WO2022040843A1

WO2022040843A1 - Sensing resource configuration

Info

Publication number: WO2022040843A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/110721
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jing Dai; Chao Wei; Yu Zhang; Min Huang; Qiaoyu Li; Hao Xu
Original assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date: 2020-08-24
Filing date: 2020-08-24
Publication date: 2022-03-03

Abstract

Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment (UE) may determine one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a sensing resource configuration. The UE may transmit one or more sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources. Numerous other aspects are provided.

Description

SENSING RESOURCE CONFIGURATION

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication and to techniques and apparatuses for a sensing resource configuration.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, and/or the like) . Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems, and Long Term Evolution (LTE) . LTE/LTE-Advanced is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) .

A wireless network may include a number of base stations (BSs) that can support communication for a number of user equipment (UEs) . A user equipment (UE) may communicate with a base station (BS) via the downlink and uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the BS to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the BS. As will be described in more detail herein, a BS may be referred to as a Node B, a gNB, an access point (AP) , a radio head, a transmit receive point (TRP) , a New Radio (NR) BS, a 5G Node B, and/or the like.

The above multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different user equipment to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. New Radio (NR) , which may also be referred to as 5G, is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) . NR is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) (CP-OFDM) on the downlink (DL) , using CP-OFDM and/or SC-FDM (e.g., also known as discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) ) on the uplink (UL) , as well as supporting beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation. As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, further improvements in LTE, NR, and other radio access technologies remain useful.

SUMMARY

In some aspects, a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) includes determining one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a sensing resource configuration, and transmitting one or more sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources.

In some aspects, a method of wireless communication performed by a base station includes generating a sensing resource configuration indicating one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources for a UE, and transmitting the sensing resource configuration to the UE.

In some aspects, a UE for wireless communication includes a memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors configured to determine one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a sensing resource configuration, and transmit one or more sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources.

In some aspects, a base station for wireless communication includes a memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors configured to generate a sensing resource configuration indicating one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources for a UE, and transmit the sensing resource configuration to the UE.

In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication includes one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a UE, cause the UE to determine one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a sensing resource configuration, and transmit one or more sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources.

In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication includes one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a base station, cause the base station to generate a sensing resource configuration indicating one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources for a UE, and transmit the sensing resource configuration to the UE.

In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication includes means for determining one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a sensing resource configuration, and means for transmitting one or more sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources.

In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication includes means for generating a sensing resource configuration indicating one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources for a UE, and means for transmitting the sensing resource configuration to the UE.

Aspects generally include a method, apparatus, system, computer program product, non-transitory computer-readable medium, user equipment, base station, wireless communication device, and/or processing system as substantially described herein with reference to and as illustrated by the drawings and specification.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of examples according to the disclosure in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter. The conception and specific examples disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. Characteristics of the concepts disclosed herein, both their organization and method of operation, together with associated advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. Each of the figures is provided for the purposes of illustration and description, and not as a definition of the limits of the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the above-recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless network, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station in communication with a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a slot format, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of using a sensing resource configuration, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of using a sensing resource configuration, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of using a sensing resource configuration, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example process performed, for example, by a UE, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example process performed, for example, by a base station, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various aspects of the disclosure are described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to any specific structure or function presented throughout this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings herein, one skilled in the art should appreciate that the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of or combined with any other aspect of the disclosure. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method which is practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or other than the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.

Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatuses and techniques. These apparatuses and techniques will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, modules, components, circuits, steps, processes, algorithms, and/or the like (collectively referred to as “elements” ) . These elements may be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

It should be noted that while aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with a 5G or NR radio access technology (RAT) , aspects of the present disclosure can be applied to other RATs, such as a 3G RAT, a 4G RAT, and/or a RAT subsequent to 5G (e.g., 6G) .

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless network 100, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless network 100 may be or may include elements of a 5G (NR) network, an LTE network, and/or the like. The wireless network 100 may include a number of base stations 110 (shown as BS 110a, BS 110b, BS 110c, and BS 110d) and other network entities. A base station (BS) is an entity that communicates with user equipment (UEs) and may also be referred to as an NR BS, a Node B, a gNB, a 5G node B (NB) , an access point, a transmit receive point (TRP) , and/or the like. Each BS may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to a coverage area of a BS and/or a BS subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

A BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and/or another type of cell. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs having association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG) ) . A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in Fig. 1, a BS 110a may be a macro BS for a macro cell 102a, a BS 110b may be a pico BS for a pico cell 102b, and a BS 110c may be a femto BS for a femto cell 102c. A BS may support one or multiple (e.g., three) cells. The terms “eNB” , “base station” , “NR BS” , “gNB” , “TRP” , “AP” , “node B” , “5G NB” , and “cell” may be used interchangeably herein.

In some aspects, a cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of the cell may move according to the location of a mobile BS. In some aspects, the BSs may be interconnected to one another and/or to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in the wireless network 100 through various types of backhaul interfaces such as a direct physical connection, a virtual network, and/or the like using any suitable transport network.

Wireless network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station is an entity that can receive a transmission of data from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or a UE) and send a transmission of the data to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or a BS) . A relay station may also be a UE that can relay transmissions for other UEs. In the example shown in Fig. 1, a relay BS 110d may communicate with macro BS 110a and a UE 120d in order to facilitate communication between BS 110a and UE 120d. A relay BS may also be referred to as a relay station, a relay base station, a relay, and/or the like.

Wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network that includes BSs of different types, e.g., macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, relay BSs, and/or the like. These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different impacts on interference in wireless network 100. For example, macro BSs may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 5 to 40 watts) whereas pico BSs, femto BSs, and relay BSs may have lower transmit power levels (e.g., 0.1 to 2 watts) .

A network controller 130 may couple to a set of BSs and may provide coordination and control for these BSs. Network controller 130 may communicate with the BSs via a backhaul. The BSs may also communicate with one another, e.g., directly or indirectly via a wireless or wireline backhaul.

UEs 120 (e.g., 120a, 120b, 120c) may be dispersed throughout wireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as an access terminal, a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, and/or the like. A UE may be a cellular phone (e.g., a smart phone) , a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a medical device or equipment, biometric sensors/devices, wearable devices (smart watches, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wrist bands, smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet) ) , an entertainment device (e.g., a music or video device, or a satellite radio) , a vehicular component or sensor, smart meters/sensors, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device that is configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium.

Some UEs may be considered machine-type communication (MTC) or evolved or enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC) UEs. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, and/or the like, that may communicate with a base station, another device (e.g., remote device) , or some other entity. A wireless node may provide, for example, connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as Internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, and/or may be implemented as NB-IoT (narrowband internet of things) devices. Some UEs may be considered a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) . UE 120 may be included inside a housing that houses components of UE 120, such as processor components, memory components, and/or the like. In some aspects, the processor components and the memory components may be coupled together. For example, the processor components (e.g., one or more processors) and the memory components (e.g., a memory) may be operatively coupled, communicatively coupled, electronically coupled, electrically coupled, and/or the like.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular RAT and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, an air interface, and/or the like. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a frequency channel, and/or the like. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area in order to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

In some aspects, two or more UEs 120 (e.g., shown as UE 120a and UE 120e) may communicate directly using one or more sidelink channels (e.g., without using a base station 110 as an intermediary to communicate with one another) . For example, the UEs 120 may communicate using peer-to-peer (P2P) communications, device-to-device (D2D) communications, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) protocol (e.g., which may include a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) protocol, a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) protocol, and/or the like) , a mesh network, and/or the like. In this case, the UE 120 may perform scheduling operations, resource selection operations, and/or other operations described elsewhere herein as being performed by the base station 110.

Devices of wireless network 100 may communicate using the electromagnetic spectrum, which may be subdivided based on frequency or wavelength into various classes, bands, channels, and/or the like. For example, devices of wireless network 100 may communicate using an operating band having a first frequency range (FR1) , which may span from 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz, and/or may communicate using an operating band having a second frequency range (FR2) , which may span from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are sometimes referred to as mid-band frequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to as a “sub-6 GHz” band. Similarly, FR2 is often referred to as a “millimeter wave” band despite being different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz –300 GHz) which is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as a “millimeter wave” band. Thus, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term “sub-6 GHz” or the like, if used herein, may broadly represent frequencies less than 6 GHz, frequencies within FR1, and/or mid-band frequencies (e.g., greater than 7.125 GHz) . Similarly, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term “millimeter wave” or the like, if used herein, may broadly represent frequencies within the EHF band, frequencies within FR2, and/or mid-band frequencies (e.g., less than 24.25 GHz) . It is contemplated that the frequencies included in FR1 and FR2 may be modified, and techniques described herein are applicable to those modified frequency ranges.

As indicated above, Fig. 1 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with regard to Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example 200 of a base station 110 in communication with a UE 120 in a wireless network 100, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Base station 110 may be equipped with T antennas 234a through 234t, and UE 120 may be equipped with R antennas 252a through 252r, where in general T ≥ 1 and R ≥ 1.

At base station 110, a transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 for one or more UEs, select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCS) for each UE based at least in part on channel quality indicators (CQIs) received from the UE, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for each UE based at least in part on the MCS (s) selected for the UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. Transmit processor 220 may also process system information (e.g., for semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI) and/or the like) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling, and/or the like) and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. Transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) , a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) , and/or the like) and synchronization signals (e.g., the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and secondary synchronization signal (SSS) ) . A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, the overhead symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide T output symbol streams to T modulators (MODs) 232a through 232t. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM and/or the like) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. T downlink signals from modulators 232a through 232t may be transmitted via T antennas 234a through 234t, respectively.

At UE 120, antennas 252a through 252r may receive the downlink signals from base station 110 and/or other base stations and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a through 254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM and/or the like) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all R demodulators 254a through 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE 120 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information and system information to a controller/processor 280. The term “controller/processor” may refer to one or more controllers, one or more processors, or a combination thereof. A channel processor may determine reference signal received power (RSRP) , received signal strength indicator (RSSI) , reference signal received quality (RSRQ) , channel quality indicator (CQI) , and/or the like. In some aspects, one or more components of UE 120 may be included in a housing 284.

Network controller 130 may include communication unit 294, controller/processor 290, and memory 292. Network controller 130 may include, for example, one or more devices in a core network. Network controller 130 may communicate with base station 110 via communication unit 294.

On the uplink, at UE 120, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 and control information (e.g., for reports that include RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, and/or the like) from controller/processor 280. Transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. The symbols from transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by modulators 254a through 254r (e.g., for DFT-s-OFDM, CP-OFDM, and/or the like) , and transmitted to base station 110. In some aspects, the UE 120 includes a transceiver. The transceiver may include any combination of antenna (s) 252, modulators and/or demodulators 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, and/or TX MIMO processor 266. The transceiver may be used by a processor (e.g., controller/processor 280) and memory 282 to perform aspects of any of the methods described herein, for example, as described with reference to Figs. 4-8.

At base station 110, the uplink signals from UE 120 and other UEs may be received by antennas 234, processed by demodulators 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by UE 120. Receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to controller/processor 240. Base station 110 may include communication unit 244 and communicate to network controller 130 via communication unit 244. Base station 110 may include a scheduler 246 to schedule UEs 120 for downlink and/or uplink communications. In some aspects, the base station 110 includes a transceiver. The transceiver may include any combination of antenna (s) 234, modulators and/or demodulators 232, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, transmit processor 220, and/or TX MIMO processor 230. The transceiver may be used by a processor (e.g., controller/processor 240) and memory 242 to perform aspects of any of the methods described herein, for example, as described with reference to Figs. 4-8.

Controller/processor 240 of base station 110, controller/processor 280 of UE 120, and/or any other component (s) of Fig. 2 may perform one or more techniques associated with using a sensing resource configuration, as described in more detail elsewhere herein. For example, controller/processor 240 of base station 110, controller/processor 280 of UE 120, and/or any other component (s) of Fig. 2 may perform or direct operations of, for example, process 700 of Fig. 7, process 800 of Fig. 8, and/or other processes as described herein.

Memories

242 and 282 may store data and program codes for base station 110 and UE 120, respectively. In some aspects, memory 242 and/or memory 282 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more instructions (e.g., code, program code, and/or the like) for wireless communication. For example, the one or more instructions, when executed (e.g., directly, or after compiling, converting, interpreting, and/or the like) by one or more processors of the base station 110 and/or the UE 120, may cause the one or more processors, the UE 120, and/or the base station 110 to perform or direct operations of, for example, process 700 of Fig. 7, process 800 of Fig. 8, and/or other processes as described herein. In some aspects, executing instructions may include running the instructions, converting the instructions, compiling the instructions, interpreting the instructions, and/or the like.

In some aspects, UE 120 may include means for determining one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a sensing resource configuration, means for transmitting one or more sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources, and/or the like. In some aspects, such means may include one or more components of UE 120 described in connection with Fig. 2, such as controller/processor 280, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, MOD 254, antenna 252, DEMOD 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, and/or the like.

In some aspects, base station 110 may include means for generating a sensing resource configuration indicating one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources for a UE, means for transmitting the sensing resource configuration to the UE, and/or the like. In some aspects, such means may include one or more components of base station 110 described in connection with Fig. 2, such as antenna 234, DEMOD 232, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, MOD 232, antenna 234, and/or the like.

While blocks in Fig. 2 are illustrated as distinct components, the functions described above with respect to the blocks may be implemented in a single hardware, software, or combination component or in various combinations of components. For example, the functions described with respect to the transmit processor 264, the receive processor 258, and/or the TX MIMO processor 266 may be performed by or under the control of controller/processor 280.

As indicated above, Fig. 2 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with regard to Fig. 2.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example 300 of a slot format, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 3, time-frequency resources in a radio access network may be partitioned into resource blocks, shown by a single resource block (RB) 305. An RB 305 is sometimes referred to as a physical resource block (PRB) . An RB 305 includes a set of subcarriers (e.g., 12 subcarriers) and a set of symbols (e.g., 14 symbols) that are schedulable by a base station 110 as a unit. In some aspects, an RB 305 may include a set of subcarriers in a single slot. As shown, a single time-frequency resource included in an RB 305 may be referred to as a resource element (RE) 310. An RE 310 may include a single subcarrier (e.g., in frequency) and a single symbol (e.g., in time) . A symbol may be referred to as an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol. An RE 310 may be used to transmit one modulated symbol, which may be a real value or a complex value.

In some telecommunication systems (e.g., NR) , RBs 305 may span 12 subcarriers with a subcarrier spacing of, for example, 15 kilohertz (kHz) , 30 kHz, 60 kHz, or 120 kHz, among other examples, over a 0.1 millisecond (ms) duration. A radio frame may include 40 slots and may have a length of 10 ms. Consequently, each slot may have a length of 0.25 ms. However, a slot length may vary depending on a numerology used to communicate (e.g., a subcarrier spacing (SCS) , a cyclic prefix format, and/or the like) . A slot may be configured with a link direction (e.g., downlink or uplink) for transmission. In some aspects, the link direction for a slot may be dynamically configured.

As indicated above, Fig. 3 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to Fig. 3.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example 400 of using a sensing resource configuration, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

A UE may use short range radar sensing with dedicated radar sensors for some applications. For example, a smartwatch or an in-car dashboard may detect hand gestures with radar sensing for receiving operational commands from a user. Radar sensing may use mmWave signals with a high bandwidth and a large aperture to extract accurate range, velocity, and/or angle information for radar imaging. Sub-6 GHz bands may also be used for radar-based applications on a mobile device.

Example 400 shows a UE transmitting sensing (e.g., radar) signals with a predefined waveform (e.g., frequency modulated continuous wave) or as a pulse. An action (e.g., a hand gesture) may reflect some of the sensing signals. Sensing chips at the UE may receive the reflected signals over a time duration, and the UE may process the reflected signals (e.g., via a fast Fourier transform (FFT) ) . The UE may correlate the reflected signals with the transmitted sensing signals to determine a range, a velocity (Doppler) , and/or angle information, which may change during the time duration. The UE may classify the range, velocity, and/or angle information as a radar image that corresponds to a particular action. The particular action may control operation of the UE or another device via the UE. In some aspects, the UE may set up hand gesture recognition using initial set up prompts, calibrations, machine learning, artificial learning, and/or the like.

The UE may use antennas and radio frequency chains for communication in both sub-6 GHz bands (FR1) and mmWave bands (FR2) . If the UE is able to share the antennas and radio frequency chains with short range radar applications, no additional front-end hardware may be needed at extra cost. However, a UE cannot communicate with a gNB or another UE while sensing hand gestures in the same NR bands. If the gNB is unaware of a dynamic use of resources by the UE for sensing signals, communications from the gNB may fail. Communication failures may cause time, power, processing resources, and signaling resources to be wasted.

As indicated above, Fig. 4 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with regard to Fig. 4.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example 500 of using a sensing resource configuration, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

According to various aspects described herein, a base station (e.g., gNB) may generate a sensing resource configuration that configures the UE to use one or more sensing signal resources. The sensing signal resources may include one or more time domain resources (e.g., symbols, slots, and/or the like) . The sensing signal resources may also include one or more frequency domain resources, such as one or more bandwidths defined across one or more component carriers.

The sensing resource configuration may indicate a periodicity, starting position (offset) , and/or duration for a sensing burst. Example 500 shows a sensing burst with multiple pulses. The sensing burst may have, for example, a periodicity of 10 ms, an offset of 4 ms, and a duration of 250 microseconds (e.g., 2 slots for an SCS of 120 kHz) . Within a sensing burst, time units for sensing signal transmissions may be symbol level, represented by, for example, a symbol-level bitmap. Unused symbols may be used for uplink or sidelink transmissions. The uplink or sidelink transmissions may use different frequency domain resources than sensing signal transmissions.

In some aspects, the UE may prioritize downlink communications such that scheduled resources (e.g., symbols, slots) for downlink communications from a gNB (or from another UE) are not overridden for sensing signal transmissions (e.g., frequency division multiplexing of sensing and communication is not supported) . The UE may also prioritize sensing signal transmissions over uplink or sidelink transmissions. For example, the UE may schedule an uplink or sidelink communication for transmission in some resources but, depending on a priority of the uplink or sidelink communication, the UE may use the resources for transmitting a sensing signal for a short radar application and may drop the uplink or sidelink communication. As a result of using a sensing resource configuration, the UE avoids communication failures and conserves time, power, processing resources, and signaling resources that would otherwise be consumed in relation to communication failures.

As indicated above, Fig. 5 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with regard to Fig. 5.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example 600 of using a sensing resource configuration, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 6, example 600 includes communication between BS 610 (e.g., a BS 110 depicted in Figs. 1 and 2) and a UE 620 (e.g., a UE 120 depicted in Figs. 1 and 2) . In some aspects, BS 610 and UE 620 may be included in a wireless network, such as wireless network 100. BS 610 and UE 620 may communicate on a wireless access link, which may include an uplink and a downlink. UE 620 may also communicate with other UEs on a sidelink.

As shown by reference number 630, BS 610 may generate a sensing resource configuration indicating uplink and/or sidelink resources that are to be sensing transmission resources. In some aspects, BS 610 may indicate a general allocation of resources for sensing transmissions in the sensing resource configuration. In some aspects, BS 610 may indicate resources in the sensing resource configuration that are more specific to an application, a UE capability, a network topology, and/or whether communications are used for uplink communications, sidelink communications, or downlink communications. As shown by reference number 635, BS 610 may transmit the sensing resource configuration to UE 620. BS 610 may transmit the sensing resource configuration via a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) , a medium access control control element (MAC CE) , downlink control information (DCI) , a radio resource control (RRC) message, and/or a higher layer protocol than RRC.

As shown by reference number 640, UE 620 may determine uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on the sensing resource configuration. As shown by reference number 645, UE 620 may transmit sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources. The sensing signals may be used by UE 620 to detect movements or hand gestures for a radar-based application.

In some aspects, UE 620 may transmit a sensing request to BS 610 for resources for sensing signal transmissions. The sensing request may indicate specific resources that may be associated with the sensing resource configuration (or other resources) . BS 610 may grant the sensing request (e.g., via DCI, a MAC CE, an RRC message, and/or the like) , reject the sensing request, or provide different resources in response to the sensing request. The application at UE 620 may wait for the grant. In some aspects, UE 620 may act to use resources for sensing signal transmissions without an explicit grant from BS 610. In some aspects, UE 620 may transmit a release request (e.g., via a PUCCH, a MAC CE, an RRC message, and/or the like) to release resources for sensing signal transmissions. Releasing the resources may enable more resources for communications. BS 610 may release the resources in response to the release request.

In some aspects, the sensing resource configuration may indicate a time duration for sensing signal resources. Upon expiration of the time duration, UE 620 may determine that the sensing signal resources have been released for communications. BS 610 may indicate the time duration in a grant of the sensing signal resources. In some aspects, UE 620 may transmit an extension request to extend the time duration for the sensing signal resources. BS 610 may grant, reject, or modify the extension request. BS 610 may indicate approval of the extension request in DCI, group DCI, a MAC CE, an RRC message, and/or the like.

As indicated above, Fig. 6 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with regard to Fig. 6.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example process 700 performed, for example, by a UE, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Example process 700 is an example where the UE (e.g., a UE 120 depicted in Figs. 1 and 2, UE 620 depicted in Fig. 6, and/or the like) performs operations associated with a sensing resource configuration.

As shown in Fig. 7, in some aspects, process 700 may include determining one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a sensing resource configuration (block 710) . For example, the UE (e.g., using antenna 252, demodulator 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, modulator 254, controller/processor 280, and/or memory 282) may determine one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a sensing resource configuration, as described above.

As further shown in Fig. 7, in some aspects, process 700 may include transmitting one or more sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources (block 720) . For example, the UE (e.g., using antenna 252, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, modulator 254, controller/processor 280, and/or memory 282) may transmit one or more sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources, as described above.

Process 700 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and/or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a first aspect, the sensing transmission resources include one or more frequency bandwidths of one or more component carriers.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the sensing transmission resources include one or more of a duration, an offset, or a sensing burst transmission transmitted according to a periodicity.

In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, determining the one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be the sensing transmission resources includes determining the sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a symbol bitmap that is indicated by the sensing resource configuration.

In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through third aspects, unused symbols of the symbol bitmap indicate one or more of uplink resources that are available for communication with a base station, or sidelink resources that are available for communication with a second UE.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fourth aspects, process 700 includes prioritizing downlink communications over sensing transmissions.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fifth aspects, process 700 includes prioritizing sensing transmissions over uplink communications.

In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through sixth aspects, process 700 includes transmitting a request for the sensing transmission resources or for releasing the sensing transmission resources via a PUCCH, a MAC CE, or an RRC message.

In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through seventh aspects, process 700 includes receiving a grant for the sensing transmission resources or for releasing the sensing transmission resources via one of DCI, a MAC CE, or an RRC message.

In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through eighth aspects, process 700 includes releasing the sensing transmission resources upon expiration of a time duration for the sensing transmission resources.

In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through ninth aspects, process 700 includes transmitting a request to extend the time duration.

In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through tenth aspects, process 700 includes extending the time duration based at least in part on receiving a grant to extend the time duration.

In a twelfth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through eleventh aspects, process 700 includes receiving the sensing resource configuration from a base station.

Although Fig. 7 shows example blocks of process 700, in some aspects, process 700 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in Fig. 7. Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 700 may be performed in parallel.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example process 800 performed, for example, by a base station, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Example process 800 is an example where the base station (e.g., base station 110 depicted in Figs. 1 and 2, BS 610 depicted in Fig. 6, and/or the like) performs operations associated with providing a sensing resource configuration.

As shown in Fig. 8, in some aspects, process 800 may include generating a sensing resource configuration indicating one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources for a UE (block 810) . For example, the base station (e.g., using transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, modulator 232, antenna 234, demodulator 232, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, memory 242, and/or scheduler 246) may generate a sensing resource configuration indicating one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources for a UE, as described above.

As further shown in Fig. 8, in some aspects, process 800 may include transmitting the sensing resource configuration to the UE (block 820) . For example, the base station (e.g., using transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, modulator 232, antenna 234, controller/processor 240, memory 242, and/or scheduler 246) may transmit the sensing resource configuration to the UE, as described above.

Process 800 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and/or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, the sensing resource configuration includes a symbol bitmap that indicates the one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be the sensing transmission resources.

In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through third aspects, unused symbols of the symbol bitmap indicate one or more of uplink resources that are available for communication with the base station, or sidelink resources that are available for communication with a second UE.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fourth aspects, process 800 includes granting a request for the sensing transmission resources or for releasing the sensing transmission resources based at least in part on receiving the request from the UE.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fifth aspects, process 800 includes granting an extension of a time duration for the sensing transmission resources based at least in part on receiving a request for the extension.

Although Fig. 8 shows example blocks of process 800, in some aspects, process 800 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in Fig. 8. Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 800 may be performed in parallel.

The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the aspects to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations may be made in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of the aspects.

As used herein, the term “component” is intended to be broadly construed as hardware, firmware, and/or a combination of hardware and software. As used herein, a processor is implemented in hardware, firmware, and/or a combination of hardware and software. It will be apparent that systems and/or methods described herein may be implemented in different forms of hardware, firmware, and/or a combination of hardware and software. The actual specialized control hardware or software code used to implement these systems and/or methods is not limiting of the aspects. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and/or methods were described herein without reference to specific software code-it being understood that software and hardware can be designed to implement the systems and/or methods based, at least in part, on the description herein.

As used herein, satisfying a threshold may, depending on the context, refer to a value being greater than the threshold, greater than or equal to the threshold, less than the threshold, less than or equal to the threshold, equal to the threshold, not equal to the threshold, and/or the like.

Even though particular combinations of features are recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are not intended to limit the disclosure of various aspects. In fact, many of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification. Although each dependent claim listed below may directly depend on only one claim, the disclosure of various aspects includes each dependent claim in combination with every other claim in the claim set. A phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination with multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or any other ordering of a, b, and c) .

No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed as critical or essential unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the articles “a” and “an” are intended to include one or more items and may be used interchangeably with “one or more. ” Further, as used herein, the article “the” is intended to include one or more items referenced in connection with the article “the” and may be used interchangeably with “the one or more. ” Furthermore, as used herein, the terms “set” and “group” are intended to include one or more items (e.g., related items, unrelated items, a combination of related and unrelated items, and/or the like) , and may be used interchangeably with “one or more. ” Where only one item is intended, the phrase “only one” or similar language is used. Also, as used herein, the terms “has, ” “have, ” “having, ” and/or the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise. Also, as used herein, the term “or” is intended to be inclusive when used in a series and may be used interchangeably with “and/or, ” unless explicitly stated otherwise (e.g., if used in combination with “either” or “only one of” ) .

Claims

A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) , comprising:

determining one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a sensing resource configuration; and

transmitting one or more sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources.
The method of claim 1, wherein the sensing transmission resources include one or more frequency bandwidths of one or more component carriers.
The method of claim 1, wherein the sensing transmission resources include one or more of a duration, an offset, or a sensing burst transmission transmitted according to a periodicity.
The method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be the sensing transmission resources includes determining the sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a symbol bitmap that is indicated by the sensing resource configuration.
The method of claim 4, wherein unused symbols of the symbol bitmap indicate one or more of uplink resources that are available for communication with a base station, or sidelink resources that are available for communication with a second UE.
The method of claim 1, further comprising prioritizing downlink communications over sensing transmissions.
The method of claim 1, further comprising prioritizing sensing transmissions over uplink communications.
The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a request for the sensing transmission resources or for releasing the sensing transmission resources via a physical uplink control channel, a medium access control control element, or a radio resource control message.
The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a grant for the sensing transmission resources or for releasing the sensing transmission resources via one of downlink control information, a medium access control control element, or a radio resource control message.
The method of claim 1, further comprising releasing the sensing transmission resources upon expiration of a time duration for the sensing transmission resources.
The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting a request to extend the time duration.
The method of claim 11, further comprising extending the time duration based at least in part on receiving a grant to extend the time duration.
The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the sensing resource configuration from a base station.
A method of wireless communication performed by a base station, comprising:

generating a sensing resource configuration indicating one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources for a user equipment (UE) ; and

transmitting the sensing resource configuration to the UE.
The method of claim 14, wherein the sensing transmission resources include one or more frequency bandwidths of one or more component carriers.
The method of claim 14, wherein the sensing transmission resources include one or more of a duration, an offset, or a sensing burst transmission transmitted according to a periodicity.
The method of claim 14, wherein the sensing resource configuration includes a symbol bitmap that indicates the one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be the sensing transmission resources.
The method of claim 17, wherein unused symbols of the symbol bitmap indicate one or more of uplink resources that are available for communication with the base station, or sidelink resources that are available for communication with a second UE.
The method of claim 14, further comprising granting a request for the sensing transmission resources or for releasing the sensing transmission resources based at least in part on receiving the request from the UE.
The method of claim 14, further comprising granting an extension of a time duration for the sensing transmission resources based at least in part on receiving a request for the extension.
A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors configured to:

determine one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a sensing resource configuration; and

transmit one or more sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources.
The UE of claim 21, wherein the sensing transmission resources include one or more frequency bandwidths of one or more component carriers.
The UE of claim 21, wherein the sensing transmission resources include one or more of a duration, an offset, or a sensing burst transmission transmitted according to a periodicity.
The UE of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors, when determining the one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be the sensing transmission resources, are configured to determine the sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a symbol bitmap that is indicated by the sensing resource configuration.
The UE of claim 24, wherein unused symbols of the symbol bitmap indicate one or more of uplink resources that are available for communication with a base station, or sidelink resources that are available for communication with a second UE.
The UE of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to prioritize downlink communications over sensing transmissions.
The UE of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to prioritize sensing transmissions over uplink communications.
The UE of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit a request for the sensing transmission resources or for releasing the sensing transmission resources via a physical uplink control channel, a medium access control control element, or a radio resource control message.
The UE of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive a grant for the sensing transmission resources or for releasing the sensing transmission resources via one of downlink control information, a medium access control control element, or a radio resource control message.
The UE of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to release the sensing transmission resources upon expiration of a time duration for the sensing transmission resources.
The UE of claim 30, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit a request to extend the time duration.
The UE of claim 31, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to extend the time duration based at least in part on receiving a grant to extend the time duration.
The UE of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive the sensing resource configuration from a base station.
A base station for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors configured to:

generate a sensing resource configuration indicating one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources for a user equipment (UE) ; and

transmit the sensing resource configuration to the UE.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication, the set of instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) , cause the UE to:

determine one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a sensing resource configuration; and

transmit one or more sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication, the set of instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a base station, cause the base station to:

generate a sensing resource configuration indicating one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources for a user equipment (UE) ; and

transmit the sensing resource configuration to the UE.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for determining one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources based at least in part on a sensing resource configuration; and

means for transmitting one or more sensing signals on the sensing transmission resources.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for generating a sensing resource configuration indicating one or more of uplink or sidelink resources to be sensing transmission resources for a user equipment (UE) ; and

means for transmitting the sensing resource configuration to the UE.