WO2023178695A1

WO2023178695A1 - Method, device and computer readable medium for communications

Info

Publication number: WO2023178695A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/083181
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gang Wang
Original assignee: Nec Corporation
Priority date: 2022-03-25
Filing date: 2022-03-25
Publication date: 2023-09-28

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, devices and computer readable media for management of Cross Link Interference (CLI) management. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a first network device receives a Cross Link Interference (CLI) measurement configuration for a CLI measurement at the first network device having a full-duplex mode from a second network device. The CLI measurement configuration indicates a communication resource for the CLI measurement. The first network device transmits the CLI measurement configuration to a terminal device for avoiding occupancy of the communication resource in a Uplink (UL) transmission by the terminal device. The first network device performs a measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement based on the CLI measurement configuration.

Description

METHOD, DEVICE AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR COMMUNICATIONS

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method, device and computer readable medium for Cross Link Interference (CLI) management.

BACKGROUND

With development of the communication technology, network devices have been designed to operate in a full-duplex mode to improve the communication efficiency. In the duplex communication mode, the network devices may transmit downlink data transmission and receive uplink data transmission simultaneously. Accordingly, there may be a situation that a terminal device receives a downlink data transmission from a network device and an uplink data transmission from another terminal device to the network device, simultaneously. That is, CLI may be occurred if there are different traffics/signals/channels in the same/neighboring communication (s) . Conventionally, the network device eliminates the CLI between terminal devices by negotiating a ratio of uplink and downlink data transmission. However, there also may be CLI occurred between network devices operating in the duplex communication mode. For example, there may be a situation that a network device receives an uplink data transmission from a terminal device and a downlink data transmission from its own which being reflected by surrounding objects. In the case that the CLI being existed at terminal devices side and network devices side, the determination of the CLI level on a communication resource is a key aspect.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, devices and computer readable media for communications.

In a first aspect, there is provided a method implemented at a first network device. In the method, a first network device receives a Cross Link Interference (CLI) measurement configuration for a CLI measurement at the first network device having a full-duplex mode from a second network device. The CLI measurement configuration indicates a communication resource for the CLI measurement. The first network device transmits the CLI measurement configuration to a terminal device for avoiding occupancy of the communication resource in an Uplink (UL) transmission by the terminal device. The first network device performs a measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement based on the CLI measurement configuration.

In a second aspect, there is provided a method implemented at a terminal device. In the method, the terminal device receives a Cross Link Interference (CLI) measurement configuration for a CLI measurement at the first network device having a full-duplex mode from a first network device. The CLI measurement configuration indicates a communication resource for the CLI measurement. The terminal device selects an Uplink (UL) transmission resource based on the CLI measurement configuration. The terminal device performs a UL transmission based on the selected UL transmission resource.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method implemented by a second network device. In the method, the second network device transmits a Cross Link Interference (CLI) measurement configuration for a CLI measurement at the first network device having a full-duplex mode to a first network device. The CLI measurement configuration indicates a communication resource for the CLI measurement. The second network device performs a transmission to the first network device on the communication resource for the CLI measurement based on the CLI measurement configuration.

In an fourth aspect, there is provided a network device. The network device comprises a processor and a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the network device to perform the method of any one of the first aspect to the first aspect and the third aspect.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device comprises a processor and a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the terminal device to perform the method of the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method of any one of the first aspect to the third aspect.

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

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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

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

FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling process of the CLI measurement management according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) -Time Division Duplex (TDD) Downlink (DL) -Uplink (UL) slot configuration according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example configuration of uplink subband resource for the CLI measurement according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a slot structure for Reference Signal (RS) transmission in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a Resource Block (RB) level rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates Resource Element (RE) level rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of CLI measurement configuration comprising guard resource in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of rate matching patterns or puncturing patterns indicated in a group common Downlink Control Information (DCI) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of CLI-RS communication resource configuration in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of CLI-RS communication resource configuration in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a first network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a second network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 15 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

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

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

As used herein, the term ‘terminal device’ refers to any device having wireless or wired communication capabilities. Examples of the terminal device include, but not limited to, user equipment (UE) , personal computers, desktops, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) , portable computers, tablets, wearable devices, internet of things (IoT) devices, Ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) devices, Internet of Everything (IoE) devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, device on vehicle for V2X communication where X means pedestrian, vehicle, or infrastructure/network, devices for Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) , Small Data Transmission (SDT) , mobility, Multicast and Broadcast Services (MBS) , positioning, dynamic/flexible duplex in commercial networks, reduced capability (RedCap) , Space borne vehicles or Air borne vehicles in Non-terrestrial networks (NTN) including Satellites and High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) encompassing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) , eXtended Reality (XR) devices including different types of realities such as Augmented Reality (AR) , Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) , the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) commonly known as a drone which is an aircraft without any human pilot, devices on high speed train (HST) , or image capture devices such as digital cameras, sensors, gaming devices, music storage and playback appliances, or Internet appliances enabling wireless or wired Internet access and browsing and the like. The ‘terminal device’ can further has ‘multicast/broadcast’ feature, to support public safety and mission critical, V2X applications, transparent IPv4/IPv6 multicast delivery, IPTV, smart TV, radio services, software delivery over wireless, group communications and IoT applications. It may also incorporated one or multiple Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) as known as Multi-SIM. The term “terminal device” can be used interchangeably with a UE, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile terminal, a user terminal or a wireless device.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a device which is capable of providing or hosting a cell or coverage where terminal devices can communicate. Examples of a network device include, but not limited to, a Node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a next generation NodeB (gNB) , a transmission reception point (TRP) , a remote radio unit (RRU) , a radio head (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , an IAB node, a low power node such as a femto node, a pico node, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) , Network-controlled Repeaters, and the like.

The terminal device or the network device may have Artificial intelligence (AI) or Machine learning capability. It generally includes a model which has been trained from numerous collected data for a specific function, and can be used to predict some information. The terminal or the network device may work on several frequency ranges, e.g. FR1 (410 MHz –7125 MHz) , FR2 (24.25 GHz to 71 GHz) , 71 GHz to 114 GHz, and frequency band larger than 100 GHz as well as Tera Hertz (THz) . It can further work on licensed/unlicensed/shared spectrum. The terminal device may have more than one connections with the network devices under Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) application scenario. The terminal device or the network device can work on full duplex, flexible duplex and cross division duplex modes.

The network device may have the function of network energy saving, Self-Organizing Networks (SON) /Minimization of Drive Tests (MDT) . The terminal may have the function of power saving.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed in test equipment, e.g. signal generator, signal analyzer, spectrum analyzer, network analyzer, test terminal device, test network device, channel emulator.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed according to any generation communication protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the communication protocols include, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, 5.5G, 5G-Advanced networks, or the sixth generation (6G) networks.

In one embodiment, the terminal device may be connected with a first network device and a second network device. One of the first network device and the second network device may be a master node and the other one may be a secondary node. The first network device and the second network device may use different radio access technologies (RATs) . In one embodiment, the first network device may be a first RAT device and the second network device may be a second RAT device. In one embodiment, the first RAT device is eNB and the second RAT device is gNB. Information related with different RATs may be transmitted to the terminal device from at least one of the first network device and the second network device. In one embodiment, first information may be transmitted to the terminal device from the first network device and second information may be transmitted to the terminal device from the second network device directly or via the first network device. In one embodiment, information related with configuration for the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted from the second network device via the first network device. Information related with reconfiguration for the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted to the terminal device from the second network device directly or via the first network device.

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

In some examples, values, procedures, or apparatus are referred to as ‘best, ’ ‘lowest, ’ ‘highest, ’ ‘minimum, ’ ‘maximum, ’ or the like. It will be appreciated that such descriptions are intended to indicate that a selection among many used functional alternatives can be made, and such selections need not be better, smaller, higher, or otherwise preferable to other selections.

The term “circuitry” used herein may refer to hardware circuits and/or combinations of hardware circuits and software. For example, the circuitry may be a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuits with software/firmware. As a further example, the circuitry may be any portions of hardware processors with software including digital signal processor (s) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a terminal device or a network device, to perform various functions. In a still further example, the circuitry may be hardware circuits and or processors, such as a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor, that requires software/firmware for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation. As used herein, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (s) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor (s) and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware.

As mentioned above, the CLI may be also occurred between different network devices operating in the full-duplex mode. One solution for the management of the CLI between network devices having full-duplex mode is that the network devices negotiates the UL-DL transmission configuration with each other. However, there is no mechanism for configuring the CLI measurement of the network device having full-duplex mode to manage the CLI. Further, how to ensure the accuracy of CLI measurement is also a problem to be solved.

The example embodiments of the disclosure propose a mechanism for the CLI management. In this mechanism, network devices negotiate the communication resources for the CLI measurement with each other and the communication resources is informed to the terminal device for avoiding occupancy the communication resources by the uplink transmission. Specifically, a first network device receives a CLI measurement configuration for a CLI measurement at the first network device having a full-duplex mode from a second network device. The CLI measurement configuration indicates a communication resource for the CLI measurement. Then, the first network device transmits the CLI measurement configuration to a terminal device for avoiding an occupancy of the communication resource in a UL transmission by the terminal device. The first network device performs a measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement based on the CLI measurement configuration. The first network device may perform the measurement on the communication resource or a CLI-Reference Signal (RS) transmitted on the communication resource. After performing the measurement on the communication resource indicated by the CLI measurement configuration, the network device may have the knowledge related to the CLI condition of the communication resources. Further, the network device may schedule the uplink transmission of the terminal device or negotiate with other network devices to management the CLI.

In this way, with reserving the communication resources for CLI measurement, the network devices having full-duplex mode can accurately obtain the CLI level associated with the communication resources, in order to optimizing the CLI management.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented.

The environment 100, which may be a part of a communication network, comprises a first network device 110, a second network device 120, a terminal device 130, a terminal device 140 and a terminal device 150. The first network device 110 and second network device 120 may operate in full-duplex mode. For example, in some situations, the network device 110 may receive an uplink data transmission from the terminal device 130 and transmit a downlink data transmission to the terminal device 140 simultaneously. Further, when the first terminal device 110 receiving the uplink transmission from the terminal devices, the first terminal device 110 may also receive the downlink transmissions, as the CLI signals, from the second network device 120 towards terminal devices.

It is to be understood that the number of terminal devices and network device is shown in the environment 100 only for the purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitation to the scope of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the environment 100 may comprise a further terminal device to communicate information with a further network device.

The communications in the environment 100 may follow any suitable communication standards or protocols, which are already in existence or to be developed in the future, such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) , long term evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , the fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) , Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) standards, and employs any suitable communication technologies, including, for example, Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) , Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) , time division multiplexing (TDM) , frequency division multiplexing (FDM) , code division multiplexing (CDM) , Bluetooth, ZigBee, and machine type communication (MTC) , enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) , massive machine type communication (mMTC) , ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) , Carrier Aggregation (CA) , Dual Connection (DC) , and New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) technologies.

FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling process 200 of the CLI measurement management according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For purpose of discussion, the process 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

In the signaling process 200, the first network device 110 receives (210) a Cross Link Interference (CLI) measurement configuration for a CLI measurement at the first network device from the second network device 120. The CLI measurement configuration indicates a communication resource for the CLI measurement.

In some embodiments, the CLI measurement configuration may comprises a measurement resource configuration, and the measurement resource configuration indicates a first plurality of communication resources for the CLI measurement. The first network device 110 may determine the CLI level associated with a communication resource of the first plurality of communication resources by measuring the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) associated with the communication resource.

In addition or alternatively, the CLI measurement configuration may comprise a CLI RS configuration, and the CLI RS configuration indicates a second plurality of communication resources for a transmission of a CLI RS. In this case, the first network device 110 may determine the CLI level associated with a communication resource of the second plurality of communication resources by measuring a Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) of the respective RS transmitted on the communication resource.

In some embodiments, the first network device 110 may receive the CLI measurement configuration by receiving a FDD-TDD DL-UL configuration from the second network device 120. For example, the FDD-TDD DL-UL implicitly indicates the communication resources for the CLI measurement to the first terminal device 110. The first network device 110 may derive the communication resources for the CLI measurement from the FDD-TDD DL-UL configuration. With reference to FIG. 3, the example embodiments related to deriving the communication resources for the CLI measurement from the FDD-TDD DL-UL are discussed in detail.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) -Time Division Duplex (TDD) Downlink (DL) -Uplink (UL) slot configuration 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As illustrated, the FDD-TDD DL-UL slot configuration may indicate a first structure of a TDD slot comprising DL symbols, UL symbols and Flexible symbols, a second structure of a FDD slot comprising DL subbands, UL subbands and Flexible subbands, a TDD slot index identifying a respective TDD slot and a FDD slot identifying a respective FDD slot.

In some embodiments, the first terminal device 110 may receive the FDD-TDD DL-UL slot configuration from the second terminal device 120 directly or via Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) . In some embodiments, the FDD-TDD DL-UL Configuration for a carrier may be included in a DUPLEX CLI MANAGEMENT message, the first terminal device 110 may take the configuration information into account for cross-link interference management with the second network device 120.

The first network device 110 may consider the TDD/FDD attribute of each slot in the received FDD-TDD DL-UL configuration. From the FDD-TDD DL-UL slot configuration, the first network device 110 may implicitly determine communication resources for the CLI measurement. For example, since the uplink transmission resources may be collided with the downlink transmission from the second network device 120, the first terminal device 110 may consider all the UL symbols 310 in the TDD slots and UL subbands in the FDD slots in the FDD-TDD DL-UL slot configuration as the communication resources for the CLI measurement. In another example, the first terminal device 110 may consider all the UL symbols in the TDD slots as the communication resources for the CLI measurement. In a yet example, the first terminal device 110 may consider a part of the UL symbols in the TDD slots and a part of UL subbands in the FDD slots which are predefined as the communication resources for the CLI measurement. In a further example, the first terminal device 110 may consider all the UL subbands in the FDD slots as the communication resources for the CLI measurement.

Referring back to FIG. 2, in some embodiments, the communication resources indicated by the CLI measurement configuration for the CLI measurement may have various resource forms. For example, the communication resource for the CLI measurement may comprise a set of periodic transmission slots, a plurality of predetermined transmission slots. For example, the transmission periodic and the offset of the communication resources may be configured by the OAM or exchanged between the first terminal device 110 and the second terminal device 120. In an example, the periodicity is one value of among the periodicity set (i.e. {5ms, 10ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms, 160ms, 320ms, 640ms} . In a further example, the communication resources comprises predefined slots, such as the slots identified by the slot indexes 2n, 4n, 5n, 9n and so on, n is a positive integer. In a further example, the CLI measurement or the CLI-RS transmission on the communication resources can be implicitly turned on/off based on the measured signal quality or signal power. Such as if the measured/reported signal quality or signal power is higher than a threshold, then it is not necessary to transmission/measure the slot for the CLI measurement in a further time duration. The embodiments related to turning on/off the CLI measurement or the CLI-RS transmission on the communication resources will be discussed in detail in the following.

In addition or alternatively, in some embodiments, the communication resource for the CLI measurement may comprise a bandwidth part (BWP) of a UL period in a TDD slot, a predetermined part of the bandwidth part or a subband for UL transmission in a FDD slot. For example, for TDD UL-only slot (for example, UL 310 in FIG. 3) , the bandwidth the communication resource for the CLI measurement may be the whole BWP/carrier.

In addition to the whole BWP/carrier, the bandwidth of the communication resource for the CLI measurement or the bandwidth on which the CLI-RS can be transmitted on may be smaller than the BWP/carrier, such as 20MHz, 10MHz, 5MHz, 20 PRB, and some subband in some slot should be predefined or configured to transmit the communication resources for the CLI measurement. For example, if the CLI measurement configuration comprises the CLI RS configuration, there are some transmission patterns should be defined for CLI measurement. In an example, a sequence can be defined for each subband to finish the CLI measurement for all the subbands. For example, the measurement sequence of each subband can be subbands: {0, 1, 2, 3} or {0, 2, 3, 1} .

For the FDD slot, the bandwidth of the communication resource for the CLI measurement may be equal to one of the subband bandwidth parts that used to UL transmission. In this case, the max number of communication resources that the first terminal device 110 needs to detect in one DL-UL period for interference measurement is equal to the UL subband number in one DL-UL period. In addition, if the UL subband is not continuous in frequency, the communication resources for the CLI measurement may comprise different UL subbands, or CLI-RS may be transmitted on different UL subbands.

As discussed above, the communication resources indicated by the CLI measurement configuration for the CLI measurement may comprise the subband for UL transmission in a FDD slot. In some embodiments, the subbands for the CLI measurement in the FDD slot may be dynamically changed. For example, different subbands may be used for CLI measurement at different time occasions.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example configuration 400 of uplink subband resource for the CLI measurement according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the configuration 400, the subbands with shadow may be used for measuring the CLI between the first network device 110 and the second network device 120. Specifically, the CLI-RS may be transmitted on different UL subband in turns in different time occasions for the network devices to perform the subband CLI measurement. In addition, some UL subband is blanked by TDM to balance the measurement and UL transmission resource/latency, and this pattern should be indicated to terminal devices for performing the selection of UL resources.

The above subbands are UL subbands on the FDD slot. In addition or alternatively, a TDD UL slot may be divided into multiple UL subbands. In this case, for reducing/avoiding the UL subband interference to CLI-RS, some guardband should be configured between the subband for the CLI-RS transmission slot.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the first network device 110 transmits (220) the CLI measurement configuration to the terminal device 130 for avoiding occupancy of the communication resource in a UL transmission by the terminal device 130. In some embodiments, the first 110 transmits the CLI measurement configuration to all the terminal devices served by the first device 110. In some embodiments, the first network device 110 transmits the CLI measurement configuration to the terminal device 130 in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

In some embodiments, the first network device 110 may forward the FDD-TDD UL-DL configuration to the terminal device 130. Similarly, the terminal device 130 may also derive the communication resources for the CLI measurement from the FDD-TDD UL-DL configuration.

With the CLI measurement configuration, the terminal device 130 may understand which communication resources will be used for performing the CLI measurement. For ensuring the accuracy of the CLI measurement, the terminal device 130 should avoid using the communication resource indicated by the CLI measurement configuration at the same time. For example, the terminal device 130 may select the resources other than the indicated communication resources for the UL transmission.

For the communication resources indicated in the CLI measurement configuration, a dedicated slot structure may be predefined. This dedicated slot structure may be used for transmitting CLI RS (s) .

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a slot structure 500 for Reference Signal (RS) transmission in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the slot structure 500, the communication resource for the CLI measurement may comprise a first part for the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) , a second part for the CLI-RS, a third part for a Guard Period (GP) and a fourth part for the UL transmission from the terminal device 130.

Specifically, in this slot, the middle N (0<N<14) symbols is used for the second network device 120 transmitting CLI-RS. The symbols at the beginning of the slot can be used to transmit PDCCH for the terminal device 130, and the last symbols of the slot can be used to transmit PUCCH by the terminal device 130, and the GP is defined for DL-UL switching. Regarding the location of this slot structure 500, the first network device 110 may locate this slot structure 500 based on the CLI measurement configuration as discussed above, such as periodic occurrence, or the location can be exchanged between the network device. In some embodiments, the slot structure 500 may be comprised in a UL part in the TDD slot as shown in the FIG. 3.

With the slot structure 300, the terminal device 130 may understand the second part for the CLI-RS cannot be used for UL transmission or DL reception. In turn, the terminal device 130 may ignore this second part, such as performing no detection of DCI, performing no reception of DL transmission or DL measurement and report. The terminal device 130 also does not select the second part for UL transmission.

In addition, for ensuring the reliability of CLI measurement, the second network device 120 may perform the CLI-RS repetition transmission on the time duration in the slot structure 300. The repetition factor may be configured by OAM.

In addition or alternatively to the dedicated slot structure, the existing RS (s) designed for other measurement purposes (i.e. CQI/CSI) may be reused for CLI measurement. In this case, the communication resources for these existing RS (s) may not be used to other purpose, such as the original purposes for which the existing RS (s) is designed. At the terminal device 130 side, with the CLI resource configuration, the terminal device 130 can determine which existing RS (s) are reused for the CLI measurement. Then, the terminal device 130 should not use these existing RS (s) for original measurement purposes.

In an example, NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet 1 is defined to be used for CLI measurement, and there are m CLI-RS resources in this set. Specifically, the number of CLI-RS resources in TDD slot is N and the number of CSI-RS resources in FDD slot is M. In a resource configuration pattern, each CSI-RS resource is one port with the density-3. And the occupied whole PRBs of the RSs in this slot are equal to the whole UL bandwidth. The resource configuration pattern is further illustrated with reference rating matching pattern or puncturing pattern in the following.

In some situations, the communication resources may be overlapped/collided with the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource configured for the terminal device 130. For this situation, the first network device 110 may configure other PRACH resource (s) to the terminal device, in order to the terminal device 130 to perform the PRACH transmission. For example, the first network device 110 may further transmit the PRACH reconfiguration in System Information Block (SIB) 1 to the terminal device 130.

In addition or alternatively, the first network device 110 may configure a plurality of PRACH resources to the terminal device 130. For example, multiple PRACH configurations may be configured to the terminal device 130, for example, one configuration may have a short PRACH duration, this configuration may be used for the case that no CLI-RS transmitted, and another configuration may have a long PRACH duration, the other configuration may be used for during a CLI-RS transmission slot in order to enhance robustness. The first network device 110 may indicate which configuration to be used. For example, according to the CLI-RS transmission time, the first network device 110 may inform a terminal device which PRACH configuration can be used through a sequence or the SIB.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the second network device 120 performs (230) a downlink transmission on the communication resources indicated by the CLI measurement configuration. Accordingly, the first network device 110 performs (230) a measurement on the communication resources for the CLI measurement based on the CLI measurement configuration.

Given that the terminal devices, for example, the terminal device 130, has been informed the CLI measurement configuration, the terminal device 130 should not select the communication resources for the CLI measurement to perform the UL transmission. As such, the first network device 110 may perform the CLI measurement without interference from the terminal devices. In this way, the first terminal device 110 may obtain accurate CLI levels associated with the communication resources and eliminate the CLI using any known operations.

Referring back to FIG. 2, in the ideal conditions, the CLI level can be determined accurately with the above scheme. However, since the spectrum dispersion, multipath effect and any other potential reasons, the overlapping of the communication resource for the CLI measurement and UL resources used by a terminal device may be also occurred (250) during the CLI measurement. In this case, the first network device 110 transmits (260) a DCI indicating the overlapped/collided communication resources to the terminal device. The DCI may instruct the terminal device to perform a rate matching or puncturing operation with respect to the overlapped/collided communication resources for the CLI measurement.

In the case that the communication resources for the CLI measurement are overlapped/collided with UL transmission resources, the associated terminal devices, for example the terminal device 130, may be indicated to perform the rate matching or puncturing. In some embodiments, the first network device 110 may transmit a rate matching indicator bit field in the DCI format 0_1, the rate matching indicator bit field instructs the terminal device 130 to perform a rate matching or puncturing operation with respect to the overlapped/collided communication resources for the CLI measurement.

The rate matching or puncturing pattern may comprise a Resource Block (RB) level rate matching or puncturing pattern and a Resource Element (RE) level rate matching or puncturing pattern.

FIG. 6 illustrates a Resource Block (RB) level rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern 600 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

For RB level rate matching or puncturing, all the REs of the indicated RB for the CLI measurement are disabled transmission for the associated terminal devices. For example, although the black blocks are the communication resources for the CLI measurement, the whole RB (the blocks with slash) is disabled for the associated terminal devices.

In some embodiments, subband index or subband bitmap method can be indicated to the associated terminal devices for performing the RB level rate matching or puncturing. In some embodiments, a Start and Length Indicator (SLIV) method for Symbol-level indication (e.g. starting OFDM Symbol and ending OFDM Symbol) and PRB level indication (e.g., starting PRB and ending PRB for the UL subband) can also be used with respect to the slot structure 300.

In addition or alternatively, different rate matching patterns may be configured per BWP, and the rate matching pattern may comprise a pair of bitmaps: a subband level bitmap and a symbol group level bitmap. Further, there may a rate matching pattern indicator of one bit, if a value of the rate matching pattern indicator equals to 0, the subband-symbol group resource is enabled and the symbol group level bitmap is disabled. Otherwise, the subband-symbol group resource is disabled and the symbol group level bitmap is enabled. In addition, there may be also an indicator for indicating the re-usage of the existing RS (s) as discussed above.

FIG. 7 illustrates Resource Element (RE) level rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern 700 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, a terminal device, for example the terminal device 130, may be configured with any of the following higher layer parameters for indicating communication resources for the CLI measurement: RateMatchingPattern or CLI-RS -ResourceSet (s) in a PUSCH-Configuration. In an example, a communication resource set for the CLI measurement may consists of a plurality of CLI-RS resources, each of the plurality of CLI-RS resources may be a NZP-CSI-RS resource or a SRS resource.

In the RE level rate matching pattern or puncturing pattern 700, the subband indexes can be indicated to the associated terminal devices to perform the rate matching or puncturing. In this case, only the indicated subband (RE) may be punctured. Alternatively, the rate matching operation may be performed only considering the subband (RE) rather than the whole RB, for example, as the black blocks in the rate matching pattern or puncturing pattern 700. In addition, in the case that the associated terminal devices are configured with multi-slot PUSCH scheduling, the CLI-RS is applied to all the slot (s) in the DCI grant (DG) -Configured Grant (CG) PUSCH.

In addition or alternatively, the CLI measurement configuration may comprise guard resources for the communication resources for the CLI measurement. In this case, the potential interference during the CLI measurement may be avoided in advance. For example, at the step 220 in FIG. 2, the first network device 110 forwards the CLI measurement configuration comprising guard resources to the third terminal device 130 via the RRC signaling.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of CLI measurement configuration 800 comprising guard resource in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the first network device 110 may configure the terminal device 130 guard resources via a new RRC parameter included in IE PUSCH-ConfigCommon. In some embodiments, the guard resources at least include the communication resources for the CLI measurement and some additional REs around the communication resources for the CLI measurement.

In some embodiments, as illustrated in the configuration 800, one or more PUSCH symbols and one or more REs around the CLI-RS resource may be configured to be blanked, and these blanked REs can be used as the guard resources. The terminal device 130 should perform the puncturing or rate matching operations with respect to these guard resources and the communication resources for CLI-RS transmission.

In addition or alternatively to the guard resources and the DCI format 0_1 specific to a terminal device, the first network device 110 may also transmit a group common DCI to a group of terminal devices. The group common DCI may instruct each terminal device in the group of terminal device to perform a respective rate matching pattern or a respective puncturing pattern.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of rate matching patterns or puncturing patterns 900 indicated in a group common Downlink Control Information (DCI) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

The UE-group common DCI may indicate a plurality of rate matching patterns or puncturing patterns, for example, rate matching pattern or puncturing pattern 1, rate matching pattern or puncturing pattern 2, and so no. Each of the plurality of rate matching patterns may be specific to a terminal device. For example, the rate matching pattern or puncturing pattern 1, for example rate matching pattern or puncturing pattern 910, may be specific to the terminal device 130, the rate matching pattern or puncturing pattern 2, for example rate matching pattern or puncturing pattern 920, may be specific to the terminal device 140 and the rate matching pattern or puncturing pattern 3, for example rate matching pattern or puncturing pattern 930, may be specific to the terminal device 150.

In an example, the first network device 110 transmits three DCIs scheduling three terminal devices, for example,

terminal devices

130, 140 and 150, on different frequencies. If the first network device 110 receives the CLI measurement configuration and determines that the communication resources for the CLI measurement are at least partly overlapped/collided with the UL transmission resources, the first network device 110 may transmit a group common DCI to these terminal devices to perform the rate matching or puncturing operations. Then, each of the terminal devices may perform a rate matching or puncturing operation specific to this terminal device. For example, the terminal device 130 may perform the rate matching or puncturing operation based on the rate matching pattern or puncturing pattern 910, the terminal device 140 may perform the rate matching or puncturing operation based on the rate matching pattern or puncturing pattern 920, and so on. In addition or alternatively, the first network device 110 may indicate, via the group common DCI, these terminal devices to perform Transmission Power Control (TPC) respectively.

As discussed above, the existing RS (s) may be reused for CLI measurement, in this case, the first network device 110 may transmit a DCI to the terminal devices for performing the rate matching or puncturing operations with respect to the existing RS (s) .

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of CLI-RS communication resource configuration 1000 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the configuration 100, the resource of UL Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) is reused for the CLI measurement. In some embodiments, one UL SRS resource may occupy multiple REs. As illustrated by the black blocks and the blocks with slash, the REs occupied by the SRS span 2 OFDM symbols, and the comb-2 configuration is applied to the REs, and this resource can be used for covering 4 Zero Power (ZP) CSI-RS resources with density-3 for CLI measurement.

In some embodiments, a SRS resource in a set of SRS resources may be used for transmit respective CLI RS (s) . For example, the SRS resource 1010 may be used to transmit CLI RS 1 and the SRS resource 1020 may be used to transmitCLI RS 2.

In some embodiments, depending on the comb configuration and the desity-n, the SRS resource 1010 may be used to transmit CLI RS 1, the SRS resource 1020 may be used to transmit CLI RS 2, the SRS resource 1030 may be used to transmit CLI RS 3, and the SRS resource 1040 may be used to transmit CLI RS 4.

In this way, some SRS resources are reserved for the CLI-RS transmission. In turn, these SRS resources cannot be used for the terminal device to transmit SRS. In this case, the terminal device may perform rate matching or puncturing operations with respect to these SRS resources.

In some embodiments, the SRS resources may be configured for the CLI-RS repetition transmission.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of CLI-RS communication resource configuration 1100 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As illustrated, the REs of SRS spanning 4 OFDM symbols and having comb-4 configuration are used to for the transmission of a CSI-RS with density-3 repetition factor=4. In this way, these SRS resources are reserved, and the terminal device should perform rate matching or puncturing operations with respect to these resources. In addition or alternatively, the first network device 110 may transmit a rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern for these SRS resources to the terminal devices.

Referring back to FIG. 2, with the RRC signaling comprising the CLI measurement configuration and the DCI signaling comprising rate matching or puncturing pattern, the first network device 110 may obtain accurate CLI level with respect to the communication resources for the CLI measurement. Then, the first network device 110 and the second network device 120 may eliminate the CLI with any known approaches. In addition, as mentioned above, the CLI measurement or the CLI-RS transmission on the communication resources can be implicitly turned on/off.

In some embodiments, once the first network device 110 determines that the CLI is eliminated, for example, based on the received signal quality or the received signal power after the elimination steps of the CLI is above a predetermined threshold, the first network device 110 may disable the measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement. Otherwise, the first network device 110 performs the measurement continuously.

If the measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement is disabled by the first network device 110 based on the received signal quality or the received signal power, the first network device 110 may transmit information indicating that the received signal quality is above the predetermined threshold to the second network device 120. Accordingly, the second network device may disable the transmission of CLI-RS (s) on these communication resources for the CLI-RS. Then, the terminal device may use these resources for UL transmissions to increase communication capacity. FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart 1200 of an example method implemented at a first network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 1200 can be implemented at the first network device 110 shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. It is to be understood that the method 1200 may include additional acts not shown and/or may omit some shown acts, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 1210, the first network device 110 receives from the second network device 120 a CLI measurement configuration for a CLI measurement at the first network device having a full-duplex mode. The CLI measurement configuration indicates a communication resource for the CLI measurement.

At block 1220, the first network device 110 transmits the CLI measurement configuration to the terminal device 130 for avoiding occupancy of the communication resource in a Uplink (UL) transmission by the terminal device.

At block 1230, the first network device 110 performs, based on the CLI measurement configuration, a measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement.

In some embodiments, the CLI measurement configuration comprises at least one of: a measurement resource configuration indicating a first plurality of communication resources for the CLI measurement; and a CLI RS configuration indicating a second plurality of communication resources for a transmission of a CLI-RS.

In some embodiments, performing the measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement comprises at least one of: performing a measurement on the first plurality of communication resources; and performing a measurement on the CLI RS transmitted on the second plurality of communication resources.

In some embodiments, receiving the CLI measurement configuration comprises: receiving a FDD -TDD DL –UL configuration from the second network device, the FDD-TDD DL-UL configuration at least indicating a first structure of a TDD slot, a second structure of a FDD slot, a TDD slot index and a FDD slot index.

In some embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises: deriving the communication resource for the CLI measurement from the FDD-TDD DL-UL configuration.

In some embodiments, the communication resource for the CLI measurement comprises at least one of: a set of periodic transmission slots; a predetermined transmission slot; a bandwidth part (BWP) of a UL period in a TDD slot; a predetermined part of the bandwidth part; and a subband for UL transmission in a FDD slot.

In some embodiments, the subband comprises a first subband at a first time occasion and a second subband at a second time occasion.

In some embodiments, performing the measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement comprises at least one of: in accordance with a determination that a received signal quality or the received signal power is below a predetermined threshold, performing the measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement; or in accordance with a determination that the received signal quality or the received signal power is above the predetermined threshold, disabling the measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement.

In some embodiments, the received signal quality is determined as above the predetermined threshold, the method further comprising: transmitting, to the second network device, information indicating that the received signal quality is above the predetermined threshold.

In some embodiments, the communication resource comprises a slot structure defined for the transmission of the CLI-RS, the slot structure comprising a first part for Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) , a second part for CLI-RS, a third part for a Guard Period (GP) and a fourth part for UL transmission from the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that a collision between a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource and the communication resource for the CLI measurement has occurred, transmitting an updated PRACH resource configuration to the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises: transmitting a plurality of PRACH resource configurations to the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the transmission of the CLI RS comprises transmitting a plurality of existing RSs for CLI interference measurement purpose.

In some embodiments, transmitting the CLI measurement configuration comprises: transmitting the CLI-RS in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

In some embodiments, transmitting the CLI measurement configuration comprises: transmitting the CLI measurement configuration comprising one or more guard resources for the communication resource.

In some embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that a collision between a UL resource for the first network device and the communication resource has occurred, transmitting a rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern in a Downlink Control Signaling (DCI) to the terminal device which is transmitting on the UL resource, the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern indicating the collided communication resource.

In some embodiments, the rate matching pattern further indicates a level of a rate matching, the level of the rate matching comprising at least one of: Subband level; Resource Block (RB) level; and Resource Element (RE) level.

In some embodiments, the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern comprises a plurality of subbands in the UL resource, and the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern is applied to each slot of the UL resource.

In some embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that a collision between a UL resource for the first network device and the communication resource has occurred, transmitting a group common DCI to a group of terminal devices, the group common DCI indicating a rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern associated with a terminal device in the group of terminal devices, the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern indicating the collided communication resource.

FIG. 13 illustrates a flowchart of a method 1300 of communication implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 1300 can be implemented at the terminal device 130 shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1300 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. It is to be understood that the method 1300 may include additional acts not shown and/or may omit some shown acts, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 1310, the terminal device 130 receives from a first network device 110 a CLI measurement configuration for a CLI measurement at the first network device 110 having a full-duplex mode. The CLI measurement configuration indicates a communication resource for the CLI measurement.

At block 1320, the terminal device 130 selects an Uplink (UL) transmission resource based on the CLI measurement configuration.

At block 1330, the terminal device 130 performs a UL transmission based on the selected UL transmission resource.

In some embodiments, the CLI measurement configuration comprises at least one of:a measurement resource configuration indicating a first plurality of communication resources for the CLI measurement; and a CLI-Reference Signal (CLI-RS) configuration indicating a second plurality of communication resources for a transmission of a CLI-RS.

In some embodiments, receiving the CLI RS configuration comprises: receiving a FDD –TDD DL –UL configuration from the second network device, the FDD-TDD DL-UL configuration at least indicating a first structure of a TDD slot, a second structure of a FDD slot, a TDD slot index and a FDD slot index.

In some embodiments, the method 1300 further comprises: deriving the communication resource for the transmission of the CLI RS from the FDD-TDD DL-UL configuration.

In some embodiments, the communication resource for the transmission of the CLI RS comprises at least one of: a set of periodic transmission slots; a predetermined transmission slot; a bandwidth part (BWP) of a UL period in a TDD slot; a predetermined part of the bandwidth part; and a subband for UL transmission in a FDD slot.

In some embodiments, the communication resource comprises a slot structure defined for the transmission of the CLI RS, the slot structure comprising a first part for Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) , a second part for CLI-RS, a third part for a Guard Period (GP) and a fourth part for UL transmission from the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the method 1300 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that a collision between a PRACH resource and the communication resource for the transmission of the CLI RS has been occurred, receiving an updated PRACH resource configuration from the first network device.

In some embodiments, the method 1300 further comprises: receiving a plurality of PRACH resource configurations from the first network device.

In some embodiments, receiving the CLI-RS configuration comprises: receiving the CLI RS in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

In some embodiments, receiving the CLI-RS configuration comprises: receiving the CLI RS configuration comprising one or more guard resources for the communication resource.

In some embodiments, the method 1300 further comprises: receiving a rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern in a Downlink Control Signaling (DCI) to the terminal device which is transmitting on the UL resource, the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern indicating the collided communication resource; and performing a rate matching on the UL transmission based on the rate matching pattern; or performing a puncturing on the UL transmission based on the puncturing pattern.

In some embodiments, the method 1300 further comprises: receiving a group common DCI, the group common DCI indicating a rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern associated with a terminal device in the group of terminal devices, the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern indicating the collided communication resource; and performing a rate matching on the UL transmission based on the rate matching pattern associated with the terminal device; or performing a puncturing on the UL transmission based on the puncturing pattern associated with the terminal device.

FIG. 14 illustrates a flowchart of a method 1400 of communication implemented at a second network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 1400 can be implemented at the second network device 120 shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1400 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. It is to be understood that the method 1400 may include additional acts not shown and/or may omit some shown acts, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 1410, the second network device 120 transmits to a first network device 110 a CLI measurement configuration for a CLI measurement at the first network device 110 having a full-duplex mode. The CLI measurement configuration indicates a communication resource for the CLI measurement.

At block 1420, the second network device 120 performs, based on the CLI measurement configuration, a transmission to the first network device 110 on the communication resource for the CLI measurement.

In some embodiments, the CLI measurement configuration comprises at least one of: a measurement resource configuration indicating a first plurality of communication resources for the CLI measurement; and a CLI Reference Signal (RS) configuration indicating a second plurality of communication resources for a transmission of a CLI RS.

In some embodiments, the method 1400 further comprises: in response to receiving information indicating that the received signal quality is above the predetermined threshold from the first network device, disabling the CLI RS transmission to the first network device.

Fig. 15 is a simplified block diagram of a device 1500 that is suitable for implementing some embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1500 can be considered as a further example embodiment of the

terminal devices

130, 140 and 150 as shown in FIG. 1, or

network devices

110 and 120 as shown in FIG. 1. Accordingly, the device 1500 can be implemented at or as at least a part of the above network devices or terminal devices.

As shown, the device 1500 includes a processor 1510, a memory 1520 coupled to the processor 1510, a suitable transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) 1540 coupled to the processor 1510, and a communication interface coupled to the TX/RX 1540. The memory 1520 stores at least a part of a program 1530. The TX/RX 1540 is for bidirectional communications. The TX/RX 1540 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, though in practice an Access Node mentioned in this application may have several ones. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements, such as X2 interface for bidirectional communications between gNBs or eNBs, S1 interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) /Serving Gateway (S-GW) and the gNB or eNB, Un interface for communication between the gNB or eNB and a relay node (RN) , or Uu interface for communication between the gNB or eNB and a terminal device.

The program 1530 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 1510, enable the device 1500 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to FIGs. 2-14. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 1510 of the device 1500, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 1510 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, a combination of the processor 1510 and memory 1520 may form processing means 1550 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory 1520 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory, as non-limiting examples. While only one memory 1520 is shown in the device 1500, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in the device 1500. The processor 1510 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 1500 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

In some embodiments, a terminal device comprises circuitry configured to perform method 1300.

In some embodiments, a network device comprises circuitry configured to perform method 1200 and/or 1400.

The components included in the apparatuses and/or devices of the present disclosure may be implemented in various manners, including software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, one or more units may be implemented using software and/or firmware, for example, machine-executable instructions stored on the storage medium. In addition to or instead of machine-executable instructions, parts or all of the units in the apparatuses and/or devices may be implemented, at least in part, by one or more hardware logic components. For example, and without limitation, illustrative types of hardware logic components that can be used include Field-programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) , Application-specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) , Application-specific Standard Products (ASSPs) , System-on-a-chip systems (SOCs) , Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs) , and the like.

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

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the process or method as described above with reference to any of Figs. 3 to 11. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

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

The above program code may be embodied on a machine readable medium, which may be any tangible medium that may contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine readable medium may be a machine readable signal medium or a machine readable storage medium. A machine readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the machine readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

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

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

Claims

A communication method implemented at a first network device, comprising:

receiving, from a second network device, a Cross Link Interference (CLI) measurement configuration for a CLI measurement at the first network device having a full-duplex mode, the CLI measurement configuration indicating a communication resource for the CLI measurement;

transmitting the CLI measurement configuration to a terminal device for avoiding an occupancy of the communication resource in a Uplink (UL) transmission by the terminal device; and

performing, based on the CLI measurement configuration, a measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement.
The method of claim 1, wherein the CLI measurement configuration comprises at least one of:

a measurement resource configuration indicating a first plurality of communication resources for the CLI measurement; and

a CLI Reference Signal (RS) configuration indicating a second plurality of communication resources for a transmission of a CLI-Reference Signal (CLI-RS) .
The method of claim 2, wherein performing the measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement comprises at least one of:

performing a measurement on the first plurality of communication resources; and

performing a measurement on the CLI RS transmitted on the second plurality of communication resources.
The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the CLI measurement configuration comprises:

receiving a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) -Time Division Duplex (TDD) Downlink (DL) –UL configuration from the second network device, the FDD-TDD DL-UL configuration at least indicating a first structure of a TDD slot, a second structure of a FDD slot, a TDD slot index and a FDD slot index.
The method of claim 4, further comprising:

deriving the communication resource for the CLI measurement from the FDD-TDD DL-UL configuration.
The method of claim 1, wherein the communication resource for the CLI measurement comprises at least one of:

a set of periodic transmission slots;

a predetermined transmission slot;

a bandwidth part (BWP) of a UL period in a TDD slot;

a predetermined part of the bandwidth part; and

a subband for UL transmission in a FDD slot.
The method of claim 6, wherein the subband comprises a first subband at a first time occasion and a second subband at a second time occasion.
The method of claim 1, wherein performing the measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement comprises at least one of:

in accordance with a determination that a received signal quality or the received signal power is below a predetermined threshold, performing the measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement; or

in accordance with a determination that the received signal quality or the received signal power is above the predetermined threshold, disabling the measurement on the communication resource for the CLI measurement.
The method of claim 8, wherein the received signal quality is determined as above the predetermined threshold, the method further comprising:

transmitting, to the second network device, information indicating that the received signal quality is above the predetermined threshold.
The method of claim 2, wherein the communication resource comprises a slot structure defined for the transmission of the CLI-RS, the slot structure comprising a first part for Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) , a second part for CLI-RS, a third part for a Guard Period (GP) and a fourth part for UL transmission from the terminal device.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that a collision between a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource and the communication resource for the CLI measurement has occurred, transmitting an updated PRACH resource configuration to the terminal device.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a plurality of PRACH resource configurations to the terminal device.
The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission of the CLI RS comprises transmitting a plurality of existing RSs for CLI interference measurement purpose.
The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the CLI measurement configuration comprises:

transmitting the CLI-RS in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.
The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the CLI measurement configuration comprises:

transmitting the CLI measurement configuration comprising one or more guard resources for the communication resource.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that a collision between a UL resource for the first network device and the communication resource has occurred, transmitting a rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern in a Downlink Control Signaling (DCI) to the terminal device which is transmitting on the UL resource, the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern indicating the collided communication resource.
The method of claim 16, wherein the rate matching pattern further indicates a level of a rate matching, the level of the rate matching comprising at least one of:

Subband level;

Resource Block (RB) level; and

Resource Element (RE) level.
The method of claim 16, wherein the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern comprises a plurality of subbands in the UL resource, and the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern is applied to each slot of the UL resource.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that a collision between a UL resource for the first network device and the communication resource has occurred, transmitting a group common DCI to a group of terminal devices, the group common DCI indicating a rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern associated with a terminal device in the group of terminal devices, the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern indicating the collided communication resource.
A communication method implemented at a terminal device, comprising:

receiving, from a first network device, a Cross Link Interference (CLI) measurement configuration for a CLI measurement at the first network device having a full-duplex mode, the CLI measurement configuration indicating a communication resource for the CLI measurement;

selecting an Uplink (UL) transmission resource based on the CLI measurement configuration; and

performing a UL transmission based on the selected UL transmission resource.
The method of claim 20, wherein the CLI measurement configuration comprises at least one of:

a measurement resource configuration indicating a first plurality of communication resources for the CLI measurement; and

a CLI-Reference Signal (CLI-RS) configuration indicating a second plurality of communication resources for a transmission of a CLI-RS.
The method of claim 20, wherein receiving the CLI RS configuration comprises:

receiving a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) -Time Division Duplex (TDD) Downlink (DL) –UL configuration from the second network device, the FDD-TDD DL-UL configuration at least indicating a first structure of a TDD slot, a second structure of a FDD slot, a TDD slot index and a FDD slot index.
The method of claim 22, further comprising:

deriving the communication resource for the transmission of the CLI RS from the FDD-TDD DL-UL configuration.
The method of claim 20, wherein the communication resource for the transmission of the CLI RS comprises at least one of:

a set of periodic transmission slots;

a predetermined transmission slot;

a bandwidth part (BWP) of a UL period in a TDD slot;

a predetermined part of the bandwidth part; and

a subband for UL transmission in a FDD slot.
The method of claim 24, wherein the subband comprises a first subband at a first time occasion and a second subband at a second time occasion.
The method of claim 21, wherein the communication resource comprises a slot structure defined for the transmission of the CLI RS, the slot structure comprising a first part for Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) , a second part for CLI-RS, a third part for a Guard Period (GP) and a fourth part for UL transmission from the terminal device.
The method of claim 20, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that a collision between a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource and the communication resource for the transmission of the CLI RS has been occurred, receiving an updated PRACH resource configuration from the first network device.
The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of PRACH resource configurations from the first network device.
The method of claim 20, wherein receiving the CLI-RS configuration comprises:

receiving the CLI RS in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.
The method of claim 20, wherein receiving the CLI-RS configuration comprises:

receiving the CLI RS configuration comprising one or more guard resources for the communication resource.
The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving a rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern in a Downlink Control Signaling (DCI) to the terminal device which is transmitting on the UL resource, the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern indicating the collided communication resource; and

performing a rate matching on the UL transmission based on the rate matching pattern; or

performing a puncturing on the UL transmission based on the puncturing pattern.
The method of claim 31, wherein the rate matching pattern further indicates a level of a rate matching, the level of the rate matching comprising at least one of:

Subband level;

Resource Block (RB) level; and

Resource Element (RE) level.
The method of claim 32, wherein the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern comprises a plurality of subbands in the UL resource, and the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern is applied to each slot of the UL resource.
The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving a group common DCI, the group common DCI indicating a rate matching pattern or a puncturing pattern associated with a terminal device in the group of terminal devices, the rate matching pattern or the puncturing pattern indicating the collided communication resource; and

performing a rate matching on the UL transmission based on the rate matching pattern associated with the terminal device; or

performing a puncturing on the UL transmission based on the puncturing pattern associated with the terminal device.
A communication method implemented at a second network device, comprising:

transmitting, to a first network device, a Cross Link Interference (CLI) measurement configuration for a CLI measurement at the first network device having a full-duplex mode, the CLI measurement configuration indicating a communication resource for the CLI measurement; and

performing, based on the CLI measurement configuration, a transmission to the first network device on the communication resource for the CLI measurement.
The method of claim 35, wherein the CLI measurement configuration comprises at least one of:

a measurement resource configuration indicating a first plurality of communication resources for the CLI measurement; and

a CLI Reference Signal (RS) configuration indicating a second plurality of communication resources for a transmission of a CLI RS.
The method of claim 35, further comprising:

in response to receiving information indicating that the received signal quality is above the predetermined threshold from the first network device, disabling the CLI RS transmission to the first network device.
A network device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the network device to perform the method according to any of claims 1-20 or claims 35-37.
A terminal device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the terminal device to perform the method according to any of claims 20-34.
A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method according to any of claims 1-20, claim 20-34, or claim 35-37.