WO2025208641A1

WO2025208641A1 - Terminal device, method and computer readable medium for sidelink communications

Info

Publication number: WO2025208641A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/086263
Authority: WO
Inventors: Zhaobang MIAO; Gang Wang
Original assignee: NEC Corp
Current assignee: NEC Corp
Priority date: 2024-04-05
Filing date: 2024-04-05
Publication date: 2025-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 2026-10-05

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a terminal device, method and computer readable medium for sidelink communications. A first terminal device determines a first number of PRBs in a first interlace within an RB set for a PSFCH transmission after excluding at least one PRB from a total number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set. The first terminal device also determines a second number of PRBs in a second interlace for the PSFCH transmission. In turn, the first terminal device determines a transmission power for the PSFCH transmission based at least on the first number and the second number.

Description

TERMINAL DEVICE, METHOD AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR SIDELINK COMMUNICATIONS

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication, and in particular, to a terminal device, method and computer readable medium for sidelink communications.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communication networks are widely deployed and can support various types of service applications for terminal devices. Many communication schemes have been proposed to support the rapidly increasing data traffic. For example, sidelink communication has been proposed. In the sidelink communication, one or more sidelinks may be established between the terminal devices in the wireless communication network and the terminal devices may exchange signalling and data with each other directly via the established sidelinks.

In scenarios where the sidelink communication is performed, a transmitting terminal device transmits sidelink control information associated with sidelink data on a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) , and transmits the sidelink data on a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) based on the sidelink control information. Further, in order to ensure the reliability of the sidelink transmission, a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) is used to carry Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback information for the sidelink data from a receiving terminal device to the transmitting terminal device.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a terminal device, method and computer readable medium for sidelink communications.

In a first aspect, there is provided a first terminal device. The first terminal device comprises a processor. The processor is configured to cause the first terminal device to: determine a first number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in a first interlace within a resource block (RB) set for a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission after excluding at least one PRB from a total number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set; determine a second number of PRBs in a second interlace for the PSFCH transmission; and determine a transmission power for the PSFCH transmission based at least one the first number and the second number.

In a second aspect, there is provided a method for sidelink communications. The method comprises: determining a first number of PRBs in a first interlace within an RB set for a PSFCH transmission after excluding at least one PRB from a total number of PRBs in the first interlace; determining a second number of PRBs in a second interlace for the PSFCH transmission; and determining a transmission power for the PSFCH transmission based at least one the first number and the second number.

In a third aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon. The instructions, when executed on at least one processor of a device, cause the device to perform the method according to the second aspect.

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

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Through the more detailed description of some embodiments of the present disclosure in the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent, wherein:

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

Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a timing resource allocation in a sidelink resource pool in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 3 illustrates an example of an RB set and interlaces in an NR-U interlace scheme in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 4 illustrates an example of PRBs in a first interlace within an RB set in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 5 illustrates an example of common PRBs in a first interlace and dedicated PRBs in a second interlace within an RB set in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 6 illustrates an example of common PRBs in a first interlace and dedicated PRBs in a second interlace within two RB sets in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 7 illustrates a flowchart of an example method in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

Fig. 8 is a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing some embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some 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 limitations as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

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

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

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

The terminal device or the network device may have Artificial intelligence (AI) or Machine learning capability. It generally includes a model which has been trained from numerous collected data for a specific function, and can be used to predict some information.

The terminal or the network device may work on several frequency ranges, e.g. FR1 (410 MHz –7125 MHz) , FR2 (24.25GHz to 71GHz) , frequency band larger than 100GHz as well as Tera Hertz (THz) . It can further work on licensed/unlicensed/shared spectrum. The terminal device may have more than one connection with the network devices under Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) application scenario. The terminal device or the network device can work on full duplex, flexible duplex and cross division duplex modes.

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

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

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

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

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

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in Fig. 1, the communication network 100 may include a first terminal device 110, a second terminal device 120, a third terminal device 120, network devices 140 and 150. The network devices 140 and 150 may communicate with the first terminal device 110, the second terminal device 120 and the third terminal device 120 via respective wireless communication channels.

In some embodiments, the network device 140 may be a gNB in NR. Thus, the network device 140 may be also referred to as an NR network device 140.

In some embodiments, the network device 150 may be an eNB in Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. Thus, the network device 150 may be also referred to as an LTE network device 150.

It is to be understood that the number of devices in Fig. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations to the present disclosure. The communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and/or terminal devices adapted for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

The communications in the communication network 100 may conform to any suitable standards including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) , LTE, LTE-Evolution, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN) , Machine Type Communication (MTC) and the like. Furthermore, the communications may be performed according to any generation communication protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the communication protocols include, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols.

In some embodiments, the communications in the communication network 100 may comprise sidelink communication. Sidelink communication is a wireless radio communication directly between two or more terminal devices, such as two or more terminal devices among the first terminal device 110, the second terminal device 120 and the third terminal device 120. In this type of communication, the two or more terminal devices that are geographically proximate to each other can directly communicate without going through the network device 140 or 150 or through a core network. Data transmission in sidelink communication is thus different from typical cellular network communications, in which a terminal device transmits data to the network device 140 or 150 (i.e., uplink transmissions) or receives data from the network device 140 or 150 (i.e., downlink transmissions) . In sidelink communication, data is transmitted directly from a source terminal device (such as the first terminal device 110) to a target terminal device (such as the second terminal device 120) through the Unified Air Interface, e.g., PC5 interface, (i.e., sidelink transmissions) , as shown in Fig. 1.

Sidelink communication can provide several advantages, including reducing data transmission load on a core network, system resource consumption, transmission power consumption, and network operation costs, saving wireless spectrum resources, and increasing spectrum efficiency of a cellular wireless communication system.

In a sidelink communication system, the sidelink resource is used to transmit information between terminal devices. According to application scenarios, service types, etc., a sidelink communication manner includes but is not limited to device to device (D2D) communication, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication, etc.

V2X communication enables vehicles to communicate with other vehicles (i.e. Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication) , with infrastructure (i.e. Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) , with wireless networks (i.e. Vehicle-to-Network (V2N) communication) , with pedestrians (i.e. Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) communication) , and even with the owner's home (i.e. Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) ) . Examples of infrastructure include roadside units such as traffic lights, toll gates and the like. V2X communication can be used in a wide range of scenarios, including in accident prevention and safety, convenience, traffic efficiency and clean driving, and ultimately in relation to autonomous or self-driving vehicles.

For sidelink communications, a terminal device uses resources in sidelink resource pools to transmit or receive signals. The sidelink resource pools include resources in time domain and frequency domain, which are dedicated resources of the sidelink communication, or shared by the sidelink communication and a cellular link. For sidelink communications, two modes of resource assignment may be used for sidelink, including network device schedules sidelink resources for terminal devices to perform sidelink signal transmission, named as mode 1 resource scheme in NR sidelink or mode 3 resource scheme in LTE sidelink, and terminal device selects sidelink resources by itself to perform sidelink signal transmission, named as mode 2 resource scheme in NR sidelink or mode 4 resource scheme in LTE sidelink.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a time resource allocation in a sidelink resource pool in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the sidelink resource pool may comprise an NR sidelink resource pool. In such embodiments, the sidelink resource pool may be defined within a sidelink bandwidth part (BWP) . The first terminal device 110, the second terminal device 120 and the third terminal device 120 may use uplink (UL) resources for sidelink communications. More than one sidelink resource pools may be configured for one of the first terminal device 110, the second terminal device 120 and the third terminal device 120. A dedicated resource pool may be used for mode 1 resource scheme or mode 2 resource scheme, short for mode 1 resource pool or mode 2 resource pool. For LTE sidelink, a dedicated resource pool may be used for mode 3 resource scheme or mode 4 resource scheme, short for mode 3 resource pool or mode 4 resource pool. Resources within the sidelink resource pool may comprise Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) resources, Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) resources and physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) resources. A bitmap may be used to indicate which UL slots are configured as sidelink slots. A length of the bitmap may be in a range of 10 to 160.

The first terminal device 110, the second terminal device 120 and the third terminal device 120 may use sidelink channels to transmit sidelink signaling or information. The sidelink channels include at least one of the following: a PSCCH resource which is used for carrying sidelink control information (SCI) , a PSSCH resource which is used for carrying sidelink data service information, a PSFCH resource which is used for carrying sidelink Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) acknowledge (ACK) information, a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) resource which is used for carrying sidelink broadcast information, and a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH) resource which is used for carrying a sidelink discovery signal.

Within a resource pool, whether a PSFCH resource is available should be configured or pre-configured. In time domain, according to the configuration or pre-configuration of a resource pool, one of every N slots in the resource pool contains PSFCH resources, N= [0, 1, 2, 4] . In a sidelink resource pool, PSCCH or PSSCH resources are presented in every slot and used for transmitting sidelink data packet. Within a slot containing a PSFCH resource, the last three SL symbols (AGC+PSFCH+GP) are used for PSFCH related.

A PSFCH resource may comprises one RB in frequency domain and one symbol in time domain (AGC symbol is repeated) . In addition, the PSFCH resource may carry 1 bit ACK/NACK information. Furthermore, the PSFCH resource may be related to one sub-channel in one slot.

Interlace is used as a frequency resource unit for NR-U uplink. Fig. 3 illustrates an example of an RB set and interlaces in an NR-U interlace scheme in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 3, each of RB sets may be defined as 20 MHz. For Subcarrier Spacing (SCS) of 15kHz, each of the RB sets may comprises 100 to 110 RBs. For SCS of 30kHz, each of the RB sets may comprises 50 to 55 RBs. There may be a guard band between two adjacent RB sets.

BWPs #1 and #2 are defined within a system carrier. The BWP #1 comprises RB sets #0 and #1. The BWP #2 comprises RB sets #2 and #3. It will be understood that although it is shown in Fig. 3 that each of BWPs comprises a plurality of RB sets, in some embodiments, one or more of the BWPs may comprise a single RB set.

Interlaces are defined within a system carrier. An interlace with an index of 0 starts from a common resource block (CRB) with an index of 0 (i.e., CRB#0) . For SCS of 30kHz, 5 interlaces may be defined within the system carrier, as shown in Fig. 3. For SCS of 15kHz, 10 interlaces may be defined within the system carrier.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in a first interlace within an RB set in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 4, a first interlace may be configured as a common interlace for common PSFCH transmissions. Thus, a subset of PRBs in the first interlace is common PRBs used for common PSFCH transmissions. The common PRBs may comprise 10 or 11 PRBs which are distributed among one RB set.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example of common PRBs in a first interlace and dedicated PRBs in a second interlace within an RB set in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 5, a subset of PRBs in a first interlace is common PRBs used for common PSFCH transmissions, and a subset of dedicated PRBs in a second interlace is used for a PSFCH transmission with HARQ-ACK information.

Fig. 6 illustrates an example of common PRBs in a first interlace and dedicated PRBs in a second interlace within two RB sets in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 6, a terminal device may perform two PSFCH transmissions within two RB sets. In other words, the terminal device may perform a first PSFCH transmission with first HARQ-ACK information within an RB set#0 and a second PSFCH transmission with second HARQ-ACK information within an RB set#1.

Specifically, the terminal device may perform the first PSFCH transmission on dedicated PRBs in a second interlace within the RB set#0. In addition, the terminal device may perform a common PSFCH transmission on common PRBs in a first interlace within the RB set#0 to fulfill occupied channel bandwidth (OCB) requirement of the first PSFCH transmission.

Furthermore, the terminal device may perform the second PSFCH transmission on dedicated PRBs in the second interlace within the RB set#1. In addition, the terminal device may perform a common PSFCH transmission on common PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set#1 to fulfill OCB requirement of the second PSFCH transmission.

Regarding each of the first PSFCH transmission and the second PSFCH transmission, the terminal device determines a transmission power based on an equation (1) :

However, is the number of PRBs in the first interlace for all N_{sch, Tx, PSFCH} PSFCH transmissions which include both the first PSFCH transmission and the second PSFCH transmission, which is not correct.

If the terminal device determines, based on the equation (1) , the transmission power for each of the first PSFCH transmission and the second PSFCH transmission, the total transmission power of the terminal device may exceed the maximum transmission power of the terminal device, resulting in failure of PSFCH transmissions.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for sidelink communications. According to the solution, a first terminal device determines a first number of PRBs in a first interlace within an RB set for a PSFCH transmission after excluding at least one PRB from a total number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set. The first terminal device also determines a second number of PRBs in a second interlace for the PSFCH transmission. In turn, the first terminal device determines a transmission power for the PSFCH transmission based at least on the first number and the second number. In this way, the total transmission power of the first terminal device will not exceed the maximum transmission power of the terminal device, which will ensure success of PSFCH transmissions. Hereinafter, principle of the present disclosure will be described with reference to Figs. 7 and 8.

Fig. 7 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 700 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the method 700 can be implemented at a terminal device, such as one of the first terminal device 110, the second terminal device 120 and the third terminal device 130 as shown in Fig. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 700 will be described with reference to Fig. 1 as performed by the first terminal device 110 without loss of generality.

At block 710, the first terminal device 110 determines a first number of PRBs in a first interlace within an RB set for a PSFCH transmission after excluding at least one PRB from a total number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set. Hereinafter, the first number is represented by

In some embodiments, an index of the first interlace may be determined based on a higher layer parameter.

For example, for operation with shared spectrum channel access, when sl-TransmissionStructureForPSFCH = 'commonInterlace' and within an RB set r, the first terminal device 110 determines a set of PRBs in the first interlace. An index of the first interlace is provided by an RRC parameter, e.g., sl-PSFCH-CommonInterlaceIndex.

In some embodiments, the total number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set may be equal to a configured or pre-configured value.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the total number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set may be equal to 10.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the total number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set may be equal to 11.

In some embodiments, the number of the at least one PRB excluded from the total number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set may be determined based on an offset between a dedicated PRB in the second interlace and a common PRB in the first interlace. The number of the at least one excluded PRB is represented by n.

For example, for operation with shared spectrum channel access, when sl-TransmissionStructureForPSFCH = 'commonInterlace' , a PRB s₁ in the first interlace is excluded from the resources for a PSFCH transmission, if |s₁-s₂|≤5 for μ=0 or |s₁- s₂|≤2 for μ=1 for any PRB s₂ in the PRB subset when the PRB subset is selected for PSFCH transmission, and (s_high-s_low) ≥88 for μ=0 or (s_high-s_low) ≥44 for μ=1, where PRB s_high and PRB s_low are the largest and smallest PRB indexes, respectively, in the resources for the PSFCH transmission assuming PRB s₁ is excluded.

At block 720, the first terminal device 110 determines a second number of PRBs in a second interlace for the PSFCH transmission. Hereinafter, the second number is represented byFor example, the first terminal device 110 may determine the second number based on HARQ-ACK information and reception of sidelink data associated with the HARQ-ACK information.

At block 730, the first terminal device 110 determines a transmission power for the PSFCH transmission based at least on the first number and the second number.

With the method 700, the total transmission power of the first terminal device 110 will not exceed the maximum transmission power of the first terminal device 110, which will ensure success of PSFCH transmissions.

Consider the example of Fig. 6. The first terminal device 110 may perform a first PSFCH transmission on dedicated PRBs in a second interlace within the RB set#0. In addition, the first terminal device 110 may perform a common PSFCH transmission on common PRBs in a first interlace within the RB set#0 to fulfill OCB requirement of the first PSFCH transmission. The first interlace is configured as a common interlace for common PSFCH transmissions.

Furthermore, the first terminal device 110 may perform the second PSFCH transmission on dedicated PRBs in the second interlace within the RB set#1. In addition, the first terminal device 110 may perform a common PSFCH transmission on common PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set#1 to fulfill OCB requirement of the second PSFCH transmission.

The first interlace may comprise p PRBs within the RB set#0 and may comprise q PRBs within the RB set#1.

For example, each of p and q may be equal to a configured or pre-configured value. That is, no matter how many PRBs belongs to the common interlace, the first terminal device 110 uses the configured or pre-configured number (p or q) of PRBs as a total PRBs number within the common interlace and uses p or q minus the number of the excluded PRBs not used for common PRBs as described in TS 38.213, Clause 16.3.0 to determine the actual used common PRBs to determine the transmission power on the common interlace (i.e., the first interlace) .

Alternatively, each of p and q may be equal to 10. That is, no matter how many PRBs belongs to the common interlace, the first terminal device uses 10 PRBs as the total number of PRBs within the common interlace and uses 10 minus the number of the excluded PRBs not used for common PRBs as described in TS 38.213, Clause 16.3.0 to determine the actual used common PRBs to determine the transmission power on the common interlace (i.e., the first interlace) .

Alternatively, each of p and q may be equal to 11. That is, no matter how many PRBs belongs to the common interlace, the first terminal device uses 11 PRBs as the total number of PRBs within the common interlace and uses 11 minus the number of the excluded PRBs not used for common PRBs as described in TS 38.213, Clause 16.3.0 to determine the actual used common PRBs to determine the transmission power on the common interlace (i.e., the first interlace) .

For the first PSFCH transmission within the RB set#0, the first terminal device 110 determines the first number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set#0 based on an equation (2) :

whererepresents the first number, p represents the total number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set#0.

For the second PSFCH transmission within the RB set#1, the first terminal device 110 determines the first number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set#1 based on an equation (3) :

whererepresents the first number, q represents the total number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set#1.

It may be understood that the first number is the number of actually used common PRBs.

In turn, the first terminal device 110 determines the transmission power for the PSFCH transmission based at least on the first number and the second number. For example, within the RB set r, the first terminal device 110 may determines the transmission power based on an equation (4) :

In the equation (4) , P_PSFCH, k (i) represents a transmission power for a PSFCH transmission k, 1≤k≤N_Tx, PSFCH, on all the resource pools in PSFCH transmission occasion i. P_PSFCH, one represents a transmission power on one PRB in the subset of PRBs in the second interlace for PSFCH transmission. represents the second number. represents the first number. For example, is the number of PRBs in the first interlace configured as common interlace for PSFCH transmission in RB set r for the PSFCH transmissions in RB set r after excluding PRBs for PSFCH transmissions as described in TS 38.213, Clause 16.3.0.

It may be understood that, depending on which RB set the PSFCH locates, the first terminal device 110 uses the actual PRBs number within the common interlace to minus the excluded PRBs not used for common PRBs as described in TS 38.213, Clause 16.3.0 to determine the actual used common PRBs to determine the transmission power on common interlace (i.e., the first interlace) .

Table 1 shows an example of change to the TS 38.213, Clause 16.2.3 to implement the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Table 1

Fig. 8 is a simplified block diagram of a device 800 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 800 can be considered as a further example embodiment of the terminal device 110, 120 or 130 as shown in Fig. 1. Accordingly, the device 800 can be implemented at or as at least a part of the terminal device 110, 120 or 130.

As shown, the device 800 includes a processor 810, a memory 820 coupled to the processor 810, a suitable transceiver 840 coupled to the processor 810, and a communication interface coupled to the transceiver 840. The memory 810 stores at least a part of a program 830. The transceiver 840 may be for bidirectional communications or a unidirectional communication based on requirements. The transceiver 840 may include at least one of a transmitter 842 and a receiver 844. The transmitter 842 and the receiver 844 may be functional modules or physical entities. The transceiver 840 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, though in practice an Access Node mentioned in this application may have several ones. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements, such as X2/Xn interface for bidirectional communications between eNBs/gNBs, S1/NG interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) /Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) /SGW/UPF and the eNB/gNB, Un interface for communication between the eNB/gNB and a relay node (RN) , or Uu interface for communication between the eNB/gNB and a terminal device.

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

Claims

A first terminal device, comprising:

a processor configured to cause the first terminal device to:

determine a first number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in a first interlace within a resource block (RB) set for a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission after excluding at least one PRB from a total number of PRBs in the first interlace within the RB set;

determine a second number of PRBs in a second interlace for the PSFCH transmission; and

determine a transmission power for the PSFCH transmission based at least on the first number and the second number.
The first terminal device of claim 1, wherein an index of the first interlace is determined based on a higher layer parameter.
The first terminal device of claim 1, wherein the total number of PRBs in the first interlace is equal to a configured or pre-configured value.
The first terminal device of claim 1, wherein the total number of PRBs in the first interlace is equal to 10 or 11.
A method for sidelink communications, comprising:

determining a first number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in a first interlace within a resource block (RB) set for a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission after excluding at least one PRB from a total number of PRBs in the first interlace;

determining a second number of PRBs in a second interlace for the PSFCH transmission; and

determining a transmission power for the PSFCH transmission based at least one the first number and the second number.
The method of claim 5, wherein an index of the first interlace is determined based on a higher layer parameter.
The method of claim 5, wherein the total number of PRBs in the first interlace is equal to a configured or pre-configured value.
The method of claim 5, wherein the total number of PRBs in the first interlace is equal to 10 or 11.
A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor of a device, causing the device to carry out the method according to any of claims 5 to 8.