 115-j, 115-5, ..., 115-k (collectively referred to as a terminal device 115) with DL or UL service requests. n, j and k as above represent natural numbers.

It is to be understood that three cells 105 are shown in the environment 100 and one network device 110 and two terminal devices 115 are shown to be located in one cell 105 only for the purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitation to the scope of the present disclosure. The environment 100 may deploy any suitable number of cells, and each cell may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

The terminal devices 115 in different cells 105 can communicate with each other directly or via the respective network devices 110. The communication may follow any suitable communication standards or protocols such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) , long term evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , the fifth generation (5G) NR, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) standards, and employs any suitable communication technologies, including, for example, Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) , Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) , time division multiplexing (TDM) , frequency division multiplexing (FDM) , code division multiplexing (CDM) , Bluetooth, ZigBee, and machine type communication (MTC) , enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) , massive machine type communication (mMTC) and ultra-reliable low latency communication (uRLLC) technologies.

In various embodiments, the dynamic TDD is allowed in the environment 100. The terminal devices 115 can be configured to dynamically switch between transmission and reception to transmit or receive reference signals for the CLI measurement.

The cluster of cells 105 is divided into a predetermined number of groups of cells where each group comprises nonadjacent cells. For example, as shown, the cells 105-1 and 105-n are nonadjacent and can be grouped into a group of cells that is different from a group containing the cell 105-2 adjacent to both the cells 105-1 and 105-n.

The predetermined number of orthogonal resources are determined for the UE-UE CLI measurement at the terminal devices 115 in these groups. The required number of measurement resources may be reduced significantly. In addition, the terminal devices 115 in the same group use the same resource from the orthogonal resources for the UE-UE CLI measurement. Since the cells in the same group are not adjacent to each other, the CLI within one group may not be dominant. The precision of the CLI measurements may be ensured if the interferences from the terminal devices in the same group are ignored.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an example method 200 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 200 can be implemented at the network side, for example, by one network device 110 as shown in FIG. 1, or by other control elements (not shown) . For the purpose of discussion, the method 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At block 205, a predetermined number (represented as K) of groups of cells are determined where each of the groups comprises nonadjacent cells. The cell grouping may be implemented based on network deployment. For example, the coverage of each cell may be predefined in network planning. Based on adjacent relationship of the cells, all the cells can be divided into K groups, and the cells in the same group is not adjacent to each other. As such, all the DL terminal devices can obtain the total inter-cell cross-link interference power from all the adjacent cells.

In some embodiments, the predetermined number K may be below a threshold. For example, based on the graph-coloring algorithm, the cluster of cells in any type of coverage distribution can be divided into at most K=4 groups to guarantee the cells in the same group are not adjacent to each other. Example implementations of the cell grouping will be discussed below with reference to FIGS. 3-5.

FIG. 3 shows an example cell deployment 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In the deployment 300, six cells 105-4 to 105-9 are arranged in a line. These cells can be divided into K=2

groups

301 and 303 to enable the cells in the same group to be nonadjacent to each other. As shown, the cells 105-4 to 105-6 are grouped into the group 301, and the cells 105-7 to 105-9 are grouped into the group 303, so that the adjacent cells belong to different groups. The cell grouping may be determined during the initial network deployment. The cell grouping may also be changed with the update of the network deployment.

FIG. 4 shows an example cell deployment 400 according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. The deployment 400 illustrates a hexagon cellular network scenario where 7 × 3 = 21 hexagon cells 105-10 to 105-30 are deployed according to the predefined network plan. Each cell may include a network device with 3 hexagon sectors. As shown, the 21 cells 105-10 to 105-30 are divided into K=3

groups

401, 403 and 405 to guarantee that the cells in the same group is not adjacent to each other.

FIG. 5 shows an example cell deployment 500 according to yet other embodiments of the present disclosure. In this example, 8 cells 105-31 to 105-38 are deployed and divided into K=4

groups

501, 503, 505 and 507 to enable the cells in the same group to be not adjacent to each other.

Still with reference to FIG. 2, at block 210, the predetermined number of orthogonal resources are determined for detection of cross-link interference between the terminal devices 115 in the predetermined number of groups. For example, for each of the groups, a resource is selected from the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for a terminal device in the group to detect interferences from terminal devices in other groups.

The orthogonal resources may include any suitable resources that are orthogonal to each other. In some embodiments, the predetermined number of orthogonal resources may be selected from resources for sounding reference signals (SRSs) . In these embodiments, a terminal device may measure the RSSI from other terminal devices to detect the UE-UE CLI. The reference signal design and the measurement triggering mechanism for the CLI measurement may reuse the predefined high-layer parameters for the SRSs that exist or will be developed in the future, so that the impacts on the related specification are reduced.

In some embodiments, the orthogonal resources comprise the predetermined number of OFDM symbols. As described above, the predetermined number is no more than 4. In this case, in some embodiments, these OFDM symbols may be selected from one subframe to minimize the measurement time so as to further improve the efficiency of CLI measurement. The OFDM symbols may be nonadjacent to provide guard time for a terminal device to switch between the transmission and the reception.

By way of example, for all the potential aggressive terminal devices, periodic SRS resources may be selected as a set of interference measurement resource (IMR) . The periodicity and frequency/bandwidth range for the CLI measurement may be defined based on requirements by the higher layer parameters predefined for the SRS, for example. In the context of the present disclosure, the subframe for the CLI measurement may be referred to as a “CLI measurement subframe” . The CLI measurement subframe may be assigned by aligning the IMR with the predefined symbol position of the SRS.

In some embodiments, N _s ∈ {1, 2, 4} adjacent OFDM symbols within the last six OFDM symbols of a slot may be selected as the IMR based on the constraint of the SRS resources. Example configuration of the IMR on the SRS resources will be discussed below with reference to FIGS. 6-8.

FIG. 6 shows an example CLI measurement subframe 600 in the case of K=2

groups

301 and 303 as shown in FIG. 3 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the CLI measurement subframe 600 comprises two

time slots

601 and 603. The first and

third OFDM symbols

605 and 607 from the last in the time slot 603 are selected for the CLI measurements of the terminal devices in the

groups

301 and 303, respectively. As shown, a measurement bandwidth 615 is used for the CLI measurement.

In this case, the terminal device in the group 301 detects the CLI from other terminal devices in the OFDM symbol 605 and transmits a reference signal (for example, the SRS) in the OFDM symbol 607 in the measurement bandwidth 615. Likewise, the terminal device in the group 303 detects the CLI from other terminal devices in the OFDM symbol 607 and transmits a reference signal in the OFDM symbol 605 in the measurement bandwidth 615. In this example, the OFDM symbol 609 between the

OFDM symbols

605 and 607 is set to be blank as the guard time to switch between transmission and reception.

FIG. 7 shows an example CLI measurement subframe 700 in the case of K=3 groups 401 to 405 as shown in FIG. 4 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The CLI measurement subframe 700 comprises two

time slots

701 and 703. The first and

third OFDM symbols

705 and 707 from the last in the time slot 703 and the last OFDM symbol 709 in the time slot 701 are selected for the CLI measurements of the terminal devices in the groups 401 to 405, respectively. The measurement bandwidth 715 is used for the CLI measurement.

The terminal device in the group 401 detects the CLI from other terminal devices in the OFDM symbol 705 and transmits a reference signal (for example, the SRS) in the

OFDM symbols

707 and 709 in the measurement bandwidth 715. Likewise, the terminal device in the group 403 detects the CLI from other terminal devices in the OFDM symbol 707 and transmits a reference signal in the

OFDM symbols

705 and 709 in the measurement bandwidth 715. The terminal device in the group 405 detects the CLI from other terminal devices in the OFDM symbol 709 and transmits a reference signal in the

OFDM symbols

705 and 707 in the measurement bandwidth 715. The OFDM symbol 711 between the

OFDM symbols

705 and 707 is set to be blank.

FIG. 8 shows an example CLI measurement subframe 800 in the case of K=4 groups 501 to 507 as shown in FIG. 5 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The CLI measurement subframe 800 comprises two

time slots

801 and 803. The first and

third OFDM symbols

805 and 807 from the last in the time slot 803 and the first and

third OFDM symbols

809 and 811 from the last in the time slot 801 are selected for the CLI measurements of the terminal devices in the groups 501 to 507, respectively. The measurement bandwidth 815 is used for the CLI measurement.

The terminal device in the group 501 detects the CLI from other terminal devices in the OFDM symbol 805 and transmits a reference signal (for example, the SRS) in the OFDM symbols 807 to 811 in the measurement bandwidth 815. Likewise, the terminal device in the group 503 detects the CLI from other terminal devices in the OFDM symbol 807 and transmits a reference signal in the

OFDM symbols

805, 809 and 811 in the measurement bandwidth 815. The terminal device in the group 505 detects the CLI from other terminal devices in the OFDM symbol 809 and transmits a reference signal in the

OFDM symbols

805, 807 and 811 in the measurement bandwidth 815. The terminal device in the group 507 detects the CLI from other terminal devices in the OFDM symbol 811 and transmits a reference signal in the OFDM symbols 805 to 809 in the measurement bandwidth 815. The OFDM symbol 813 between the

OFDM symbols

805 and 807 and the OFDM symbol 814 between the

OFDM symbols

809 and 811 are set to be blank.

At the assigned OFDM symbols, the victim DL terminal devices in the respective groups may measure the total cross-link interference from major aggressive UL terminal devices. All the terminal devices within the same group may reuse the same SRS resource, which greatly reduces the measurement cost. According to the constraint of the SRS resources, at most 6 OFDM symbols in a slot may be used for the SRS. In the embodiments of the present disclosure as shown in FIGS. 6-9, two slots in a CLI measurement subframe are used for obtaining the total cross-link interferences of all the victim DL terminal devices. The UE-UE CLI measurement is more effective and efficient.

In some embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 200 may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 200. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some embodiments, the apparatus capable of performing the method 200 comprises: means for determining a predetermined number of groups of cells, each of the groups comprising nonadjacent cells; and means for determining the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for detection of cross-link interference between terminal devices in the predetermined number of groups.

In some embodiments, the predetermined number may be below a threshold.

In some embodiments, the means for determining the predetermined number of orthogonal resources may comprise: means for selecting, for each of the groups, a resource from the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for a terminal device in the group to detect interferences from terminal devices in other groups of the groups.

In some embodiments, the means for determining the predetermined number of orthogonal resources may comprise: means for selecting the predetermined number of orthogonal resources from resources for sounding reference signals.

In some embodiments, the predetermined number of orthogonal resources may comprise the predetermined number of OFDM symbols.

In some embodiments, the means for selecting the predetermined number of orthogonal resources may comprise: means for selecting the predetermined number of OFDM symbols in a subframe.

In some embodiments, the OFDM symbols may be nonadjacent.

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of a device 900 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 900 can be implemented at the network side, for example, as at least a part of the network device 110 as shown in FIG. 1 or other controlling element (not shown) .

As shown, the device 900 includes a processor 910, a memory 920 coupled to the processor 910, a communication module 930 coupled to the processor 910, and a communication interface (not shown) coupled to the communication module 930. The memory 920 stores at least a program 940. The communication module 930 is for bidirectional communications. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication.

The program 940 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 910, enable the device 900 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to FIGS. 1-8. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 910 of the device 900, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 910 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory 920 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory, as non-limiting examples. While only one memory 920 is shown in the device 900, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in the device 900. The processor 910 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 900 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

All operations and features as described above with reference to FIGS. 1-8 are likewise applicable to the device 900 and have similar effects. For the purpose of simplification, the details will be omitted.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the method 200 as described above with reference to FIGS. 2-8. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable media.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Various embodiments of the techniques have been described. In addition to or as an alternative to the above, the following examples are described. The features described in any of the following examples may be utilized with any of the other examples described herein.

Claims

A device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the device to:

determine a predetermined number of groups of cells, each of the groups comprising nonadjacent cells; and

determine the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for detection of cross-link interference between terminal devices in the predetermined number of groups.
The device of claim 1, wherein the predetermined number is below a threshold.
The device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the device is caused to determine the predetermined number of orthogonal resources as follows:

select, for each of the groups, a resource from the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for a terminal device in the group to detect interferences from terminal devices in other groups of the predetermined number of groups.
The device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the device is caused to determine the predetermined number of orthogonal resources as follows:

select the predetermined number of orthogonal resources from resources for sounding reference signals.
The device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprise the predetermined number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM, symbols.
The device of claim 5, wherein the device is caused to select the predetermined number of orthogonal resources as follows:

select the predetermined number of OFDM symbols in a subframe.
The device of claim 5 or 6, wherein the OFDM symbols are nonadjacent.
A method comprising:

determining a predetermined number of groups of cells, each of the groups comprising nonadjacent cells; and

determining the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for detection of cross-link interference between terminal devices in the predetermined number of groups.
The method of claim 8, wherein the predetermined number is below a threshold.
The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein determining the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprises:

selecting, for each of the groups, a resource from the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for a terminal device in the group to detect interferences from terminal devices in other groups of the predetermined number of groups.
The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein determining the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprises:

selecting the predetermined number of orthogonal resources from resources for sounding reference signals.
The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprise the predetermined number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM, symbols.
The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprises:

selecting the predetermined number of OFDM symbols in a subframe.
The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the OFDM symbols are nonadjacent.
An apparatus comprising:

means for determining a predetermined number of groups of cells, each of the groups comprising nonadjacent cells; and

means for determining the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for detection of cross-link interference between terminal devices in the predetermined number of groups.
The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the predetermined number is below a threshold.
The apparatus of claim 15 or 16, wherein the means for determining the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprises:

means for selecting, for each of the groups, a resource from the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for a terminal device in the group to detect interferences from terminal devices in other groups of the predetermined number of groups.
The apparatus of claim 15 or 16, wherein the means for determining the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprises:

means for selecting the predetermined number of orthogonal resources from resources for sounding reference signals.
The apparatus of claim 15 or 16, wherein the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprise the predetermined number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM, symbols.
The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the means for selecting the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprises:

means for selecting the predetermined number of OFDM symbols in a subframe.
The apparatus of claim 19 or 20, wherein the OFDM symbols are nonadjacent.
The apparatus of any of claims 15-21, wherein the means comprises:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.
A computer readable storage medium comprising program instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor of a device, causing the device to perform actions comprising:

determining a predetermined number of groups of cells, each of the groups comprising nonadjacent cells; and

determining the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for detection of cross-link interference between terminal devices in the predetermined number of groups.
The computer readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the predetermined number is below a threshold.
The computer readable storage medium of claim 23 or 24, wherein determining the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprises:

selecting, for each of the groups, a resource from the predetermined number of orthogonal resources for a terminal device in the group to detect interferences from terminal devices in other groups of the predetermined number of groups.
The computer readable storage medium of claim 23 or 24, wherein determining the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprises:

selecting the predetermined number of orthogonal resources from resources for sounding reference signals.
The computer readable storage medium of claim 23 or 24, wherein the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprise the predetermined number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM, symbols.
The computer readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein selecting the predetermined number of orthogonal resources comprises:

selecting the predetermined number of OFDM symbols in a subframe.
The computer readable storage medium of claim 27 or 28, wherein the OFDM symbols are nonadjacent.