WO2025199663A1

WO2025199663A1 - Resource allocation for subnetworks

Info

Publication number: WO2025199663A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/083428
Authority: WO
Inventors: Saeed Reza KHOSRAVIRAD; Dong Li
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2024-03-23
Filing date: 2024-03-23
Publication date: 2025-10-02
Anticipated expiration: 2026-09-23

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to apparatuses, methods, and storage medium of resource allocation for subnetworks. In a method, a second apparatus receives, from a plurality of first apparatuses, respective priority metrics of a plurality of subnetworks. The second apparatus determines respective resource allocation types for the plurality of subnetworks, based on the respective priority metrics of the plurality of subnetworks. The second apparatus transmits, to the plurality of first apparatuses, a plurality of first configurations of resource allocation for the plurality of subnetworks.

Description

RESOURCE ALLOCATION FOR SUBNETWORKS

FIELDS

Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to apparatuses, methods and computer readable storage medium of resource allocation for subnetworks.

BACKGROUND

In-X subnetworks are envisioned as a network architecture paradigm for certain 6G short-range scenarios with high reliability and low latency requirements. Subnetworks have the following pivotal properties and technical features: support of high performance requirements in terms of latency, reliability and/or throughputs; low transmit power, which implies a limited coverage range (e.g. in the order of few meters) ; a star or tree topology with one node in-X AP and one or more nodes in-X user equipment (UEs) under a control of an AP; overall mobility of an AP and associated UEs, but lack or limited mobility across different subnetworks; part of an overlay wide area network (WAN) , but continuing to work also when out of network coverage. Resource allocation in subnetworks is prone to interference from other subnetworks.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus includes at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: determine a priority metric for a target subnetwork from a plurality of subnetworks, based on a respective service requirement to be satisfied by each device within the target subnetwork; transmit, to a second apparatus, the priority metric for the target subnetwork; and receive, from the second apparatus, at least one first configuration of resource allocation for the target subnetwork.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus includes at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to: receive, from a plurality of first apparatuses, respective priority metrics of a plurality of subnetworks; determine respective resource allocation types for the plurality of subnetworks, based on the respective priority metrics of the plurality of subnetworks; and transmit, to the plurality of first apparatuses, a plurality of first configurations of resource allocation for the plurality of subnetworks.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method at a first apparatus. The method includes: determining a priority metric for a target subnetwork from a plurality of subnetworks, based on a respective service requirement to be satisfied by each device within the target subnetwork; transmitting, to a second apparatus, the priority metric for the target subnetwork; and receiving, from the second apparatus, at least one first configuration of resource allocation for the target subnetwork.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method at a second apparatus. The method includes: receiving, from a plurality of first apparatuses, respective priority metrics of a plurality of subnetworks; determining respective resource allocation types for the plurality of subnetworks, based on the respective priority metrics of the plurality of subnetworks; and transmitting, to the plurality of first apparatuses, a plurality of first configurations of resource allocation for the plurality of subnetworks.

In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus includes means for determining a priority metric for a target subnetwork from a plurality of subnetworks, based on a respective service requirement to be satisfied by each device within the target subnetwork; means for transmitting, to a second apparatus, the priority metric for the target subnetwork; and means for receiving, from the second apparatus, at least one first configuration of resource allocation for the target subnetwork.

In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus includes means for receiving, from a plurality of first apparatuses, respective priority metrics of a plurality of subnetworks; means for determining respective resource allocation types for the plurality of subnetworks, based on the respective priority metrics of the plurality of subnetworks; and means for transmitting, to the plurality of first apparatuses, a plurality of first configurations of resource allocation for the plurality of subnetworks.

In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium includes instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third or fourth 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 may become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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

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

FIGS. 2A to 2D illustrate example in-X subnetworks;

FIG. 3 is a signaling diagram illustrating an example communication process between the first apparatus and the second apparatus according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example process of resource allocation for subnetworks according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 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.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure may 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 may 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, ” …, etc. in front of noun (s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements may not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun (s) . 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.

As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

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 may 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) , the sixth generation (6G) 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 may of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It may 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 include a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, x NodeB (xNB) , such as a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) and an 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 includes a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node includes 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 (IoT) 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 combination of the time, frequency, space and/or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain may 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.

As discussed above, resource allocation in subnetworks is prone to interference from other subnetworks. An approach is to allocate subbands based on interference measurement and monitoring. In out-of-coverage situations, the interference issue may be handled by means of distributed resource allocation. In the distributed resource allocation, resource allocation may be performed autonomously in a subnetwork.

While subband allocation (or in general, resource allocation) for subnetworks requires knowledge of interference among subnetworks, it is not clear how heterogeneity of service requirements across subnetworks is incorporated in a subband allocation process. Due to the general association of the subnetwork technology to licensed band access, e.g., 6G, there may be lots of potential in taking advantage of specified tools to improve resource allocation based on service requirements.

Many of the concepts developed for subband resource allocation follow similar principles as in unlicensed band access, such as Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) , and try to benefit from centralized means to avoid excess interference among subnetworks. Meanwhile, those approaches generally are minimal to fit to unlicensed band access. Those approaches do not take advantage of means of communication and prioritization among subnetworks in gaining access to the subbands. The means may be specified for licensed band access regardless of centralized or distributed resource allocation. In other words, while distributed resource access in unlicensed bands does not consider importance of underlying traffic and operates mainly on a first-come-first-served basis, in licensed band access, service requirements may be accounted for while allocating resources.

Subband allocation in licensed bands has a major benefit over unlicensed band technologies in the way that resource allocation is coordinated among nodes and subbands. That is, the nodes may use specified metrics and channels for communicating those metrics to prioritize access to a channel among themselves, which applies to both centralized and distributed resource allocation scenarios.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure propose a solution for resource allocation in subnetworks. In this solution, a priority metric for a target subnetwork is determined based on at least one service requirement to be satisfied within the target subnetwork. Resource allocations for a plurality of subnetworks are determined based on respective priority metrics of the subnetworks.

This solution may prioritize resource access for subbands, time slots, and/or spatial transmission directions based on service requirements such as quality of service (QoS) requirements of the traffic within subnetworks. For example, QoS or quality of experience (QoE) requirements of the subnetwork devices may be accounted for in a resource (e.g. subband) allocation process for heterogeneous subnetworks.

As described above, existing approaches for frequency subband allocation to subnetworks do not fully consider criticality of the traffic within a subnetwork. The proposed solution may address matter of priority in frequency resource access for 6G subnetworks based on the QoS requirements of the devices in the subnetwork. In this way, the resource allocation for subnetworks may be more effective and efficient.

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

The communication environment 100 includes a plurality of subnetworks 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, …, 110-N, in each of which a first apparatus 120-1, 120-2, 120-3, …, 120-N such as an AP may communicate with a plurality of devices 130-1, 130-2, …, 130-M (such as a sensor, an actuator, a mobile phone, and/or the like) . N and M represent positive integers. For the purpose of discussions, the subnetworks 110-1, 110-2, …, 110-N may be individually or collectively referred to as subnetwork (s) 110, first apparatuses 120-1, 120-2, …, 120-N may be individually or collectively referred to as first apparatus (es) 120, and the devices 130-1, 130-2, …, 130-M in the subnetworks 110-1, 110-2, …, 110-N may be individually or collectively referred to as device (s) 130.

The subnetworks 110 may be in-X subnetworks. Example in-X subnetworks as in-robot or in-production, in-vehicle, in-body, or in-house subnetwork are shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D. In these embodiments, APs 205, 210, 215 and 220 operate as examples of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2A, sensors and actuators may be used in an in-robot/in-production module subnetwork 200A. In an in-vehicle sub-network 200B in FIG. 2B, sensors and actuators may be embedded in a trunk, an ignition, a safety, an engine, or a suspension within a vehicle 225. The sub-networks 200A and 200B may have high performance requirements in both reliability (up to six nines or more) and latency (down to the level of 100us or even below) , for example, for periodic and deterministic communication services which may be challenging scenarios in a 6G system.

As shown in FIG. 2C, a pacemaker 230 and some haptic sensors/actuators may be deployed within an in-body subnetwork 200C. As shown in FIG. 2D, some in-house apparatuses, such as virtual reality (VR) glasses 230, may be deployed within an in-house subnetwork 200D.

Still with reference to FIG. 1, traffic with different time critical levels may be transferred within the subnetworks 110, which may include high time critical traffic (<<1ms) , medium time critical traffic (1～10ms) , and/or non-critical traffic such as Key Performance Indicator (KPI) monitoring. The traffic may have different service requirements such as QoS or QoE requirements.

Outside of the subnetworks 110, the first apparatuses 120 may be connected to a second apparatus 140, such as a base station (BS) or xNB, of a wide area network (WAN) which may control and coordinate the subnetworks 110. The traffic between the first apparatus 120 and the second apparatus 140 may include medium time critical traffic and/or non-critical traffic.

Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , including, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , the fifth generation (5G) , the sixth generation (6G) , and 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, including 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.

It is to be understood that the number and types of apparatuses are shown in FIG. 1 for the purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitation. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable numbers and types of devices and apparatuses. For example, more than one first apparatuses may be deployed in a subnetwork, and one of the first apparatuses may operate as a serving AP.

In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first apparatus 110 operating as an AP and the second apparatus 120 operating as a BS. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a network device (e.g. an AP or a BS) may be implemented at a terminal device or other devices.

In the communication environment 100, the second apparatus 140 may allocate resources for the plurality of subnetworks 110-1, …, 110-N based on respective priority metrics of the subnetworks. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 120-1 may consolidate metrics of the service requirements of the devices 130-1, …, 130-M in a subnetwork 110-1 into a priority metric for the subnetwork 110-1. According to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, when allocating resources to subnetworks 110, priority metrics of the subnetworks 110 may be accounted for, which may depend on the service requirements of the devices 130 within the subnetwork 110.

In some example embodiments, based on the respective priority metrics, the subnetworks 110-1, …, 110-N may be divided into three groups for resource (e.g. subband) allocation, including, for example, a subnetwork 110-1 with a high priority metric for prioritized centralized resource allocation (RA) ; a subnetwork 110-2 with a middle priority metric for centralized RA; and a subnetwork 110-N with a low priority metric for distributed RA.

In this way, the priority metric of the subnetwork (e.g. determined by the QoS requirements of traffics of devices) may be sufficiently considered and embedded in a resource allocation procedure. Some example implementations may be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 3 is a signaling diagram showing an example communication process 300 between the first apparatus 120 and the second apparatus 140 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As detailed in the following paragraphs, the first apparatus 120 may operate as the first apparatus 120-1, …, 120-N in different use cases.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the process 300, the first apparatus 120 (e.g. the first apparatus 120-1) determines (315) a priority metric (e.g., designated as P1) for a target subnetwork 110 (e.g. the subnetwork 110-1) from the plurality of subnetworks 110-1 to 110-N based on a respective service requirement (designated as SD1, …, SDM) to be satisfied by each device (e.g., each device 130-1, …, 130-M) within the target subnetwork (e.g., the subnetwork 110-1) . The priority metric for the target subnetwork may be consolidated by the first apparatus 120 based on priority metrics or service requirements (e.g., designated as SD1, …, SDM) of the devices 130-1, …, 130-M within the target subnetwork 110-1.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 120 may determine a respective priority metric (designated as PT1, …, PTM) of each device of at least one device (e.g. the devices 130-1, …, 130-M) in the target subnetwork 110, from a respective service requirement that corresponds to each of the devices 130-1, …, 130-M in the target subnetwork 110-1. Then, the first apparatus 120 may determine the priority metric for the target subnetwork, based on the respective priority metric of each respective device 130-1, …, 130-M in the target subnetwork 110-1.

In an example, the first apparatus 120 may compute a priority metric based on the QoS requirements for each device 130 (or each user) , e.g., using a formula or lookup table or in any other ways. As an example, a priority metric for each device 130-1, 130-2, …, 130-M within the subnetwork 120-1 may be calculated as an inverse of a required latency value weighted by the minus base-10 logarithm of a reliability requirement of the device 130-1, 130-2, …, 130-M. For example, the reliability requirement of 10^-5 in latency of 1 ms for the device 130-1 may be translated into a priority metric of 5000 (i.e., 5/0.001) . The reliability requirement of 10^-6 in latency of 2 ms for the device 130-2 may be translated into a priority metric of 3000 (i.e., 6/0.002) . The reliability requirement of 10^-9 in latency of 10 ms for the device 130-M may be translated into a priority metric of 900. As another example, each QoS class may be mapped to a specified priority index. The mapping may be predefined, fixed or hardcoded in the third-generation partnership project (3GPP) standards, or preconfigured or configured by a network.

Based on the priority metrics of the devices 130-1, …, 130-M within the subnetwork 120-1, the first apparatus 120-1 may calculate a priority metric for the subnetwork 120-1. For example, a maximum or median value of the priority metrics of the devices 130-1, …, 130-M may be determined as the priority metric for the subnetwork 120-1. Other algorithms may also be applied in the calculating the priority metric for the subnetwork 120-1 based on the priority metrics of the devices 130-1, …, 130-M.

In some example embodiments, the algorithm (s) or approach (es) for consolidation of the priority metric of the subnetwork 110 may be configured by a network. For example, the second apparatus 140 may transmit (305) , to the first apparatus 120, a configuration (referred to as a second configuration, designated as CB) for determining (315) the priority metric of the target subnetwork 110. This second configuration may include the algorithm or approach for consolidation of the priority metric of the target subnetwork 110. The second configuration may further include an algorithm or approach for determining a respective priority metric of each device 130-1 to 130M within the target subnetwork 110-1. The second configurations (designated as CB1, …, CB2) associated with different subnetworks 110-1, …., 110-N may or may not be the same.

Correspondingly, the first apparatus 120 may receive (310) this second configuration from the second apparatus 140. Then, the first apparatus 120 may determine (315) the priority metric for the target subnetwork 110 from the respective service requirement to be satisfied by each device 130-1, …, 130-M within the target subnetwork 110-1 based on this second configuration.

This second configuration may be transmitted (305) from the second apparatus 140 to the first apparatus 120 in any suitable occasion and in any suitable signaling. In an example, the first apparatus 120 may receive (315) this second configuration from the second apparatus 140 upon connecting to an overlay network or the WAN (network) . In this way, the subnetwork 110 may be notified by the overlay or WAN network, e.g., upon connecting to the overlay or WAN network, of the algorithm (s) or approach (es) for consolidation of the priority metric of the subnetwork 110.

After determining (315) the priority metric for the target subnetwork 110, the first apparatus 120 transmits (320) , to the second apparatus 140, the priority metric for the target subnetwork 110. For example, the first apparatus 120 (e.g. an AP) in the subnetwork 110 may feedback the priority metric for the subnetwork 110 to the second apparatus 140 such as the WAN BS (or xNB) .

Correspondingly, the second apparatus 140 receives (325) from the first apparatus 120 the priority metric for the target subnetwork 110. In addition, the second apparatus 140 may receive the priority metrics for other subnetworks from other first apparatuses 120 in the subnetworks.

Then, the second apparatus 140 determines (330) respective resource allocation types (designated as T1, …, TN) for the plurality of subnetworks 110-1, …, 110-N, based on the respective priority metrics (P1, …, PN) of the plurality of subnetworks 110-1, …, 110-N. The resource allocation type may include centralized resource allocation (designated as CR) . In the centralized resource allocation, the second apparatus 140 may allocate a resource (e.g., designated as R1) for the target subnetwork (e.g., the subnetwork 110-1) . Alternatively, or in addition, the resource allocation type may include distributed resource allocation (designated as DR) . In the distributed resource allocation, the first apparatus 120 autonomously may select a resource (e.g., designated as RN) for the target subnetwork (e.g., the subnetwork 110-N) .

The second apparatus 140 transmits (335) , to the plurality of first apparatuses 120-1, …, 120-N, a plurality of first configurations (designated as CA1, …, CAN) of resource allocation for the plurality of subnetworks 110-1, …, 110-N. Correspondingly, the first apparatus 120 receives (340) , from the second apparatus 140, at least one first configuration (e.g., CA1) of resource allocation for the target subnetwork 110-1. The first configuration may include a configuration related to resource allocation that corresponds to the target subnetwork. In some example embodiments, the at least one first configuration of the resource allocation may include an indication of a resource allocation type (e.g., T1) for the target subnetwork 110-1. In some example embodiments, the first configuration of the resource allocation for a subnetwork which is subject to centralized resource allocation may include a configuration of a resource allocated to the subnetwork.

In some example embodiments, the resource allocation may be prioritized for some subnetworks 110 based on their priority metrics. In an example, if a set (referred to a first set) of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3) among the plurality of subnetworks 110-1, …, 110-N have higher priority metrics, for example, if the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the first set of subnetworks is larger than or equal to a threshold priority metric (referred to as a first threshold priority metric, designated as THP1) , the second apparatus 140 may determine the centralized resource allocation for the first set of subnetworks. The first threshold priority metric may be set according to the network deployment or the actual service requirements of the plurality of subnetworks 110-1, …, 110-N. If the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of a second set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetwork 110-N) is lower than the first threshold priority metric, the second apparatus 140 may determine the distributed resource allocation for the second set of subnetworks.

In this way, resources (designated as R1, R2, R3) for the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3 having higher priority metrics may be allocated by the second apparatus 140 in a centralized way. Thus, the service requirements of the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3 may be prioritized to be ensured in the resource allocation procedure.

In some example embodiments, the resource allocation to subnetworks may be based on interferences that a subnetwork imposes on one another. The interferences may be dependent on relative positioning of the devices within the subnetworks. The stronger the interferences among the subnetworks, the more "orthogonal" their allocated resources may be.

The interferences may be measured by a first set of first apparatuses (e.g. the first apparatuses 120-1 to 120-3) within the first set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3) based on at least one third configuration (CC) of reference signals and measurements of the first set of subnetworks transmitted from the second apparatus 140 to the first set of first apparatuses. The third configuration may indicate a reference signal of each subnetwork of the first set of subnetworks. The reference signals for different subnetworks may be orthogonal from each other. The third configuration received by a first apparatus 120-1 may indicate a reference signal for a subnetwork 110-1 as well as reference signals for other subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3. The third configuration transmitted to more than one subnetwork may contain the same information related to the reference signals and interference measurements for all subnetworks of the first set of subnetworks.

For example, after the first apparatus 120-1 in a target subnetwork 110-1 receives, from the second apparatus 140, the at least one third configuration of the reference signals and measurements of the first set of subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3, the first apparatus 120-1 may perform at least one measurement for at least one interference of at least one remaining subnetwork 110-2 and 110-3 of the first set of subnetworks to the target subnetwork 110-1. Then, the first apparatus 120-1 may transmit a measurement result of the at least one interference to the second apparatus 140.

The second apparatus 140 may receive, from the first set of first apparatuses, (e.g. the first apparatuses 120-1 to 120-3) , respective measurement results of interferences among the first set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3) . Based on the respective measurement results of the interferences, the second apparatus 140 may allocate resources for the first set of subnetworks. The resource may include a subband, a time slot, and/or a spatial transmission direction. In some example embodiments, the first configurations of resource allocation transmitted (335) by the second apparatus 140 to the first set of subnetworks may include indications of the resources allocated for the first set of subnetworks.

In some example embodiments, the first set of subnetworks may be further divided into different subsets of subnetworks with different priorities of the resource allocation. In an example, if the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of a subset (referred to as a first subset) of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetwork 110-1) in the first set of subnetworks is larger than or equal to a higher threshold priority metric (referred to as a second threshold priority metric, designated as THP2) than the first threshold priority metric, the second apparatus 140 may determine first centralized resource allocation (designated as CR1) for the first subset of subnetworks. The first subset of subnetworks with the priority metrics higher than the second threshold priority metric may have highly demanding requirements. The second threshold priority metric may be set according to the network deployment or the actual service requirements of the plurality of subnetworks 110-1, …, 110-N.

If the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of a subset (referred to as a second subset) of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3) is larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric and lower than the second threshold priority metric, the second apparatus 140 may determine second centralized resource allocation (designated as CR2) for the second subset of subnetworks. The first centralized resource allocation may be prioritized over the second centralized resource allocation.

By way of example, the second apparatus 140 may configure reference signals (RS) , which may be orthogonal from each other, and RS measurements for the first set of subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3 with the centralized RA to obtain the information about the inter-subnetwork interferences. For the first set of subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3, the reference signal transmissions may be performed by the first set of first apparatuses 120-1 to 120-3 within the subnetworks as per the third configurations and relevant measurements may be performed by the devices in each subnetwork and reported to the associated first set of first apparatuses 120-1 to 120-3, and then the first set of first apparatuses feed the measurement results back to the second apparatus 140. For example, one or more devices of the first apparatus 120-1 in the first subnetwork 110-1 may measure received power of the reference signals transmitted from other first apparatuses 120-2 and 120-3 of the other subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3. Based on the measured power of the reference signals, the inter-subnetwork interference levels may be obtained and fed back to the second apparatus 140 as the measurement results.

The second apparatus 140 may perform (or make) the centralized RA for the first set of subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3 based on the obtained measurement results and the priority metrics of the first set of subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3. For example, the first set of subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3 with the centralized RA may be divided into two subsets (or two parts) : a first subset of subnetworks 110-1 (or part-1 subnetworks) with the priority metrics higher than the second threshold priority metric (e.g., with highly demanding requirements) ; and a second subset of subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3 (or part-2 subnetworks) .

For the first subset of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetwork 110-1) in the first set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3) , the second apparatus 140 may sequentially allocate the resources in a descending order of the respective priority metrics of subnetworks in the first subset of subnetworks. In some example embodiments, a list of resources may be maintained for each subnetwork of the first set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3) . For example, the second apparatus 140 may initialize a list of resources with all available resources (e.g. all the subbands) for each subnetwork in the first set of subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3. Such a list of resources may also be referred to as a resource whitelist.

The second apparatus 140 may select a resource from a list of resources (i.e., resource whitelist) of a first subnetwork 110-1 in the first subset of subnetworks. The first subnetwork may have a first priority metric. If a second subnetwork 110-2 in the first set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3) has a second priority metric lower than the first priority metric and the interference from the second subnetwork 110-2 is higher than a threshold interference (which may be referred to as a third threshold interference, designated as THI3) , the second apparatus 140 may remove the resource allocated to the fist subnetwork 110-1 from a resource whitelist of the second subnetwork 110-2. A value of the third threshold interference may be set according to the network deployment or the actual service requirements of the plurality of subnetworks 110-1, …, 110-N. For example, for a subnetwork with a higher-level performance requirement, the third threshold interference may be lower. In this way, the interferences to a subnetwork with a higher priority metric may be avoided by resource allocation.

By way of example, for each subnetwork of the part-1 subnetworks (e.g. the subnetwork 110-1) and the part-2 subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3, the second apparatus 140 may initialize a subband whitelist (as an example of a resource whitelist) with all the subbands (as examples of resources) . For the part-1 subnetwork, the second apparatus 140 may sequentially allocate to each subnetwork 110-1 a subband in its subband whitelist, in the descending order of the priority metrics. The allocated subband may be selected randomly from the subband whitelist. Alternatively, or in addition, the previous resource allocation may be taken into account. For example, the subband having allocated to a subnetwork may not be selected or allocated to other subnetworks.

After a subband is allocated to the subnetwork 110-1 (e.g. subband-a) , based on the interference information among the subnetworks, for any (part-1 or part-2) subnetwork 110-2 or 110-3 with interferences to the subnetwork 110-1 higher than the third threshold interference, subband-a may be removed from the subband whitelist of the subnetwork 110-2 or 110-3.

In some example embodiments, resources allocated to the first subset of subnetworks (or the part-1 subnetworks, e.g., the subnetwork 110-1) in the first set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3) may form a set (referred to as a first set) of resources (designated as RS1) , which may also be called a first protected resource set. For example, the subbands that are allocated to the part-1 subnetworks may form a subband set, called a first protected subband set.

For the second subset of subnetworks (or part-2 subnetworks, e.g., the subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3) , which have priority metrics larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric and lower than a higher second threshold priority metric, the second apparatus 140 may allocate the resources to reduce interferences among the second subset of subnetworks.

In an example, in the embodiments where the resources include subbands, for part-2 subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3, the second apparatus 140 may perform (or make) centralized subband allocation based on their respective subband whitelists, e.g., using a sequential iterative subband allocation (SISA) algorithm, subject to the subband whitelist constraints. With the SISA algorithm, the second apparatus 140 may perform the subband allocation for the part-2 subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3 subsequentially. For example, the subband allocation may be first performed for the subnetwork 110-2. A subband may be selected for the subnetwork 110-2 from the subband whitelist of the subnetwork 110-2 so that the total perceived interferences among the part-2 subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3 are kept as minimal. Then, the subband allocation may be performed for the subnetwork 110-3 in a similar way. The subband allocation are performed for the part-2 subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3 iteratively so that the subband allocated to the subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3 may be updated iteratively to minimize the interferences among these subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3.

In some example embodiments, resources allocated to the second subset of subnetworks (or the part-2 subnetworks, e.g., the subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3) may form a set (referred to as a second set) of resources (designated as RS2) , which may also be called a second protected resource set. For example, the subbands that are allocated to the part-2 subnetworks may form a subband set, called a second protected subband set.

For the second set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetwork 110-N) with the distributed resource allocation due to lower priority metrics than the first threshold priority metric, the first configurations of resource allocation transmitted (335) by the second apparatus 140 may include at least one configuration (designated as RD) of the distributed resource allocation for the second set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetwork 110-N) , to a second set of first apparatus (e.g. the first apparatuses 120-N) . The at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation may include information about at least one of the first set of resources allocated to the first subset of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetwork 110-1) in the first set of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-1 to 110-3) , or the second set of resources allocated to the second subset of subnetworks (e.g. the subnetworks 110-2 and 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks. The same configuration of the distributed resource allocation may be transmitted to more than one subnetwork subject to the distributed resource allocation.

In some example embodiments, the at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation may include a time window (designated as TW) for the distributed resource allocation. Once the time window is configured, the distributed resource allocation may be performed for the subnetworks (e.g., the subnetwork 110-N) within the configured time window to improve the interference management.

After the first apparatus 120 (e.g. the first apparatus 120-N) receives the at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation, the first apparatus may select a resource for the target subnetwork (e.g. the subnetwork 110-N) accordingly. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 120 may select a resource outside of the first and second set of resources indicated by the at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation to avoid the interferences to the subnetworks with higher priority metrics. In some example embodiments, the selected resource may be outside of the first set of resources so that the first set of resources may be highly protected.

In some example embodiments, the first set of resources may be reused to improve the resource efficiency. In some example embodiments, if an interference on a resource in the first set of resources is lower than a threshold interference (referred to as a first threshold interference, designated as THI1) , the first apparatus 120 may select the resource for the target subnetwork 110. In this way, the interferences on the subnetworks with the higher priority metrics may be reduced.

In some example embodiments, the second set of resources may be reused to further improve the resource efficiency. In some example embodiments, if an interference on a resource in the second set of resources is lower than a threshold interference (referred to as a second threshold interference, designated as THI2) , the first apparatus 120 may select the resource for the target subnetwork 110. The second threshold interference for the second set of resources may be higher than the first threshold interference for the first set of resources to enable the first set of resources to be highly protected.

An example RA process may be described below. In this example, it is assumed that there may be eight subnetworks (e.g. N = 8) , denoted by subNW-n, n=1, 2, …, 8. Further, there may be four subbands, denoted by subband-k, k=1, 2, 3, 4. The second apparatus 140 such as a WAN BS may obtain the priority metrics of all the eight subnetworks. Based on the subnetwork priority metrics, the second apparatus 140 may determine that subNW-6, subNW-7 and subNW-8 are distributed RA subnetworks as their priority metrics are lower than the first threshold priority metric, and the other subnetworks (subNW-n, n=1, 2, 3, 4, 5) are the centralized RA subnetworks as their priority metrics are higher than or equal to the first threshold priority metric.

Through the reference signal transmissions and inter-subnetwork interference measurements, the interference information among the centralized RA subnetworks is denoted by an inter-subnetwork interference matrix W, as follows:

Here, the rows and columns correspond to subNW-1～subNW-5, respectively. “na” represents not available. It is to be noted that in the interference matrix W, the measured interference is scaled into the range of 0 to 1, with a larger value meaning the more severe interference.

Based on the subnetwork priority metrics, the five subnetworks may be divided into two parts: part-1 subnetworks including subNW-2 and subNW-3 with priority metrics higher than the second threshold priority metric, meaning that they have top-level extreme performance requirements; and part-2 subnetworks including other subnetworks, i.e. subNW-1, subNW-4 and subNW-5. For each of the five subNWs, a subband whitelist may be initialized to include all the available four subbands, that is, {sb1, sb2, sb3, sb4} .

In a subband allocation procedure for the part-1 subnetworks (subNW2 and subNW3) , it is assumed that subNW-2 has a higher priority metric than subNW-3. For subNW-2, the second apparatus 140 may randomly allocate a subband from its subband whitelist. For example, a subband sb1 is allocated to subNW-2.

In this example, the third threshold interference may be 0.20. SubNW-4 and subNW-5 have interferences to subNW-2 higher than the third threshold interference. Thus, the subband sb1 allocated to subNW-2 is removed from the respective subband whitelists of subNW-4 and subNW-5. That is, the subband whitelists for subNW-4 and 5 are updated into {sb2, sb3, sb4} . Subband whitelists of other subNWs remain unchanged.

Then, for subNW-3, its current subband whitelist includes all the subbands. With the previous allocation (to subNW-2) taken into account, a subband sb2 may be allocated to subNW-3. As subNW-1 and subNW-5 have interferences to subNW-3 higher than the third threshold interference 0.20, the subband sb2 may be removed from the respective subband whitelists of subNW-1 and subNW-5. That is, the subband whitelist for subNW-1 is updated into {sb1, sb3, sb4} . The subband whitelist for subNW-5 is updated into {sb3, sb4} .

Up to now, the current subband whitelists for subNW-1, subNW-4, and subNW-5 are as follows:

subNW-1: {sb1, sb3, sb4} ,

subNW-4: {sb2, sb3, sb4} , and

subNW-5: {sb3, sb4} .

Based on the subband allocation to the part-1 subnetworks, the first protected subband set may be determined as {sb1, sb2} .

In a subband allocation procedure for the part-2 subnetworks (subNW-1/4/5) , the centralized subband allocation may be performed for the part-2 subnetworks based on their subband whitelist, e.g., using the SISA algorithm under the subband whitelist constraints. For example, in each iteration for a subnetwork, a subband to be allocated may be selected from a subband whitelist of the subnetwork, instead of all the available subbands.

Additionally, the interference measurement matrix W for the remaining subNW-1/4/5 may be further updated by accounting for the priority metrics of those subnetworks. For example, the interference matrix W and the priority metric may be used to create a matrix W^*that may be used in the SISA algorithm. In one example, each row of W^*is created by computing a product of the priority metric for each subNW and the corresponding row from W. In this example, the two remaining subbands {sb3, sb4} are allocated to the part-2 subnetworks. Based on this, the second protected subband set is determined as {sb3, sb4} .

The second apparatus 140 may transmit the configurations for distributed RA to the subnetworks with the distributed RA. The configurations may include the information on the protected subband sets (i.e., the first protected subband sets {sb1, sb2} and the second protected subband sets {sb3, sb4} ) and a time window for the distributed RA.

The distributed subband allocation may be performed for these subnetworks based on the configurations received from the second apparatus 140. In an example, a subband that belongs to the first protected subband set may not be selected. Alternatively, a subband of this set may be selected only if the sensed interference over the subband is lower than the first threshold interference. Alternatively, or in addition, a subband of the second protected subband set may be selected only if the sensed interference over the subband is lower than the second threshold interference.

In this way, the subnetworks are divided into three groups for resource or subband allocation: the subnetworks with higher priority metrics (e.g. higher than the second threshold priority metric) for prioritized centralized RA based on the subband whitelists, the allocated subbands called first protected subband set; the subnetworks with middle priority metrics (e.g. between the first threshold priority metric and the second threshold priority metric) for centralized RA e.g., using an iterative algorithm SISA updated with the subband whitelists, the allocated subbands called second protected subband set; the subnetworks with lower priority metric (e.g. lower than the first threshold priority metric) for distributed RA with the first and second protected subband sets taken into account. Thus, the resource allocation may be performed by sufficiently considering the priority metrics of the subnetworks (e.g. determined by the QoS requirements of traffics of devices) , which may be more effective and efficient.

FIG. 4 shows an example process 400 of resource allocation for subnetworks according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In this example, a WAN BS 405 may operate as an example of the second apparatus 140 in FIG. 1. An AP 410 may operate as an example of the first apparatus 120 within a subnetwork 110 with centralized RA, and an AP 415 may operate as an example of the first apparatus 120 within a subnetwork 110 with distributed RA.

As shown in FIG. 4, in Step 0, the WAN BS 405 may transmit (420, 422) configurations on the subnetwork to the APs 410 and 415. The configurations may indicate a methodology of consolidating by the AP 410 or 415 the service requirement metrics of the devices in a subnetwork into a priority metric for the subnetwork (which may be referred to as a subnetwork priority metric) . The APs 410 and 415 may be notified by the WAN BS 405, e.g., upon connecting to the WAN network.

In Step 1, the APs 410 and 415 may compute (424, 426) priority metrics based on the QoS requirements for each user or device within the subnetworks, e.g., using a formula or lookup table, e.g., based on a specified or pre-configured methodology. In Step 2, the APs 410 and 415 may feed (428, 430) the priority metrics for the subnetworks back to the WAN BS 405.

In Step 3, the WAN BS 405, based on the received subnetwork-specific priority metrics, may determine (432) resource allocation (RA) types for all the subnetworks and configurations of reference signals and measurements for subnetworks with the priority metrics higher than the first threshold priority metric. The mentioned RA type may mean centralized RA or distributed RA. In the centralized RA, the WAN BS 405 allocates resources (or subbands) to the subnetworks. In the distributed RA, the AP 410 or 415 autonomously selects a resource for the subnetwork, subject to constraints indicated by the WAN BS 405. The mentioned configurations of reference signals and measurements may be used for the centralized RA subnetworks (with priority metrics higher than the first threshold priority metric) . The WAN BS 405 may indicate (434, 436) the RA types to the APs 410 and 415. In some example embodiments, the WAN BS 405 may indicate (434) to the AP 410 the configurations on the RSs and measurements.

In Step 4, the AP 410 within the subnetwork with the centralized RA (also referred to as a centralized RA subnetwork) may perform (438) the reference signal transmissions and relevant measurements as per the configurations, and then feed (440) the measurement results back to the WAN BS 405. In Step 5, the WAN BS 405 may make (442) the centralized RA for the subnetwork based on the obtained measurement results (in step 4) and the subnetwork priority metric (in step 2) . The centralized RA subnetworks may be divided into two parts: part-1 subnetworks with priority metrics higher than the second threshold priority metric (i.e., with highly demanding requirements) ; other subnetworks as part-2 subnetworks.

For each of part-1/part-2 subnetworks, the WAN BS 405 may initialize a subband whitelist with all the subbands. For part-1 subnetworks, in the descending order of priority metrics, the WAN BS 405 may sequentially allocate to each subnetwork a subband in its subband whitelist. The allocated subband may be selected randomly from the subband whitelist, or with the previous allocations taken into account. Once a subband is allocated to a subnetwork based on the interference information among the subnetworks (obtained in step 4) , for any (part-1 or part-2) subnetwork with an interference to this subnetwork higher than the third threshold interference, the allocated subband may be removed from its subband whitelist. The subbands that are allocated to the part-1 subnetworks form a subband set, called the first protected subband set.

For part-2 subnetworks, the WAN BS 405 may make centralized subband allocation based on their respective subband whitelists, e.g., using the SISA algorithm, updated with the subband whitelist constraints. The subbands that are allocated to the part-2 subnetworks form a subband set, called the second protected subband set.

In Step 6, the WAN BS 405 may transmit (444) the configurations for distributed RA to the AP 410 within the subnetwork with the distributed RA (also called a distributed RA subnetwork) . The configurations may include protected subband sets, including the first protected subband set and/or the second protected subband set. The first protected subband set includes the subbands that need to be highly protected. For example, a subband that belongs to the first protected subband set may not be selected for the distributed RA subnetworks. Alternatively, a subband of this set may be selected only if the sensed interference over the subband is lower than the first threshold interference. The second protected subband set includes the subbands that need to be protected. For example, a subband that belongs to the second protected subband set may be selected for the distributed RA subnetwork only if the sensed interference over the subband is lower than the second threshold interference. The first and second threshold interferences may also be included in the configurations for distributed RA. The configurations may further include a time window within which the distributed subband allocation is allowed to be performed.

In Step 7, the AP 415 may perform (446) the distributed subband allocation : the for the distributed RA subnetwork based on the configurations shown in step 6.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method 500 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 may be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

At block 510, the first apparatus 120 determines a priority metric for a target subnetwork from a plurality of subnetworks, based on a respective service requirement to be satisfied by each device within the target subnetwork.

At block 520, the first apparatus 120 transmits, to a second apparatus 140, the priority metric for the target subnetwork.

At block 530, the first apparatus 120 receives, from the second apparatus 140, at least one first configuration of resource allocation that corresponds to the target subnetwork.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 120 may receive, from the second apparatus 140, a second configuration for determining the priority metric of the target subnetwork. In some example embodiments, the priority metric for the target subnetwork may be determined from the respective service requirement which is to be satisfied by each device within the target subnetwork, based on the configuration.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 120 may determine a respective priority metric of each device of at least one device in the target subnetwork, from a respective service requirement of each of the devices in the target subnetwork. The first apparatus 120 may determine the priority metric for the target subnetwork, based on the respective priority metric that corresponds to each respective device in the target subnetwork.

In some example embodiments, the at least one first configuration of the resource allocation may include an indication of a resource allocation type for the target subnetwork.

In some example embodiments, the resource allocation type may include at least one of: centralized resource allocation or distributed resource allocation. The second apparatus 140 may allocate a resource for the target subnetwork in the centralized resource allocation. The first apparatus 120 may autonomously select a resource for the target subnetwork in the distributed resource allocation.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 120 may receive, from the second apparatus 140, at least one third configuration of reference signals and measurements of a first set of subnetworks. The respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the first set of subnetworks may be larger than or equal to a first threshold priority metric. The first apparatus 120 may perform, based on the at least one third configuration of the of reference signals and the measurements, at least one measurement for at least one interference of at least one remaining subnetwork of the first set of subnetworks to the target subnetwork. The first apparatus 120 may transmit, to the second apparatus 140, a measurement result of the at least one interference.

In some example embodiments, the at least one first configuration of the resource allocation may include an indication of a resource allocated for the target subnetwork.

In some example embodiments, the at least one first configuration of the resource allocation may include at least one configuration of distributed resource allocation. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 120 may select a resource for the target subnetwork, based on the at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation.

In some example embodiments, the at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation may include information about at least one of a first set of resources, a second set of resources or a time window for the distributed resource allocation, the first set of resources are allocated to a first subset of subnetworks in a first set of subnetworks, and the second set of resources are allocated to a second subset of subnetworks in the first set of subnetworks. The respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks may be larger than or equal to a first threshold priority metric and lower than a higher second threshold priority metric. The respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks may be larger than or equal to the second threshold priority metric.

In some example embodiments, the resource for the target subnetwork may be outside of the first set of resources.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 120 may select, from the first set of resources, the resource for the target subnetwork, based on an interference on the resource being lower than a first threshold interference.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 120 may select, from the second set of resources, the resource for the target subnetwork, based on an interference on the resource being lower than a second threshold interference.

In some example embodiments, the resource may include a subband, a time slot, and/or a spatial transmission direction.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 may be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 140 in FIG. 2.

At block 610, the second apparatus 140 receives, from a plurality of first apparatuses 120, respective priority metrics of a plurality of subnetworks 110.

At block 620, the second apparatus 140 determines respective resource allocation types for the plurality of subnetworks 110, based on the respective priority metrics of the plurality of subnetworks 110.

At block 630, the second apparatus 140 transmits, to the plurality of first apparatuses 120, a plurality of first configurations of resource allocation for the plurality of subnetworks 110.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 140 may transmit, to the plurality of first apparatuses 120, a plurality of second configurations for determining the respective priority metric of the plurality of subnetworks.

In some example embodiments, the plurality of first configurations of the resource allocation may include indications of the respective resource allocation types of the plurality of subnetworks.

In some example embodiments, the resource allocation types may include at least one of centralized resource allocation or distributed resource allocation. The second apparatus 140 may allocate a resource for a subnetwork of the plurality of subnetworks in the centralized resource allocation. A first apparatus of the plurality of first apparatuses 120 may autonomously select a resource for a subnetwork of the plurality of subnetworks in the distributed resource allocation.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 140 may determine the centralized resource allocation for a first set of subnetworks among the plurality of subnetworks, if the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the first set of subnetworks is larger than or equal to a first threshold priority metric.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 140 may determine first centralized resource allocation for a first subset of subnetworks in the first set of subnetworks, if the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks is larger than or equal to a higher second threshold priority metric.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 140 may determine second centralized resource allocation for a second subset of subnetworks in the first set of subnetworks, if the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks is larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric and lower than the second threshold priority metric. The first centralized resource allocation may be prioritized over the second centralized resource allocation.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 140 may transmit, to a first set of first apparatuses among the plurality of first apparatuses, at least one third configuration of reference signals and measurements of the first set of subnetworks. The second apparatus 140 may receive, from the first set of first apparatuses, respective measurement results of interferences among the first set of subnetworks. The second apparatus 140 may allocate resources for the first set of subnetworks, based on the respective measurement results of the interferences. The plurality of first configurations of the resource allocation may include indications of the resources allocated for the first set of subnetworks, to the first set of first apparatuses.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 140 may sequentially allocate the resources for a first subset of subnetworks in the first set of subnetworks, in a descending order of the respective priority metrics of subnetworks in the first subset of subnetworks. The respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks may be larger than or equal to a higher second threshold priority metric.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 140 may select a resource from a first list of resources of a first subnetwork in the first subset of subnetworks. The first subnetwork may have a first priority metric. The second apparatus 140 may remove the resource from a second list of resources of a second subnetwork in the first set of subnetworks, if the interference of the second subnetwork to the first subnetwork is higher than a third threshold interference. The second subnetwork may have a lower second priority metric.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 140 may allocate the resources for a second subset of subnetworks in the first set of subnetworks, to reduce interferences among the second subset of subnetworks. The respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks may be larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric and lower than a higher second threshold priority metric.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 140 may determine the distributed resource allocation for a second set of subnetworks among the plurality of subnetworks, if the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the second set of subnetworks is lower than a first threshold priority metric.

In some example embodiments, the plurality of first configurations of the resource allocation may include at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation for the second set of subnetworks, to a second set of first apparatuses among the plurality of first apparatuses. The at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation may include information about at least one of a first set of resources, a second set of resources or a time window for the distributed resource allocation.

In some example embodiments, the first set of resources may be allocated to a first subset of subnetworks in a first set of subnetworks. The respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks may be larger than or equal to a higher second threshold priority metric.

In some example embodiments, the second set of resources may be allocated to a second subset of subnetworks in the first set of subnetworks. The respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks may be larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric and lower than the second threshold priority metric.

All operations and features related to the first apparatus 120 and the second apparatus 140 as described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 are likewise applicable to the methods 500 and 600 and have similar effects.

FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 700 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 120 or the second apparatus 140 in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 720 coupled to the processor 710, and one or more communication modules 740 coupled to the processor 710.

The communication module 740 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 740 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 740 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 710 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 700 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 720 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) 724, 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) 722 and other volatile memories that may not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 730 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 710. The instructions of the program 730 may include instructions for performing operations/acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 730 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 724. The processor 710 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 730 into the RAM 722.

The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 730 so that the device 700 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 5 to FIG. 6. 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 730 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 700 (such as in the memory 720) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 700. The device 700 may load the program 730 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 722 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .

FIG. 8 shows an example of the computer readable medium 800 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 800 has the program 730 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, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although 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.

Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable 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. 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. The program code 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 code, 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, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this may 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, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these may 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. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

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

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

In an aspect, a first apparatus (one of 120-1, ..., 120-N) includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus (120-1, ..., 120-N) at least to: determine (315 in FIG. 3; 424, 426 in FIG. 4; 510 in FIG. 5) a priority metric (P1) for a target subnetwork (e.g., 110-1) from a plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) , based on a respective service requirement (SD1, …, SDM) to be satisfied by each device (130-1, …, 130-M) within the target subnetwork (110-1; transmit (320 in FIG. 3; 428, 430 in FIG. 4; 520 in FIG. 5) , to a second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) , the priority metric (P1) for the target subnetwork (110-1) ; and receive (340 in FIG. 3; 434, 436, 444 in FIG. 4; 530 in FIG. 5) , from the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) , at least one first configuration (e.g., CA1) of resource allocation that corresponds to the target subnetwork (110-1) .

In some example embodiments, the at least one memory and the at least one processor further cause the first apparatus (one of 120-1, ..., 120-N) to: receive (310 in FIG. 3; 420, 422 in FIG. 4) , from the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) , a second configuration (CB1) for determining the priority metric (P1) of the target subnetwork (110-1) , wherein the priority metric (P1) for the target subnetwork (110-1) is determined (315 in FIG. 3; 424, 426 in FIG. 4; 510 in FIG. 5) from the respective service requirement (SD1 to SDM) which is to be satisfied by each device (130-1 to 130-M) within the target subnetwork (110-1) , based on the second configuration.

In some example embodiments, the determining (315 in FIG. 3; 424, 426 in FIG. 4; 510 in FIG. 5) the priority metric (P1) of the target subnetwork (110-1) comprises the first apparatus (one of 120-1, ..., 120-N) being caused to: determine a respective priority metric (PT1, …, PTM) of each device (130-1, …, 130-M) of at least one device (130-1, …, 130-M) in the target subnetwork (110-1) , from a respective service requirement (SD1, …, SDM) of each of the devices (130-1, …, 130-M) in the target subnetwork (110-1) ; and determine the priority metric (P1) for the target subnetwork (110-1) , based on the respective priority metric (PT1, …, PTM) that corresponds to each respective device (130-1, …, 130-M) in the target subnetwork (110-1) .

In some example embodiments, the at least one first configuration (CA1) of the resource allocation includes an indication of a resource allocation type (T1) for the target subnetwork (110-1) .

In some example embodiments, the resource allocation type (T1) includes at least one of: centralized resource allocation (CR) , wherein the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) allocates a resource (R1) for the target subnetwork (110-1) in the centralized resource allocation (CR) ; or distributed resource allocation (DR) , wherein the first apparatus (120-N) autonomously selects a resource (RN) for the target subnetwork (110-N) in the distributed resource allocation (DR) .

In some example embodiments, the at least one memory and the at least one processor further cause the first apparatus (120-1, 120-2, 120-3 in FIG. 1; 410 in FIG. 4) to: receive (434) , from the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) , at least one third configuration (CC) of reference signals and measurements of a first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , wherein the respective priority metric (P1, P2, P3) of each subnetwork of the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) is larger than or equal to a first threshold priority metric (THP1) ; perform (438) , based on the at least one third configuration (CC) of reference signals and the measurements, at least one measurement for at least one interference of at least one remaining subnetwork (110-2, 110-3) of the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) to the target subnetwork (110-1) ; and transmit (138) , to the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) , a measurement result of the at least one interference.

In some example embodiments, the at least one first configuration (CA1) of the resource allocation includes an indication of a resource (R1) allocated for the target subnetwork (110-1) .

In some example embodiments, the at least one first configuration (e.g., CA1) of the resource allocation includes at least one configuration (CD) of distributed resource allocation (DR) ; and the at least one memory and the at least one processor further cause the first apparatus (120-N, 415) to: select (446) a resource (RN) for the target subnetwork (110-N) , based on the at least one configuration (CD) of the distributed resource allocation (DR) , wherein the at least one configuration (CD) of the distributed resource allocation (DR) includes information about at least one of a first set of resources (RS1) , a second set of resources (RS2) or a time window (TW) for the distributed resource allocation (DR) , the first set of resources (RS1) are allocated to a first subset (110-1) of subnetworks in a first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , and the second set of resources (RS2) are allocated to a second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , and wherein the respective priority metric (P2, P3) of each subnetwork of the second subset (110-2, 110-3) of subnetworks is larger than or equal to a first threshold priority metric (THP1) and lower than a higher second threshold priority metric (THP2) , and the respective priority metric (P1) of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) is larger than or equal to the second threshold priority metric (THP2) .

In some example embodiments, the resource (RN) for the target subnetwork (110-N) is outside of the first set of resources (RS1) .

In some example embodiments, the selecting (144) of the resource for the target subnetwork (110-N) includes the first apparatus being caused to at least one of: select, from the first set of resources (RS1) , the resource (RN) for the target subnetwork (110-N) , based on an interference on the resource (RN) being lower than a first threshold interference (THI1) ; or selecting, from the second set of resources (RS2) , the resource (RN) for the target subnetwork (110-N) , based on an interference on the resource (RN) being lower than a second threshold interference (THI2) , and wherein the resource (RN) includes a subband, a time slot, and/or a spatial transmission direction.

In an aspect, a second apparatus (140) includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) at least to: receive (325 in FIG. 3; 428, 430 in FIG. 4; 610 in FIG. 6) , from a plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) , respective priority metrics (P1 to PN) of a plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) ; determine (330 in FIG. 3; 432 in FIG. 4; 620 in FIG. 6) respective resource allocation types (T1 to TN) for the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) , based on the respective priority metrics (P1 to PN) of the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) ; and transmit (335 in FIG. 3; 434, 436, 444 in FIG. 4; 630 in FIG. 6) , to the plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) , a plurality of first configurations (CA1 to CAN) of resource allocation for the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) .

In some example embodiments, the at least one memory and the at least one processor further cause the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) to: transmit (305 in FIG. 3; 420, 422 in FIG. 4) , to the plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) , a plurality of second configurations (CB1 to CBN) for determining the respective priority metrics (P1 to PN) of the plurality of subnetworks (110-1 to 110-N) .

In some example embodiments, the plurality of first configurations (CA1 to CAN) of the resource allocation include indications of the respective resource allocation types (T1 to TN) of the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) , and the resource allocation types (T1 to TN) include at least one of: centralized resource allocation (CR) , wherein the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) allocates a resource (R1, R2, R3) for a subnetwork (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) of the plurality of subnetworks (110-1 to 110-N) in the centralized resource allocation (CR) ; or distributed resource allocation (DR) , wherein a first apparatus (120-N) of the plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) autonomously selects a resource (RN) for a subnetwork (110-N) of the plurality of subnetworks (110-1 to 110-N) in the distributed resource allocation (DR) .

In some example embodiments, the determining (330 in FIG. 3; 432 in FIG. 4; 620 in FIG. 6) of the respective resource allocation types (T1 to TN) for the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) includes the second apparatus being caused to at least one of: determine the centralized resource allocation (CR) for a first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) among the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) , based on the respective priority metric (P1, P2, P3) of each subnetwork of the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) being larger than or equal to a first threshold priority metric (THP1) ; or determine first centralized resource allocation (CR1) for a first subset of subnetworks (110-1) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , based on the respective priority metric (P1) of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) being larger than or equal to a higher second threshold priority metric (THP2) , and determine second centralized resource allocation (CR2) for a second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , based on the respective priority metric (P2, P3) of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) being larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric (THP1) and lower than the second threshold priority metric (THP2) , wherein the first centralized resource allocation is prioritized over the second centralized resource allocation.

In some example embodiments, the at least one memory and the at least one processor further cause the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) to: transmit (434) , to a first set of first apparatuses (120-1, 120-2, 120-3) among the plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) , at least one third configuration (CC) of reference signals and measurements of the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) ; receive (440) , from the first set of first apparatuses (120-1, 120-2, 120-3; 405) , respective measurement results of interferences among the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) ; allocate (442) resources (R1, R2, R3) for the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , based on the respective measurement results of the interferences, wherein the plurality of first configurations (CA1 to CAN) of the resource allocation include indications of the resources (R1, R2, R3) allocated for the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , to the first set of first apparatuses (120-1, 120-2, 120-3) .

In some example embodiments, the allocating (442) of the resources (R1, R2, R3) for the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) includes the second apparatus (140; 405) being caused to: sequentially allocate the resources (R1) for a first subset of subnetworks (110-1) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , in a descending order of the respective priority metrics (P1) of subnetworks in the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) , wherein the respective priority metric (P1) of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) is larger than or equal to a higher second threshold priority metric (THP1) .

In some example embodiments, the sequentially allocating of the resources (R1) for the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) includes the second apparatus (140; 405) being caused to: select a resource (R1) from a first list of resources (RS1) of a first subnetwork in the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) , the first subnetwork having a first priority metric (P1) ; and removing the resource (R1) from a second list of resources of a second subnetwork (110-2 or 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , based on the interference of the second subnetwork (110-2 or 110-3) to the first subnetwork being higher than a third threshold interference (THI3) , the second subnetwork having a lower second priority metric (P2 or P3) .

In some example embodiments, the allocating (442) of the resources (R1, R2, R3) for the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) includes the second apparatus (140; 405) being caused to: allocate the resources (R2, R3) for a second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , to reduce interferences among the second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) , wherein the respective priority metric (P2, P3) of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) is larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric (THP1) and lower than a higher second threshold priority metric (THP2) .

In some example embodiments, the determining (330 in FIG. 3; 432 in FIG. 4; 620 in FIG. 6) of the respective resource allocation types (T1, …, TN) for the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) includes the second apparatus (140; 405) being caused to: determine the distributed resource allocation (DR) for a second set of subnetworks (110-N) among the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) , based on the respective priority metric (PN) of each subnetwork of the second set of subnetworks (110-N) being lower than a first threshold priority metric (THP1) , wherein the plurality of first configurations (CA1 to CAN) of the resource allocation include at least one configuration (CD) of the distributed resource allocation (DR) for the second set of subnetworks (110-N) , to a second set of first apparatuses (120-N, 415) among the plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) , and the at least one configuration (CD) of the distributed resource allocation (DR) includes information about at least one of a first set of resources (RS1) , a second set of resources (RS2) or a time window (TW) for the distributed resource allocation (DR) , wherein the first set of resources (RS1) are allocated to a first subset of subnetworks (110-1) in a first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , and the respective priority metric (P1) of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) is larger than or equal to a higher second threshold priority metric (THP2) , and wherein the second set of resources (RS2) are allocated to a second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , and the respective priority metric (P2, P3) of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) is larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric (THP1) and lower than the second threshold priority metric (THP2) .

In some example embodiments, the resource (R1, RN) includes a subband, a time slot, and/or a spatial transmission direction.

In an aspect, a first apparatus (one of 120-1, ..., 120-N) includes: means for determining (315 in FIG. 3; 424, 426 in FIG. 4; 510 in FIG. 5) a priority metric (e.g., P1) for a target subnetwork (e.g., 110-1) from a plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) , based on a respective service requirement (SD1, …, SDM) to be satisfied by each device (130-1, …, 130-M) within the target subnetwork (110-1) ; means for transmitting (320 in FIG. 3; 428, 430 in FIG. 4; 520 in FIG. 5) , to a second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) , the priority metric (P1) for the target subnetwork (110-1) ; and means for receiving (340 in FIG. 3; 434, 436, 444 in FIG. 4; 530 in FIG. 5) , from the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) , at least one first configuration (CA1) of resource allocation that corresponds to the target subnetwork (110-1) .

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus (120-1, ..., 120-N) further includes: means for receiving (310 in FIG. 3; 420, 422 in FIG. 4) , from the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) , a second configuration (CB1) for determining the priority metric (P1) of the target subnetwork (110-1) , wherein the priority metric for the target subnetwork is determined (315 in FIG. 3; 424, 426 in FIG. 4; 510 in FIG. 5) from the respective service requirement (SD1, …, SDM) which is to be satisfied by each device (130-1, …, 130-M) within the target subnetwork (110-1) , based on the second configuration (CB1) .

In some example embodiments, the means for determining (315 in FIG. 3; 424, 426 in FIG. 4; 510 in FIG. 5) the priority metric (P1) of the target subnetwork (110-1) includes: means for determining a respective priority metric (PT1, …, PTM) of each device (130-1, …, 130-M) of at least one device (130-1, …, 130-M) in the target subnetwork (110-1, ..., 110-N) , from a respective service requirement (SD1 to SDM) that corresponds to each of the device (130-1, …, 130-M) in the target subnetwork (e.g., 110-1) ; and means for determining the priority metric (P1) for the target subnetwork (110-1) , based on the respective priority metric (PT1, …, PTM) that corresponds to each respective device (130-1, …, 130-M) in the target subnetwork (110-1) .

In some example embodiments, the resource allocation type (T1) includes at least one of: centralized resource allocation (CR) , wherein the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) allocates a resource (R1, R2, R3) for the target subnetwork (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) in the centralized resource allocation (CR) ; or distributed resource allocation (DR) , wherein the first apparatus (120-N) autonomously selects a resource (RN) for the target subnetwork (110-N) in the distributed resource allocation (DR) .

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus (120-1, 120-2, 120-3 in FIG. 1; 410 in FIG. 4) further includes: means for receiving (434) , from the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) , at least one third configuration (CC) of reference signals and measurements of a first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , wherein the respective priority metric (P1 to P3) of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) is larger than or equal to a first threshold priority metric (THP1) ; means for performing (438) , based on the at least one third configuration of reference signals and the measurements, at least one measurement for at least one interference of at least one remaining subnetwork (110-2, 110-3) of the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) to the target subnetwork (110-1) ; and means for transmitting (138) , to the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) , a measurement result of the at least one interference.

In some example embodiments, the at least one first configuration (CA1) of the resource allocation includes at least one configuration (CD) of distributed resource allocation (DR) ; and the first apparatus (120-N, 415) further includes: means for selecting (446) a resource (RN) for the target subnetwork (110-N) , based on the at least one configuration (CD) of the distributed resource allocation (DR) , wherein the at least one configuration (CD) of the distributed resource allocation (DR) includes information about at least one of a first set of resources (RS1) , a second set of resources (RS2) or a time window (TW) for the distributed resource allocation (DR) , the first set of resources (RS1) are allocated to a first subset (110-1) of subnetworks in a first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , and the second set of resources (RS2) are allocated to a second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , and wherein the respective priority metric (P2, P3) of each subnetwork of the second subset (110-2, 110-3) of subnetworks is larger than or equal to a first threshold priority metric (THP1) and lower than a higher second threshold priority metric (THP2) , and the respective priority metric (P1, P2, P3) of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) is larger than or equal to the second threshold priority metric (THP2) .

In some example embodiments, the resource (RN) for the target subnetwork (110-N) is outside of the first set of resources.

In some example embodiments, the means for selecting (144) the resource (RN) for the target subnetwork (110-N) includes at least one of: means for selecting, from the first set of resources, the resource (RN) for the target subnetwork (110-N) , based on an interference on the resource (RN) being lower than a first threshold interference (THP1) ; or means for selecting, from the second set of resources, the resource (RN) for the target subnetwork (110-N) , based on an interference on the resource (RN) being lower than a second threshold interference (THP2) , and wherein the resource (RN) includes a subband, a time slot, and/or a spatial transmission direction.

In an aspect, a second apparatus (140) includes: means for receiving (325 in FIG. 3; 428, 430 in FIG. 4; 610 in FIG. 6) , from a plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) , respective priority metrics (P1 to PN) of a plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) ; means for determining (330 in FIG. 3; 432 in FIG. 4; 620 in FIG. 6) respective resource allocation types (T1 to TN) for the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) , based on the respective priority metrics (P1 to PN) of the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) ; and means for transmitting (335 in FIG. 3; 434, 436, 444 in FIG. 4; 630 in FIG. 6) , to the plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) , a plurality of first configurations (CA1 to CAN) of resource allocation for the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) .

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) further includes: means for transmitting (305 in FIG. 3; 420, 422 in FIG. 4) , to the plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) , a plurality of second configurations (CB1 to CBN) for determining the respective priority metrics (P1 to PN) of the plurality of subnetworks (110-1 to 110-N) .

In some example embodiments, the plurality of first configurations (CA1 to CAN) of the resource allocation include indications of the respective resource allocation types (T1 to TN) of the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) , and the resource allocation types (T1 to TN) include at least one of: centralized resource allocation (CR) , wherein the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) allocates a resource (R1, R2, R3) for a subnetwork (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) of the plurality of subnetworks in the centralized resource allocation (CR) ; or distributed resource allocation (DR) , wherein a first apparatus (120-N) of the plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) autonomously selects a resource (RN) for a subnetwork (110-N) of the plurality of subnetworks in the distributed resource allocation (DR) .

In some example embodiments, the means for determining (330 in FIG. 3; 432 in FIG. 4; 620 in FIG. 6) the respective resource allocation types (T1 to TN) for the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) includes at least one of: means for determining the centralized resource allocation (CR) for a first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) among the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) , based on the respective priority metric (P1 to P3) of each subnetwork of the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) being larger than or equal to a first threshold priority metric (THP1) ; or means for determining first centralized resource allocation (CR1) for a first subset of subnetworks (110-1) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , based on the respective priority metric (P1) of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) being larger than or equal to a higher second threshold priority metric (THP2) , and means for determining second centralized resource allocation (CR2) for a second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , based on the respective priority metric (P2, P3) of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) being larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric (THP1) and lower than the second threshold priority metric (THP2) , wherein the first centralized resource allocation (CR1) is prioritized over the second centralized resource allocation (CR2) .

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) further includes: means for transmitting (434) , to a first set of first apparatuses (120-1, 120-2, 120-3) among the plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) , at least one third configuration (CC) of reference signals and measurements of the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) ; means for receiving (440) , from the first set of first apparatuses (120-1, 120-2, 120-3; 405) , respective measurement results of interferences among the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) ; means for allocating (442) resources (R1, R2, R3) for the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , based on the respective measurement results of the interferences, wherein the plurality of first configurations (CA1 to CAN) of the resource allocation include indications of the resources (R1, R2, R3) allocated for the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , to the first set of first apparatuses (120-1, 120-2, 120-3) .

In some example embodiments, the means for allocating (442) the resources (R1, R2, R3) for the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) includes: means for sequentially allocating the resources (R1) for a first subset of subnetworks (110-1) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , in a descending order of the respective priority metrics (P1) of subnetworks in the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) , wherein the respective priority metric (P1) of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) is larger than or equal to a higher second threshold priority metric (THP2) .

In some example embodiments, the means for sequentially allocating the resources for the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) includes: means for selecting a resource (R1) from a first list of resources of a first subnetwork in the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) , the first subnetwork having a first priority metric (P1) ; and means for removing the resource (R1) from a second list of resources of a second subnetwork (110-2 or 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , based on the interference of the second subnetwork (110-2 or 110-3) to the first subnetwork being higher than a third threshold interference (THI3) , the second subnetwork (110-2 or 110-3) having a lower second priority metric (P2 or P3) .

In some example embodiments, the means for allocating (442) the resources (R1 to R3) for the first set of subnetworks (110-1 to 110-3) includes: means for allocating the resources (R2, R3) for a second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , to reduce interferences among the second subset of subnetworks, wherein the respective priority metric (P2, P3) of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) is larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric (THP1) and lower than a higher second threshold priority metric (THP2) .

In some example embodiments, the means for determining (330 in FIG. 3; 432 in FIG. 4; 620 in FIG. 6) the respective resource allocation types (T1 to TN) for the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) includes: means for determining the distributed resource allocation (DR) for a second set of subnetworks (110-N) among the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) , based on the respective priority metric (PN) of each subnetwork of the second set of subnetworks (110-N) being lower than a first threshold priority metric (THP1) , wherein the plurality of first configurations (CA1 to CAN) of the resource allocation include at least one configuration (CD) of the distributed resource allocation (DR) for the second set of subnetworks (110-N) , to a second set of first apparatuses (120-N, 415) among the plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) , and the at least one configuration (CD) of the distributed resource allocation (DR) includes information about at least one of a first set of resources (RS1) , a second set of resources (RS2) or a time window (TW) for the distributed resource allocation (DR) , wherein the first set of resources (RS1) are allocated to a first subset of subnetworks (110-1) in a first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , and the respective priority metric (P1) of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks (110-1) is larger than or equal to a higher second threshold priority metric (THP2) , and wherein the second set of resources (RS2) are allocated to a second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) in the first set of subnetworks (110-1, 110-2, 110-3) , and the respective priority metric (P2, P3) of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks (110-2, 110-3) is larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric (THP1) and lower than the second threshold priority metric (THP2) .

In an aspect, a method (500) includes: determining (315 in FIG. 3; 424, 426 in FIG. 4; 510 in FIG. 5) a priority metric (P1) for a target subnetwork (110-1) from a plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) , based on a respective service requirement (SD1, …, SDM) to be satisfied by each device (130-1, …, 130-M) within the target subnetwork (110-1) ; transmitting (320 in FIG. 3; 428, 430 in FIG. 4; 520 in FIG. 5) , to a second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) , the priority metric (P1) for the target subnetwork (110-1) ; and receiving (340 in FIG. 3; 434, 436, 444 in FIG. 4; 530 in FIG. 5) , from the second apparatus (140 in FIG. 1; 405 in FIG. 4) , at least one first configuration (CA1) of resource allocation for the target subnetwork (110-1) .

In an aspect, a method (600) includes: receiving (325 in FIG. 3; 428, 430 in FIG. 4; 610 in FIG. 6) , from a plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) , respective priority metrics (P1, …, PN) of a plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) ; determining (330 in FIG. 3; 432 in FIG. 4; 620 in FIG. 6) respective resource allocation types (T1, …, TN) for the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) , based on the respective priority metrics (P1, …, PN) of the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) ; and transmitting (335 in FIG. 3; 434, 436, 444 in FIG. 4; 630 in FIG. 6) , to the plurality of first apparatuses (120-1, ..., 120-N) , a plurality of first configurations (CA1, …, CAN) of resource allocation for the plurality of subnetworks (110-1, ..., 110-N) .

In an aspect, a computer readable medium includes instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the steps or operations as described above.

Claims

A first apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to:

determine a priority metric for a target subnetwork from a plurality of subnetworks, based on a respective service requirement to be satisfied by each respective device within the target subnetwork;

transmit, to a second apparatus, the priority metric for the target subnetwork; and

receive, from the second apparatus, at least one first configuration of resource allocation that corresponds to the target subnetwork.
The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the at least one processor further cause the first apparatus to:

receive, from the second apparatus, a second configuration for determining the priority metric of the target subnetwork,

wherein the priority metric for the target subnetwork is determined from the respective service requirement which is to be satisfied by each device within the target subnetwork, based on the second configuration.
The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the determining of the priority metric of the target subnetwork comprises the first apparatus being caused to:

determine a priority metric of each respective device in the target subnetwork, from a respective service requirement that corresponds to each of the devices in the target subnetwork; and

determine the priority metric for the target subnetwork, based on the respective priority metric that corresponds to each respective device in the target subnetwork.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the at least one first configuration of the resource allocation comprises an indication of a resource allocation type for the target subnetwork.
The first apparatus of claim 4, wherein the resource allocation type comprises at least one of:

centralized resource allocation, wherein the second apparatus allocates a resource for the target subnetwork in the centralized resource allocation; or

distributed resource allocation, wherein the first apparatus autonomously selects the resource for the target subnetwork in the distributed resource allocation.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the at least one memory and the at least one processor further cause the first apparatus to:

receive, from the second apparatus, at least one third configuration of reference signals and measurements of a first set of subnetworks, wherein each respective priority metric that corresponds to each subnetwork of the first set of subnetworks is larger than or equal to a first threshold priority metric;

perform, based on the at least one third configuration of the reference signals and the measurements, at least one measurement on at least one interference that corresponds to at least one remaining subnetwork of the first set of subnetworks to the target subnetwork; and

transmit, to the second apparatus, a measurement result of the at least one interference.
The first apparatus of claim 6, wherein the at least one first configuration of the resource allocation comprises an indication of a resource allocated for the target subnetwork.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the at least one first configuration of the resource allocation comprises at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation; and

the first apparatus is further caused to:

select a resource for the target subnetwork, based on the at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation,

wherein the at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation includes information about at least one of: a first set of resources, a second set of resources or a time window for the distributed resource allocation, the first set of resources are allocated to a first subset of subnetworks in a first set of subnetworks, and the second set of resources are allocated to a second subset of subnetworks in the first set of subnetworks, and

wherein respective priority metrics corresponding to each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks is greater than or equal to a first threshold priority metric and less than a second threshold priority metric, and wherein respective priority metric corresponding to each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks is greater than or equal to the second threshold priority metric.
The first apparatus of claim 8, wherein the resource for the target subnetwork is outside of the first set of resources.
The first apparatus of claim 8, wherein the selecting of the resource for the target subnetwork comprises the first apparatus being caused to at least one of:

select, from the first set of resources, the resource for the target subnetwork, based on an interference on the resource being less than a first threshold interference; or

select, from the second set of resources, the resource for the target subnetwork, based on an interference on the resource being less than a second threshold interference, and

wherein the resource comprises a subband, a time slot, and/or a spatial transmission direction.
A second apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to:

receive, from a plurality of first apparatuses, respective priority metrics of a plurality of subnetworks;

determine respective resource allocation types for the plurality of subnetworks, based on the respective priority metrics of the plurality of subnetworks; and

transmit, to the plurality of first apparatuses, a plurality of first configurations of resource allocation for the plurality of subnetworks.
The second apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory and the at least one processor further cause the second apparatus to:

transmit, to the plurality of first apparatuses, a plurality of second configurations for determining the respective priority metrics of the plurality of subnetworks.
The second apparatus of claim 11 or 12, wherein

the plurality of first configurations of the resource allocation comprise indications of the respective resource allocation types of the plurality of subnetworks,

wherein the respective resource allocation types comprise at least one of:

centralized resource allocation, wherein the second apparatus allocates a resource for a subnetwork of the plurality of subnetworks in the centralized resource allocation; or

distributed resource allocation, wherein a first apparatus of the plurality of first apparatuses autonomously selects a resource for a subnetwork of the plurality of subnetworks in the distributed resource allocation.
The second apparatus of claim 13, wherein the determining of the respective resource allocation types for the plurality of subnetworks comprises the second apparatus being further caused to:

determine the centralized resource allocation for a first set of subnetworks among the plurality of subnetworks, based on the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the first set of subnetworks being larger than or equal to a first threshold priority metric; or

determine first centralized resource allocation for a first subset of subnetworks in the first set of subnetworks, based on the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks being larger than or equal to a higher second threshold priority metric, and

determine second centralized resource allocation for a second subset of subnetworks in the first set of subnetworks, based on the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks being larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric and lower than the second threshold priority metric,

wherein the first centralized resource allocation is prioritized over the second centralized resource allocation.
The second apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one memory and the at least one processor further cause the second apparatus to:

transmit, to a first set of first apparatuses among the plurality of first apparatuses, a set of third configurations of reference signals and measurements of the first set of subnetworks;

receive, from the first set of first apparatuses, respective measurement results of interferences among the first set of subnetworks;

allocate a set of resources for the first set of subnetworks, based on the respective measurement results of the interferences,

wherein the plurality of first configurations of the resource allocation comprise indications of the resources allocated for the first set of subnetworks, to the first set of first apparatuses.
The second apparatus of claim 15, wherein the allocating of the resources for the first set of subnetworks comprises the second apparatus being caused to:

sequentially allocate the resources for a first subset of subnetworks in the first set of subnetworks, in a descending order of the respective priority metrics of subnetworks in the first subset of subnetworks, wherein the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks is larger than or equal to a higher second threshold priority metric.
The second apparatus of claim 16, wherein the sequentially allocating of the resources for the first subset of subnetworks comprises the second apparatus being caused to:

select a resource from a first list of resources of a first subnetwork in the first subset of subnetworks, the first subnetwork having a first priority metric; and

remove the resource from a second list of resources of a second subnetwork in the first set of subnetworks, based on the interference of the second subnetwork to the first subnetwork being higher than a third threshold interference, the second subnetwork having a lower second priority metric.
The second apparatus of any of claims 15 to 17, wherein the allocating of the resources for the first set of subnetworks comprises the second apparatus being caused to at least one of:

allocate the resources for a second subset of subnetworks in the first set of subnetworks, to reduce interferences among the second subset of subnetworks, wherein the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks is larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric and lower than a higher second threshold priority metric.
The second apparatus of any of claims 13 to 18, wherein the determining of the respective resource allocation types for the plurality of subnetworks comprises the second apparatus being caused to:

determine the distributed resource allocation for a second set of subnetworks among the plurality of subnetworks, based on the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the second set of subnetworks being lower than a first threshold priority metric,

wherein the plurality of first configurations of the resource allocation comprise at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation for the second set of subnetworks, to a second set of first apparatuses among the plurality of first apparatuses, and the at least one configuration of the distributed resource allocation includes information about at least one of a first set of resources, a second set of resources or a time window for the distributed resource allocation,

wherein the first set of resources are allocated to a first subset of subnetworks in a first set of subnetworks, and the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the first subset of subnetworks is larger than or equal to a higher second threshold priority metric, and

wherein the second set of resources are allocated to a second subset of subnetworks in the first set of subnetworks, and the respective priority metric of each subnetwork of the second subset of subnetworks is larger than or equal to the first threshold priority metric and lower than the second threshold priority metric.
The second apparatus of any of claims 13 to 19, wherein the resource comprises a subband, a time slot, and/or a spatial transmission direction.
A first apparatus comprising:

means for determining a priority metric for a target subnetwork from a plurality of subnetworks, based on a respective service requirement to be satisfied by each respective device within the target subnetwork;

means for transmitting, to a second apparatus, the priority metric for the target subnetwork; and

means for receiving, from the second apparatus, at least one first configuration of resource allocation that corresponds to the target subnetwork.
A second apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, from a plurality of first apparatuses, respective priority metrics of a plurality of subnetworks;

means for determining respective resource allocation types for the plurality of subnetworks, based on the respective priority metrics of the plurality of subnetworks; and

means for transmitting, to the plurality of first apparatuses, a plurality of first configurations of resource allocation for the plurality of subnetworks.