WO2020064304A1 - Procédés de retransmission de diffusion de groupe de liaison latérale et dispositifs sans fil et produits de programme informatique associés - Google Patents

Procédés de retransmission de diffusion de groupe de liaison latérale et dispositifs sans fil et produits de programme informatique associés Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2020064304A1
WO2020064304A1 PCT/EP2019/073851 EP2019073851W WO2020064304A1 WO 2020064304 A1 WO2020064304 A1 WO 2020064304A1 EP 2019073851 W EP2019073851 W EP 2019073851W WO 2020064304 A1 WO2020064304 A1 WO 2020064304A1
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Prior art keywords
data packet
groupcast
group
power
energy
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PCT/EP2019/073851
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English (en)
Inventor
Shehzad Ali ASHRAF
Hieu DO
Wanlu Sun
Gabor Fodor
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Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
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Publication of WO2020064304A1 publication Critical patent/WO2020064304A1/fr

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L1/00—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received
    • H04L1/12—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by using return channel
    • H04L1/16—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by using return channel in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals
    • H04L1/1607—Details of the supervisory signal
    • H04L1/1692—Physical properties of the supervisory signal, e.g. acknowledgement by energy bursts
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
    • H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
    • H04W52/0209—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices
    • H04W52/0212—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
    • H04W52/0219—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave where the power saving management affects multiple terminals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L1/00—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received
    • H04L2001/0092—Error control systems characterised by the topology of the transmission link
    • H04L2001/0093—Point-to-multipoint
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02D—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE
    • Y02D30/00—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
    • Y02D30/70—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks in wireless communication networks

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates generally to communications, and more particularly, to wireless communications and related wireless communication devices and network nodes.
  • LTE V2X Vehicle to anything communication was first specified by 3GPP in Release 14, and some advancements have been specified in Release 15.
  • LTE V2X includes new features and enhancements that allow for vehicular communications.
  • One of the most relevant aspects is the introduction of direct vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication functionalities.
  • the specifications support other types of vehicle-to-anything (V2X) communications, including V2P (vehicle-to-pedestrian or pedestrian-to-vehicle), V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure), etc., as shown in Figure 1.
  • V2P vehicle-to-pedestrian or pedestrian-to-vehicle
  • V2I vehicle-to-infrastructure
  • FIG. 1 illustrates V2X scenarios for an LTE -based Radio Access Network NW.
  • V2I vehicle-to-infrastructure
  • RAN radio access network
  • V2V vehicle-to-vehicle
  • V2P vehicle-to-pedestrian or pedestrian-to-vehicle
  • a vehicle and a device held/carried by the pedestrian e.g., a smartphone, a tablet computer, etc.
  • V2X communications are meant to include any/all of V2I, V2P, and V2V communications.
  • LTE Device-to-Device D2D communications also known as ProSe or Proximity Services
  • LTE V2X operation may be possible with and without network coverage and with varying degrees of interaction between the UEs (user equipment) and the NW (network), including support for standalone, network-less operation.
  • LTE V2X mainly targets basic road safety use cases, such as, forward collision warning, emergency braking, roadworks warning, etc.
  • Vehicle UEs supporting V2X applications can exchange their own status information (such as position, speed and heading) with other nearby vehicles, infrastructure nodes and/or pedestrians.
  • Typical messages sent by the vehicles may include Co-operative Awareness Messages (CAMs) and Decentralized Environmental
  • DENMs Notification Messages
  • BSMs Basic Safety Messages
  • SAE Society of the Automotive Engineers
  • NR V2X may target advanced V2X services, which can be categorized into four use case groups: vehicle platooning, extended sensors, advanced driving, and remote driving.
  • the advanced V2X services may require enhanced NR system and new NR sidelink to meet stringent requirements in terms of latency and reliability.
  • NR V2X systems may also be expected to provide higher system capacity and/or better coverage and to allow for extension to support future development of further advanced V2X services and other services.
  • LTE V2X Rel- 14/15 Due to the nature of basic road safety services, technical solutions for LTE V2X Rel- 14/15 may be designed mainly for broadcast transmissions. That means that the intended receiver of each message is all the UEs within a relevant distance from the transmitter. In physical layer broadcast communications, the transmitter, in fact, may not have the notion of intended receivers.
  • groupcast also referred to as multicast
  • unicast transmissions and unicast transmissions
  • groupcast also referred to as multicast
  • unicast transmissions and unicast transmissions
  • the intended receiver of a message includes only a subset of the vehicles in proximity to the transmitter (groupcast) or of a single vehicle (unicast).
  • groupcast also referred to as multicast
  • unicast a single vehicle
  • the see-through use case may involve only a pair of vehicles, for which unicast transmissions may naturally fit.
  • a method is provided to operate a wireless device associated with a group, wherein the group includes the wireless device and a plurality of other wireless devices.
  • a groupcast data packet is transmitted to the other wireless devices of the group.
  • a power/energy of at least one acknowledgement (ACK) and/or negative acknowledgement (NACK) message received in response to the groupcast data packet is determined.
  • the groupcast data packet is retransmitted to the other wireless devices of the group responsive to determining the power/energy of the at least one ACK and/or NACK message.
  • a method is provided to operate a wireless device associated with a group, wherein the group includes the wireless device and a number of other wireless devices.
  • a transmission of a groupcast data packet is received from a transmitting wireless device of the group. Whether to transmit one of an
  • acknowledgement (ACK) message or a negative acknowledgement (NACK) message is determined in response to the groupcast data packet based on a communication range defined for the group.
  • a method is provided to operate a first wireless device associated with a group, where the group includes the wireless device and a number of other wireless devices.
  • a transmission of a groupcast data packet is received from a second wireless device of the group.
  • a transmission power for a feedback message responsive to the groupcast data packet is determined, wherein the transmission power is determined based on a distance between the first and second wireless devices of the group.
  • the feedback message is transmitted to the second wireless communication device, wherein the feedback message is transmitted in accordance with the transmission power determined for the feedback message.
  • communication resources used for ACK/NACK feedback and/or for retransmission in a groupcast communication may be reduced and/or efficiency may be improved.
  • Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating V2X (Vehicle-to- Anything) communication scenarios in an LTE base network
  • Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device UE according to some embodiments of inventive concepts
  • Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating a network node according to some embodiments of inventive concepts
  • FIGS. 4-11 are flow charts illustrating operations of wireless devices (also referred to as wireless communication devices, UEs, etc.) according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;
  • Figure 12 is a block diagram of a wireless network in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 13 is a block diagram of a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 14 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 15 is a block diagram of a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 16 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments;
  • Figure 17 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;
  • Figure 18 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;
  • Figure 19 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 20 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 21 is a diagram illustrating a slot structure containing HARQ feedback according to some embodiments of inventive concepts
  • Figure 22 is a diagram illustrating time/ frequency relationships between data (re- )transmissions and HARQ feedback according to some embodiments of inventive concepts
  • Figure 23 is a diagram illustrating a slot structure containing SCSI-RS according to some embodiments of inventive concepts
  • Figure 24 is a diagram illustrating CSI report transmission using PSSCH according to some embodiments of inventive concepts.
  • Figure 25A is a diagram illustrating periodic CSI-RS and CSI reports according to some embodiments of inventive concepts.
  • Figure 25B is a diagram illustrating aperiodic CSI-RS and CSI reports according to some embodiments of inventive concepts.
  • FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a wireless communication device UE 1100 (also referred to as a wireless device, a wireless terminal, a wireless communication terminal, user equipment, UE, or a user equipment node/terminal/device) configured to provide V2X sidelink communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts.
  • UE 1100 also referred to as a wireless device, a wireless terminal, a wireless communication terminal, user equipment, UE, or a user equipment node/terminal/device
  • wireless communication device UE 1100 may include a transceiver circuit 1101 (also referred to as a transceiver) including a transmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlink radio communications with a base station of a radio access network, and to provide V2X sidelink communications (e.g., V2V and/or V2P communications) directly with other V2X wireless communication devices.
  • Wireless communication device UE 1100 may also include a processor circuit 1103 (also referred to as a processor) coupled to the transceiver circuit, and a memory circuit 1105 (also referred to as memory) coupled to the processor circuit.
  • the memory circuit 1105 may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processor circuit 1103 causes the processor circuit to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein.
  • processor circuit 1103 may be defined to include memory so that a separate memory circuit is not required.
  • Wireless communication device UE may also include an interface (such as a user interface) coupled with processor 1103, and/or wireless communication device UE may be incorporated in a vehicle.
  • wireless communication device UE 1100 may be performed by processor 1103 and/or transceiver 1101.
  • processor 1103 may control transceiver 1101 to transmit communications through transceiver 1101 over a radio interface to another UE and/or to receive communications through transceiver 1101 from another UE over a radio interface.
  • processor 1103 may control transceiver 1101 to receive
  • transceiver 1101 communications through transceiver 1101 from Radio Access Network base station (e.g., an eNodeB/eNB or gNodeB/gNB).
  • Radio Access Network base station e.g., an eNodeB/eNB or gNodeB/gNB.
  • modules may be stored in memory 1105, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processor 1103, processor 1103 performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect to Example Embodiments 1-76 and/or one or more of Figures 4-8).
  • Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a node (also referred to as a network node, base station, eNB, eNodeB, gNB, gNodeB, etc.) of a Radio Access Network (RAN) configured to provide cellular communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts.
  • the network node may include a transceiver circuit 1201 (also referred to as a transceiver) including a transmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlink radio communications with wireless communication devices UEs.
  • the network node may include a network interface circuit 1207 (also referred to as a network interface) configured to provide communications with other nodes (e.g., with other base stations and/or core network nodes) of the RAN and/or core network.
  • the network node may also include a processor circuit 1203 (also referred to as a processor) coupled to the transceiver circuit, and a memory circuit 1205 (also referred to as memory) coupled to the processor circuit.
  • the memory circuit 1205 may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processor circuit 1203 causes the processor circuit to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processor circuit 1203 may be defined to include memory so that a separate memory circuit is not required.
  • operations of the network node may be performed by processor 1203, network interface 1207, and/or transceiver 1201.
  • processor 1203 may control transceiver 1201 to transmit communications through transceiver 1201 over a radio interface to one or more UEs and/or to receive communications through transceiver 1201 from one or more UEs over a radio interface.
  • processor 1203 may control network interface 1207 to transmit communications through network interface 1207 to one or more other network nodes and/or to receive communications through network interface from one or more other network nodes.
  • modules may be stored in memory 1205, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processor 1203, processor 1203 performs respective operations.
  • retransmission such as the HARQ scheme, may be both feasible and desirable/necessary for unicast and groupcast V2X communications.
  • Method 1 the sender UE of the V2X message forms multiple unicast connections, one to each individual UE in the group and sends the message over these unicast connections. This is often called groupcast by multiple unicast.
  • Method 2 the group of UEs share a common group ID, and the sender UE sends the message to all other UEs of the group at once, using that group ID.
  • Method 1 may thus be more complex than method 2, since it does not leverage the fact that the message is common for the whole group.
  • the number of unicast connections may scale with the square of the number of UEs.
  • method 1 may consume more radio resources, both to transmit messages and to send ACK/NACK feedback.
  • Method 2 can allow ways to disseminate messages and obtain feedback in the group with reduced radio resource consumption.
  • One feedback and retransmission scheme proposed for groupcast in 3GPP may be provided as follows:
  • All members in a groupcast session may share a common group ID used for their groupcast communication.
  • This group ID can be
  • each receiver UE in the group sends an ACK or a NACK (either implicitly or explicitly, which is outside the scope of the present disclosure).
  • the ACK or the NACK also uses the group ID, and no individual UE ID in the ACK or NACK message may be needed.
  • the transmitter UE When the transmitter UE receives a NACK (or equivalently not receiving ACKs from all the receiver UEs) it performs a retransmission of the packet (for example, resending the same packet or a redundancy version of the packet).
  • a groupcast message may only require a common group ID for the whole group and the decision for retransmission may also be straight forward.
  • the transmitter may end up retransmitting unnecessarily a packet many times, and as a result the receivers may need to send ACK/NACK feedbacks many times, leading to inefficient use of radio resources.
  • Scenario 1 When one or few of the receivers happen to be in a very bad propagation condition (e.g., blocked by a big truck for a while), then those receivers will keep sending NACKs or no ACKs will be received from them. Consequently, the transmitter may retransmit the packet again and again, and other receivers may keep sending their ACK/NACK feedback although they have received the packet correctly.
  • a very bad propagation condition e.g., blocked by a big truck for a while
  • methods may use a set of different rules to reduce/limit a number of retransmissions for a sidelink groupcast message. For example:
  • a set of rules may be applied at the transmitter UE of a groupcast data packet, for
  • a set of rules may be applied at the transmitter UE of ACK/NACK feedback (i.e.
  • mechanisms may be provided to balance between reduced complexity and cost in terms of resource use for groupcast in V2X communications. Such mechanisms may improve efficiency of groupcast messages for sidelink V2X.
  • rules may be provided according to some embodiments to determine when and how retransmissions should take place. Such rules are discussed in the following disclosure, which rules can be applied individually or collectively as appropriate. According to some embodiments, the rules can be categorized into two sets: a set of rules to be applied at the transmitter UE of a groupcast data packet, and a set of rules to be applied at the transmitter UE of the ACK/NACK feedback (i.e., the UE receiving a groupcast data packet). These two sets of rules can be considered as respective solutions to Scenario 1 and Scenario 2 described above.
  • the retransmission of a groupcast data packet in case of groupcast HARQ may be decided by the UE based on the combination of feedback information (i.e. ACK/NACK) it receives from either all or some UEs associated with the group. For example, if the transmitter UE receives more than a certain number (a threshold number) of NACKs or less than a certain number (threshold number) of ACKs (alternatively, the thresholds can be expressed in relative term with respect to the total number of UEs in the group) then the transmitter UE may perform a retransmission of the groupcast data packet. Otherwise, the transmitter UE may transmit a new packet.
  • a threshold number a certain number of NACKs or less than a certain number (threshold number) of ACKs
  • the thresholds can be expressed in relative term with respect to the total number of UEs in the group
  • the transmitter UE may retransmit the groupcast data packet only if it receives a higher number of NACKs than ACKs.
  • the transmitter UE may perform a retransmission if a certain number of NACKs or a single aggregated ACK/NACK (also sometimes referred to as a single frequency network or SFN’ed ACK/NACK from different UEs) are received above a certain (pre-)configured power or energy threshold. For example, if the transmitter UE receives a certain number of NACKs at a high energy level that is higher than the pre-configured threshold number of NACKs at the high energy level, the transmitter UE may determine/deduce that the receiver UEs within a certain distance have not been able to receive the transmitted packet and therefore a retransmission is warranted/necessary.
  • the transmitter UE may decide not to perform retransmission if a certain number of ACKs are received above a certain (pre- configured power or energy threshold. For example, if the transmitter UE receives a certain number of ACKs at a high energy level that is greater than the (pre-)configured threshold number of ACKs at the high energy level, the transmitter UE may determine that the receiver UEs within a certain distance have received the transmitted packet correctly and therefore no retransmission is needed.
  • a single-frequency network or SFN is a term used for multicast/broadcast
  • the receiver receives/sees a combination of the transmitted signals. Hence the total received power/energy is the accumulated
  • SFN is defined in terms of receiving multiple identical ACK (or NACK) messages/signals from different receiver UEs of the same groupcast data packet.
  • the signals are aligned in time, frequency, code and spatial domain. In this way, the receiver of the ACKs or NACKs will interpret the multiple received ACK or NACK messages/signals as single ACK or NACK.
  • the above embodiments may apply to the case when all the receiving UEs of the groupcast data packet sends the ACK/NACK at maximum (pre-)configured transmission power.
  • the energy threshold can be a function of groupcast scenarios. For example, if UEs belonging to a groupcast communication group are distributed in a wider coverage area, the energy threshold can be (pre-)configured to be lower. In other words, the energy threshold can be a function of a minimum desired/required communication range of the groupcast communication. This energy threshold can be decided during the groupcast session establishment phase. Similarly, the maximum (pre-)configured transmission power for ACK/NACK can be a function of groupcast scenarios.
  • the pre-configured transmission power of ACK/NACK may be a function of a minimum desired/required communication range of the groupcast communication. For example, a smaller coverage groupcast session may allow UEs to transmit ACK/NACK at lower (pre-)configured transmission power as compared to total UE transmission power.
  • the power/energy threshold may be expressed in terms of Reference Signal Received Power RSRP and/or Received Signal Strength Indication RSSI.
  • the energy threshold can be a function of a number of UEs belonging to the groupcast session. For instance, the higher the number of UEs belonging to the groupcast session, the higher will be the energy threshold as defined in the above
  • the number of UEs in a groupcast session can be used together with other factors such as minimum communication range requirement of the groupcast communication (i.e., an energy threshold may be a function of minimum
  • the transmitter UE may inform the receiver UEs about two resources: communication resource 1 used to send ACKs and communication resource 2 used to send NACKs. That means the transmitter UE may receive an aggregated ACK using communication resource 1 and an aggregated NACK using communication resource 2.
  • the transmitter UE performs a retransmission based on comparing of the received power or energy in communication resource 1 and the received power or energy in communication resource 2. For example, if the difference between the received power or energy in communication resource 1 and 2 is below or above a certain threshold, then the transmitter UE performs a retransmission.
  • the difference can be in an absolute measure, such as the received power or energy in communication resource 1 subtracted by the received power or energy in communication resource 2 or in a relative measure, such as the received power or energy in communication resource 1 divided by the received power or energy in communication resource 2 (e.g., a ratio).
  • the transmitter UE may perform a retransmission in response to the receive power or energy in communication resource 1 being lower than the received power or energy in communication resource 2.
  • the transmitter UE may perform a retransmission if a certain number of ACKs/NACKs are received below a certain power or energy threshold (i.e., lower bound on energy threshold). For example, this can be used to handle the case of discontinuous transmission (DTX). More specifically, when receiver UEs fail to decode the control information (e.g., the sidelink control information (SCI) conveyed by the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH)) associated with the groupcast data packet sent by the transmitter UE, they will not feedback ACK/NACK at all. In this case, retransmission is still useful since the previous transmission was not successful.
  • a certain power or energy threshold i.e., lower bound on energy threshold
  • only a UE or a few UEs within a group may be allowed (or authorized) to send ACK/NACK, and the transmitter UE only performs retransmissions if it receives ACK/NACK from those authorized UEs.
  • ACK/NACK can be done during groupcast session establishment phase.
  • a priority order among the UEs in the group may be established before the groupcast data packet transmission.
  • the transmitter UE may perform retransmissions only if ACK/NACK is received from the highest-priority receiver UE or from a few high-priority receiver UEs.
  • the priorities of the UEs can be determined during the groupcast session establishment phase, which is outside the scope of the present disclosure.
  • the transmitter UE upon detecting failure of packet reception from one or more receiver UEs in the group, performs unicast transmissions to those individual receiver UE(s) that transmitted NACKs.
  • the priority of the message e.g., the priority of the message, the priority of the receiver UE, or a combination of those factors.
  • the transmitter UE may use an ongoing unicast session (if exists) between the transmitter UE and the receiver UE for the retransmission.
  • the transmitter UE may establish a new unicast session for
  • the number of re-transmission attempts for a groupcast data packet may be a function of the latency or reliability requirement or the priority level of the message that the groupcasts data packet is conveying. For example, the lower the latency budget of the message is, the fewer the number of retransmissions should be. Concerning the reliability, the higher the reliability requirement, the higher the number of retransmissions can be. It is noted that according to some embodiments the number of retransmissions may be determined based on a combination of the above criteria. Similarly, there can be a time limitation that restricts the number of retransmission attempts. For example, if the time limitation is lOOms, there will be no further retransmission attempts lOOms after the initial transmission. The time limitation can be a function of latency budget and/or priority level of the message.
  • the UE if the UE has received the groupcast data packet correctly (be it the initial transmission or a retransmission of the groupcast data packet), the UE sends an ACK feedback and continues to send ACK feedbacks for all subsequent retransmissions of the same groupcast data packet, no matter if the UE receives the retransmissions correctly or not. Since the UE does not send a NACK even if the UE receives a subsequent retransmission of the data packet incorrectly (e.g., due to rapid change of propagation and interference condition), the transmitter UE of the packet will only perform a retransmission if it receives NACK from a UE which has never received the groupcast data packet correctly. As a result, this may help to address issues discussed above with respect to groupcast transmissions.
  • the UE once it has sent an ACK for a groupcast data packet (be it the initial transmission or a retransmission of the packet), it stops sending ACK/NACK feedback for the subsequent retransmissions of the same groupcast data packet.
  • This approach may work in the same way as the approach in the preceding embodiment, with a slight difference that no feedback can be considered as an implicit ACK by the transmitter UE of the data packet.
  • this approach may provide an advantage of saving radio resources used by
  • the UE may send an ACK or a NACK if it lies within a minimum desired/required communication range of the groupcast session.
  • whether ACK/NACK feedbacks and/or retransmissions are allowed for a group may be determined by the number of the UEs in the group. For example, if the group has a large number of UEs, then ACK/NACK feedbacks may not be allowed and/or required to reduce/avoid network congestion. In that case, retransmission may not be required or only blind retransmission (i.e., the transmitter UE simply retransmits a groupcast data packet a number of times) is required by the transmitter UE.
  • the number of groupcast data packet retransmissions may be preconfigured in the UE or configured by the network.
  • the network may help to form the group and/or may configure the UEs in the group with a maximum number of retransmissions required for communication within the group.
  • the energy threshold in some embodiments discussed above can be configured by the network.
  • retransmissions of a groupcast data packet may be reduced when only a small portion of the UEs in the group fail to receive the packet in the initial transmission and/or in a retransmission(s).
  • Some embodiments may exploit a number of factors, such as, properties or requirements of the data packet, a quality of a received ACK/NACK, reducing transmission of ACK/NACK messages, etc.
  • modules may be stored in memory 1105 of Figure 2, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by wireless communication device processor 1103, processor 1103 performs respective operations of the flow chart of Figure 4.
  • processor 1103 may perform groupcast session establishment for a group of wireless devices including the wireless device 1100 and a number of other wireless devices.
  • the groupcast session establishment may be based on a configuration received (through transceiver 1101) from a wireless communication network, or the groupcast session may be established based on communications (through transceiver 1101) between the wireless devices of the group.
  • the groupcast session establishment may define high-priority and low- priority wireless devices of the group, a power/energy threshold of the group, a transmission power for ACK/NACK messages for the group, a retransmission threshold for the group, a power/energy threshold for ACK/NACK messages in the group, a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a maximum allowed time for retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a group identification used for groupcast data packets of the group, and/or respective device identifications for each of the wireless devices of the group.
  • processor 1103 may transmit the groupcast data packet through transceiver 1101 to the other wireless devices of the group at block 403.
  • processor 1103 may determine if further retransmission of the groupcast data packet is allowed. For example, processor 1101 may determine that retransmission is allowed by determining that a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of the groupcast data packet have not been performed, or by determining that a maximum allowed time for retransmission of the groupcast data packet has not elapsed. If further transmission is not allowed at block 405,
  • transmission/retransmission of the groupcast data packet may be terminated, and processor 1103 may return to block 401 for a next groupcast data packet.
  • processor 1103 may determine at block 407 a number of acknowledgment ACK messages received (through transceiver 1101) from the other wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet. Responsive to determining at block 409 that the number of ACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet is less than or equal to the retransmission threshold, processor 1103 may retransmit the groupcast data packet through transceiver 1103 to the other wireless devices of the group at block 411, wherein the retransmission threshold is at least two less than the number of the other wireless devices of the group.
  • processor 1103 may terminate transmission/retransmission of the groupcast data packet and return to block 401 for a next groupcasts data packet. Operations of blocks 405, 407, 409, and 411 may thus be repeated for retransmissions until terminated at block 405 or 409. Accordingly, retransmissions may be terminated even through ACKs have not been received from all of the other wireless devices of the group.
  • modules may be stored in memory 1105 of Figure 2, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by wireless communication device processor 1103, processor 1103 performs respective operations of the flow chart of Figure 5.
  • processor 1103 may perform groupcast session establishment for a group of wireless devices including the wireless device 1100 and a number of other wireless devices.
  • the groupcast session establishment may be based on a configuration received (through transceiver 1101) from a wireless communication network, or the groupcast session may be established based on communications (through transceiver 1101) between the wireless devices of the group.
  • the groupcast session establishment may define high-priority and low- priority wireless devices of the group, a power/energy threshold of the group, a transmission power for ACK/NACK messages for the group, a retransmission threshold for the group, a power/energy threshold for ACK/NACK messages in the group, a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a maximum allowed time for retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a group identification used for groupcast data packets of the group, and/or respective device identifications for each of the wireless devices of the group.
  • processor 1103 may transmit the groupcast data packet through transceiver 1101 to the other wireless devices of the group at block 503.
  • processor 1103 may determine if further retransmission of the groupcast data packet is allowed. For example, processor 1101 may determine that retransmission is allowed by determining that a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of the groupcast data packet have not been performed, or by determining that a maximum allowed time for retransmission of the groupcast data packet has not elapsed. If further transmission is not allowed at block 505,
  • transmission/retransmission of the groupcast data packet may be terminated, and processor 1103 may return to block 501 for a next groupcast data packet.
  • processor 1103 may determine a number of negative acknowledgment NACK messages received (through transceiver 1101) from the other wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet at block 507. Responsive to determining at block 509 that the number of NACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet is greater than or equal to a retransmission threshold, processor 1103 may retransmit (511) the groupcast data packet through transceiver 1101 to the other wireless devices of the group at block 511, wherein the retransmission threshold is at least two.
  • processor 1103 may terminate transmission/retransmission of the groupcast data packet and return to block 501 for a next groupcast data packet. Operations of blocks 505, 507, 509, and 511 may thus be repeated for retransmissions until terminated at block 505 or 509 Accordingly, retransmissions may be terminated even through a NACK has been received from one or more wireless devices of the group (at least one wireless device of the group has not successfully received a
  • modules may be stored in memory 1105 of Figure 2, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by wireless communication device processor 1103, processor 1103 performs respective operations of the flow chart of Figure 6.
  • processor 1103 may perform groupcast session establishment for a group of wireless devices including the wireless device 1100 and a number of other wireless devices.
  • the groupcast session establishment may be based on a configuration received (through transceiver 1101) from a wireless communication network, or the groupcast session may be established based on communications (through transceiver 1101) between the wireless devices of the group.
  • the groupcast session establishment may define a retransmission threshold, a power/energy threshold for ACK/NACK messages in the group, a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a maximum allowed time for retransmission of a groupcast data packet for the group, a group identification used for groupcast data packets of the group, and/or respective device identifications for each of the wireless devices of the group.
  • processor 1103 may transmit the groupcast data packet through transceiver 1101 to the other wireless devices of the group at block 603. If no NACK messages or all ACK messages are received from the wireless devices of the group responsive to the groupcast data packet at block 605, processor 1103 may terminate retransmissions of the groupcast data packet at block 605 and return to block 601 for a next groupcast data packet.
  • processor 1103 may receive (through transceiver 1101) a negative
  • processor 1103 may detect failure of reception at the receiving wireless device at block 607 based on receiving the NACK message from the receiving wireless device. Responsive to detecting failure of reception at a receiving wireless device of the other wireless devices of the group at block 607, processor 1103 may transmitting (through transceiver 1101) a unicast data packet to the receiving wireless device at block 609, wherein the unicast data packet includes content of the groupcast data packet. According to some other embodiments, processor 1103 may not receive either an ACK or a NACK message from a first one of the receiving wireless devices.
  • processor 1103 may receive (through transceiver 1101) an acknowledgement ACK message from a second receiving wireless device (or from a plurality of second wireless devices) of the group at block 605, wherein the ACK message is responsive to the groupcast data packet, and processor 1103 may detect failure of reception at the first receiving wireless device based on receiving the ACK message from the second receiving wireless device at block 607. Responsive to detecting failure of reception at the first receiving wireless device of the other wireless devices of the group at block 607, processor 1103 may transmitting (through transceiver 1101) a unicast data packet to the first receiving wireless device at block 609, wherein the unicast data packet includes content of the groupcast data packet.
  • processor 1103 may thus attempt to retransmit content of the groupcast data packet via unicast transmission(s)/retransmission(s).
  • modules may be stored in memory 1105 of Figure 2, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by wireless communication device processor 1103, processor 1103 performs respective operations of the flow chart of Figure 7.
  • processor 1103 may perform groupcast session establishment for a group of wireless devices including the wireless device 1100 and a number of other wireless devices.
  • the groupcast session establishment may be based on a configuration received (through transceiver 1101) from a wireless communication network, or the groupcast session may be established based on communications (through transceiver 1101) between the wireless devices of the group.
  • the groupcast session establishment may define high and low priority wireless devices of the group, a subset of wireless devices of the group, a retransmission threshold, a power/energy threshold for ACK/NACK messages in the group, a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a maximum allowed time for retransmission of a groupcast data packet for the group, a group identification used for groupcast data packets of the group, and/or respective device identifications for each of the wireless devices of the group.
  • processor 1103 may transmit the groupcast data packet through transceiver 1101 to the other wireless devices of the group at block 703.
  • processor 1103 may determine if further retransmission of the groupcast data packet is allowed. For example, processor 1101 may determine that retransmission is allowed by determining that a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of the groupcast data packet have not been performed, or by determining that a maximum allowed time for retransmission of the groupcast data packet has not elapsed. If further transmission is not allowed at block 705,
  • transmission/retransmission of the groupcast data packet may be terminated, and processor 1103 returns to block 701 for a next groupcast data packet.
  • processor 1103 may determine a number of acknowledgement ACK messages and a number negative acknowledgement NACK messages received (through transceiver 1101) from the other wireless devices of the group at block 707 in response to the groupcast data packet. At block 709, processor 1103 may determine if a sum of the number of ACK messages and the number of NACK messages received in response to the groupcasts data packet is less than or equal to a retransmission threshold.
  • processor 1103 may terminate transmission/retransmission of the groupcast data packet and return to block 701 for a next groupcast data packet. Responsive to determining that a sum of the number of ACK messages and the number of NACK messages received in response to the groupcasts data packet is less than or equal to the retransmission threshold, processor 1103 may retransmit the groupcast data packet through transceiver 1101 to the other wireless devices of the group at block 711.
  • Various operations from the flow chart of Figure 7 may be optional with respect to some embodiments of wireless communication devices and related methods. Regarding methods of some embodiments, for example, operations of blocks 700, 701, 705, and 709 of Figure 7 may be optional.
  • modules may be stored in memory 1105 of Figure 2, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by wireless communication device processor 1103, processor 1103 performs respective operations of the flow chart of Figure 8.
  • processor 1103 may perform groupcast session establishment for a group of wireless devices including the wireless device 1100 and a number of other wireless devices.
  • the groupcast session establishment may be based on a configuration received (through transceiver 1101) from a wireless communication network, or the groupcast session may be established based on communications (through transceiver 1101) between the wireless devices of the group.
  • the groupcast session establishment may define high and low priority wireless devices of the group, a subset of wireless devices of the group, a retransmission threshold, a power/energy threshold for ACK/NACK messages in the group, a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a maximum allowed time for retransmission of a groupcast data packet for the group, a group identification used for groupcast data packets of the group, and/or respective device identifications for each of the wireless devices of the group.
  • processor 1103 may receive (through transceiver 1101) a first transmission of the groupcast data packet from the transmitting wireless device of the group at block 805. Provided that a previous transmission/retransmission of the groupcast data packet has not been correctly received before (e.g., successfully decoded) at block 805, processor 1103 may determine at block 809 if the groupcast data packet has been successfully/correctly received (e.g., successfully decoded at block 809). If the groupcast data packet is not successfully/correctly received at block 809, processor 1103 may transmit a NACK message at block 811. Responsive to correctly receiving the first transmission of the groupcast data packet (e.g., successfully decoding the groupcast data packet), processor 1103 may transmit an ACK message at block 813.
  • the transmitting wireless device of the group may then retransmit the groupcast data packet either because wireless device 1100 transmitted at NACK at block 811 or because another wireless device of the group transmitted a NACK in response to the groupcast data packet transmission/retransmission. Responsive to such a retransmission(s) at block 815, processor 1103 may repeat operations of blocks 805, 807, 809, 811, and/or 813.
  • processor 1103 may receive (through transceiver 1101) a retransmission of the groupcast data packet at block 803, and at block 805, processor 1103 may determine if the groupcast data packet of the retransmission has been previously received correctly or not. If the groupcast data packet of the retransmission has not been previously received correctly at block 805, processor 1103 may repeat operations of blocks 809, 811, and/or 813.
  • processor 1103 may refrain from sending a NACK message corresponding to the retransmission of the groupcast data packet at block 807. In this case, processor 1103 may transmit an ACK message at block 807 whether the retransmission is received correctly or not, or processor 1103 may refrain from transmitting any ACK or NACK message.
  • modules may be stored in memory 1105 of Figure 2, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by wireless communication device processor 1103, processor 1103 performs respective operations of the flow chart of Figure 9.
  • Wireless device 1100 may be associated with a group of wireless devices, with the group including wireless device 1100 and a plurality of other wireless devices.
  • processor 1103 may perform groupcast session establishment, with a retransmission threshold for the group being defined during the groupcast session establishment.
  • a transmission power for ACK/NACK messages for the group may be defined during the groupcast session establishment.
  • the groupcast session establishment may be performed based on a configuration received from a wireless communication network, and the configuration may include at least one of the retransmission threshold, a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a maximum allowed time for retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a group identification used for groupcast data packets of the group, and/or respective device identifications for each of the wireless devices of the group.
  • processor 1103 may transmit a groupcast data packet (through transceiver 1101) to the other wireless devices of the group at block 903.
  • processor 1103 may determine if further retransmission is allowed.
  • Processor 1103 may whether further retransmission is allowed, for example, responsive to determining that a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of the groupcast data packet have not been performed, responsive to determining that a maximum allowed time for retransmission of the groupcast data packet has not elapsed, and/or responsive to determining that a number of wireless devices in the group is less than a size threshold.
  • Retransmission may be blocked, for example, responsive to a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of the groupcast data packet having been performed, responsive to a maximum allowed time to retransmission of the groupcast data packet having elapsed, and/or responsive to a number of wireless devices in the group being greater than the size threshold.
  • processor 1103 may proceed with operations 906, 907, 909, and/or 911.
  • processor 1103 may monitor for ACK and/or NACK messages that are transmitted by other wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet.
  • ACK messages responsive to the groupcast data packet may be communicated using a fist
  • the different communication resources may be based on at least one of different frequency resources, different time resources, different code resources, and/or different spatial/directional resources.
  • the first communication resource may be provided using a first frequency resource and the second communication resource may be provided using a second frequency resource different than the first frequency resource; the first communication resource may be provided using a first time resource and the second
  • the communication resource may be provided using a second time resource different than the first time resource; the first communication resource may be provided using a first code resource and the second communication resource may be provided using a second code resource different than the first code resource; and/or the first communication resource may be provided using a first spatial/dircctional resource and the second communication resource may be provided using a second spatial/dircctional resource different than the first spatial/directional resource.
  • processor 1103 may determine a power/energy of at least one
  • processor 1103 may determine whether to retransmit the groupcast data packet based on the power/energy of the at least one ACK and/or NACK message. Responsive to determining to retransmit based on the power/energy of the at least one ACK/NACK message at block 909, processor 1103 may retransmit the groupcast data packet (through transceiver 1101) to the other wireless devices of the group.
  • processor 1103 may determining the power/energy at block 907 by determining a power/energy of at least one ACK message received in response to the groupcast data packet. In such embodiments, processor 1103 may determine to retransmit at block 909 responsive to the power/energy of the at least one ACK message being less than a retransmission threshold.
  • processor 1103 may determine the power/energy by determining a combined power/energy (e.g., a single frequency network, SFN, combined power/energy) of a plurality of ACK messages received from the other wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet, and processor 1103 may retransmit the groupcast data packet at block 911 responsive to the combined power/energy of the plurality of ACK messages at block 909 being less than the retransmission threshold.
  • a combined power/energy e.g., a single frequency network, SFN, combined power/energy
  • processor 1103 may determine the power/energy at block 907 by determining a power/energy of at least one NACK message received in response to the groupcast data packet. In such embodiment, processor 1103 may determine to retransmit at block 909 responsive to the power/energy of the at least one NACK message being greater than a retransmission threshold. For example, processor 1103 may determine the power/energy by determining a combined power/energy (e.g., an SFN combined power/energy) of a plurality of NACK messages received from the other wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet, and processor 1103 may retransmit the groupcast data packet at block 911 responsive to the combined power/energy of the plurality of NACK messages being greater than the retransmission threshold. This retransmission threshold may be dependent on a coverage area for the group and/or on a number of wireless devices in the group.
  • This retransmission threshold may be dependent on a coverage area for the group and/or on a number of wireless devices in the group.
  • processor 1103 may determine the power/energy at block 907 by determining a first power/energy of at least one ACK message received in response to the groupcast data packet and determining a second power/energy of at least one NACK message received in response to the groupcast data packet. In such embodiments, processor 1103 may determine whether to retransmit the groupcast data packet at block 909 based on the first power/energy of the at least one ACK message and the second power/energy of the at least one NACK message (e.g., based on a comparison, a difference, and/or a ratio determined using the first power/energy and the second power/energy).
  • Processor 1103 may determine to retransmit the groupcast data packet based on comparing the first power/energy of the at least one ACK message and the second power/energy of the at least one NACK message.
  • Processor 1103 may determine to retransmit the groupcast data packet based on a difference determined using the first power/energy of the at least one ACK message and the second power/energy of the at least one NACK message (e.g., retransmitting responsive to the difference between the first power/energy and the second power/energy being less than a retransmission threshold).
  • Processor 1103 may determine to retransmit the groupcast data packet based on a ratio determined using the first power/energy of the at least one ACK message and the second power/energy of the at least one NACK message (e.g., retransmitting responsive to the ratio of the first power/energy and the second power/energy being less than a retransmission threshold).
  • the first power/energy may be a first combined power/energy (e.g., an SFN combined power/energy) of a plurality of ACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet
  • the second power/energy may be a second combined power/energy (e.g., an SFN combined power/energy) of a plurality of NACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet.
  • the first power/energy may be determined by processor 1103 based on receiving the at least one ACK message using a first communication resource
  • the second power/energy may be determined by processor 1103 based on receiving the at least one NACK message using a second communication resource
  • the first and second communication resources are different.
  • the different communication resources may be based on at least one of different frequency resources, different time resources, different code resources, and/or different spatial/directional resources.
  • the first communication resource may be provided using a first frequency resource and the second communication resource may be provided using a second frequency resource different than the first frequency resource; the first communication resource may be provided using a first time resource and the second communication resource may be provided using a second time resource different than the first time resource; the first communication resource may be provided using a first code resource and the second communication resource may be provided using a second code resource different than the first code resource; and/or the first
  • the communication resource may be provided using a first spatial/directional resource and the second communication resource may be provided using a second spatial/directional resource different than the first spatial/directional resource.
  • the groupcast data packet of Figure 9 may be transmitted using a group identification, and the group identification may be included in each of the at least one acknowledgement ACK and/or negative acknowledgement NACK message received from the other wireless devices of the group.
  • Processor 1103 may transmit the groupcast data packet at block 903 using a first transmission power, and processor 1103 may retransmit the groupcasts data packet at block 91 lat a second transmission power greater than the first transmission power.
  • FIG. 9 Various operations from the flow chart of Figure 9 may be optional with respect to some embodiments of wireless communication devices and related methods. Regarding methods of example embodiment 1 (set forth below), for example, operations of blocks 900, 901, 905, 906, and 409 of Figure 9 may be optional. Further aspects of Figure 9 are provided below with respect to Example Embodiments 1-35. Operations of a wireless device 1100 will now be discussed with reference to the flow chart of Figure 10 according to some embodiments of inventive concepts. For example, modules may be stored in memory 1105 of Figure 2, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by wireless communication device processor 1103, processor 1103 performs respective operations of the flow chart of Figure 10.
  • Wireless device 1100 may be associated with a group, with the group including the wireless device and a number of other wireless devices.
  • Processor 1103 may perform groupcast session establishment at block 1060 as discussed above for example, with respect to block 900 of Figure 9.
  • a transmission power for ACK/NACK messages for the group may be defined during the groupcast session establishment
  • a group identification used for groupcast data packets of the group may be defined based on the groupcast session establishment
  • respective device identifications for each of the wireless devices of the group may be defined based on the groupcast session establishment.
  • the groupcast session establishment may be performed based on a configuration received from a wireless communication network.
  • processor 1103 may receive (through transceiver 1101) the transmission of the groupcast data packet from the transmitting wireless device of the group at block 1063.
  • processor 1103 may determine whether to transmit one of an
  • acknowledgement ACK message or a negative acknowledgement NACK message in response to the groupcast data packet based on a communication range defined for the group.
  • processor 1103 may at block 1069 transmit an ACK message to the transmitting wireless device responsive to successfully decoding the groupcast data packet at block 1067, or processor may at block 1071 transmit a NACK message to the transmitting wireless device responsive to failure decoding the groupcast data packet at block 1071.
  • processor 1103 may determine to refrain from transmitting an ACK message and a NACK message responsive to a distance between the wireless device and the transmitting wireless being greater than a threshold defined by the communication range.
  • processor may determine to transmit one of an ACK message or a NACK message responsive to a distance between the wireless device and the transmitting wireless device being less than a threshold defined by the communication range.
  • modules may be stored in memory 1105 of Figure 2, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by wireless communication device processor 1103, processor 1103 performs respective operations of the flow chart of Figure 11.
  • First wireless device 1100 may be associated with a group, with the group including the wireless device and a number of other wireless devices.
  • Processor 1103 may perform groupcast session establishment at block 1160 as discussed above for example, with respect to block 900 of Figure 9 and/or block 1060 of Figure 10.
  • a transmission power for ACK/NACK messages for the group may be defined during the groupcast session establishment
  • a group identification used for groupcast data packets of the group may be defined based on the groupcast session establishment
  • respective device identifications for each of the wireless devices of the group may be defined based on the groupcast session establishment.
  • the groupcast session establishment may be performed based on a configuration received from a wireless communication network.
  • processor 1103 may receive (through transceiver 1101) a transmission of a groupcast data packet from a second wireless device of the group.
  • processor may receive (through transceiver 1101) location information from the second wireless device.
  • the location information may be received from the second wireless device with the groupcasts data packet or separately from the groupcast data packet. If the location information is received separately from the groupcast data packet, it may be received before or after the groupcast data packet (e.g., based on periodic reporting of location
  • processor 1103 may determine a location of first wireless device, for example, using global positioning.
  • processor 1103 may determine a transmission power for a feedback message responsive to the groupcast data packet, with the transmission power being determined based on a distance between the first and second wireless devices of the group.
  • the distance between the first and second wireless devices may be determined based on the location information received from the second wireless device at block 1163 and the location of the first wireless device determined at block 1165.
  • processor 1103 may determine the transmission power by scaling the transmission power for the feedback message based on the distance between the first and second wireless devices of the group.
  • processor may transmit the feedback message (through transceiver 1101) to the second wireless communication device, with the feedback message being transmitted in accordance with the transmission power determined for the feedback message at block 1167. More particularly, processor 1103 may transmit (1171) an acknowledgement ACK message (through transceiver 1101) to the second wireless device at block 1171 responsive to successfully decoding the groupcast data packet at block 1169, or processor 1103 may transmit a negative acknowledgement NACK message (through transceiver 1101) to the second wireless device responsive to responsive to failure decoding the groupcast data packet at block 1169.
  • RAN 1 assumes that a higher layer decides if a certain data has to be transmitted in a unicast, groupcast, or broadcast manner and informs the physical layer of the decision. For a transmission for unicast or groupcast, RAN1 assumes that the UE has established the session to which the transmission belongs to. Note that RAN1 has not made agreement about differences among transmissions in unicast, groupcast, and broadcast manner.
  • RAN 1 assumes that the physical layer knows the following information for a certain transmission belonging to a unicast or groupcast session. Note RAN1 has not made agreement about the usage of this information.
  • Supporting sidelink (SF) unicast and groupcast may enable the transmitter to incorporate channel state information dependent adaptive transmission mechanisms. Such mechanisms may improve the spectral and energy efficiency, facilitate the spatial reuse of the resources and enable QoS management in a resource efficient fashion.
  • the above enablers have been agreed to be studied for unicast and groupcast communication. However, the advantages of unicast and groupcast may come at the cost of additional signaling overhead, latency and complexity.
  • technical enablers that should be considered to realize efficient unicast and groupcast for SF communications are presented. Design considerations are also proposed that aim to reduce/minimize the associated cost.
  • the key physical layer enablers of efficient unicast communications may include layer- 1 HARQ, channel adaptive modulation and coding scheme (MCS) setting (link adaptation, LA), channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) acquisition, transmit power control and multi-antenna transmission schemes.
  • MCS channel adaptive modulation and coding scheme
  • LA channel state information at the transmitter
  • CSIT channel state information at the transmitter
  • HARQ may enable better robustness and spectral efficiency.
  • Many V2X applications requiring radio layer unicast transmissions e.g. platooning and see-through, may require reliable spectrally efficient communication due to the high data rate requirement.
  • Due to the broadcast nature of radio layer transmissions in LTE V2X autonomous repetitions were used to increase the reliability of transmissions.
  • ACK/NACK reception feedback
  • Layer- 1 HARQ may provide controlled reliability for V2X applications requiring unicast transmissions.
  • layer- 1 HARQ may be enabled in case of unicast transmissions on NR sidelink.
  • Figure 21 shows the slot structure containing HARQ feedback - carried in the PSCCH-II— at the end of the slot.
  • Figure 21 illustrates a slot structure containing HARQ feedback
  • unicast transmissions with HARQ feedback may need to coexist with broadcast transmissions without HARQ feedback.
  • One approach to allow coexistence may be to always assume the presence of HARQ feedback in every slot and confine the PSSCH
  • HARQ feedbacks may not always be present in the slot.
  • the presence of HARQ feedback may be signaled in the SCI related to the corresponding data transmission.
  • the transmission of HARQ feedback should be confined within the frequency resources allocated for the actual data transmissions. This means that the transmitting UE will implicitly know the frequency resources on which it is expected to receive the corresponding HARQ feedback. This is particularly advantageous to reduce the reception complexity and at the same time decrease the signaling overhead in the SCI.
  • frequency allocation of HARQ feedback may be implicitly determined from the corresponding data transmission.
  • Figure 22 shows the time/frequency relationship between HARQ feedback and data (re- )transmissions. Observe that not all the data transmissions have an associated HARQ feedback transmission in Figure 22. Further details on resource allocation procedures are discussed in reference [3] (R1-1811594,“On Mode 2 Resource Allocation for NR Sidelink”, RANl#94bis, Oct 2018).
  • Figure 22 illustrates Time/frequency relationships between data (re-)transmissions and HARQ feedbacks.
  • CSIT acquisition can be facilitated by suitable reference signals, CSI feedback
  • SCSI-RS SF CSI reference signal
  • the SCSI-RS should be designed in such a way that it facilitates CSIT acquisition either in a reciprocity-based manner and/or in a feedback-based manner.
  • CSIT can be obtained using reference signals transmitted by the peer UE, where reference signals can be DMRS or SCSI-RS.
  • reference signals can be DMRS or SCSI-RS.
  • SCSI-RS can be used to measure the channel and/or the interference which are then reported back to the transmitter to facilitate CSIT acquisition, which is considered as SL CSI report.
  • CSI-RS and SRS there are two types of reference signals, i.e., CSI-RS and SRS, for measuring channel and/or interference.
  • CSI-RS and SRS have very different characteristics including frequency density, time location, sequence design, multiplexing with data, etc., their purposes are similar. More specifically, they are both used to enable CSI acquisition, precoder selection, beam management, reciprocity-based operation, channel- dependent scheduling, etc.
  • the differences of CSI-RS and SRS are due to the different capabilities of gNB and UE, potentially different waveforms of UL and DL, and some historical reasons. Hence, for SL only one type of CSIT acquisition related reference signal (i.e., SCSI-RS) may be needed.
  • a single type of reference signal (here termed as SCSI-RS) may be used.
  • the SCSI-RS should only be transmitted when a unicast session is established between the UEs of a UE pair. Moreover, SCSI-RS may need to be transmitted even when data transmission is not present in the slot. Thus, from a transmitting UE’s perspective, there are three cases in terms of the information carried in a slot:
  • SCSI-RS is present but there is no user data.
  • SCSI-RS may or may not be present in a slot
  • the SCI transmitted over PSCCH-I can be used to indicate its presence.
  • SCSI-RS may be present in a slot without user data
  • a different SCI format may be used to indicate the presence of SCSI-RS. This may also allow a desired flexibility in terms of SCSI-RS transmissions.
  • Figure 23 shows the slot structure containing SCSI-RS.
  • the presence of SCSI-RS in a slot may be indicated by an SCI carried by the PSCCH-I.
  • the transmission of SCSI-RS should always be confined within the allocated bandwidth for sidelink transmission. This allows the efficient coexistence of different types of communications i.e. unicast, multicast and broadcast. As a seventh proposal, transmission of SCSI-RS may be confined within the allocated bandwidth for sidelink transmission.
  • Figure 23 illustrates a Slot structure containing SCSI-RS.
  • the CSI report may be carried over PSSCH and may be scheduled by PSCCH-I similarly to user data, without requiring a different SCI format. However, in contrast to data, there is no retransmission of CSI reports. Note that if data and CSI report are transmitted simultaneously, two parallel transmissions, possibly adjacent in frequency, may take place. In other words, the CSI report and other simultaneous transmissions (e.g. data) are two separate transmissions.
  • SL CSI reports may be transmitted in PSSCH, using the same SCI format as data.
  • CSI reports can be provided via the gNB or directly between the two UEs.
  • CSI reports may always be transmitted over sidelink and in case of gNB scheduling (mode-l) the UE receiving CSI report (i.e., the SL transmitter) may forward it to the gNB.
  • CSI reports may always be transmitted over sidelink even for in coverage UE-pairs.
  • the UE receiving the CSI report over sidelink may forward the CSI report to the serving gNB.
  • Figure 24 illustrates CSI report transmission using PSSCH.
  • the SL should support both periodic ( Figure 25 A) and aperiodic (Figure 25B) SL CSI reports.
  • periodic CSI reports there is no need of explicit/implicit trigger or request of the CSI report.
  • the reporting UE can be configured with certain periodicity and CSI report format by higher layers during the unicast session establishment phase.
  • the advantages of this periodic reporting may include 1) continuous monitoring of channel conditions which can be used to assist the selection of resources and transmission parameters; 2) potentially reduced signaling overhead due to avoiding the explicit triggering. Note that for allocating resources for the report, a chain-reservation mechanism can be used as discussed in reference [3] An example of aperiodic CSI reporting is illustrated in Figure 25B.
  • This reporting mechanism can be applied on a“per-need basis”.
  • a one-shot transmission mechanism can be used.
  • An advantage of this mechanism may be a smaller time gap between CSI estimation and reporting when CSIT is requested by the UE.
  • both periodic and aperiodic mechanisms may be supported.
  • Figure 25A illustrates Periodic CSI-RS and CSI reports
  • Figure 25B illustrates aperiodic CSI-RS and CSI reports.
  • resource allocation procedures may/should be able to exploit link adaptation.
  • resource unbooking and flexible resource booking procedures may be allowed based on sensing which not only take into account the aperiodic nature of V2X applications but also exploit link adaptation.
  • link adaptation In reference [3], details of resource booking procedures are described.
  • NR sidelink may support flexible resource (un-)booking procedures.
  • transmit power control may serves the following purposes:
  • the transmit power control mechanism may/should be of low complexity and preferably may/should not require a fine granularity CSIT, but rely on coarse and slow changing information, such as large-scale fading parameters and/or estimated path loss. Also, from an implementation perspective, it may be advantageous if the transmit power control mechanism does not mandate fast power control for SL transmissions.
  • fast power control may not be supported for NR V2X.
  • gNB-configured transmit power In this scheme, the transmit power is configured to
  • the gNB may/should have the possibility to reconfigure UEs that are under its coverage area to some different fixed value than the initially configured value.
  • the exact mechanisms, including SIB or RRC signaling are for future studies.
  • the maximum transmit power may be configured by the gNB.
  • the transmitting UE sets the sidelink transmit power taking into account this maximum allowed transmit power, as well as other configured parameters and measurements.
  • the UE can be configured by the network to set the transmit power according to an open loop operating point that takes into account the estimated path loss on the sidelink, similarly to the UE behavior on the PUSCH as specified in TS 36.213. Such power control may be useful for applications requiring stable QoS.
  • gNB-configured fixed power control may be used for SL unicast transmissions.
  • the need for hybrid gNB-configured and UE- determined transmit power setting for QoS sensitive applications may be for further study.
  • Multi-antenna transmission schemes are discussed below.
  • Multi-antenna transmission schemes may bring the potential to further improve SL unicast, especially when CSIT is available.
  • high data rate may usually be indispensable.
  • multi antenna transmission can be beneficial by its spatial multiplexing gain.
  • directivity gain can be useful to not only enhance the desired link but also reduce interference to other transmissions. In this way, spatial reuse may be exploited to further improve system spectrum efficiency.
  • resource allocation mechanisms may/should be designed to enable efficient spatial reuse.
  • Sidelink groupcast i.e. one-to-many communication can be applicable in a range of different use cases within the vehicles platooning, extended sensors and advanced driving use case groups, in which a vehicle shares local sensor or other data with a surrounding set of pedestrians or vehicles.
  • the set of (potentially large number of) UEs that belong to the same group may be associated with a unique Group ID.
  • the Group ID may have been obtained during an appropriate peer or group discovery and group establishment procedure involving higher layer protocols.
  • groupcasting for NR SL V2X may be stateless in the sense that the transmitting UE does not maintain CSIT per UE in the group.
  • the Group ID - common and known by all group members - may be used both at Layer 2 and/or at the physical layer to identify packets intended to peer group members.
  • the above design is summarized in the following (fifteenth and sixteenth) proposals.
  • the Group ID may be used at Layer 2 and/or at the physical layer to identify packets and signals and associate them with the group.
  • the transmitting UE does not maintain CSIT and does not apply channel state dependent link adaptation procedures.
  • the key physical layer enablers of efficient group communications may include layer- 1 (re)transmission procedures (including group HARQ), and either an implicit or explicit transmit power control. Details of these physical layer enablers for groupcast communications are discussed below.
  • Group HARQ is discussed below.
  • a purpose of the group HARQ mechanism is to enhance the reliability of packet delivery over the sidelink.
  • the group HARQ protocol should be simple to reduce/minimize the associated overheads and to be scalable.
  • the group ID mentioned above may be used not only for the transmission of data packets but also for the ACK/NACK feedbacks. At least for data transmissions, there may be no need for individual source and destination ID as in the unicast, which may not scale well in the case of groupcast.
  • a Group ID may be associated with the groupcast transmission and may be used for both data transmissions and ACK/NACK feedbacks.
  • the number of retransmissions may desirably be limited at the transmitting UE side. Such limits on the maximum number of retransmissions may be preconfigured in the UE or it could be configured by the network when in coverage. Furthermore, some rules to reduce/limit the retransmission of the packet can be defined. For instance, retransmission may be triggered only if a certain number of UEs belonging to a group are unable to receive packets. In case of large groups, it may even be uscful/ncccssary to not allow feedback messages at all to reduce/avoid flooding the system.
  • the event that one UE belonging to a group does not receive a packet may be high, leading to congestion in the network due to HARQ
  • a number of retransmissions in groupcast HARQ may be reduced/limited.
  • Implicit Power Control is discussed below.
  • a purpose of power control over sidelink transmissions is to provide/ensure a high packet reception ratio while reducing/limiting the consumed battery resources and the interference caused to surrounding receiving UEs. Due to complexity of supporting explicit power control mechanisms for groupcast communication, it is proposed to consider implicit power control.
  • Implicit power control implies that the transmitting UE may autonomously increase the transmit power level with some increase (delta) up to a preconfigured or network configured maximum level when retransmitting a packet. Note that the delta value can be (pre-)configured to be zero.
  • the maximum transmit power level as well as an increase (delta) for subsequent retransmissions can be (pre-)configured.
  • a method of operating a wireless device (1100) associated with a group, wherein the group includes the wireless device and a plurality of other wireless devices comprising: transmitting (903) a groupcast data packet to the other wireless devices of the group; determining (907) a power/energy of at least one acknowledgement, ACK, and/or negative acknowledgement, NACK, message received in response to the groupcast data packet; and retransmitting (911) the groupcast data packet to the other wireless devices of the group responsive to determining the power/energy of the at least one ACK and/or NACK message.
  • determining the power/energy comprises determining a power/energy of at least one ACK message received in response to the groupcast data packet, and wherein retransmitting comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet responsive to the power/energy of the at least one ACK message being less than a retransmission threshold.
  • determining the power/energy comprises determining a combined power/energy of a plurality of ACK messages received from the other wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet, and wherein
  • retransmitting the groupcast data packet comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet responsive to the combined power/energy of the plurality of ACK messages being less than the retransmission threshold.
  • determining the combined power/energy comprises determining a single frequency network, SFN, combined power/energy of the plurality of ACK messages received from the other wireless devices of the group. 5. The method of any of Embodiments 3-4 further comprising: monitoring (906) for a NACK message that is responsive to the groupcast data packet.
  • determining the power/energy comprises determining a power/energy of at least one NACK message received in response to the groupcast data packet, and wherein retransmitting comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet responsive to the power/energy of the at least one NACK message being greater than a retransmission threshold.
  • determining the power/energy comprises determining a combined power/energy of a plurality of NACK messages received from the other wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet, and wherein
  • retransmitting the groupcast data packet comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet responsive to the combined power/energy of the plurality of NACK messages being greater than the retransmission threshold.
  • determining the combined power/energy comprises determining a single frequency network, SFN, combined power/energy of the plurality of NACK messages received from the other wireless devices of the group.
  • determining the power/energy comprises determining a first power/energy of at least one ACK message received in response to the groupcast data packet and determining a second power/energy of at least one NACK message received in response to the groupcast data packet, and wherein retransmitting comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet based on the first power/energy of the at least one ACK message and the second power/energy of the at least one NACK message.
  • Embodiment 14 wherein retransmitting comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet based on comparing the first power/energy of the at least one ACK message and the second power/energy of the at least one NACK message.
  • retransmitting comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet based on a difference determined using the first power/energy of the at least one ACK message and the second power/energy of the at least one NACK message.
  • retransmitting comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet responsive to the difference between the first power/energy and the second power/energy being less than a retransmission threshold.
  • retransmitting comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet based on a ratio determined using the first power/energy of the at least one ACK message and the second power/energy of the at least one NACK message.
  • Embodiment 18 wherein retransmitting comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet responsive to the ratio of the first power/energy and the second
  • the first power/energy comprises a first combined power/energy of a plurality of ACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet
  • the second power/energy comprises a second combined power/energy of a plurality of NACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet.
  • Embodiment 28 The method of Embodiment 27, wherein a transmission power for ACK/NACK messages for the group is defined during the groupcast session establishment.
  • the establishment is performed based on a configuration received from a wireless communication network, wherein the configuration includes at least one of the retransmission threshold, a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a maximum allowed time for retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a group identification used for groupcast data packets of the group, and/or respective device identifications for each of the wireless devices of the group.
  • retransmitting the groupcast data packet comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet responsive to determining (905) that retransmission is allowed.
  • determining (905) that retransmission is allowed comprises determining that retransmission is allowed responsive to determining that a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of the groupcast data packet have not been performed.
  • determining (905) that retransmission is allowed comprises determining that retransmission is allowed responsive to determining that a maximum allowed time for retransmission of the groupcast data packet has not elapsed.
  • determining (905) that retransmission is allowed comprises determining that retransmission is allowed responsive to determining that a number of wireless devices in the group is less than a size threshold.
  • transmitting the groupcast data packet comprises transmitting the groupcast data packet using a first transmission power
  • retransmitting the groupcasts data packet comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet at a second transmission power greater than the first transmission power
  • determining comprises determining to refrain from transmitting an ACK message and a NACK message responsive to a distance between the wireless device and the transmitting wireless being greater than a threshold defined by the communication range.
  • determining comprises determining to transmit one of an ACK message or a NACK message responsive to a distance between the wireless device and the transmitting wireless device being less than a threshold defined by the communication range.
  • Embodiment 39 The method of Embodiment 38 further comprising: responsive to determining to transmit one of an ACK message or a NACK message, transmitting (1009) an ACK message to the transmitting wireless device responsive to successfully decoding the groupcast data packet.
  • Embodiment 38 further comprising: responsive to determining to transmit one of an ACK message or a NACK message, transmitting (1011) a NACK message to the transmitting wireless device responsive to failure decoding the groupcast data packet.
  • Embodiment 42 The method of Embodiment 41 , wherein the groupcast session establishment is performed based on a configuration received from a wireless communication network.
  • a method of operating a first wireless device (1100) associated with a group, where the group includes the wireless device and a number of other wireless devices comprising: receiving (1161) a transmission of a groupcast data packet from a second wireless device of the group; determining (1167) a transmission power for a feedback message responsive to the groupcast data packet, wherein the transmission power is determined based on a distance between the first and second wireless devices of the group; and transmitting (1171, 1173) the feedback message to the second wireless communication device, wherein the feedback message is transmitted in accordance with the transmission power determined for the feedback message.
  • transmitting the feedback message comprises transmitting (1171) an acknowledgement, ACK, message responsive to successfully decoding the groupcast data packet.
  • Embodiments 43-45 further comprising: receiving (1163) location information from the second wireless device; and determining (1165) a location of the first wireless device; wherein the distance between the first and second wireless devices is determined based on the location information received from the second wireless device and the location of the first wireless device.
  • determining the transmission power comprises scaling the transmission power for the feedback message based on the distance between the first and second wireless devices of the group.
  • a first wireless device (1100) comprising: a processor (1103); and memory (1105) coupled with the processor, wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the processor causes the first wireless device to perform operations according to any of
  • a computer program comprising program code to be executed by at least one processor (1103) of a wireless device (1100), whereby execution of the program code causes the wireless device (1100) to perform a method according to any one of embodiments 1-49.
  • a computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium including program code to be executed by at least one processor (1103) of a wireless device (1100), whereby execution of the program code causes the wireless device (1100) to perform a method according to any one of embodiments 1-49. 54.
  • a method of operating a wireless device (1100) associated with a group, wherein the group includes the wireless device and a number of other wireless devices comprising: transmitting (403) a groupcast data packet to the other wireless devices of the group; determining (407) a number of acknowledgment, ACK, messages received from the other wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet; and responsive to determining that the number of ACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet is less than or equal to a retransmission threshold, retransmitting (411) the groupcast data packet to the other wireless devices of the group, wherein the retransmission threshold is at least two less than the number of the other wireless devices of the group.
  • determining comprises determining a number of ACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet that have a power/energy that exceeds a power/energy threshold
  • retransmitting the groupcast data packet comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet responsive to the number of ACK messages having the power/energy that exceeds the power/energy threshold being less than the retransmission threshold.
  • determining comprises determining a number of ACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet that have a
  • RSRP Reference Signal Received Power
  • determining comprises determining a number of ACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet that have a Received Signal Strength Indication, RSSI, that exceeds the power/energy threshold.
  • the configuration includes at least one of the retransmission threshold, the power/energy threshold for ACK/NACK messages in the group, a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a maximum allowed time for retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a group identification used for groupcast data packets of the group, and/or respective device identifications for each of the wireless devices of the group.
  • retransmitting the groupcast data packet comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet responsive to determining (405) that retransmission is allowed.
  • retransmission is allowed comprises determining that a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of the groupcast data packet have not been performed.
  • retransmission is allowed comprises determining that a maximum allowed time for
  • transmitting the groupcast data packet comprises transmitting the groupcast data packet using a first transmission power
  • retransmitting the groupcasts data packet comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet at a second transmission power greater than the first transmission power
  • determining comprises determining a number of ACK messages received from high-priority wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet, and wherein retransmitting comprises retransmitting responsive to determining that the number of ACK messages received from the high-priority wireless devices of the group is less than or equal to the retransmission threshold.
  • Embodiment 70 wherein retransmitting comprises retransmitting without considering ACK messages received from low-priority wireless devices of the group with respect to the retransmission threshold.
  • Embodiment 71 further comprising: performing (400) groupcast session establishment to define the high-priority and low-priority wireless devices of the group.
  • Embodiment 72 wherein the high-priority and low-priority wireless devices of the group are defined based on respective signal strengths.
  • Embodiment 75 further comprising: performing (400) groupcast session establishment to define the subset of the other wireless devices of the group.
  • a method of operating a wireless device (1100) associated with a group, wherein the group includes the wireless device and a number of other wireless devices comprising: transmitting (503) a groupcast data packet to the other wireless devices of the group; determining (507) a number of negative acknowledgment, NACK, messages received from the other wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet; and responsive to determining (509) that the number of NACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet is greater than or equal to a retransmission threshold, retransmitting (511) the groupcast data packet to the other wireless devices of the group, wherein the retransmission threshold is at least two.
  • determining comprises determining a number of NACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet that have a power/energy that exceeds a power/energy threshold
  • retransmitting the groupcast data packet comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet responsive to the number of NACK messages having the power/energy that exceeds the power/energy threshold being greater than the retransmission threshold.
  • Embodiment 78 comprises determining a number of NACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet that have a Reference Signal Received Power, RSRP, that exceeds the power/energy threshold.
  • RSRP Reference Signal Received Power
  • Embodiment 80 The method of Embodiment 78, wherein determining comprises determining a number of NACK messages received in response to the groupcast data packet that have a Received Signal Strength Indication, RSSI, that exceeds the power/energy threshold.
  • Embodiments 78-81 further comprising: performing groupcast session establishment to define the power/energy threshold for the group.
  • Embodiment 83 The method of Embodiment 82, wherein the groupcast session establishment further defines a transmission power for ACK/NACK messages for the group.
  • the configuration includes at least one of the retransmission threshold, the power/energy threshold for ACK/NACK messages in the group, a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a maximum allowed time for retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a group identification used for groupcast data packets of the group, and/or respective device identifications for each of the wireless devices of the group.
  • retransmitting the groupcast data packet comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet responsive to determining (405) that retransmission is allowed.
  • retransmission is allowed comprises determining that a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of the groupcast data packet have not been performed.
  • retransmission is allowed comprises determining that a maximum allowed time for
  • transmitting the groupcast data packet comprises transmitting the groupcast data packet using a first transmission power
  • retransmitting the groupcasts data packet comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet at a second transmission power greater than the first transmission power
  • determining comprises determining a number of NACK messages received from high-priority wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet, and wherein retransmitting comprises retransmitting responsive to determining that the number of NACK messages received from the high-priority wireless devices of the group is greater than or equal to the retransmission threshold.
  • Embodiment 94 The method of Embodiment 93, wherein retransmitting comprises retransmitting without considering NACK messages received from low-priority wireless devices of the group with respect to the retransmission threshold.
  • Embodiment 95 The method of Embodiment 94 further comprising: performing (500) groupcast session establishment to define the high-priority and low-priority wireless devices of the group.
  • Embodiment 95 The method of Embodiment 95, wherein the high-priority and low-priority wireless devices of the group are defined based on respective signal strengths.
  • Embodiment 98 further comprising: performing (500) groupcast session establishment to define the subset of the other wireless devices of the group.
  • a method of operating a wireless device (1100) associated with a group, wherein the group includes the wireless device and a number of other wireless devices comprising: transmitting (603) a groupcast data packet to the other wireless devices of the group; and responsive to detecting failure of reception at a receiving wireless device of the other wireless devices of the group, transmitting (609) a unicast data packet to the receiving wireless device, wherein the unicast data packet includes content of the groupcast data packet.
  • Embodiment 100 further comprising: receiving (605) a negative acknowledgment, NACK, message from the receiving wireless device, wherein the NACK message is responsive to the groupcast data packet; and detecting (607) failure of reception at the receiving wireless device based on receiving the NACK message from the receiving wireless device.
  • NACK negative acknowledgment
  • Embodiment 101 wherein the groupcast data packet is transmitted using a group identifier for the group, and wherein the unicast data packet is transmitted using a device identifier for the receiving wireless device.
  • Embodiment 101 wherein detecting failure of reception comprises identifying the receiving wireless device based on obtaining the device identifier for the receiving wireless device from the NACK message.
  • Embodiment 100 wherein the receiving wireless device is a first receiving wireless device of the group, the method further comprising: receiving (605) an acknowledgement, ACK, message from a second receiving wireless device of the group, wherein the ACK message is responsive to the groupcast data packet; and detecting (607) failure of reception at the first receiving wireless device based on receiving the ACK message from the second receiving wireless device.
  • the receiving wireless device is a first receiving wireless device of the group
  • the method further comprising: receiving (605) an acknowledgement, ACK, message from a second receiving wireless device of the group, wherein the ACK message is responsive to the groupcast data packet; and detecting (607) failure of reception at the first receiving wireless device based on receiving the ACK message from the second receiving wireless device.
  • detecting failure comprises detecting failure of reception at the first receiving device based on receiving the ACK message from the second receiving wireless device without receiving an ACK message from the first receiving wireless device.
  • Embodiments 105 wherein the groupcast data packet is transmitted using a group identifier for the group, and wherein the unicast data packet is transmitted using a first device identifier for the first receiving wireless device.
  • detecting failure of reception comprises identifying the first receiving wireless device based on obtaining a second device identifier for the second receiving wireless device from the ACK message without receiving an ACK message associated with the first device identifier.
  • the establishment comprises receiving a configuration for the group from a wireless communication network, wherein the configuration includes at least one of the retransmission threshold, a power/energy threshold for ACK/NACK messages in the group, a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of a groupcast data packet for the group, a maximum allowed time for retransmission of a groupcast data packet for the group, a group identification used for groupcast data packets of the group, and/or respective device identifications for each of the wireless devices of the group.
  • a method of operating a wireless device (1100) associated with a group, wherein the group includes a number of other wireless devices comprising: transmitting (703) a groupcast data packet to the other wireless devices of the group; and determining (707) a number of acknowledgement, ACK, messages and a number negative acknowledgement, NACK, messages received from the other wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet; and responsive to determining (709) that a sum of the number of ACK messages and the number of NACK messages received in response to the groupcasts data packet is less than or equal to a retransmission threshold, retransmitting (711) the groupcast data packet to the other wireless devices of the group.
  • Embodiment 110 wherein retransmitting the groupcast data packet comprises retransmitting the groupcast data packet responsive to determining (705) that retransmission is allowed.
  • determining (705) that retransmission is allowed comprises determining that a maximum allowed number of retransmissions of the groupcast data packet have not been performed.
  • determining (705) that retransmission is allowed comprises determining that a maximum allowed time for
  • determining comprises determining a number of ACK messages and a number of NACK messages received from high- priority wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet
  • retransmitting comprises retransmitting responsive to determining that a sum of the number of ACK messages and the number of NACK messages received from the high-priority wireless devices of the group is less than or equal to the retransmission threshold.
  • Embodiment 116 wherein retransmitting comprises retransmitting without considering ACK messages and NACK messages received from low-priority wireless devices of the group with respect to the retransmission threshold.
  • determining comprises determining a number of ACK messages and a number of NACK received from high-priority wireless devices of the group in response to the groupcast data packet, and wherein
  • retransmitting comprises retransmitting responsive to determining that the sum of the number of ACK messages and the number of NACK messages received from the high-priority wireless devices of the group is less than or equal to the retransmission threshold.
  • Embodiment 120 The method of Embodiment 119, wherein retransmitting comprises retransmitting without considering ACK messages and NACK messages received from low-priority wireless devices of the group with respect to the retransmission threshold.
  • Embodiment 120 further comprising: performing (700) groupcast session establishment to define the high-priority and low-priority wireless devices of the group.
  • Embodiment 121 wherein the high-priority and low-priority wireless devices of the group are defined based on respective signal strengths.
  • Embodiment 124 further comprising: performing (700) groupcast session establishment to define the subset of the other wireless devices of the group.
  • a method of operating a wireless device (1100) associated with a group, wherein the group includes the wireless device and a number of other wireless devices comprising: correctly receiving (803, 805, 809) a first transmission of a groupcast data packet from a transmitting wireless device of the group; responsive to correctly receiving the first transmission of the groupcast data packet, transmitting (813) an acknowledgement, ACK, message; after transmitting the ACK message, incorrectly receiving (803, 805) a second transmission of the groupcast data packet from the transmitting wireless device; and responsive to incorrectly receiving a second transmission of the groupcast data packet, refraining (807) from transmitting a negative acknowledgement, NACK, message corresponding to the second transmission.
  • NACK negative acknowledgement
  • Embodiment 126 wherein the ACK message is a first ACK message, wherein refraining from transmitting a NACK message comprises transmitting (807) a second ACK message responsive to incorrectly receiving the second transmission of the groupcast data packet.
  • Embodiment 126 wherein refraining from transmitting comprises refraining from transmitting an ACK message corresponding to the second transmission.
  • a method of operating a wireless device (1100) associated with a group, wherein the group includes the wireless device and a number of other wireless devices comprising: correctly receiving (803, 805, 809) a first transmission of a groupcast data packet from a transmitting wireless device of the group; responsive to correctly receiving the first transmission of the groupcast data packet, transmitting (813) an acknowledgement, ACK, message; and responsive to receiving a second transmission of the groupcast data packet, refraining (807) from transmitting a response message corresponding to the second transmission.
  • Embodiment 130 The method of Embodiment 130, wherein all of the wireless devices of the group are configured to not send ACK and NACK feedback in response to groupcast data packets received from one of the other wireless devices of the group.
  • configuring comprises configuring the wireless device based on communications between the wireless device and at least one of the other wireless devices of the group.
  • Embodiments 130-135 further comprising: receiving a groupcast data packet from another one of the other wireless devices of the group; and refraining from transmitting ACK and NACK feedback responsive to the groupcast data packet based on the configuring to not send ACK and NACK feedback.
  • a communication network or a transmitting wireless device configures or requests that the receiving wireless device does not send any ACK feedback and any NACK feedback to the transmitting wireless device.
  • a first wireless device (1100) comprising:
  • a computer program comprising program code to be executed by at least one processor (1103) of a wireless device (1100), whereby execution of the program code causes the wireless device (1100) to perform a method according to any one of embodiments 54 to 137.
  • a computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium including program code to be executed by at least one processor (1103) of a wireless device (1100), whereby execution of the program code causes the wireless device (1100) to perform a method according to any one of embodiments 54 to 137.
  • the terms “comprise”, “comprising”, “comprises”, “include”, “including”, “includes”, “have”, “has”, “having”, or variants thereof are open-ended, and include one or more stated features, integers, elements, steps, components or functions but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, elements, steps, components, functions or groups thereof.
  • the common abbreviation “e.g.”, which derives from the Latin phrase “exempli gratia” may be used to introduce or specify a general example or examples of a previously mentioned item, and is not intended to be limiting of such item.
  • the common abbreviation “i.e.”, which derives from the Latin phrase “id est,” may be used to specify a particular item from a more general recitation.
  • Example embodiments are described herein with reference to block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of computer-implemented methods, apparatus (systems and/or devices) and/or computer program products. It is understood that a block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computer program instructions that are performed by one or more computer circuits.
  • These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor circuit of a general purpose computer circuit, special purpose computer circuit, and/or other programmable data processing circuit to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, transform and control transistors, values stored in memory locations, and other hardware components within such circuitry to implement the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks, and thereby create means (functionality) and/or structure for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block(s).
  • Figure 12 A wireless network in accordance with some embodiments.
  • a wireless network such as the example wireless network illustrated in Figure 12.
  • the wireless network of Figure 12 only depicts network QQ106, network nodes QQ160 and QQl60b, and WDs QQ110, QQ1 lOb, and QQ1 lOc (also referred to as mobile terminals).
  • a wireless network may further include any additional elements suitable to support communication between wireless devices or between a wireless device and another communication device, such as a landline telephone, a service provider, or any other network node or end device.
  • network node QQ160 and wireless device (WD) QQ110 are depicted with additional detail.
  • the wireless network may provide
  • the wireless network may comprise and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio network or other similar type of system.
  • the wireless network may be configured to operate according to specific standards or other types of predefined rules or procedures.
  • particular embodiments of the wireless network may implement communication standards, such as Global System for Mobile
  • GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
  • UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • WLAN wireless local area network
  • IEEE 802.11 the IEEE 802.11 standards
  • any other appropriate wireless communication standard such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
  • Network QQ106 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks, IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet data networks, optical networks, wide-area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks
  • PSTNs public switched telephone networks
  • WANs wide-area networks
  • LANs local area networks
  • WLANs wireless networks
  • wireless networks wireless networks
  • metropolitan area networks metropolitan area networks
  • Network node QQ160 and WD QQ110 comprise various components described in more detail below. These components work together in order to provide network node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providing wireless connections in a wireless network.
  • the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices, relay stations, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections.
  • network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the wireless network to enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the wireless network.
  • network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)).
  • APs access points
  • BSs base stations
  • eNBs evolved Node Bs
  • gNBs NR NodeBs
  • Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and may then also be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations.
  • a base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay.
  • a network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio.
  • RRUs remote radio units
  • RRHs Remote Radio Heads
  • Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio.
  • Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).
  • DAS distributed antenna system
  • network nodes include multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), core network nodes (e.g., MSCs, MMEs), O&M nodes, OSS nodes, SON nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs.
  • MSR multi-standard radio
  • RNCs radio network controllers
  • BSCs base station controllers
  • BTSs base transceiver stations
  • transmission points transmission nodes
  • MCEs multi-cell/multicast coordination entities
  • core network nodes e.g., MSCs, MMEs
  • O&M nodes e.g., OSS nodes, SON nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs.
  • network nodes may represent any suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to enable and/or provide a wireless device with access to the wireless network or to provide some service to a wireless device that has accessed the wireless network.
  • network node QQ160 includes processing circuitry QQ170, device readable medium QQ180, interface QQ190, auxiliary equipment QQ184, power source QQ186, power circuitry QQ187, and antenna QQ162.
  • network node QQ160 illustrated in the example wireless network of Figure 12 may represent a device that includes the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise network nodes with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that a network node comprises any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein.
  • network node QQ160 may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g., device readable medium QQ180 may comprise multiple separate hard drives as well as multiple RAM modules).
  • network node QQ160 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components.
  • network node QQ160 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components)
  • one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes.
  • a single RNC may control multiple NodeB’s.
  • each unique NodeB and RNC pair may in some instances be considered a single separate network node.
  • network node QQ160 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs).
  • RATs radio access technologies
  • Network node QQ160 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node QQ160, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node QQ160.
  • Processing circuitry QQ170 is configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being provided by a network node. These operations performed by processing circuitry QQ170 may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ170 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
  • processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ170 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
  • Processing circuitry QQ170 may comprise a combination of one or more of a
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium QQ180 or in memory within processing circuitry QQ170. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may include a system on a chip (SOC).
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174.
  • radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units.
  • part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ172 and baseband processing circuitry QQ174 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 executing instructions stored on device readable medium QQ180 or memory within processing circuitry QQ170.
  • some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry QQ170 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry QQ170 alone or to other components of network node QQ160, but are enjoyed by network node QQ160 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.
  • Device readable medium QQ180 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry QQ170.
  • volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any
  • Device readable medium QQ180 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry QQ170 and, utilized by network node QQ160.
  • Device readable medium QQ180 may be used to store any calculations made by processing circuitry QQ170 and/or any data received via interface QQ190.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 and device readable medium QQ180 may be considered to be integrated.
  • Interface QQ190 is used in the wired or wireless communication of signalling and/or data between network node QQ160, network QQ106, and/or WDs QQ110. As illustrated, interface QQ190 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) QQ194 to send and receive data, for example to and from network QQ106 over a wired connection. Interface QQ190 also includes radio front end circuitry QQ192 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna QQ162. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 comprises filters QQ198 and amplifiers QQ196. Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may be connected to antenna QQ162 and processing circuitry QQ170.
  • Radio front end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ162 and processing circuitry QQ170.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ192 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ198 and/or amplifiers QQ196. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna QQ162.
  • antenna QQ162 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry QQ192.
  • the digital data may be passed to processing circuitry QQ170.
  • the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
  • network node QQ160 may not include separate radio front end circuitry QQ192, instead, processing circuitry QQ170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ162 without separate radio front end circuitry QQ192.
  • processing circuitry QQ170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ162 without separate radio front end circuitry QQ192.
  • all or some of RF transceiver circuitry QQ172 may be considered a part of interface QQ190.
  • interface QQ190 may include one or more ports or terminals QQ194, radio front end circuitry QQ192, and RF transceiver circuitry QQ172, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and interface QQ190 may communicate with baseband processing circuitry QQ174, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).
  • Antenna QQ162 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna QQ162 may be coupled to radio front end circuitry QQ190 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna QQ162 may comprise one or more omni-directional, sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receive radio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz.
  • An omni-directional antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals in any direction
  • a sector antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals from devices within a particular area
  • a panel antenna may be a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in a relatively straight line.
  • the use of more than one antenna may be referred to as MIMO.
  • antenna QQ162 may be separate from network node QQ160 and may be connectable to network node QQ160 through an interface or port.
  • Antenna QQ162, interface QQ190, and/or processing circuitry QQ170 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, antenna QQ162, interface QQ190, and/or processing circuitry QQ170 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment.
  • Power circuitry QQ187 may comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node QQ160 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Power circuitry QQ187 may receive power from power source QQ186. Power source QQ186 and/or power circuitry QQ187 may be configured to provide power to the various components of network node QQ160 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). Power source QQ186 may either be included in, or external to, power circuitry QQ187 and/or network node QQ160.
  • network node QQ160 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry QQ187.
  • power source QQ186 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry QQ187. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.
  • Other types of power sources such as photovoltaic devices, may also be used.
  • network node QQ160 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 12 that may be responsible for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein.
  • network node QQ160 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into network node QQ160 and to allow output of information from network node QQ160. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node QQ160.
  • wireless device refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices.
  • the term WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE).
  • Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information through air.
  • a WD may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction.
  • a WD may be designed to transmit information to a network on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the network.
  • Examples of a WD include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless cameras, a gaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance, a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a tablet, a laptop, a laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop -mounted equipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE) a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, etc.
  • VoIP voice over IP
  • PDA personal digital assistant
  • PDA personal digital assistant
  • a wireless cameras a gaming console or device
  • a music storage device a playback appliance
  • a wearable terminal device a wireless endpoint
  • a mobile station a tablet, a laptop, a laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop -mounted equipment
  • a WD may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and may in this case be referred to as a D2D communication device.
  • D2D device-to-device
  • V2V vehicle-to-vehicle
  • V2I vehicle-to-infrastructure
  • V2X vehicle-to-everything
  • a WD may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another WD and/or a network node.
  • the WD may in this case be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device.
  • M2M machine-to-machine
  • the WD may be a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) standard.
  • NB-IoT narrow band internet of things
  • machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home or personal appliances (e.g. refrigerators, televisions, etc.) personal wearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.).
  • a WD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.
  • a WD as described above may represent the endpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may be referred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described above may be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobile device or a mobile terminal.
  • wireless device QQ110 includes antenna QQ111, interface QQ114, processing circuitry QQ120, device readable medium QQ130, user interface equipment QQ132, auxiliary equipment QQ134, power source QQ136 and power circuitry QQ137.
  • WD QQ110 may include multiple sets of one or more of the illustrated components for different wireless technologies supported by WD QQ110, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, WiMAX, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to mention a few. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or set of chips as other components within WD QQ110.
  • Antenna QQ111 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected to interface QQ114.
  • antenna QQ111 may be separate from WD QQ110 and be connectable to WD QQ110 through an interface or port.
  • Antenna QQ111, interface QQ114, and/or processing circuitry QQ120 may be configured to perform any receiving or transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a WD. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a network node and/or another WD.
  • radio front end circuitry and/or antenna QQ111 may be considered an interface.
  • interface QQ114 comprises radio front end circuitry QQ112 and antenna QQ111.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ112 comprise one or more filters QQ118 and amplifiers QQ116.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ114 is connected to antenna QQ111 and processing circuitry QQ120, and is configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ111 and processing circuitry QQ120.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may be coupled to or a part of antenna QQ111.
  • WD QQ110 may not include separate radio front end circuitry QQ112; rather, processing circuitry QQ120 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna QQ111.
  • Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry QQ112 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ 118 and/or amplifiers QQ 116. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna QQ 111. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna QQ111 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry QQ112. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry QQ120.
  • the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
  • Processing circuitry QQ120 may comprise a combination of one or more of a
  • processing circuitry QQ120 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium QQ130 or in memory within processing circuitry QQ120 to provide the functionality disclosed herein.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 includes one or more of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126.
  • the processing circuitry may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 of WD QQ110 may comprise a SOC.
  • RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be on separate chips or sets of chips.
  • part or all of baseband processing circuitry QQ124 and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be combined into one chip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be on a separate chip or set of chips.
  • part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 and baseband processing circuitry QQ124 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be on a separate chip or set of chips.
  • part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ122, baseband processing circuitry QQ124, and application processing circuitry QQ126 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips.
  • RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may be a part of interface QQ114.
  • RF transceiver circuitry QQ122 may condition RF signals for processing circuitry QQ120.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 executing instructions stored on device readable medium QQ130, which in certain embodiments may be a computer- readable storage medium.
  • some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry QQ120 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 can be configured to perform the described functionality.
  • the benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry QQ120 alone or to other components of WD QQ110, but are enjoyed by WD QQ110 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.
  • Processing circuitry QQ120 may be configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations, as performed by processing circuitry QQ120, may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ120 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD QQ110, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
  • processing information obtained by processing circuitry QQ120 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD QQ110, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
  • Device readable medium QQ130 may be operable to store a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry QQ120.
  • Device readable medium QQ130 may include computer memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory (ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., a hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry QQ120.
  • processing circuitry QQ120 and device readable medium QQ130 may be considered to be integrated.
  • User interface equipment QQ132 may provide components that allow for a human user to interact with WD QQ110. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment QQ132 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the user to provide input to WD QQ110. The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interface equipment QQ132 installed in WD QQ110. For example, if WD QQ110 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if WD QQ110 is a smart meter, the interaction may be through a screen that provides usage (e.g., the number of gallons used) or a speaker that provides an audible alert (e.g., if smoke is detected).
  • usage e.g., the number of gallons used
  • a speaker that provides an audible alert
  • User interface equipment QQ132 may include input interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. User interface equipment QQ132 is configured to allow input of information into WD QQ110, and is connected to processing circuitry QQ120 to allow processing circuitry QQ120 to process the input information. User interface equipment QQ132 may include, for example, a microphone, a proximity or other sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display, one or more cameras, a USB port, or other input circuitry. User interface equipment QQ132 is also configured to allow output of information from WD QQ110, and to allow processing circuitry QQ120 to output information from WD QQ110.
  • User interface equipment QQ132 may include, for example, a speaker, a display, vibrating circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, or other output circuitry. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices, and circuits, of user interface equipment QQ132, WD QQ110 may communicate with end users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit from the functionality described herein.
  • Auxiliary equipment QQ134 is operable to provide more specific functionality which may not be generally performed by WDs. This may comprise specialized sensors for doing measurements for various purposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wired communications etc. The inclusion and type of components of auxiliary equipment QQ134 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.
  • Power source QQ136 may, in some embodiments, be in the form of a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic devices or power cells, may also be used.
  • WD QQ110 may further comprise power circuitry QQ137 for delivering power from power source QQ136 to the various parts of WD QQ110 which need power from power source QQ136 to carry out any functionality described or indicated herein.
  • Power circuitry QQ137 may in certain embodiments comprise power management circuitry.
  • Power circuitry QQ137 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source; in which case WD QQ110 may be connectable to the external power source (such as an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable.
  • Power circuitry QQ137 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliver power from an external power source to power source QQ136. This may be, for example, for the charging of power source QQ136. Power circuitry QQ137 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from power source QQ136 to make the power suitable for the respective components of WD QQ110 to which power is supplied.
  • FIG. 13 User Equipment in accordance with some embodiments
  • Figure 13 illustrates one embodiment of a UE in accordance with various aspects described herein.
  • a user equipment or UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device.
  • a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller).
  • a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).
  • UE QQ2200 may be any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-IoT UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.
  • UE QQ200 as illustrated in Figure 13, is one example of a WD configured for communication in accordance with one or more communication standards promulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 3GPP’s GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards.
  • 3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
  • the term WD and UE may be used interchangeable. Accordingly, although Figure 13 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to a WD, and vice-versa.
  • UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ201 that is operatively coupled to input/output interface QQ205, radio frequency (RF) interface QQ209, network connection interface QQ211, memory QQ215 including random access memory (RAM) QQ217, read-only memory (ROM) QQ219, and storage medium QQ221 or the like, communication subsystem QQ231 , power source QQ233, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof.
  • Storage medium QQ221 includes operating system QQ223, application program QQ225, and data QQ227. In other embodiments, storage medium QQ221 may include other similar types of information.
  • Certain UEs may utilize all of the components shown in Figure 13, or only a subset of the components. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.
  • processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to process computer instructions and data.
  • Processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute machine instructions stored as machine -readable computer programs in the memory, such as one or more hardware -implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, FPGA, ASIC, etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored program, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above.
  • the processing circuitry QQ201 may include two central processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a form suitable for use by a computer.
  • input/output interface QQ205 may be configured to provide a communication interface to an input device, output device, or input and output device.
  • UE QQ200 may be configured to use an output device via input/output interface QQ205.
  • An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device.
  • a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from UE QQ200.
  • the output device may be a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof.
  • UE QQ200 may be configured to use an input device via input/output interface QQ205 to allow a user to capture information into UE QQ200.
  • the input device may include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like.
  • the presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user.
  • a sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, another like sensor, or any combination thereof.
  • the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.
  • RF interface QQ209 may be configured to provide a communication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna.
  • Network connection interface QQ211 may be configured to provide a communication interface to network QQ243a.
  • Network QQ243a may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (FAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof.
  • network QQ243a may comprise a Wi-Fi network.
  • Network connection interface QQ211 may be configured to include a receiver and a transmitter interface used to communicate with one or more other devices over a communication network according to one or more communication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, SONET, ATM, or the like.
  • Network connection interface QQ211 may implement receiver and transmitter functionality appropriate to the communication network links (e.g., optical, electrical, and the like). The transmitter and receiver functions may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.
  • RAM QQ217 may be configured to interface via bus QQ202 to processing circuitry QQ201 to provide storage or caching of data or computer instructions during the execution of software programs such as the operating system, application programs, and device drivers.
  • ROM QQ219 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processing circuitry QQ201.
  • ROM QQ219 may be configured to store invariant low-level system code or data for basic system functions such as basic input and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokes from a keyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory.
  • Storage medium QQ221 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable
  • storage medium QQ221 may be configured to include operating system QQ223, application program QQ225 such as a web browser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application, and data file QQ227.
  • Storage medium QQ221 may store, for use by UE QQ200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.
  • Storage medium QQ221 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), floppy disk drive, flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro- DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a subscriber identity module or a removable user identity (SIM/RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof.
  • RAID redundant array of independent disks
  • HD-DVD high-density digital versatile disc
  • HDDS holographic digital data storage
  • DIMM synchronous dynamic random access memory
  • SIM/RUIM removable user identity
  • Storage medium QQ221 may allow UE QQ200 to access computer-executable instructions, application programs or the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data.
  • An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied in storage medium QQ221, which may comprise a device readable medium.
  • processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to communicate with network QQ243b using communication subsystem QQ231.
  • Network QQ243a and network QQ243b may be the same network or networks or different network or networks.
  • Communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with network QQ243b.
  • communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication such as another WD, UE, or base station of a radio access network (RAN) according to one or more communication protocols, such as IEEE 802.QQ2, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, or the like.
  • Each transceiver may include transmitter QQ233 and/or receiver QQ235 to implement transmitter or receiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links (e.g., frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter QQ233 and receiver QQ235 of each transceiver may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.
  • the communication functions of communication subsystem QQ231 may include data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof.
  • communication subsystem QQ231 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPS communication.
  • Network QQ243b may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof.
  • network QQ243b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-field network.
  • Power source QQ213 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE QQ200.
  • communication subsystem QQ231 may be configured to include any of the components described herein.
  • processing circuitry QQ201 may be configured to communicate with any of such components over bus QQ202.
  • any of such components may be represented by program instructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry QQ201 perform the corresponding functions described herein.
  • the functionality of any of such components may be partitioned between processing circuitry QQ201 and communication subsystem QQ231.
  • the non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.
  • FIG. 14 Virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments
  • FIG 14 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment QQ300 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.
  • virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources.
  • virtualization can be applied to a node (e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node) or to a device (e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type of communication device) or components thereof and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components (e.g., via one or more applications, components, functions, virtual machines or containers executing on one or more physical processing nodes in one or more networks).
  • a node e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node
  • a device e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type of communication device
  • some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in one or more virtual environments QQ300 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes QQ330. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node is not a radio access node or does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node), then the network node may be entirely virtualized.
  • the functions may be implemented by one or more applications QQ320 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) operative to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.
  • Applications QQ320 are run in virtualization environment QQ300 which provides hardware QQ330 comprising processing circuitry QQ360 and memory QQ390.
  • Memory QQ390 contains instructions QQ395 executable by processing circuitry QQ360 whereby application QQ320 is operative to provide one or more of the features, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.
  • Virtualization environment QQ300 comprises general-purpose or special-purpose network hardware devices QQ330 comprising a set of one or more processors or processing circuitry QQ360, which may be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processors, dedicated Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or any other type of processing circuitry including digital or analog hardware components or special purpose processors.
  • Each hardware device may comprise memory QQ390-1 which may be non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions QQ395 or software executed by processing circuitry QQ360.
  • Each hardware device may comprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) QQ370, also known as network interface cards, which include physical network interface QQ380.
  • NICs network interface controllers
  • Each hardware device may also include non-transitory, persistent, machine -readable storage media QQ390-2 having stored therein software QQ395 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry QQ360.
  • Software QQ395 may include any type of software including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers QQ350 (also referred to as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines QQ340 as well as software allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.
  • Virtual machines QQ340 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer QQ350 or hypervisor. Different embodiments of the instance of virtual appliance QQ320 may be implemented on one or more of virtual machines QQ340, and the implementations may be made in different ways.
  • processing circuitry QQ360 executes software QQ395 to instantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer QQ350, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM).
  • Virtualization layer QQ350 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to virtual machine QQ340.
  • hardware QQ330 may be a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware QQ330 may comprise antenna QQ3225 and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware QQ330 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or customer premise equipment (CPE)) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration (MANO) QQ3100, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications QQ320.
  • CPE customer premise equipment
  • Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV).
  • NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.
  • virtual machine QQ340 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non- virtualized machine.
  • Each of virtual machines QQ340, and that part of hardware QQ330 that executes that virtual machine be it hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and/or hardware shared by that virtual machine with others of the virtual machines QQ340, forms a separate virtual network elements (VNE).
  • VNE virtual network elements
  • VNF Virtual Network Function
  • one or more radio units QQ3200 that each include one or more transmitters QQ3220 and one or more receivers QQ3210 may be coupled to one or more antennas QQ3225.
  • Radio units QQ3200 may communicate directly with hardware nodes QQ330 via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station.
  • control system QQ3230 which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes QQ330 and radio units QQ3200.
  • FIG. 15 Telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments.
  • a communication system includes telecommunication network QQ410, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network QQ411, such as a radio access network, and core network QQ414.
  • Access network QQ411 comprises a plurality of base stations QQ4l2a, QQ4l2b, QQ4l2c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area QQ4l3a, QQ4l3b, QQ4l3c.
  • Each base station QQ4l2a, QQ4l2b, QQ4l2c is connectable to core network QQ414 over a wired or wireless connection QQ415.
  • a first UE QQ491 located in coverage area QQ4l3c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station QQ4l2c.
  • a second UE QQ492 in coverage area QQ4l3a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station QQ4l2a. While a plurality of UEs QQ491, QQ492 are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station QQ412.
  • Telecommunication network QQ410 is itself connected to host computer QQ430, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm.
  • Host computer QQ430 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider.
  • Connections QQ421 and QQ422 between telecommunication network QQ410 and host computer QQ430 may extend directly from core network QQ414 to host computer QQ430 or may go via an optional intermediate network QQ420.
  • Intermediate network QQ420 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network QQ420, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, intermediate network QQ420 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).
  • the communication system of Figure 15 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs QQ491, QQ492 and host computer QQ430.
  • the connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection QQ450.
  • Host computer QQ430 and the connected UEs QQ491, QQ492 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection QQ450, using access network QQ411, core network QQ414, any intermediate network QQ420 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries.
  • OTT connection QQ450 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection QQ450 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications.
  • base station QQ412 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from host computer QQ430 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE QQ491.
  • base station QQ412 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE QQ491 towards the host computer QQ430.
  • Figure 16 Host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.
  • host computer QQ510 comprises hardware QQ515 including communication interface QQ516 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system QQ500.
  • Host computer QQ510 further comprises processing circuitry QQ518, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities.
  • processing circuitry QQ518 may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field
  • Host computer QQ510 further comprises software QQ511, which is stored in or accessible by host computer QQ510 and executable by processing circuitry QQ518.
  • Software QQ511 includes host application QQ512.
  • Host application QQ512 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE QQ530 connecting via OTT connection QQ550 terminating at UE QQ530 and host computer QQ510. In providing the service to the remote user, host application QQ512 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTT connection QQ550.
  • Communication system QQ500 further includes base station QQ520 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware QQ525 enabling it to communicate with host computer QQ510 and with UE QQ530.
  • Hardware QQ525 may include communication interface QQ526 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system QQ500, as well as radio interface QQ527 for setting up and maintaining at least wireless connection QQ570 with UE QQ530 located in a coverage area (not shown in Figure 16) served by base station QQ520.
  • Communication interface QQ526 may be configured to facilitate connection QQ560 to host computer QQ510.
  • Connection QQ560 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in Figure 16) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system.
  • hardware QQ525 of base station QQ520 further includes processing circuitry QQ528, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions.
  • Base station QQ520 further has software QQ521 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.
  • Communication system QQ500 further includes UE QQ530 already referred to.
  • Its hardware QQ535 may include radio interface QQ537 configured to set up and maintain wireless connection QQ570 with a base station serving a coverage area in which UE QQ530 is currently located.
  • Hardware QQ535 of UE QQ530 further includes processing circuitry QQ538, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions.
  • UE QQ530 further comprises software QQ531, which is stored in or accessible by UE QQ530 and executable by processing circuitry QQ538.
  • Software QQ531 includes client application QQ532.
  • Client application QQ532 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE QQ530, with the support of host computer QQ510.
  • an executing host application QQ512 may communicate with the executing client application QQ532 via OTT connection QQ550 terminating at UE QQ530 and host computer QQ510.
  • client application QQ532 may receive request data from host application QQ512 and provide user data in response to the request data.
  • OTT connection QQ550 may transfer both the request data and the user data.
  • Client application QQ532 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.
  • host computer QQ510, base station QQ520 and UE QQ530 illustrated in Figure 16 may be similar or identical to host computer QQ430, one of base stations QQ4l2a, QQ4l2b, QQ4l2c and one of UEs QQ491, QQ492 of Figure 15, respectively.
  • the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in Figure 16 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of Figure 15.
  • OTT connection QQ550 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between host computer QQ510 and UE QQ530 via base station QQ520, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.
  • Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from UE QQ530 or from the service provider operating host computer QQ510, or both. While OTT connection QQ550 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).
  • Wireless connection QQ570 between UE QQ530 and base station QQ520 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.
  • One or more of the various embodiments may improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE QQ530 using OTT connection QQ550, in which wireless connection QQ570 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the deblock filtering for video processing and thereby provide benefits such as improved video encoding and/or decoding.
  • a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve.
  • the measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection QQ550 may be implemented in software QQ511 and hardware QQ515 of host computer QQ510 or in software QQ531 and hardware QQ535 of UE QQ530, or both.
  • sensors may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which OTT connection QQ550 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software QQ511, QQ531 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities.
  • the reconfiguring of OTT connection QQ550 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect base station QQ520, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to base station QQ520. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art.
  • measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating host computer QQ5lO’s measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like.
  • the measurements may be implemented in that software QQ511 and QQ531 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using OTT connection QQ550 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.
  • Figure 17 Methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.
  • FIG 17 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment.
  • the communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 15 and 16. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 17 will be included in this section.
  • the host computer provides user data.
  • substep QQ611 (which may be optional) of step QQ610, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application.
  • step QQ620 the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE.
  • step QQ630 the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.
  • step QQ640 the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.
  • Figure 18 Methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.
  • FIG 18 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment.
  • the communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 15 and 16. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 18 will be included in this section.
  • the host computer provides user data.
  • the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application.
  • the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.
  • step QQ730 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.
  • Figure 19 Methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.
  • FIG 19 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment.
  • the communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 15 and 16. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 19 will be included in this section.
  • step QQ810 (which may be optional) the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step QQ820, the UE provides user data.
  • substep QQ821 (which may be optional) of step QQ820, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application.
  • substep QQ811 (which may be optional) of step QQ810, the UE executes a client application which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed client application may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE initiates, in substep QQ830 (which may be optional), transmission of the user data to the host computer. In step QQ840 of the method, the host computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.
  • Figure 20 Methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.
  • FIG 20 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment.
  • the communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 15 and 16. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 20 will be included in this section.
  • the base station receives user data from the UE.
  • the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer.
  • step QQ930 (which may be optional)
  • the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.
  • any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses.
  • Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units.
  • These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like.
  • the processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc.
  • Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein.
  • the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
  • the term unit may have conventional meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices and/or electronic devices and may include, for example, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules, processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks, procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and so on, as such as those that are described herein.

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Abstract

L'invention concerne des procédés de communication par diffusion de groupe. Par exemple, un procédé peut être fourni pour faire fonctionner un dispositif sans fil associé à un groupe, le groupe comprenant le dispositif sans fil et une pluralité d'autres dispositifs sans fil. Un paquet de données de diffusion de groupe est transmis aux autres dispositifs sans fil du groupe. Une puissance/énergie d'au moins un message d'accusé de réception (ACK) et/ou d'accusé de réception négatif (NACK) reçu(s) en réponse au paquet de données de diffusion de groupe est déterminée. Le paquet de données de diffusion de groupe est retransmis aux autres dispositifs sans fil du groupe en réponse à la détermination de la puissance/de l'énergie dudit message ACK et/ou NACK. L'invention concerne également des dispositifs sans fil et des produits de programme informatique associés.
PCT/EP2019/073851 2018-09-28 2019-09-06 Procédés de retransmission de diffusion de groupe de liaison latérale et dispositifs sans fil et produits de programme informatique associés WO2020064304A1 (fr)

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