WO2023283839A1

WO2023283839A1 - Group-based sir measurement

Info

Publication number: WO2023283839A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/106335
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dong Li; Saeed Reza KHOSRAVIRAD; Yong Liu
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd.; Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2021-07-14
Filing date: 2021-07-14
Publication date: 2023-01-19
Also published as: CN117616730A

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to group-based signal-to-interference (SIR) measurement. A first device receives, from a second device, first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within a first group, the first device being comprised in the first group with at least one further device. In accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure at least a reference signal, the first device determines a first measurement of a first reference signal received on a first resource from the at least one device comprised in the first group; determines a second measurement of a second reference signal received on a second resource from at least one device comprised in a second group; and determines an inter-group SIR level between the first group and the second group based on the first measurement and the second measurement.

Description

GROUP-BASED SIR MEASUREMENT

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for group-based signal-to-reference (SIR) measurement.

BACKGROUND

With the rapid development of the communication technology, communication systems can support various types of service applications for terminal devices, such as transmissions between terminal devices. For example, industrial internet-of-things (IoT) is an important vertical domain where the communication system is expected to be applied to trigger and enable the industrial revolution to disrupt and reshape the existing manufacturing structures. There are generally stringent requirements in reliability and latency for the end-to-end transmissions especially the wireless transmissions over the air interface, e.g. for factory automation and motion control applications, 6 to 8 nines of service availability is required within the one-way latency budget of 0.5～2.0ms. In many communication applications such as in the industrial IoT, terminal devices may be grouped and intra-group communications are usually performed.

SUMMARY

The scope of protection sought for various embodiments of the invention is set out by the independent claims. The embodiments/examples and features, if any, described in this specification that do not fall under the scope of the independent claims are to be interpreted as examples useful for understanding various embodiments of the invention. Please note that the term “embodiments” or “examples” should be adapted accordingly to the terminology used in the application, i.e. if the term “examples” is used, then the statement should talk of “examples” accordingly, or if the term “embodiments” is used, then the statement should talk of “embodiments” accordingly.

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for group-based SIR measurement. Embodiments that do not fall under the scope of the claims, if any, are to be interpreted as examples useful for understanding various embodiments of the disclosure.

In a first aspect, there is provided a first device. The first device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; where the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to receive, from a second device, first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within a first group, the first device being comprised in the first group with at least one further device; and in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure at least a reference signal, determine a first measurement of a first reference signal received on a first resource from the at least one device comprised in the first group; determine a second measurement of a second reference signal received on a second resource from at least one device comprised in a second group; and determine an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group based on the first measurement and the second measurement.

In a second aspect, there is provided a second device. The second device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; where the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to transmit first configuration information to a first device comprised in a first group with at least one further device, the first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within the first group by indicating the first device to measure a first reference signal received from at least one of the at least one further device in the first group and a second reference signal received from at least one device in a second group, or indicating the first device to transmit the first reference signal; and receive an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises receiving, at a first device and from a second device, first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within a first group, the first device being comprised in the first group with at least one further device; and in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure at least a reference signal, determining a first measurement of a first reference signal received on a first resource from the at least one device comprised in the first group, determining a second measurement of a second reference signal received on a second resource from at least one device comprised in a second group, and determining an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group based on the first measurement and the second measurement.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises transmitting, at a second device, first configuration information to a first device comprised in a first group with at least one further device, the first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within the first group by indicating the first device to measure a first reference signal received from at least one of the at least one further device in the first group and a second reference signal received from at least one device in a second group, or indicating the first device to transmit the first reference signal; and receiving an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for: receiving, at a first device and from a second device, first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within a first group, the first device being comprised in the first group with at least one further device; and in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure at least a reference signal, determining a first measurement of a first reference signal received on a first resource from the at least one device comprised in the first group, determining a second measurement of a second reference signal received on a second resource from at least one device comprised in a second group, and determining an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group based on the first measurement and the second measurement.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, at a second device, first configuration information to a first device comprised in a first group with at least one further device, the first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within the first group by indicating the first device to measure a first reference signal received from at least one of the at least one further device in the first group and a second reference signal received from at least one device in a second group, or indicating the first device to transmit the first reference signal; and receiving an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fifth aspect.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the second aspect.

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

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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

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

Fig. 1B illustrates an example relationship between the number of resources vs. SINR for a target Block Error Ratio (BLER) ;

Fig. 2 illustrates group-based SIR measurement and reporting in a communication environment according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 3 illustrates a signaling flow for communications according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a process for SIR measurement and report implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 5 illustrates an example of a snapshot of the groups of devices according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 6 illustrates example results of the resource configuration based on the SIR measurements according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 9 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

Fig. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments 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.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first, ” “second” and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. 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. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

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

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

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

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

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

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, 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, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a NR NB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node) . In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

As used herein, the term “resource, ” “transmission resource, ” “resource block, ” “physical resource block” (PRB) , “uplink resource, ” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

Fig. 1A shows an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. The communication environment 100 includes a plurality of groups 105-1, 105-2, 105-3... (collectively or individually referred to as groups 105) each comprising a plurality of first devices. As specifically illustrated, the group 105-1 comprises first device 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, 110-4, ..., the group 105-1 comprises first device 110-5, 110-6, 110-7, 110-8, ..., the group 105-3 comprises first device 110-9, 110-10, 110-11, 110-12, ..., and so on. For the purpose of discussion, the first devices are collectively or individually referred to as first devices 110.

Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) and the fifth generation (5G) and on the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) , Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) , Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) , Time Division Duplex (TDD) , Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) , Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM) , Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

The first devices 110 are grouped together into one group 105 for intra-group communication, for example, through device-to-device (D2D) sidelink (SL) interfaces therebetween. The intra-group communication is performed in various use cases for different purposes.

In an example use case, in the industrial IoT scenario, a second device 120 may need to communicate with first devices 110. The second device 120 may be, for example, a network device. In a downlink (DL) direction, the second device 120 may need to transmit command messages to some first devices 110, e.g., actuator devices, to implement the actions of the command. In the uplink (UL) direction, some first devices 110, e.g. sensor devices, may transmit the measurement results to the second device 120.

In some example environments which usually have various metallic clutters, some first devices 110 may occasionally experience rather poor radio channel conditions due to e.g. channel fading, shadowing or blocking and thus may have very low signal-to-noise (SNR) temporally when communicating with the second device 120 directly. For example, as illustrated in Fig. 1A, a metallic object 130 is placed to block the signals transmitted between the second device 120 and the first device 110-2. In such a case, the channel condition between the two devices may be very poor.

Under such poor channel conditions, in some cases, some very low spectral efficiency transmission formats may have to be used in order to satisfy the reliability requirements, which means that an excessive amount of time/frequency resources may have to be allocated for the very-low-SNR transmissions. As illustrated in Fig. 1B, an example relationship between the number of physical resources blocks (PRBs) and Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR) in dB is shown for a target Block Error Ratio (BLER) of 10 ^-5. In this example, it is assumed that the packet size is 40 bytes, and single antenna and single transmission over half-slot are performed. As can be seen, the lower the SINR is, the larger the number of PRBs is required in order to satisfy the target BLER. However, this overly-large resource allocation may lead to too low resource utilization and thus may often be prohibitive in the practical applications.

As such, some first devices 110 that have good radio channel conditions to the second device 120 may help the weak first device 110 through e.g., D2D relaying via the SL interface. As shown in Fig. 1A, one or more first devices, such as the first devices 110-1, 110-3, are configured as relay devices for the first device 110-2. In the DL direction, the first devices 110-1, 110-3 may receive and decode the first device 110-2’s data transmitted from the second device 120 and then encode and forward the decoded data to the first device 110-2 over the sidelink. In the UL direction, the first devices 110-1, 110-3 may decode the data transmitted by the first device 110-2 over the sidelink and then encode and relay the decoded data to the second device 120, e.g., over the uplink interface. In this way, the D2D relaying can effectively and greatly enhance the reliability of the weak devices within the low latency budget.

In the example of Fig. 1, the first device 110 is illustrated as a terminal device while the second device 120 is illustrated as a network device which may serve the terminal device. It is to be understood that the number of devices and their connections shown in Fig. 1 are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. The environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices adapted for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more additional devices may be located in the cell, and one or more additional or less devices may be comprised in a group 105. It is noted that although illustrated as a network device, the second device 120 may be other device than a network device. Although illustrated as a terminal device, the first device 110 may be other device than a terminal device.

In some example embodiments, the first devices that work cooperatively may be divided into a group, such as the groups 105-1, 105-2, and 105-3 in Fig. 1A. In presence of D2D relaying, specifically the cooperative D2D relaying used in application scenarios with the stringent requirements in reliability and latency, e.g., for the Ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) service, in support of a weak first device, several devices may be triggered to cooperatively forward a message to (or from) the weak device e.g., in case of DL (or UL) URLLC. As a result of this, interference towards other devices is generated which can be damaging to the performance of neighbouring groups and cells, especially if those also operated with the stringent requirements in reliability and latency. It is therefore important to perform clear and efficient interference coordination and resource management, e.g., orthogonal time/frequency resources are allocated to the adjacent groups to avoid mutual interference.

On the other hand, since cooperative D2D relaying is designed to be triggered in rare occasions of spotting a weak device, it is inefficient to impose continuous and strict resource re-use limitations among the groups of devices. Instead, it is preferred to allow the re-use of resources among groups to the extent of full exploitation of time and frequency resources, and only when a cooperative D2D relaying incident is needed, re-shape the resource arrangements momentarily, e.g. orthogonal time/frequency resources are configured or allocated to the adjacent groups to accommodate for the excess interference generated by the incident.

In view of the above, it is important to measure inter-group interference levels so as to perform group-based resource allocation or scheduling, group-based communication coordination, and the like. Currently, there is no existing solution for measuring group-based SIR level. In particular, considering that in some scenarios e.g. factory automation scenarios, there are various, potentially quite different, device grouping situations e.g. in terms of the number of devices per group and the geometric size of the group, which imposes great technical challenges on the measurements of the inter-group interference and the average intra-group signal to inter-group interference power ratio (which could be further utilized to optimize the resource (re) configuration efficiently for the different groups to balance the interference mitigation and spectral efficiency) .

According to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for group-based SIR measurement. In this solution, a device in a group is configured with a role within the group to transmit a reference signal (RS) or measure a RS transmitted by a device (s) within the group or a device (s) in one or more other group (s) . The device measuring the RS can determine an intra-group RS measurement and an inter-group RS measurement (s) and determines an inter-group signal-to-interference (SIR) level between its group and the other group (s) . The inter-group SIR level may be used for various communication decisions, including resource configuration or allocation, group-based communication coordination, and the like.

As used herein, a reference signal (RS) is a signal sequence (also referred to as “RS sequence” ) that is known by both the transmitter and receiver. The RS transmitted between terminal devices may be referred to as SL-RS. It should be understood that example embodiments of the present disclosure cover the cases of using all possible reference signals that can be used to measure the inter-group interference, such as Demodulation Reference Signal (DM-RS) , sounding reference signal (SRS) , Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PT-RS) , a preamble for random access (transmitted in physical random access channel (PRACH) for example) , or the like.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Reference is now made to Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 2 illustrates group-based SIR measurement and reporting in the communication environment 110 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, and Fig. 3 illustrates a signaling flow 300 for communications according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 3, the signaling flow 300 involves the second device 120 and the first devices 110. It is to be understood that the number of the involved first devices 110 may depend on the actual applications and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

In operation, the second device 120 transmits 305 configuration information to the first devices 110 in a group 105. The configuration information may indicate configuration related to inter-group SIR measurement and/or reporting. In example embodiments of the present disclosure, the configuration information at least includes first configuration information indicating a role of a first device 110 within its group 105. The second device 120 may configure the first devices 110 within a group 105 to perform their corresponding operations in term of the inter-group SIR measurement and/or reporting.

For a certain group 105, the second device 120 may configure, as indicated in the first configuration information, one or more first devices 110 in the group 105 to transmit a RS. Such a first device 110 may be referred to as a TX first device. For a certain group 105, the second device 120 may also configure, as indicated in the first configuration information, a first device 110 in the certain group 105 to measure a RS. Such a first device 110 may be referred to as a measuring first device. As a measuring first device, the first device 110 may measure a RS transmitted by one or more TX first devices within the group 105, and such measurement may be referred to as intra-group RS measurement. In addition, the measuring device may further measure a RS (s) transmitted by one or more TX first device within one or more other groups 105, and such measurement may be referred to as inter-group RS measurement. In some example embodiments, a first device 110 that is configured as a measuring device may not be configured as a TX first device.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may configure, as indicated in the first configuration information, a first device 110 in the certain group 105 to report the inter-group SIR level (s) to the second device 120. Such a first device 110 may be referred to as a reporting first device. In some example embodiments, if no first device 110 is configured in the first configuration information to report the inter-group SIR level, the first device 110 that is configured to measure the RS may be implicitly determined as a device that is responsible for reporting the inter-group SIR level. In some examples, a different first device 110 than the measuring device may be configured to transmit the inter-group SIR level to the second device 120. For example, the first device 110 having a good channel condition with the second device 120 may be configured to report the inter-group SIR level. Therefore, a reporting first device in a group 105 may be configured as a measuring first device or a first device different than the measuring first device (such as a TX first device or another first device) .

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit the first configuration information related to a specific first device 110 in a group 105 to that specific first device 110. For those first devices 110 that are not configured with any role may not receive the first configuration information. The first configuration information may indicate the role of the first devices in each group 105 in an implicit or explicit manner. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

In the example environment 100 as shown in Fig. 2, the first device 110-1 in the group 105-1, the first device 110-5 in the group 105-2 and the first device 110-9 in the group 105-3 are configured to perform the intra-group RS measurement and the inter-group RS measurement. In addition, first devices 110-2, 110-3, and 110-4 in the group 105-1 are configured to transmit the RS, first devices 110-6, 110-7, and 110-8 in the group 105-2 are configured to transmit the RS, and first devices 110-10, 110-11, and 110-12 in the group 105-3 are configured to transmit the RS. As no device is configured in the first configuration information to report the inter-group SIR level, the first devices 110-1, 110-5, and 110-9 may report the inter-group SIR levels if needed.

In some example embodiments, for a certain group 105, the configuration information may additionally include second configuration information indicating a probability of transmitting the RS (referred to as P _SL-RS) in the group 105. The first device (s) 110 in that group 105 may transmit the RS based on the probability. In some example embodiments, the second configuration information may be transmitted to the first device (s) 110 in a group that are configured as TX first devices. The determination and the use of the probability will be described in detail below.

In some example embodiments, the configuration information may additionally or alternatively include third configuration information indicating at least the time/frequency resources used for transmission of the RS within each group 105. The third configuration information may be transmitted to the first device 110 in each group 105 that is configured to measure the RS. With such configuration information, the first device 110 may determine over which resources to detect and measure the RS for its group and for other groups 105. In some example embodiments, the resources for RS transmission may be specific to the groups 105.

Upon receiving 310 the configuration information from the second device 120, a first device 110 in a group 105 may perform its operations depending on the role indicated in the first configuration information.

In some example embodiments, if a first device 110 in a group 105 is configured to transmit a RS, the first device 110 transmits 315 the RS on the resource. The resource for RS transmission may be configured by the second device 120. If two or more first devices 110 within one group 105 are configured to transmit the RS, the same or different sequences for the RS may be transmitted by the first devices 110. For example, in the example illustrated in Fig. 2, the first devices 110-2, 110-3, and 110-4 in the group 105-1 may transmit the RS on the resource configured for the group 105-1, first devices 110-6, 110-7, and 110-8 in the group 105-2 may transmit the RS on the resource configured for the group 105-2, and first devices 110-10, 110-11, and 110-12 in the group 105-3 may transmit the RS on the resource configured for the group 105-3. The RSs transmitted within respective groups 105 are illustrated as intra-group signals 201 in Fig. 2. The RSs transmitted by the first devices 110 within one group 105 may be considered as interference to first devices 110 another group 105. Such interference is illustrated as inter-group interference 202 in Fig. 2.

As indicated above, in some example embodiments, the second device 120 may configure the probability P _SL-RS of transmitting the RS for a group 105. In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may determine a probability P _SL-RS of transmitting the RS based on the numbers of devices in the groups 105.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may determine the probability P _SL-RS such that the expected number of devices for transmitting the RS in the groups 105 is substantially the same. For example, the difference between the expected numbers of devices for transmitting the RS in two groups is below a predetermined threshold, such as zero or a value approximating to zero. The expected number is determined based on the probability P _SL-RS determined for the group 105 and the number of devices in the group 105. In some examples, the probability P _SL-RS may be determined as any value from 0 to 1.

As an example, it is assumed that in the example of Fig. 2, the total number of first devices 110 in each group 105 configured to transmit the RS is the same, for example, 3. The second device 120 may determine the probability P _SL-RS for each group 105 as 1, which means that the first devices 110 in the groups 105 that are configured to transmit the RS with a probability of one. With such probability, the expected number of devices in each group 105 will be 1*3=3, which is also the same. That is, the first devices 110 may always determine to transmit the RS in each RS period. It would be appreciated that in the case that the total number of first devices 110 in each group 105 is the same, the probability P _SL-RS may be configured as other values such that the expected number of devices for transmitting the RS in each group 105 is substantially the same.

As another example, it is assumed that in the example of Fig. 2, the total number of first devices 110 configured to transmit the RS in the group 105-1 is 3, the total number of first devices 110 configured to transmit the RS in the group 105-2 is 6, and total number of first devices 110 configured to transmit the RS in the group 105-3 is 9. The second device 120 may determine the probability P _SL-RS for the group 105-1 as P _SL-RS=1; the probability P _SL-RS for the group 105-2 as P _SL-RS=1/2; and the probability P _SL-RS for the group 105-3 as P _SL-RS=1/3. As such, the expected number of devices for transmitting the RS in each of the group 105 is still the same.

By controlling the probability of transmitting RS in each group 105, it is possible to avoid the impact of the differences between the numbers of devices in transmitting signals in the groups 105.

With the probability P _SL-RS configured, the first devices 110 that are configured to transmit a RS in a group 105 may independently determine whether to transmit the RS based on the probability P _SL-RS. If the probability P _SL-RS is less than one, the first device 110 may or may not transmit the RS in each RS transmission occasion. The higher the probability P _SL-RS is configured, the higher the likelihood that the first device 110 transmits the RS in each RS transmission occasion. An example transmission procedure based on the probability will be described with reference to Fig. 4 in the following.

In some example embodiments, if a first device 110 in a group 105 is configured as a measuring device to measure a RS, the first device 110 determines 320 an intra-group RS measurement and one or more inter-group RS measurements, and then determines one or more inter-group SIR levels based on the intra-group RS measurement and the one or more inter-group RS measurements.

For the intra-group RS measurement, the first device 110 may measure the RS on the resource that is configured for the RS transmission for its own group 105. The first device 110 may measure the RS transmitted by one or more TX first devices in its own group 105. For the inter-group RS measurement for another group 105, the first device 110 may measure the RS on the resource that is configured for the RS transmission for that group 105. The first device 110 may measure the RS transmitted by one or more TX first devices in that group 105.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine the received power of the RS on the resource. In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine the average received power of the RS of a group 105 if the resource for the RS transmission is configured across multiple sub-carriers or symbols. In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may measure other aspects of the received RS as a measurement result.

With the intra-group RS measurement and inter-group RS measurements determined, the first device 110 may determine an inter-group SIR level for a group pair (i.e., its own group 105 and another group 105) . For example, if the first device 110 is in the group m, an inter-group SIR level (represented as SIR _m, n) between the group m and the group n is determined based on the intra-group RS measurement for the group m (represented as P _m) and the inter-group RS measurement for the group n (represented as P _n) . As an example, the inter-group SIR level may be determined as SIR _m, _n = P _m/P _n, which may indicate the interference level caused by the group m to the group n. For each of the other groups 105, the first device 110 in the group m may determine an inter-group SIR level.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may perform the measurements for one or more RS periods. In some example embodiments, for multiple RS periods, the first device 110 may perform some consolidation to determine the inter-group SIR level for a group pair, which will be discussed in detail below with reference to Fig. 4.

In some example embodiments, if a first device 110 in a group 105 is configured as a reporting device to report an inter-group SIR level, the first device 110 transmits 325 the determined inter-group SIR level (s) to the second device 120. The feedback of the inter-group SIR level (s) may be performed if the inter-group SIR level (s) are needed by the second device 120. A first device 110 may be configured to report the inter-group SIR level in an explicitly or implicitly way.

In some cases, if no device is explicitly configured to report the inter-group SIR level, the measuring device may determine that it is configured to report the inter-group SIR level. For example, in Fig. 2, the first device 110-1 in the group 105-1, the first device 110-5 in the group 105-2 and the first device 110-9 in the group 105-3 may transmit their determined inter-group SIR level (s) to the second device 120. The reported inter-group SIR levels are illustrated as inter-group SIR feedback 203 in Fig. 2. Otherwise, the first devices in the groups 105 that are explicitly configured as reporting device may perform the feedback of the inter-group SIR level (s) to the second device 120. If a first device 110 other than the measuring device is configured to report the inter-group SIR level (s) , it may determine or receive the inter-group SIR level from the measuring device and transmit 330 the inter-group SIR level (s) to the second device 120.

Upon receiving 335 the inter-group SIR level (s) , the second device 120 may determine 340 a set of resources for intra-group communication in a group 105 at least based on the inter-group SIR level and one or more other potential factors. The second device 120 may transmits 345 resource allocation information indicating a set of resources to the first devices 110 in the group 105. With the resource allocation information received 350 from the second device 120, the first devices 110 in the group 105 may perform the intra-group communication using the allocated set of resources.

In some example embodiments, the first devices 110 may be configured to perform the group-based SIR measurement and/or reporting in the case that the groups 105 are configured for cooperative D2D relaying or other specific operations with localized intra-group communications. As such, the proper resource allocation among the groups 105 may be determined by the second device 120 in case of the cooperative D2D relaying or other specific operations with localized intra-group communications. Depending on the inter-group SIR levels between different pairs of groups 105, the second device 120 may allocate at least the time/frequency resources for intra-group communication within the groups 105. In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may allocate the resources for each group 105 such that the groups 105 interfering with each other can use orthogonal resources to avoid the interference and the groups 105 having little interference to each other can reuse the same resources to improve the spectral efficiency. It should be appreciated that the resource allocation may be performed in other manners based on the inter-group SIR levels. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

In some example embodiments, the resource allocation for the groups 105 may be updated repeatedly so as to have an optimized solution in hand for resource arrangement among the groups 105. The inter-group SIR level measurement may be triggered when a cooperative D2D relaying incident occurs in the communication system by proper means of signalling and configuration. In the remainder of the time, the groups 105 may have the resource re-use to improve spectral efficiency of the communication system.

In some example embodiments, in addition to the resource allocation to enable cooperative D2D relaying or as an alternative, the inter-group SIR levels may be used for resource configuration and allocation to support the intra-group communication or for other purpose. In some example embodiments, the inter-group SIR levels may be additionally or alternatively utilized by the first devices 110 or by other devices than the second device 120 for other communication decisions. The usage of the inter-group SIR levels is not limited in the scope of the present disclosure.

More example embodiments according to the present disclosure will be described below with respect to Fig. 4 which illustrates a flowchart of a process 400 for SIR measurement and reporting implemented at an individual first device 110 in a group 105 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

At block 405, the first device 110 receives configuration information from the second device 120. The configuration information may include at least the first configuration information. At block 410, the first device 110 determines whether it is configured to transmit the RS. If the first device 110 is configured to transmit the RS, the first device 110 transmits the RS on the configured resource. In some example embodiments of transmitting the RS with the probability P _SL-RS, at block 415, the first device 110 generates a random number. For example, the random number may be determined from a uniform distribution in the range of [0, 1] .

At block 420, the first device 110 compares the random number with the probability P _SL-RS configured for its group. If the random number is smaller than or equal to the probability, at block 425, the first device 110 transmits the RS on the resource. Otherwise, if the random number is larger than the probability, at block 430, the first device 110 may not be involved in RS TX/RX (here RS RX means RS measuring) .

In some cases, if the first device 110 determines at block 410 that it is not configured to transmit the RS, at block 435, the first device 110 further determines whether it is configured to measure a RS. If the first device 110 is configured to measure a RS, at block 440, the first device 110 determines an intra-group RS measurement by measuring the RS transmitted by one or more other devices within the same group 105 and determines one or more inter-RS measurements by measuring the RS (s) transmitted by one or more first devices 110 within one or more other groups 105.

The first device 110 may perform the operations from blocks 410 to 440 in each RS period. For the same first device 110, it may be configured with the same or different role by the second device 120 via the first configuration information. In some example embodiments, if the RS measurements are performed for multiple RS periods, the first device 110 may take the median value, the mean value, the maximum value, or the minimum value of the intra-group RS measurements and/or inter-group RS measurements corresponding to the multiple RS periods to act as the corresponding RS measurements and then at block 445 determine the inter-group SIR level for each group pair based on the RS measurements and then further report it at block 450.

At block 445, the first device 110 determines an inter-group SIR level (s) based on the intra-group RS measurement and the inter-RS measurement (s) . For example, if the first device 110 is in the group m, an inter-group SIR level (represented as SIR _m, n) between the group m and the group n is determined based on the intra-group RS measurement for the group m (represented as P _m) and the inter-group RS measurement for the group n (represented as P _n) . As an example, the inter-group SIR level may be determined as SIR _m, n = P _m/P _n. For each of the other groups 105, the first device 110 in the group m may determine an inter-group SIR level.

The first device 110 may perform the operations from blocks 410 to 445 in each RS period. In some example embodiments, for multiple RS periods, the first device 110 may determine multiple inter-group SIR levels for each group pair (i.e. its own group and each other group) . In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may take the median value, the mean value, the maximum value, or the minimum value of the multiple inter-group SIR levels corresponding to the multiple RS periods to act as the measured inter-group SIR level for each group pair and then further report it at block 450. In other example embodiments, the first device 110 may select or determine the inter-group SIR level to be reported in other ways and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 450, the first device 110 further transmits the measured inter-group SIR level (s) to a first device in the group 105 if such a first device is configured by the second device 120 for collecting and reporting the intra-group measurement results and the configured first device is not the mentioned first device 110. For the purpose of discussion, the configured first device for reporting is called the reporting device. If the reporting first device is not explicitly configured, at block 450, the first device 110 transmits the measured inter-group SIR level (s) to the second device 120.

In some example embodiments, if the first device 110 determines at block 435 that it is not configured to measure the RS, it may determine at block 430 that it is not involved in RS TX/RX (here RS RX means RS measuring) .

For a first device 110 in a group 105 that is configured e.g., by the second device 120 via the first configuration information to collect and report the SIR measurement results (i.e., the mentioned first device 110 is indicated to take the role of reporting the SIR measurement results, and it is a reporting first device) , the first device 110 may receive the inter-group SIR level (s) from the measuring first device in the same group 105. In some example embodiments, if the inter-group SIR level (s) corresponding to a single or multiple RS periods are received from the measuring device (s) , the reporting first device 110 may take the median value, the mean value, the maximum value or the minimum value of the received inter-group SIR levels (together with its own SIR levels if the mentioned first device 110 is also a measuring first device) to act as the inter-group SIR level to report to the second device 120. In another example embodiment, the mentioned first device 110 may report partial or all the collected inter-group SIR levels to the second device 120.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example of a snapshot of the groups of devices according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Some system level evaluations were made based on conditions similar to those in the example embodiments of Fig. 2 except that the total number of the groups is 12 and the number of devices per first device group is 10. With the parameter configurations and procedures as discussed above, the measuring first device per group measures the average intra-group signal to inter-group interference power ratio (SIR) over multiple periods and reports the result to the second device, which then allocates and configures the time/frequency transmission resources to all the first device groups using greedy graph coloring algorithm such that the groups with SIRs smaller than some SIR threshold (denoted as SIRth) are configured with orthogonal transmission resources (for interference mitigation) , while the groups with SIRs equal to or larger than the SIRth are configured with the same transmission resources (for spectral efficiency improvements) .

Fig. 5 shows an example of a snapshot of the first device groups where there are totally 12 groups with 10 first devices per group. Fig. 6 shows the results of the transmission resource configuration to all the groups based on the inter-group SIR levels that are obtained with the proposed scheme in the present disclosure. From the results, it can be seen that with the intra-group signal to inter-group interference power ratio (e.g., SIR) threshold ( “SIRth” ) set to 8dB (InF-DL 621 and InF-SL 622) , generally 3 transmission resources are needed for all the 12 groups (Fig. 5 gives an example of the resource configuration to those 12 groups) . InF-DL/SL means 3GPP defined in factory scenario with dense/sparse clutters and low BS height. When the SIR threshold ( “SIRth” ) is set to 15dB (InF-DL 623 and InF-SL 624) , generally more transmission resources are needed for all the groups. How to configure the SIR threshold may depend on the service performance requirement. This shows that the proposed scheme can achieve efficient and flexible measurements of the intra-group signal to inter-group interference power ratio and enables the follow-on resource allocation and configurations for the first device groups.

Fig. 7 shows a flowchart of an example method 700 implemented at a first device in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 700 will be described from the perspective of a first device, which may be a first device 110 in Fig. 2.

At block 710, the first device receives, from a second device, first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within a first group, the first device being comprised in the first group with at least one further device. At block 720, the first device determines whether the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure at least a reference signal. At block 730, in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure at least a reference signal, the first device determines a first measurement of a first reference signal received on a first resource from the at least one device comprised in the first group. At block 740, the first device determines a second measurement of a second reference signal received on a second resource from at least one device comprised in a second group. At block 750, the first device determines an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group based on the first measurement and the second measurement.

In some example embodiments, the method further comprises in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to transmit the first reference signal, transmitting the first reference signal on the first resource.

In some example embodiments, transmitting the first reference signal comprises receiving, from the second device, second configuration information indicating a first probability of transmitting the first reference signal; determining whether to transmit the first reference signal based on the first probability; and in accordance with a determination to transmit the first reference signal, transmitting the first reference signal.

In some example embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting the determined inter-group signal-to-interference level to the second device.

In some example embodiments, transmitting the determined inter-group signal-to-interference level comprises transmitting the determined inter-group signal-to-interference level to the second device in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to report the inter-group signal-to-interference level.

In some example embodiments, the method further comprises receiving, from the second device, resource allocation information indicating a set of resources for intra-group communication in the first group, the set of resources being determined based at least in part on the inter-group signal-to-interference level.

In some example embodiments, the first measurement comprises a received power of the first reference signal on the first resource, and the second measurement comprises a received power of the second reference signal on the second resource. In some example embodiments, the inter-group signal-to-interference level is determined based on a ratio of the first measurement to the second measurement.

In some example embodiments, the method further comprises determining a third measurement of a third reference signal received on a third resource from at least one device comprised in a third group; and determining an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the third group based on the first measurement and the third measurement.

In some example embodiments, the method further comprises receiving, from the second device, third configuration information indicating the first resource used for transmission of the first reference signal in the first group and the second resource used for transmission of the second reference signal in the second group.

Fig. 8 shows a flowchart of an example method 800 implemented at a first device in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 800 will be described from the perspective of a first device, which may be a first device 110 in Fig. 2.

At block 810, the second device transmits first configuration information to a first device comprised in a first group with at least one further device, the first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within the first group by indicating the first device to measure a first reference signal received from at least one of the at least one further device in the first group and a second reference signal received from at least one device in a second group, or indicating the first device to transmit the first reference signal. At block 820, the second device receives an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group.

In some example embodiments, receiving the inter-group signal-to-interference level comprises: in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure the first reference signal and the second reference signal, receiving the inter-group signal-to-interference level from the first device.

In some example embodiments, the method further comprises in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to transmit the first reference signal, determining a first probability of transmitting the first reference signal at least based on a first number of devices in the first group and a second number of devices in the second group; and transmitting, to the first device, second configuration information indicating the first probability.

In some example embodiments, determining the first probability comprises: determining the first probability such that a difference between a first expected number of devices for transmitting the first reference signal in the first group and a second expected number of devices for transmitting the second reference signal in the second group is below a difference threshold, wherein the first expected number is determined based on the first probability and the first number of devices in the first group, and the second expected number is determined based on the second probability and the second number of devices in the second group.

In some example embodiments, the method further comprises determining a set of resources for intra-group communication in the first group at least based on the inter-group signal-to-interference level; and transmitting resource allocation information indicating the set of resources to the first device and the at least one further device in the first group.

In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 700 (for example, the first device 110 in Fig. 2) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 700. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first device 110 in Fig. 2.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for: receiving, at a first device and from a second device, first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within a first group, the first device being comprised in the first group with at least one further device; and in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure at least a reference signal, determining a first measurement of a first reference signal received on a first resource from the at least one device comprised in the first group, determining a second measurement of a second reference signal received on a second resource from at least one device comprised in a second group, and determining an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group based on the first measurement and the second measurement.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for: in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to transmit the first reference signal, transmitting the first reference signal on the first resource.

In some example embodiments, the means for transmitting the first reference signal comprises means for receiving, from the second device, second configuration information indicating a first probability of transmitting the first reference signal; determining whether to transmit the first reference signal based on the first probability; and in accordance with a determination to transmit the first reference signal, means for transmitting the first reference signal.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for transmitting the determined inter-group signal-to-interference level to the second device.

In some example embodiments, the means for transmitting the determined inter-group signal-to-interference level comprises means for transmitting the determined inter-group signal-to-interference level to the second device in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to report the inter-group signal-to-interference level.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for receiving, from the second device, resource allocation information indicating a set of resources for intra-group communication in the first group, the set of resources being determined based at least in part on the inter-group signal-to-interference level.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for: determining a third measurement of a third reference signal received on a third resource from at least one device comprised in a third group; and determining an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the third group based on the first measurement and the third measurement.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for receiving, from the second device, third configuration information indicating the first resource used for transmission of the first reference signal in the first group and the second resource used for transmission of the second reference signal in the second group.

In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 800 (for example, the second device 110 in Fig. 2) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 800. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second device 120 in Fig. 2.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for: transmitting, at a second device, first configuration information to a first device comprised in a first group with at least one further device, the first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within the first group by indicating the first device to measure a first reference signal received from at least one of the at least one further device in the first group and a second reference signal received from at least one device in a second group, or indicating the first device to transmit the first reference signal; and receiving an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group.

In some example embodiments, the means for receiving the inter-group signal-to-interference level comprises means for: in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure the first reference signal and the second reference signal, receiving the inter-group signal-to-interference level from the first device.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for: in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to transmit the first reference signal, determining a first probability of transmitting the first reference signal at least based on a first number of devices in the first group and a second number of devices in the second group; and transmitting, to the first device, second configuration information indicating the first probability.

In some example embodiments, the means for determining the first probability comprises: means for determining the first probability such that a difference between a first expected number of devices for transmitting the first reference signal in the first group and a second expected number of devices for transmitting the second reference signal in the second group is below a difference threshold, wherein the first expected number is determined based on the first probability and the first number of devices in the first group, and the second expected number is determined based on the second probability and the second number of devices in the second group.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for: determining a set of resources for intra-group communication in the first group at least based on the inter-group signal-to-interference level; and transmitting resource allocation information indicating the set of resources to the first device and the at least one further device in the first group.

Fig. 9 is a simplified block diagram of a device 900 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 900 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first device 110 or the second device 120. As shown, the device 900 includes one or more processors 910, one or more memories 920 coupled to the processor 910, and one or more communication modules 940 coupled to the processor 910.

The communication module 940 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 940 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 940 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 910 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 900 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 920 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 924, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 922 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 930 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 910. The program 930 may be stored in the memory, e.g., ROM 924. The processor 910 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 930 into the RAM 922.

The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 930 so that the device 900 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to Figs. 3 to 8. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 930 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 900 (such as in the memory 920) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 900. The device 900 may load the program 930 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 922 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any types of tangible non-volatile storage, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. Fig. 10 shows an example of the computer readable medium 1000 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium has the program 930 stored thereon.

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

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above with reference to Fig. 4 and Fig. 5. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

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

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

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

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

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

Claims

A first device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

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

receive, from a second device, first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within a first group, the first device being comprised in the first group with at least one further device; and

in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure at least a reference signal,

determine a first measurement of a first reference signal received on a first resource from the at least one device comprised in the first group;

determine a second measurement of a second reference signal received on a second resource from at least one device comprised in a second group; and

determine an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group based on the first measurement and the second measurement.
The first device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the first device to:

in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to transmit the first reference signal, transmit the first reference signal on the first resource.
The first device of claim 2, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to transmit the first reference signal by:

receiving, from the second device, second configuration information indicating a first probability of transmitting the first reference signal;

determining whether to transmit the first reference signal based on the first probability; and

in accordance with a determination to transmit the first reference signal, transmitting the first reference signal.
The first device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the first device to:

transmit the determined inter-group signal-to-interference level to the second device.
The first device of claim 4, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to transmit the determined inter-group signal-to-interference level to the second device in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to report the inter-group signal-to-interference level.
The first device of claim 4, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the first device to:

receive, from the second device, resource allocation information indicating a set of resources for intra-group communication in the first group, the set of resources being determined based at least in part on the inter-group signal-to-interference level.
The first device of claim 1, wherein the first measurement comprises a received power of the first reference signal on the first resource, and the second measurement comprises a received power of the second reference signal on the second resource; and

wherein the inter-group signal-to-interference level is determined based on a ratio of the first measurement to the second measurement.
The first device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the first device to:

determine a third measurement of a third reference signal received on a third resource from at least one device comprised in a third group; and

determine an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the third group based on the first measurement and the third measurement.
The first device of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the first device to:

receive, from the second device, third configuration information indicating the first resource used for transmission of the first reference signal in the first group and the second resource used for transmission of the second reference signal in the second group.
A second device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

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

transmit first configuration information to a first device comprised in a first group with at least one further device, the first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within the first group by indicating the first device to measure a first reference signal received from at least one of the at least one further device in the first group and a second reference signal received from at least one device in a second group, or indicating the first device to transmit the first reference signal; and

receive an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group.
The second device of claim 10, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to receive the inter-group signal-to-interference level by:

in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure the first reference signal and the second reference signal, receiving the inter-group signal-to-interference level from the first device.
The second device of claim 10, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the second device to:

in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to transmit the first reference signal,

determine a first probability of transmitting the first reference signal at least based on a first number of devices in the first group and a second number of devices in the second group; and

transmit, to the first device, second configuration information indicating the first probability.
The second device of claim 12, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to determine the first probability by:

determining the first probability such that a difference between a first expected number of devices for transmitting the first reference signal in the first group and a second expected number of devices for transmitting the second reference signal in the second group is below a difference threshold,

wherein the first expected number is determined based on the first probability and the first number of devices in the first group, and the second expected number is determined based on the second probability and the second number of devices in the second group.
The second device of any of claims 10 to 13, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the second device to:

determine a set of resources for intra-group communication in the first group at least based on the inter-group signal-to-interference level; and

transmit resource allocation information indicating the set of resources to the first device and the at least one further device in the first group.
A method comprising:

receiving, at a first device and from a second device, first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within a first group, the first device being comprised in the first group with at least one further device; and

in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure at least a reference signal,

determining a first measurement of a first reference signal received on a first resource from the at least one device comprised in the first group,

determining a second measurement of a second reference signal received on a second resource from at least one device comprised in a second group, and

determining an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group based on the first measurement and the second measurement.
The method of claim 15, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to transmit the first reference signal, transmitting the first reference signal on the first resource.
The method of claim 16, wherein transmitting the first reference signal comprises:

receiving, from the second device, second configuration information indicating a first probability of transmitting the first reference signal;

determining whether to transmit the first reference signal based on the first probability; and

in accordance with a determination to transmit the first reference signal, transmitting the first reference signal.
The method of claim 15, further comprising:

transmit the determined inter-group signal-to-interference level to the second device in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to report the inter-group signal-to-interference level.
The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determine a third measurement of a third reference signal received on a third resource from at least one device comprised in a third group; and

determine an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the third group based on the first measurement and the third measurement.
A method comprising:

transmitting, at a second device, first configuration information to a first device comprised in a first group with at least one further device, the first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within the first group by indicating the first device to measure a first reference signal received from at least one of the at least one further device in the first group and a second reference signal received from at least one device in a second group, or indicating the first device to transmit the first reference signal; and

receiving an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group.
The method of claim 20, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to transmit the first reference signal,

determining a first probability of transmitting the first reference signal at least based on a first number of devices in the first group and a second number of devices in the second group; and

transmitting, to the first device, second configuration information indicating the first probability.
The method of claim 21, wherein determining the first probability comprises:

determining the first probability such that a difference between a first expected number of devices for transmitting the first reference signal in the first group and a second expected number of devices for transmitting the second reference signal in the second group is below a difference threshold,

wherein the first expected number is determined based on the first probability and the first number of devices in the first group, and the second expected number is determined based on the second probability and the second number of devices in the second group.
A first apparatus comprising means for:

receiving, at a first device and from a second device, first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within a first group, the first device being comprised in the first group with at least one further device; and

in accordance with a determination that the first configuration information indicates the first device to measure at least a reference signal,

determining a first measurement of a first reference signal received on a first resource from the at least one device comprised in the first group,

determining a second measurement of a second reference signal received on a second resource from at least one device comprised in a second group, and

determining an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group based on the first measurement and the second measurement.
A second apparatus comprising means for:

transmitting, at a second device, first configuration information to a first device comprised in a first group with at least one further device, the first configuration information indicating a role of the first device within the first group by indicating the first device to measure a first reference signal received from at least one of the at least one further device in the first group and a second reference signal received from at least one device in a second group, or indicating the first device to transmit the first reference signal; and

receiving an inter-group signal-to-interference level between the first group and the second group.
A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any of claims 15-19 or any of claims 20-22.