WO2025214567A1

WO2025214567A1 - Source user equipment, target user equipment, network node, and methods performed therein

Info

Publication number: WO2025214567A1
Application number: PCT/EP2024/059446
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ritesh SHREEVASTAV; Iana Siomina; Julia EQUI; Mohammed Yazid LYAZIDI; Xiaolin JIANG
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Current assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Priority date: 2024-04-08
Filing date: 2024-04-08
Publication date: 2025-10-16
Anticipated expiration: 2026-10-08

Abstract

Embodiments herein disclose, for example, a method performed by a source user equipment, UE, (101) for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network. The source UE obtains an indication that sensing context data of a sensing object is to be handed over to one or more UEs. The source UE triggers a discovery procedure to select a target UE (102); and initiates a handover of the sensing context data to the target UE (102).

Description

SOURCE USER EQUIPMENT, TARGET USER EQUIPMENT, NETWORK NODE, AND METHODS PERFORMED THEREIN

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments herein relate to a source user equipment (UE), a target UE, a network node, and methods performed therein regarding wireless communication. Furthermore, a computer program product and a computer readable storage medium are also provided herein. In particular, embodiments herein relate to handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network.

BACKGROUND

In a typical wireless communication network, UEs, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and/or wireless devices, communicate via a Radio Access Network (RAN) with one or more core networks (CN). The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cells, with each service area or cell being served by a radio network node such as an access node e.g. a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be called, for example, a NodeB, a gNodeB, or an eNodeB. The service area or cell is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node operates on radio frequencies to communicate over an air interface with the UEs within range of the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over a downlink (DL) to the UE and the UE communicates over an uplink (UL) to the radio network node.

A Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation (3G) telecommunication network, which evolved from the second generation (2G) Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). The UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) is essentially a RAN using wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) and/or High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) for communication with user equipment. In a forum known as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), telecommunications suppliers propose and agree upon standards for present and future generation networks and investigate e.g. enhanced data rate and radio capacity. In some RANs, e.g. as in UMTS, several radio network nodes may be connected, e.g., by landlines or microwave, to a controller node, such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a base station controller (BSC), which supervises and coordinates various activities of the plural radio network nodes connected thereto. The RNCs are typically connected to one or more core networks.

Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS) have been completed within the 3GPP and coming 3GPP releases, such as New Radio (NR), are worked on. The EPS comprises the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), also known as the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio access network, and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), also known as System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network. E-UTRAN/LTE is a 3GPP radio access technology wherein the radio network nodes are directly connected to the EPC core network. As such, the Radio Access Network (RAN) of an EPS has an essentially “flat” architecture comprising radio network nodes connected directly to one or more core networks.

With the emerging 5G technologies such as NR, the use of very many transmit- and receive-antenna elements may be of great interest as it makes it possible to utilize beamforming, such as transmit-side and receive-side beamforming. Transmit-side beamforming means that the transmitter can amplify the transmitted signals in a selected direction or directions, while suppressing the transmitted signals in other directions. Similarly, on the receive-side, a receiver can amplify signals from a selected direction or directions, while suppressing unwanted signals from other directions. NR is connected to the 5G Core Network (5GC) which comprises a number of Network Functions (NF) such as Session Management Function (SMF), Access Management Function (AMF), Authentication Service Function (ALISF), Policy Control Function (PCF), Unified Data Manager (UDM), Network Repository Function (NRF), Network Exposure Function (NEF), just to mention some. In the 5GC, NFs can discover other NFs by using a discovery service provided by the NRF.

A Sidelink Positioning Protocol (SLPP) as specified in TS 38.455v 18.0.0 in 3GPP may be used for exchange over PC5-U reference point between UEs, e.g., target UE, anchor UE, server UE, to manage ranging/sidelink positioning sessions among a group of UEs. The SLPP protocol is intended to enable sidelink positioning and ranging using a multiplicity of different position methods.

Sensing procedure follows some of the principles that are being used by animals for echolocation. That is, a pulse is emitted, usually with high frequency, that travels until it hits a reflecting surface after which a reflection of the original pulse travels back to the transmitter or some other receiver. With this technique some animal species can navigate in darkness with very high precision, see LIZ LANGLEY (2021) Echolocation is nature’s built-in sonar. Here’s how it works. National Geographic, Feb 3, 2021. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/echolocation-is-nature-built-in-sonar-here-is- how-it-works.

The technique as described above is also used in many different businesses. Some obvious examples are the radars used to navigate airplanes and the lidar now available in many cars. However, radar can also be used for input to small devices since the radar can detect movements of a person’s fingers.

To describe some of the phenomena a brief look at geophysics can be used. There are several geophysical methods that rely on the abovementioned principles. One very commonly used method is seismic where a sound pulse is transmitted into the ground. When the pulse encounters an object, e.g., a boundary between two types of rock or a fracture zone, where the physical properties differ enough this causes a reflection that travels back to the transmitter. However, if the original pulse hits the boundary at a high enough angle the original wave may be refracted instead. Naturally, a wave or pulse that is sent through a mountain may, even if parts of the energy is reflected, travel though the mountain, however, being affected by the physical properties on its path. This type of data is also used for investigations, e.g., using tomography or when characterizing and identifying sources of earthquakes. These methods work well also using a radar to transmit the first pulse, however, radar investigations are used for other purposes as well. The property that determines if there will be a radar reflection is the dielectric constant, rather than the physical properties for seismic waves.

The principles exemplified above also work for WiFi. Given the operating frequency and output power of ordinary WiFi, for example, as set in IEEE 802.11, limits the possible types of investigations. That is, the WiFi waves will attenuate quickly, especially in solid materials, so it may be difficult to detect anything behind reinforced concrete walls.

Usually, WiFi sensing exploits radio channel changes measured, e.g., as amplitude and phase. The channel environment changes, e.g., when a person or object moves in this area and alters the radio path. The radio measurements are analysed to identify and possibly characterize the reason for changes in the environment.

Since there are advantages with being able to detect, e.g., movement, using radio waves there are already commercial implementations of WiFi sensing. There are advantages with a standard so as a result, the IEEE 802.11 working group has formed a new Task Group, 802.11bf, to develop a new amendment to define necessary physical layer (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) protocols to support WiFi sensing in all spectrum bands, including sub-7 GHz bands, such as 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz band, as well as 60 GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) band.

A sensing session usually follows these steps, see C. Chen, H. Song, Q. Li, F. Meneghello, F. Restuccia and C. Cordeiro, "Wi-Fi Sensing Based on IEEE 802.11bf," in IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 61, no. 1 , pp. 121-127, January 2023, doi: 10.1109/MCOM.007.2200347. Wi-Fi Sensing Based on IEEE 802.11bf.

Sensing session setup is a process for sensing-capable devices to discover each other, establish security context, and exchange basic sensing capabilities. This process may be omitted for monostatic sensing where the transmission (Tx) and reception (Rx) are performed in the same device.

Sensing measurement setup is a process for the sensing initiator and sensing responder or responders to negotiate and agree on operational parameters associated with a specific sensing application, including role assignment, such as transmitter or receiver, PHY parameters, such as bandwidth, number of spatial streams etc., type of sensing measurement report, and preferred scheduling information, such as sensing periodicity, duration, etc.. This process may be omitted for monostatic sensing where the Tx and Rx are performed in the same device.

Sensing measurement instance is a process where actual sensing measurements take place.

Sensing measurement setup termination and sensing session termination, terminate an established sensing measurement setup and sensing session, respectively.

IEEE 802.11bf defines two variants of sensing measurement instance for sub-7 GHz sensing. Trigger-based (TB) sensing measurement instance is used when an access point (AP) is the sensing initiator, whereas non-Trigger based (non-TB) sensing measurement instance applies to scenarios where a non-(AP) station (STA), such as a UE, is the sensing initiator.

Integrated Sensing And Communication (ISAC) procedure is in principle the same as WiFi sensing, however, in 3GPP the process is referred to as ISAC to emphasize that the same (radio) resources are used both for ordinary communication and for sensing measurements. The sensing process discussed in the previous section is almost identical to a process for ISAC in a cellular system. For this background description of ISAC, the emphasis is put on a radar-like sensing setup. In short, using radar means that a radio pulse is transmitted towards the anticipated target, e.g., the pulse is transmitted in a certain direction or beam. When the pulse hits the target, assuming that the difference in electrical properties is large enough, a reflection is generated that travels back to the transmitter. From the travel time between transmission and reception of the reflection, it is possible to calculate the distance to the reflector, see Fig. 1a.

There are numerous papers describing layer one (L1) problems and solutions, e.g., using orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) to create a radar-like pulse. Another interesting set of L1 problems is to handle reflections, e.g., is the received reflection a first arrival from a line of sight (LOS) or are there several arrivals also from non-line of sight (NLOS). To be able to correctly handle reflections the receiver needs high time resolution and powerful signal processing. Consequently, the sensing capability of a UE may be limited since the receiver is not capable enough. OFDM signal processing for radar, which resembles spread spectrum reception, is based on normalized matched filter processing, which is implemented by complex division in frequency domain. An advantage of OFDM is its ability to maintain carrier orthogonality if correctly processed. Naturally, prerequisites are Tx/Rx synchronization, symbol lengths shorter than the typical channel coherence time, and correct handling of the cyclic prefix (CP). For radar-like ISAC, the range, respectively delay, and Doppler estimation are factorized, and this simplifies processing and makes the radar-like ISAC more flexible. Another advantage is the low estimation variance as leakage variance disappears when Tx and Rx are synchronized. A disadvantage of OFDM is the non-optimum peak-to- average power ratio (PAPR). In case of ISAC it is difficult to optimize due to the unknown communication signal, i.e., the reflection, which is not under user control and has to be recovered at the receiver.

Radar-like JCAS measurements may be monostatic and bistatic. It is obvious that if more information than the distance to an object is needed, a simple arrival time from the reflection is not enough, but probably additional measurements from different directions are needed.

Recently, the system architectures (SA) groups, denoted as SA1 and SA2, of the 3GPP have defined study items to identify use cases and architectural enhancements that will enable ISAC in cellular networks, see "Feasibility Study on Integrated Sensing and Communication”, Technical Specification Group TSG SA, (Release 19), 3GPP TR 22.837 v.2.0.0, June 2023.

Sensing using cellular networks can be performed in a monostatic setting, when the transmitter and the receiver sensing antennas are located in the same node, and in a multi-static setting, when the transmitter and the receiver sensing antennas are located in different nodes. In Fig. 1b different radar settings based on cellular network are depicted that can be deployed using NR base station (BS), denoted by gNB, and UE(s). The goal is to detect and localize a target object, which is, in general, a non-connected object, such as a pedestrian, an animal, etc. Target objects can be also connected UEs and in this case sensing is used to improve communicationbased positioning of such UEs. Fig. 1b shows basic sensing modes involving gNB(s): gNB(s)-only based monostatic sensing in (a), different bi-static settings with gNB-only in (b), and both gNB/UEs-based bi-static sensing settings in (c) and (d). TX-s and RX-s denote respectively the sensing transmitter node and the sensing receiver node.

For ISAC below Network Functions may be introduced:

1. Handling of Sensing requests, e.g., in Sensing Management Function (SeMF).

To support various kinds of sensing there needs to be a function that handles requests from different applications. The function could be split into two logical, or physical, entities - a control function and a processing function. The control function may comprise, e.g., a SeMF. The processing function can comprise, e.g., Sensing Processing Function (SPF).

2. Sensing data processing, e.g., in SPF.

This function interprets sensing measurements and converts them into a format meaningful to an external receiver. Further processing may involve, e.g., object detection, event detection, creation of maps. Available local data is handled by this function, e.g., base station identity (ID) and observations.

Furthermore, it is herein used a terminology such as:

3GPP sensing data: data derived from 3GPP radio signals impacted, e.g., reflected, refracted, and/or diffracted, by an object or environment of interest for sensing purposes, and optionally processed within the 5G system. 5G Wireless sensing: 5G system (5GS) feature providing capabilities to get information about characteristics of the environment and/or objects within the environment, e.g. shape, size, orientation, speed, location, distances or relative motion between objects, etc, using NR radio frequency (RF) signals and, in some cases, previously defined information available in EPC and/or E-LITRA.

Human motion rate accuracy describes the closeness of the measured value of the human body movement frequency caused by part(s), e.g., chest, of the target object, i.e., human body, to the true value of the human body movement frequency.

Non-3GPP sensing data: data provided by non-3GPP sensors, e.g., video, LiDAR, sonar, about an object or environment of interest for sensing purposes.

SUMMARY

As part of developing embodiments herein one or more problems have been identified. Sensing is foreseen to be a key technology for tracking of passive objects, also referred to as sensing objects. When a sensing object moves in a sensing area, it is currently not clear how the context of the passive object, including passive object information, identification information, or sensing measurements, can be handed over from e.g., one monostatic node, i.e., the radio node performing monostatic sensing, to another monostatic node in sensing. Furthermore, in a sensing area, many, e.g., monostatic nodes may comprise monostatic UEs with radar capabilities performing sensing and that need to keep track of the passive moving sensing target. To ensure continuity of the sensing session, a handover and/or transfer mechanism is needed, so that the participating sensing UEs can follow the movement of the moving passive object and continue the sensing session.

How the transfer of context data also denoted as sensing information should be done for a sensing object that moves across the coverage area of several monostatic UEs, where a monostatic UE can be in same coverage area, or in the coverage area of another network node, is a challenge in the state-of-the-art ISAC systems.

An object of embodiments herein is to handle sensing procedures in a wireless communication network in an efficient manner.

According to an aspect the object is achieved, according to some embodiments herein, by providing a method performed by a source UE for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network. The source UE obtains an indication that sensing context data of a sensing object is to be handed over to one or more UEs. The source UE triggers a discovery procedure to select a target UE; and then initiates a handover of the sensing context data to the target UE. According to another aspect the object is achieved, according to some embodiments herein, by providing a method performed by a target UE for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network. The target UE obtains a configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering a sensing object and/or for performing a sensing procedure. The target UE receives sensing context data from a source UE directly or via a network node, wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object. The target UE then performs the sensing procedure of the sensing object.

According to yet another aspect the object is achieved, according to some embodiments herein, by providing a method performed by a network node for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network. The network node provides to a source UE and/or a target UE, a configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering a sensing object and/or for performing a sensing procedure. The network node further performs a handover of sensing context data of the sensing object from the source UE to the target UE.

It is furthermore provided herein a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the methods herein, as performed by the UEs, and the network node, respectively. It is additionally provided herein a computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to the methods herein, as performed by the UEs, and the network node, respectively.

According to yet another aspect the object is achieved, according to some embodiments herein, by providing a source UE, a target UE, and a network node configured to perform the methods herein, respectively.

Hence, according to an aspect the object is achieved by providing a source UE for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network. The source UE is configured to obtain an indication that sensing context data of a sensing object is to be handed over to one or more UEs. The source UE is configured to trigger a discovery procedure to select a target UE; and then to initiate a handover of the sensing context data to the target UE.

According to another aspect the object is achieved by providing a target UE for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network. The target UE is configured to obtain a configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering a sensing object and/or for performing a sensing procedure. The target UE is configured to receive sensing context data from a source UE directly or via a network node, wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object. The target UE is configured to perform the sensing procedure of the sensing object.

According to yet another aspect the object is achieved by providing a network node for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network. The network node is configured to provide to a source UE and/or a target UE, a configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering a sensing object and/or for performing a sensing procedure. The network node is configured to perform a handover of sensing context data of the sensing object from the source UE to the target UE.

Thus, it is herein disclosed functionalities to enable handover of the sensing context data to allow transfer of sensing context data, e.g., sensing data and information, from the source UE to the target UE using interfaces, such as PC5 and Xn interfaces, respectively:

For example, in case the tracked sensing object moves across different areas, wherein each area comprises a sensing UE, the source UE may discover and/or select a sensing UE as a target UE for handover of the sensing context data, and may request a network node such as a source gNB to transfer sensing information of the sensing object to the target UE, that may be served by a target gNB in the other area to ensure continuity of sensing procedure and tracking.

Thus, embodiments herein handle the sensing procedure in a wireless communication network in an efficient manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will now be described in more detail in relation to the enclosed drawings, in which:

Fig. 1a is a schematic overview depicting principle of radar operation according to prior art;

Fig. 1b is a schematic overview depicting sensing according to prior art

Fig. 2 shows an overview depicting a wireless communication network according to embodiments herein;

Fig. 3 shows a schematic overview depicting HOs according to some embodiments herein;

Fig. 4 shows a combined flowchart and signalling scheme according to some embodiments herein;

Fig. 5 shows a combined flowchart and signalling scheme according to some embodiments herein;

Fig. 6 shows a combined flowchart and signalling scheme according to some embodiments herein;

Fig. 7 shows a schematic flowchart depicting a method performed by a source UE according to embodiments herein;

Fig. 8 shows a schematic flowchart depicting a method performed by a target UE according to embodiments herein; Fig. 9 shows a schematic flowchart depicting a method performed by a network node according to embodiments herein;

Fig. 10 shows a combined flowchart and signalling scheme according to some embodiments herein;

Fig. 11 shows a schematic overview depicting a sensing scenario according to some embodiments herein;

Fig. 12 shows a schematic overview depicting a sensing scenario according to some embodiments herein;

Fig. 13 shows a combined flowchart and signalling scheme according to some embodiments herein;

Fig. 14 is a schematic overview depicting a source UE according to embodiments herein; Fig. 15 is a schematic overview depicting a target UE according to embodiments herein; Fig. 16 is a schematic overview depicting a network node according to embodiments herein;

Fig. 17 schematically illustrates embodiments of a communication system,

Fig. 18 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a UE,

Fig. 19 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a network node, and

Fig. 20 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a virtualization environment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments herein relate to wireless communication networks in general. Fig. 2 is a schematic overview depicting a wireless communication network 1. The wireless communication network 1 comprises one or more RANs and one or more CNs. The wireless communication network 1 may use one or a number of different technologies. Embodiments herein relate to recent technology trends that are of particular interest in a New Radio (NR) context, however, embodiments are also applicable in further development of existing wireless communications systems such as e.g. LTE or Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA).

In the wireless communication network 1, one or more UEs such as a source user equipment (UE) 101 and a target UE 102 exemplified herein respectively as a wireless device such as a mobile station, a non-access point (non-AP) station (STA), a STA and/or a wireless terminal, are comprised communicating via e.g. one or more Access Networks (AN), e.g. radio access network (RAN), to one or more core networks (CN). It should be understood by the skilled in the art that “UE” is a non-limiting term which means any terminal, wireless communications terminal, user equipment, narrowband internet of things (NB-loT) device, Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, Device to Device (D2D) terminal, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a small base station capable of communicating using radio communication with a radio network node within an area served by the radio network node. According to embodiments herein respective UE is a sensing UE, i.e., a UE capable of performing one or more sensing measurements in an area. In particular, when the UE 10 has created a sensing context for a sensing object 150, the UE may be termed as source UE. A UE to take over as a sensing UE may be termed as target UE.

The wireless communication network 1 comprises a first radio network node 12 or just radio network node 12, providing radio coverage over a geographical area, a first service area 11 or first cell, of a first radio access technology (RAT), such as NR, LTE, or similar. The first radio network node 12 may be a transmission and reception point such as an access node, an access controller, a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a gNodeB (gNB), an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B), a NodeB, a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point or an Access Point Station (AP STA), a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point or any other network unit or node capable of communicating with a UE within the area served by the first radio network node depending e.g. on the first radio access technology and terminology used. The first radio network node may be referred to as a serving radio network node wherein the service area may be referred to as a serving cell, and the serving network node communicates with the wireless device in form of DL transmissions to the wireless device and UL transmissions from the wireless device. It should be noted that a service area may be denoted as cell, beam, beam group or similar to define an area of radio coverage. It should be noted that a service area may be denoted as cell, beam, beam group or similar to define an area of radio coverage.

The wireless communication network 1 comprises a second radio network node 13 providing radio coverage over a geographical area, a second service area 14 or second cell, of a the first or second RAT, such as NR, LTE, or similar. The second radio network node 13 may be UE, a road side unit (RSU), a relay node, a transmission and reception point such as an access node, an access controller, a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a gNB, an eNB, a NodeB, a base transceiver station, or node capable of communicating with the UE outside the area served by the first radio network node.

The wireless communication network 1 may further comprise a number of network nodes providing applications, such as an application server (AS), e.g. in NR, or network functions (NF) or actually instantiations of NFs also referred to as NF instances, such as a first network node 15, for example, a sensing managing function SeMF.

According to embodiments herein a network node 130, such as the first radio network node 12 or the first network node 15, may handle or manage sensing procedures to detect objects such as a sensing object 150 in the wireless communication network 1.

The respective node may be a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or processing resources in a server farm or same node. Embodiments herein may be implemented as physical bare metal, virtual or cloud native such as Kubernetes environment in, e.g., hyper-cloud networks.

Embodiments herein enable the source UE 101 to perform sensing procedure comprising a handover (HO) of a sensing context data of the sensing object 150 to the target UE 102 in an efficient manner. The source UE 101 is a UE which currently has sensing context data of the sensing (detected or tracked) object 150. The sensing procedure maybe for targeting the sensing object or sensing target 150. Sensing context data may be defined with an identifier tag of the sensing object, such as a target; an area, e.g., cell identity, location, where the object is detected; an object velocity; an object size; and/or a shape of the object.

The network node 130 may distribute configuration so that the source UE 101 and/or target UE 102 may get information on sensing capabilities, including specific areas, probabilities of LOS/NLOS, signal strength, maximum range of their monostatic sensing, of surrounding UEs, to enable a selection of a sensing UE as target UE for handover of the sensing context data. The source UE 101 obtains an indication to handover the sensing context data and triggers a discovery procedure to select the target UE. The source UE 101 then initiates a handover of the sensing context data to the target UE 102. As an example, in case the tracked sensing object 150 moves across different areas, wherein an area may be served by one or more sensing UEs, the source UE 101 may request the network node 130 to transfer sensing context data of the sensing object 150 to a target UE in the other area to ensure continuity of sensing procedure and tracking.

Fig. 3 shows an overview depicting embodiments herein, where the source UE 101 first performs a handover of the sensing context data of the sensing object 150 to the target UE 102. The target UE 102 then performs a handover of the sensing context data of the sensing object 150 to another target UE 10T, which in its turn performs a handover of the sensing context data of the sensing object 150 to a second target UE 102’ via the network node 130. Thus, the UEs perform sensing and detecting one or more sensing objects. The source UE 101 may determine an object velocity and/or object type and can also tag the sensing object, for example, provide temporary ID, or the sensing object can be identified using its attributes, such as shape, velocity (speed), and/or direction. The source UE 101 may also determine the direction of the sensing object 150 and may alert the target UE 102 where the sensing object 150 could be moving towards. The other UE 10T may, at cell edge, then alert the network node 130 about the crossing of the sensing object 150 and the new node may provide sensing request to the UE which is in its area.

According to some embodiments, the network node 130 may allocate a sidelink resource pool for sensing. The network node 130 may preconfigure the resources, which can be provided by System Information broadcast. The UE using such resources performs UE to UE handover of the detected object attributes. In NR sidelink, there are two resource allocation modes: • Network-based resource allocation, in which the network selects the resources and other transmit parameters used by sidelink UEs. In some cases, the network may control every single transmission parameter. In other cases, the network may select the resources used for transmission but may give the transmitter the freedom to select some of the transmission parameters, possibly with some restrictions. In the context of NR, 3GPP refers to this resource allocation mode as Mode 1.

• Autonomous resource allocation, in which the UEs autonomously select the resources and other transmit parameters. In this mode, there may be no intervention by the network, e.g., out of coverage, unlicensed carriers without a network deployment, or very minimal intervention by the network, e.g., configuration of pools of resources, etc.. In the context of NR, 3GPP refers to this resource allocation mode as Mode 2.

According to embodiments herein, a sensing UE, such as the source UE 101 , may obtain a-priori knowledge of the sensing object 150 and its associated attributes such as shape, size, and/or velocity. The source UE 101 may also obtain a-priori knowledge of other sensing UEs in a sensing area with a sensing capability that can track the sensing object 150 across different areas. The source UE 101 may trigger a discovery process to find or select the target UE 102 to initiate the handover of the sensing context data, which may result in a fast process using less energy. Another advantage with embodiments herein is that, when the source UE 101 is below a certain performance level such as UE battery level or a capability level, the UE 101 may decide to handover the sensing context data to another sensing capable UE to achieve UE energy savings.

Fig. 4 is a combined flowchart and signalling scheme according to some embodiments herein.

Action 401. The network node 130, such as the first radio network node 12 or a SeMF 15, may configure one or more UEs such as the source UE 101, to perform and/or handle sensing procedures. The network node 130 may configure one or more characteristics to be monitored by the source UE 101. The source UE 101 may be configured to select resources, and/or configured with resources for sensing.

Action 402. The source UE 101 may then perform a sensing procedure and detect the sensing object 150. The source UE 101 may transmit sensing data to the network node 130.

Action 403. The source UE 101 obtains an indication that the sensing context data of the sensing object 150 is to be handed over to one or more UEs. For example, the source UE 101 may determine that the sensing object is moving away from radio coverage of the source UE 101. The source UE 101 may detect that the sensing object is leaving or is possible to leave the radio coverage area of the source UE 101. For example, one or more characteristics are met indicating that the sensing object 150 is to be handover to one or more UEs such as the target UE 102. That the sensing object is leaving or is possible to leave an area may be determined by measuring a velocity, an angle, a direction and/or distance of an object/UE, and based on the known coverage area and/or known location.

Action 404. The source UE 101 triggers a discovery procedure for discovering the target UE 102. An identification of possible targets may be performed by the source UE 101, the network node 130, or a combination performed by the network node 130 and the source UE 101. The source UE 101 may identify the target UE 102 from a discovery process or from a local storage of discovered target UEs. The source UE 101 may receive a target indication from the network node 130 upon request from the source UE 101.

Action 405. The source UE 101 then initiates a HO procedure for handing over the sensing context data to the target UE 102.

Action 406. The network node 130 may configure resource and/or characteristics to perform and/or handle sensing procedures by the target UE 102. The network node 130 may configure one or more characteristics to be monitored by the target UE 102. This may be performed before or at the same time as action 401.

Action 407. The source UE 101 may then forward the sensing context data such as sensing data of the sensing object 150. The forwarding may be directly to the target UE 102 and/or via the network node 130 such as one or more radio network nodes.

Action 408. The target UE 102 may then perform the sensing procedure of the sensing object 150 and report sensing data to the network node 130.

Fig. 5 is a combined flowchart and signalling scheme according to some embodiments herein.

Action 501. The network node 130, such as the first radio network node 12, may configure one or more UEs such as the source UE 101 to perform and/or handle sensing procedures. The network node 130 may configure one or more resources and/or characteristics of sensing objects to be monitored by the source UE 101. The source UE 101 may be configured to select resources for sensing.

Action 502. The source UE 101 may then perform a sensing procedure

Action 503. The source UE 101 may identify the sensing objects with one or more of the configured one or more characteristics.

Action 504. The source UE 101 determines that the sensing object is moving away from radio coverage of the source UE 101, i.e., determine to initiate a HO of the sensing procedure of the sensing object 150. The source UE 101 may detect that the sensing object is leaving or is possible to leave the radio coverage area of the source UE 101. For example, one or more characteristics are met indicating that the sensing object 150 is to be handover to one or more target UEs. Action 505. The source UE 101 triggers a discovery procedure for discovering the target UE 102. The source UE 101 may transmit a discovery signal for discovering or identifying the target UE 102, and/or the source UE 101 may select or identify the target UE 102 from a memory comprising UE information of other UEs in the wireless communication network.

Action 506. The source UE 101 then initiates the HO procedure for handing over the sensing context data to the target UE 102. The source UE 101 may receive a complete message indicating when HO is completed.

Action 507. The source UE 101 may then forward the sensing context data such as sensing data of the sensing object 150. The forwarding may be directly to the target UE 102 and/or via the network node 130 such as one or more radio network nodes.

Action 508. The source UE 101 may report to the network node 130 HO information such as identified target UE, HO completion, tagging ID of the sensing object, and/or other sensing related information.

Action 509. The target UE 102 may then perform the sensing procedure of the sensing object 150 and report sensing data to the network node 130.

Fig. 6 is a combined flowchart and signalling scheme according to some embodiments herein.

Action 601. The network node 130, such as the first radio network node 12, may configure one or more UEs such as the source UE 101 to perform and/or handle sensing procedures. The network node 130 may configure one or more resources and/or characteristics of sensing objects to be monitored by the source UE 101. The source UE 101 may be configured to select resources for sensing.

Action 602. The source UE 101 may then perform a sensing procedure.

Action 603. The source UE 101 may identify the sensing objects with one or more of the configured one or more characteristics.

Action 604. The source UE 101 determines that the sensing object is moving away from radio coverage of the source UE 101, i.e., determine to initiate a HO of the sensing context data of the sensing object 150. The source UE 101 may detect that the sensing object is leaving or is possible to leave the radio coverage area of the source UE 101. For example, one or more characteristics are met indicating that the sensing object 150 is to be handover to one or more target UEs.

Action 605. The source UE 101 may then transmit a request to the network node 130 triggering a discovery procedure for discovering the target UE 102. The network node 130 may identify one or more target UEs such as the target UE 102 and may respond to the source UE 101 identifying the target UE 102. Action 606. The HO procedure may be initiated for handing over the sensing context data to the target UE 102. The HO procedure may be handled by the source UE 101 , the network node 130, or the network node 130 and the source UE 101. The source UE 101 may receive a complete message indicating when HO is completed. The network node 130 may configure the target UE 102 with resources for sensing and/or one or more characteristics of sensing objects to be monitored.

Action 607. The source UE 101 may then forward the sensing context data such as sensing data of the sensing object 150. The forwarding may be directly to the target UE 102 and/or via the network node 130 such as one or more radio network nodes.

Action 608. The target UE 102 may then perform the sensing procedure of the sensing object 150 and report sensing data to the network node 130.

The method actions performed by the source UE 101 for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in the wireless communication network according to embodiments herein will now be described with reference to a flowchart depicted in Fig. 7. The actions do not have to be taken in the order stated below, but may be taken in any suitable order. Actions performed in some embodiments are marked with dashed boxes.

Action 701. The source UE 101 may obtain the configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering the sensing object 150, and/or for indicating that the sensing context data of the sensing object is to be handed over to one or more UEs. The source UE 101 may be configured to select resources for sensing. The source UE 101 may receive the configuration from the network node 130 or be preconfigured with the configuration.

Action 702. The source UE 101 may perform the sensing procedure and detect the sensing object 150. The source UE 101 may transmit sensing data, such as measurements and/or sensing results, to the network node 130.

Action 703. The source UE 101 obtains the indication that sensing context data of the sensing object 150 is to be handed over to one or more UEs. The source UE 101 may obtain the indication by detecting that the sensing object 150 is leaving or is possible to leave the radio coverage area of the source UE 101; and/or determining that the source UE is not able to serve the sensing procedure, e.g., due to low battery level or similar. Not to be able to serve the sensing procedure may be a UE that is no longer able to detect or track the sensing object. That the sensing object is leaving or is possible to leave an area may be determined by measuring a velocity, an angle, a direction and/or distance of an object/UE, and based on the known coverage area and/or known location. As an example, the source UE 101 may perform measurements and based on these measurements may determine that a handover of the sensing context data should be performed. Thus, the source UE 101 may obtain the indication when, e.g., one or more of the following applies: • Determining that the sensing object 150 is in a sensing area associated with the source and the target UE, e.g., the source UE 101 and the target UE 102 are present in the sensing area,

• Determining that sensing object 150 is beyond a first range R1 from the source UE 101,

• Determining that sensing object 150 is within a second range R2 of the target UE 102,

• Determining that the source UE 101 is leaving the sensing area with the sensing object 150,

• Determining that the target UE 102 is entering the sensing area with the sensing object 150,

• Determining that the sensing object 150 is moving away from the source UE 101 towards the target UE 102,

• Determining that a first distance D1 between the source UE 101 and the sensing object 150 becomes larger than a second distance D2 between the target UE 102 and the sensing object 150,

• Determining that a relative difference between D1 and D2 is beyond a threshold delta, e.g., D1-D2>delta, to avoid a ping pong handover ,

• Determining that the source UE 101 is leaving a serving cell of the target UE 102, wherein the serving cell is covering or is associated with the sensing area comprising the sensing object 150.

Action 704. The source UE 101 triggers the discovery procedure to select the target UE 102. The source UE 101 may trigger the discovery procedure by determining (or selecting) the target UE 102, and/or by initiating the discovery procedure by transmitting a request to the network node 130. The target UE 102 may be selected based on one or more parameters such as location, energy level, transmission power, capability and/or similar.

It should be noted that source UE 101 may transmit a discovery request signal that includes information associated with one or more criteria such as indicating one or more of the following: that the source UE 101 is seeking for a target UE 102 which is available in certain direction, a location for the purpose of detection/tracking of passive object with certain characteristics, such as object shape, size, and/or velocity. The source UE 101 may receive a response that the target UE 102 fulfils the one or more criteria and is capable of performing the sensing procedure.

Action 705. The source UE 101 initiates the handover of the sensing context data to the target UE 102. The source UE 101 may initiate the handover by sending a handover request to the target UE 102 and/or a network node 130.

Action 706. The source UE 101 may receive a complete indication from the target UE 102.

If the handover of the sensing context data fails between the source UE 101 and the target UE 102, the source UE 101 may trigger a Uu connection towards the network node 130 such as the serving radio network node 12 or towards the SeMF 15 which then identifies suitable other UE to take over the detection/tracking of the sensing object 150. In such case, it is also possible that rather than using Sidelink UE based sensing, a Network-based (radio base station, Transmission Reception Point (TRP), base station) sensing is enabled. Sidelink UE based sensing is based upon sensing using sidelink resources whereas network-based sensing is based upon Uu (downlink/Uplink) resources.

Action 707. The source UE 101 may forward the sensing context data to the target UE 102 directly or via the network node 130, wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object 150. Sensing context data may thus also be referred to as sensing information. The sensing information or context data may comprise the sensing object’s context, e.g., one or more of: the object’s identity, object type, size or dimensions, indication of whether the object can move, its latest location information, a set of locations associated with or visited by the object, other physical characteristics of the object, sensing area ID, associated UE ID (e.g., when the sensing object can be carrying a UE), time stamp of the context information, etc. The sensing information may further comprise one or more sensing configuration parameters for performing sensing towards the sensing object 150. Thus, the source UE 101 may transfer sensing information to the target UE 102 comprising one or more of the following:

According to a first method (UE1->UE2): source UE 101 may pass the sensing information to target UE 102 over PC5, e.g:, using SLPP, interface between the two participating sensing UEs. The method may be applied at least in case when at least one of the two sensing UEs is outside the network coverage, but may also be used in partial coverage and under network coverage.

According to a second method (UE1->ServBS1->ServBS2->UE2), the source UE 101 may pass the sensing information to the target UE 102 over Xn interfaces between their respective serving radio network nodes, e.g., for sensing resource allocation purpose and continuity of tracking. The method may be applied at least in case when both sensing UEs are within the network coverage. o In one example, the source UE 101 obtains the information on whether the same or different network nodes are serving the UEs. o In one example, the source UE 101 may be not aware of whether the serving radio network node is the same or different for the source and target UEs. The method selection/applicability can be thus the network decision.

According to a third method (UE1->ServBS->UE2), the source UE 101 may pass the sensing information to the target UE 102 via a coordinating node, wherein the coordinating node can comprise their common serving network node. o In one example, the source UE 101 obtains the information on whether the same or different network nodes are serving the source UE 101 and the target UE 102. o In one example, the source UE 101 may be not aware of whether the serving radio network node is the same or different for the source UE 101 and the target UE 102. The method selection/applicability can be thus the network decision. If the serving radio network nodes are different, the serving radio network node of the source UE 101 may indicate that the third method is not applicable.

According to a fourth method (UE1->SeMF->UE2), the source UE 101 may pass the sensing information to the target UE 102 via a coordinating node or function, wherein the coordinating node or function may comprise managing/controlling sensing, e.g., a SeMF, which may be a RAN node or core network node.

According to a fifth method: the source UE 101 may pass the sensing information to the target UE 102, while selecting the method to use: o based on the first method, in case when at least one of the two sensing UEs is outside the network coverage, and o based on a second method, in case when both of the sensing UEs are served by different network nodes, and o based on the second, third, or fourth method when the source UE 101 and the target UE 102 are served by the same network node.

According to a sixth method, the source UE 101 supports one or more methods of the above mentioned and may be (pre-)configured with which method is to use for passing the sensing information at handover.

Action 708. The source UE 101 may further report to the network node 130, a report indicating handover information, and/or failure to handover and/or discovery of a target UE.

The method actions performed by the target UE 102 for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in the wireless communication network according to embodiments herein will now be described with reference to a flowchart depicted in Fig. 8. The actions do not have to be taken in the order stated below, but may be taken in any suitable order. Actions performed in some embodiments are marked with dashed boxes.

Action 801. The target UE 102 obtains the configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering a sensing object and/or for performing a sensing procedure.

Action 802. The target UE 102 may receive from the source UE 101 the discovery request signal that includes information associated with one or more criteria such as indicating one or more of the following: that the source UE 101 is seeking for a target UE 102 which is available in certain direction, and/or a location for the purpose of detection/tracking of sensing object with certain characteristics, such as object shape, size, and/or velocity.

Action 803. The target UE 102 may transmit the response that the target UE 102 fulfils the one or more criteria and/or is capable of performing the sensing procedure. The target UE 102 may inform the network node 130 and/or the source UE 101 of one or more parameters such as location, energy level, transmission power, capability and/or similar.

Action 804. The target UE 102 may perform the handover of the sensing context data with the source UE 101 and/or the network node 130.

Action 805. The target UE 102 receives the sensing context data from the source UE 101 directly or via the network node 130, wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object. Sensing results may comprise one or more of: object velocity, doppler frequency, delay deuced from measurements such as signal strength of the reflected signal from the object, location estimates based upon angle of arrival of the reflected signals and timing estimations, object shape, and/or size.

Action 806. The target UE 102 performs the sensing procedure of the sensing object. The target UE 102 may perform the sensing procedure targeting the sensing object.

The method actions performed by the network node 130, such as the first radio network node 12 or the first network node 15, for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in the wireless communication network according to embodiments herein will now be described with reference to a flowchart depicted in Fig. 9. The actions do not have to be taken in the order stated below, but may be taken in any suitable order. Actions performed in some embodiments are marked with dashed boxes. The network node may be a radio network node or a core network node.

Action 901. The network node 130 provides to the source UE 101 and/or the target UE 102, the configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering a sensing object and/or for performing a sensing procedure. Discovering the sensing object may comprise one or more of the following: object detection, object identification, and/or object classification.

Action 902. The network node 130 may identify the target UE 102. The network node 130 may receive a request from the source UE 101 to identify the target UE 102. The network node 130 may identify one or more targets and may select, or let the source UE 101 select, the target UE 102. The target UE 102 may be selected based on one or more parameters such as location, energy level, transmission power, capability and/or similar.

Action 903. The network node 130 performs the handover of the sensing context data of the sensing object 150 from the source UE 101 to the target UE 102. The network node 130 may handover the sensing context data of the sensing object from the source UE 101 to the target UE 102

If the handover of the sensing context data fails between source UE 101 and target UE 102, the source UE 101 may trigger a Uu connection towards the network node 130 such as the serving radio network node 12 or towards the SeMF 15, which network node may then identify suitable other UE to take over the detection/tracking of the passive object. In such case, a Network based (radio base station, Transmission Reception Point (TRP), base station) sensing is enabled. The network based sensing may be based upon llu (downlink/Uplink) resources.

Action 904. The network node 130 may forward the sensing context data to the target UE 102, directly from the source UE 101 or via a second radio network node 13, wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object.

Action 905. The network node 130 may receive the report from the source UE 101 , indicating handover information, and/or failure to handover and/or discovery of a target UE 102.

The signalling flow for the case of Xn sensing context transfer is depicted in signalling flow Fig. 10.

The sensing UEs in the sensing area, such as the source UE 101 and the target UE 102, may exchange their configurations such as control information and/or sensing capabilities over PC5, and with the network. The sensing capabilities may include one or more of: a list of supported measurements, a maximum sensing range, an Angle of arrival, an Angle of departure, a velocity, a round trip time (RTT), a Doppler frequency, a shape, a number and type of sensing objects that may be detected, a probability of LoS or NLoS information, and a battery lifespan for tracking, see action 1. The source UE 101 may perform sensing measurements and may collect/generate sensing measurement reports, action 2.

Once the source UE 101 detects that the tracked sensing object 150 is moving to a vicinity of other sensing UEs in the same area, or considers another sensing UE as a best candidate for tracking e.g., due to higher battery lifespan, action 3, the source UE 101, considered as source sensing UE, sends a request message over PC5 interface to the target UE 102 to request keep track of the sensing object 150, see action 4. a. The network node 130 may provide, upon request from the target UE 102, see actions 5 and 6, configurations to the target UE 102 for making decisions, based on some parameters and thresholds, such as reference signal received power (RSRP), signal to noise ratio (SNR) etc: i. The decision about handover, i.e. , transfer of sensing context data from one UE to another, may be based on geographical changes of the target (its position) ii. The handover decision may be based on one or more parameters of the moving target sensing object 150, such as speed, direction, and/or number of detected hazards; iii. The handover decision may be based on one or more sensing UE capabilities (required to appropriately sense a target given its characteristics), such as maximum sensing distance; iv. The handover decision may be based on UE energy levels or consumption for energy saving purposes. b. The sensing object 150 may have a UE passive context such as a passive ID associated to it. i. The passive ID may be defined based on a geographical area or its other physical characteristics (e.g. velocity, priority, etc)

Once the target UE 102 is configured by the network node 130 and accepts the PC5 handover sensing request, by sending an acknowledge message over PC5 interface, see action 7, the source UE 101 may signal the sensing context data of the sensing object 150 such as sensing information to the target UE 102, which then will become a new source UE, action 8, sending a HO completion to the source UE 101. The network is also updated with the target UE 102 that will report the sensing results, see action 9. The target UE 102 may then perform sensing measurements and may collect/generate sensing measurement reports, action 10.

It should be noted that the sensing context data may comprise the sensing measurements and the list of monostatic UE IDs that have been sensing/tracking this sensing object 150.

It should further be noted that the network node 130 may make a handover decision instead of the source UE 101 , for example, when the sensing object 150 has a UE passive context (meaning that it has a passive ID within the cell and the handover may be triggered as soon as the passive UE gets to a cell-edge). In this case the network node 130 may control the sidelink resource allocation for sensing between sensing UEs.

In some embodiment, as depicted in Fig. 11 , the handover is done between two sensing UEs served by a same network node (gNB) 12’. Fig. 11 shows an example of a scenario with monostatic UE sensing handover over PC5 in the case of the sensing object 150 moves from sensing area of source UE 101 (UE1) to sensing area of target UE 102 (UE2). The source and the target UEs are served by the same gNB.

Alternatively, or additionally, the source UE 101 may signal a grouped handover message to a list of target sensing UEs that will keep track of the moving sensing object and obtain its sensing context data in a designed area. The group sensing UEs, may, e.g., be configured by the network node 130 via broadcast information in the sensing area.

Fig. 12 shows when a handover is done between two sensing UEs served by different network nodes (gNBs). Fig. 12 shows an example of a scenario with monostatic UE sensing handover over PC5 in the case of the sensing object 150 moves from sensing area of the UE1 , located in celH, to sensing area of the UE2, located in cell2. The source and the target UEs are served by different gNBs Fig. 13 shows a Signalling flow for Xn based transfer of sensing information between monostatic UEs.

The network node 130 such as an ISAC server or SeMF may know in advance its deployed sensing UEs sensing capabilities, see actions 1 and 2. The network node 130 may advertise (transmit) information about its sensing capability to one or more UEs via system information broadcast, and may signal such support indication to other nodes via Xn. The source UE 101 may perform sensing measurements and may collect/generate sensing measurement reports, action 3.

The source UE 101 may send a request to its serving sensing capable gNB to enquire other nodes over Xn, whether there is another sensing UE that may receive the sensing context data transfer, see actions 4 and 5. In one embodiment, the source gNB sends a Xn request to a sensing supporting network node.

Upon receiving a Xn request, a target gNB 13’ that may select, see action 6, and configure a new UE, such as the target UE 102, as potential new serving sensing UE for the sensing context data transfer, see action 7. The target gNB 13’ replies over Xn to source gNB 12’ that the sensing context data of the sensing object may be transferred to a new UE, see action 8.

The source UE 101 may, upon receiving the acknowledgment message from source gNB, see action 9, begin the transfer of the sensing context data, see action 10. Alternatively, the source gNB 12’ may transfer the sensing context data directly to the new target gNB 13’, to new sensing UE, see action 11. In this scenario, the source gNB may have stored sensing context data in action 5.

Once the sensing context data is transferred to the new target UE 102, see action 12, the network node 130 may be updated of the target UE 102, see action 13. The target UE 102 may perform sensing measurements and may collect/generate sensing measurement reports, action 14.

As a solution for out-of-coverage, the sensing information and/or sensing object information may be transferred from the source UE 101 to the target UE 102 via PC5.

The radio resources used by the sensing procedure may include industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band and frequency bands by mobile networks. For the sensing resource on the frequency bands of mobile networks, the network node 130 may configure/preconfigure one or multiple sensing resource pool dedicated for one or more sensing UEs, or broadcast sensing resource pool in system information block (SIB). a. In one example, dedicated resource pool for sensing is configured. The dedicated resource pool is specified with configuration information. The dedicated resource pool may be configured on a bandwidth part (BWP) on one frequency. In another example, sidelink communication resource pool may be jointly for communication and sensing.

In another example, sidelink (SL) positioning resource pool may be jointly for positioning and sensing. b. In one example, a new SIB e.g. SIBYY contains sensing configuration.

In another example, SIB12 can be extended for joint SL communication and sensing configuration.

An ASN.1 of dedicated sensing resource pool information element (IE) may be presented as below:

- SensingResourcePool

The IE SensingResourcePool specifies the configuration information for sensing dedicated resource pool.

SensingResourcePool information element sensingRB-Number

Indicates the number of PRBs in the corresponding sensing dedicated resource pool, which consists of contiguous PRBs only. sensingStartRB

Indicates the lowest RB index of the sensing dedicated resource pool with respect to the lowest RB index of a sensing BWP. sensingTimeResource

This field indicates the bitmap of the sensing dedicated resource pool, which is defined by repeating the bitmap with a periodicity during a SFN or DFN cycle. sensingAllowedResourceSelectionConfig

Indicates allowed resource allocation method configured per resource pool.

C1 : only sensing allowed c2: only random resource selection allowed c3: sensing and random resource selection allowed sensingResourceReservePeriodList

Indicates set of possible resource reservation period in the unit of ms allowed in the resource pool. Up to TBD values can be configured per resource pool.

Fig. 14 is a block diagram depicting embodiments of the source UE 101 for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in the wireless communications network according to embodiments herein.

The source UE 101 may comprise processing circuitry 1401 , e.g., one or more processors, configured to perform the methods herein.

The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to obtain the configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering the sensing object, and/or for indicating that the sensing context data of the sensing object is to be handed over to one or more UEs. The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to select resources for sensing. The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to receive the configuration from the network node 130 or be preconfigured with the configuration.

The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to perform the sensing procedure and detect the sensing object 150. The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to transmit sensing data, such as measurements and/or sensing results, to the network node 130.

The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 is configured to obtain the indication that the sensing context data of the sensing object 150 is to be handed over to one or more UEs. The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to obtain the indication by detecting that the sensing object 150 is leaving or is possible to leave the radio coverage area of the source UE 101; and/or determining that the source UE is not able to serve the sensing procedure, e.g., due to low battery level or similar. Not to be able to serve the sensing procedure may be a UE that is no longer able to detect or track the sensing object. That the sensing object is leaving or is possible to leave an area may be determined by measuring a velocity, an angle, a direction and/or distance of an object/UE, and based on the known coverage area and/or known location. As an example, the source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to perform measurements and based on these measurements may determine that a handover of the sensing context data should be performed. Thus, the source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to obtain the indication when, e.g., one or more of the following applies:

• Determining that the sensing object 150 is in a sensing area associated with the source and the target UE, e.g., the source UE 101 and the target UE 102 are present in the sensing area,

• Determining that the source UE 101 is leaving the sensing area with the sensing object

150,

• Determining that that a first distance D1 between the source UE 101 and the sensing object 150 becomes larger than a second distance D2 between the target UE 102 and the sensing object 150,

The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 is configured to trigger the discovery procedure to select the target UE 102. The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to trigger the discovery procedure by determining (or selecting) the target UE 102, and/or by initiating the discovery procedure by transmitting a request to the network node 130. The target UE 102 may be selected based on one or more parameters such as location, energy level, transmission power, capability or similar. It should be noted that source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to transmit a discovery request signal that includes information associated with one or more criteria such as indicating one or more of the following: that the source UE is seeking for a target UE which is available in certain direction, and/or a location for the purpose of detection/tracking of sensing object with certain characteristics, such as object shape, size, and/or velocity. The source UE 101 may receive a response that the target UE 102 fulfils the one or more criteria and is capable of performing the sensing procedure.

The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 is configured initiate the handover of the sensing context data to the target UE 102. The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to initiate the handover by sending a handover request to the target UE 102 and/or a network node 130.

The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to receive a complete indication from the target UE 102.

If the handover of the sensing context data fails between the source UE 101 and the target UE 102, the source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to trigger a Uu connection towards the network node 130 such as the serving radio network node 12 or towards the SeMF which then identifies suitable other UE to take over the detection/tracking of the passive object. In such case, it is also possible that rather than using Sidelink UE based sensing, a Network based (radio base station, Transmission Reception Point (TRP), base station) sensing is enabled. Sidelink UE based sensing is based upon sensing using sidelink resources whereas network based sensing is based upon Uu (downlink/Uplink) resources.

The source UE 101 and/or the processing circuitry 1401 may be configured to forward the sensing context data to the target UE 102 directly or via the network node 130, wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object 150. Sensing context data may thus also be referred to as sensing information. The sensing information or sensing context data may comprise the sensing object’s context, e.g., one or more of: the object’s identity, object type, size or dimensions, indication of whether the object can move, its latest location information, a set of locations associated with or visited by the object, other physical characteristics of the object, sensing area ID, associated UE ID (e.g., when the sensing object can be carrying a UE), time stamp of the context information, etc. The sensing information may further comprise one or more sensing configuration parameters for performing sensing towards the sensing object 150.

The source UE 101 may comprise a memory 1405. The memory 1405 comprises one or more units to be used to store data on, such as data packets, configuration, sensing information, sensing context data, UE information, measurements, events and applications to perform the methods disclosed herein when being executed, and similar. Furthermore, the source UE 101 may comprise a communication interface 1406 comprising such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver and/or one or more antennas.

The methods according to the embodiments described herein for the source UE 101 are respectively implemented by means of e.g., a computer program product 1407 or a computer program, comprising instructions, i.e. , software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the source UE 101. The computer program product 1407 may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium 1408, e g., a disc, a universal serial bus (USB) stick or similar. The computer-readable storage medium 1408, having stored thereon the computer program product, may comprise the instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the source UE 101. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be a transitory or a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Thus, embodiments herein may disclose a source UE 101 for handling testing in a wireless communications network, wherein the source UE 101 comprises processing circuitry and a memory, said memory comprising instructions executable by said processing circuitry whereby said source UE 101 is operative to perform any of the methods herein.

Fig. 15 is a block diagram depicting embodiments of the target UE 102 for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in the wireless communications network according to embodiments herein.

The target UE 102 may comprise processing circuitry 1501 , e.g., one or more processors, configured to perform the methods herein.

The target UE 102 and/or the processing circuitry 1501 is configured to obtain the configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering a sensing object and/or for performing a sensing procedure.

The target UE 102 and/or the processing circuitry 1501 may be configured to receive from the source UE 101 the discovery request signal that includes information associated with one or more criteria such as indicating one or more of the following: that the source UE is seeking for a target UE which is available in certain direction, a location for the purpose of detection/tracking of passive object with certain characteristics, such as object shape, size, and/or velocity.

The target UE 102 and/or the processing circuitry 1501 may be configured to transmit the response that the target UE 102 fulfils the one or more criteria and/or is capable of performing the sensing procedure. The target UE 102 and/or the processing circuitry 1501 may be configured to inform the network node 130 and/or the source UE 101 of one or more parameters such as location, energy level, transmission power, capability and/or similar. The target UE 102 and/or the processing circuitry 1501 may be configured to perform the handover of the sensing context data with the source UE 101 and/or the network node 130.

The target UE 102 and/or the processing circuitry 1501 is configured to receive the sensing context data from the source UE 101 directly or via the network node, wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object.

The target UE 102 and/or the processing circuitry 1501 is configured to perform the sensing procedure of the sensing object 150.

The target UE 102 may comprise a memory 1505. The memory 1505 comprises one or more units to be used to store data on, such as data packets, configuration, sensing information, sensing context data, UE information, measurements, events and applications to perform the methods disclosed herein when being executed, and similar. Furthermore, the target UE 102 may comprise a communication interface 1506 comprising such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver and/or one or more antennas.

The methods according to the embodiments described herein for the target UE 102 are respectively implemented by means of e.g., a computer program product 1507 or a computer program, comprising instructions, i.e. , software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the target UE 102. The computer program product 1507 may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium 1508, e g., a disc, a universal serial bus (USB) stick or similar. The computer-readable storage medium 1508, having stored thereon the computer program product, may comprise the instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the target UE 102. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be a transitory or a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Thus, embodiments herein may disclose a target UE 102 for handling testing in a wireless communications network, wherein the target UE 102 comprises processing circuitry and a memory, said memory comprising instructions executable by said processing circuitry whereby said target UE 102 is operative to perform any of the methods herein.

Fig. 16 is a block diagram depicting embodiments of the network node 130 for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in the wireless communications network according to embodiments herein. The network node may be a radio network node or a core network node.

The network node 130 may comprise processing circuitry 1601, e.g., one or more processors, configured to perform the methods herein.

The network node 130 and/or the processing circuitry 1601 is configured to provide to the source UE 101 and/or the target UE 102, the configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering a sensing object and/or for performing a sensing procedure.

The network node 130 and/or the processing circuitry 1601 may be configured to identify the target UE 102. The network node 130 and/or the processing circuitry 1601 may be configured to receive a request from the source UE 101 to identify the target UE 102. The network node 130 and/or the processing circuitry 1601 may be configured to identify one or more targets and may select, or let the source UE 101 select, the target UE. The target UE 102 may be selected based on one or more parameters such as location, energy level, transmission power, capability or similar.

The network node 130 and/or the processing circuitry 1601 is configured to perform the handover of the sensing context data of the sensing object 150 from the source UE 101 to the target UE 102.

If the handover of sensing context data fails between source and target UE, the source UE 101 may trigger a Uu connection towards the network node 130 such as the serving radio network node 12 or towards the SeMF which network node may then identify suitable other UE to take over the detection/tracking of the passive object. In such case, a Network based (radio base station, Transmission Reception Point (TRP), base station) sensing is enabled. The network based sensing is based upon Uu (downlink/Uplink) resources.

The network node 130 and/or the processing circuitry 1601 may be configured to forward the sensing context data to the target UE 102, directly from the source UE 101 or via a second radio network node 13, wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object.

The network node 130 and/or the processing circuitry 1601 may be configured to receive the report from the source UE 101 , indicating handover information, and/or failure to handover and/or discovery of a target UE.

The network node 130 may comprise a memory 1605. The memory 1605 comprises one or more units to be used to store data on, such as data packets, configuration, sensing information, sensing context data, UE information, measurements, events and applications to perform the methods disclosed herein when being executed, and similar. Furthermore, the network node 130 may comprise a communication interface 1606 comprising such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver and/or one or more antennas.

The methods according to the embodiments described herein for the network node 130 are respectively implemented by means of e.g., a computer program product 1607 or a computer program, comprising instructions, i.e. , software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the network node 130. The computer program product 1607 may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium 1608, e g., a disc, a universal serial bus (USB) stick or similar. The computer-readable storage medium 1608, having stored thereon the computer program product, may comprise the instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the network node 130. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be a transitory or a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Thus, embodiments herein may disclose a network node 130 for handling testing in a wireless communications network, wherein the network node 130 comprises processing circuitry and a memory, said memory comprising instructions executable by said processing circuitry whereby said network node 130 is operative to perform any of the methods herein.

In some embodiments a more general term “network node” or “radio network node” is used and it can correspond to any type of radio-network node or any network node, which communicates with a UE and/or with another network node.

In some embodiments the non-limiting term wireless device or user equipment (UE) is used and it refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and/or with another wireless device in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device to device (D2D) UE, proximity capable UE (aka ProSe UE), loT capable device, machine type UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles etc.

Embodiments are applicable to any RAT or multi-RAT systems, where the wireless device receives and/or transmit signals (e.g. data) e.g. NR, Wi-Fi, LTE, LTE-Advanced, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Global System for Mobile communications/enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution (GSM/EDGE), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), just to mention a few possible implementations.

As will be readily understood by those familiar with communications design, that functions means or circuits may be implemented using digital logic and/or one or more microcontrollers, microprocessors, or other digital hardware. In some embodiments, several or all of the various functions may be implemented together, such as in a single application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or in two or more separate devices with appropriate hardware and/or software interfaces between them. Several of the functions may be implemented on a processor shared with other functional components of a wireless device or network node, for example.

Alternatively, several of the functional elements of the processing means discussed may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware, while others are provided with hardware for executing software, in association with the appropriate software or firmware. Thus, the term “processor” or “controller” as used herein does not exclusively refer to hardware capable of executing software and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware and/or program or application data. Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included. Designers of communications devices will appreciate the cost, performance, and maintenance trade-offs inherent in these design choices.

Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 17 shows an example of a communication system QQ100 in accordance with some embodiments.

In the example, the communication system QQ100 includes a telecommunication network QQ102 that includes an access network QQ104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network QQ106, which includes one or more core network nodes QQ108. The access network QQ104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes QQ110a and QQ110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes QQ110), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network QQ102 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network QQ102 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network QQ102, including one or more network nodes QQ110 and/or core network nodes QQ108.

Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (0-Rll), an open distributed unit (0-Dll), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an A1 , F1 , W1, E1 , E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes QQ110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs QQ112a, QQ112b, QQ112c, and QQ112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs QQ112) to the core network QQ106 over one or more wireless connections.

Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system QQ100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system QQ100 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

The UEs QQ112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes QQ110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes QQ110 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs QQ112 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network QQ102 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network QQ102.

In the depicted example, the core network QQ106 connects the network nodes QQ110 to one or more host computing systems, such as host QQ116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network QQ106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node QQ108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node QQ108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (ALISF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).

The host QQ116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network QQ104 and/or the telecommunication network QQ102. The host QQ116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

As a whole, the communication system QQ100 of Figure 17 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

In some examples, the telecommunication network QQ102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network QQ102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network QQ102. For example, the telecommunications network QQ102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)/Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

In some examples, the UEs QQ112 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network QQ104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network QQ104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

In the example, the hub QQ114 communicates with the access network QQ104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and/or QQ112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node QQ110b). In some examples, the hub QQ114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub QQ114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network QQ106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes QQ110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub QQ114. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub QQ114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub QQ114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub QQ114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

The hub QQ114 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node QQ110b. The hub QQ114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub QQ114 and UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and/or QQ112d), and between the hub QQ114 and the core network QQ106. In other examples, the hub QQ114 is connected to the core network QQ106 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub QQ114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network QQ104 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes QQ110 while still connected via the hub QQ114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub QQ114 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node QQ110b. In other embodiments, the hub QQ114 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node QQ110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.

Fig. 18 shows a UE QQ200 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE QQ200 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE QQ112 of Figure 17. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage/playback device, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), an Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-loT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

The UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ202 that is operatively coupled via a bus QQ204 to an input/output interface QQ206, a power source QQ208, a memory QQ210, a communication interface QQ212, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Fig. 18. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

The processing circuitry QQ202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory QQ210. The processing circuitry QQ202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry QQ202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs). In the example, the input/output interface QQ206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE QQ200. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

In some embodiments, the power source QQ208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source QQ208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source QQ208 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE QQ200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source QQ208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source QQ208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE QQ200 to which power is supplied.

The memory QQ210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory QQ210 includes one or more application programs QQ214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data QQ216. The memory QQ210 may store, for use by the UE QQ200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

The memory QQ210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a IISIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The IIICC may for example be an embedded IIICC (elllCC), integrated IIICC (illlCC) or a removable IIICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory QQ210 may allow the UE QQ200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non- transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory QQ210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

The processing circuitry QQ202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface QQ212. The communication interface QQ212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna QQ222. The communication interface QQ212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter QQ218 and/or a receiver QQ220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter QQ218 and receiver QQ220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna QQ222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface QQ212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11 , Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface QQ212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient). As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE QQ200 shown in Fig. 18.

As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-loT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators. Fig. 19 shows a network node QQ300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, SelfOrganizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

The network node QQ300 includes a processing circuitry QQ302, a memory QQ304, a communication interface QQ306, and a power source QQ308. The network node QQ300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node QQ300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node QQ300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory QQ304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna QQ310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node QQ300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node QQ300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node QQ300.

The processing circuitry QQ302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node QQ300 components, such as the memory QQ304, to provide network node QQ300 functionality.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ312 and baseband processing circuitry QQ314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ312 and the baseband processing circuitry QQ314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 and baseband processing circuitry QQ314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

The memory QQ304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or nonvolatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry QQ302. The memory QQ304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry QQ302 and utilized by the network node QQ300. The memory QQ304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry QQ302 and/or any data received via the communication interface QQ306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 and memory QQ304 is integrated.

The communication interface QQ306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signalling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface QQ306 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) QQ316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface QQ306 also includes radio front-end circuitry QQ318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna QQ310. Radio front-end circuitry QQ318 comprises filters QQ320 and amplifiers QQ322. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may be connected to an antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ320 and/or amplifiers QQ322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna QQ310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna QQ310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry QQ318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry QQ302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, the network node QQ300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry QQ318, instead, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna QQ310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 is part of the communication interface QQ306. In still other embodiments, the communication interface QQ306 includes one or more ports or terminals QQ316, the radio front-end circuitry QQ318, and the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface QQ306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry QQ314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

The antenna QQ310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna QQ310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry QQ318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna QQ310 is separate from the network node QQ300 and connectable to the network node QQ300 through an interface or port.

The antenna QQ310, communication interface QQ306, and/or the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna QQ310, the communication interface QQ306, and/or the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

The power source QQ308 provides power to the various components of network node QQ300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source QQ308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node QQ300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source QQ308. As a further example, the power source QQ308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

Embodiments of the network node QQ300 may include additional components beyond those shown in Fig. 19 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node QQ300 and to allow output of information from the network node QQ300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node QQ300. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node of Fig. 17, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry QQ318 and the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 may be omitted.

Fig. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment QQ500 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments QQ500 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment QQ500 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, UE, core network node, or host.

Applications QQ502 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q500 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

Hardware QQ504 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers QQ506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs QQ508a and QQ508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs QQ508), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer QQ506 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs QQ508.

The VMs QQ508 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer QQ506. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance QQ502 may be implemented on one or more of VMs QQ508, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, a VM QQ508 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs QQ508, and that part of hardware QQ504 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs QQ508 on top of the hardware QQ504 and corresponds to the application QQ502.

Hardware QQ504 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware QQ504 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware QQ504 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration QQ510, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications QQ502. In some embodiments, hardware QQ504 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signalling can be provided with the use of a control system QQ512 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and/or by end users and a wireless network generally.

In some embodiments a more general term “network node” is used and it can correspond to any type of radio network node or any network node, which communicates with a wireless device and/or with another network node. Examples of network nodes are NodeB, Master eNB, Secondary eNB, a network node belonging to Master cell group (MCG) or Secondary Cell Group (SCG), base station (BS), multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Remote Radio Head (RRH), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), core network node e.g. Mobility Switching Centre (MSC), Mobile Management Entity (MME) etc., Operation and Maintenance (O&M), Operation Support System (OSS), Self-Organizing Network (SON), positioning node e.g. Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centre (E-SMLC), Minimizing Drive Test (MDT), etc.

In some embodiments, the non-limiting term wireless device or user equipment (UE) is used and it refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and/or with another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device-to-device (D2D) UE, proximity capable UE (aka ProSe UE), machine type UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, PDA, PAD, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles etc.

The embodiments are described for 5G. However the embodiments are applicable to any RAT or multi-RAT systems, where the UE receives and/or transmit signals (e.g. data) e.g. LTE, LTE FDD/TDD, WCDMA/HSPA, GSM/GERAN, Wi Fi, WLAN, CDMA2000 etc.

As will be readily understood by those familiar with communications design, functions means or modules may be implemented using digital logic and/or one or more microcontrollers, microprocessors, or other digital hardware. In some embodiments, several or all of the various functions may be implemented together, such as in a single application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or in two or more separate devices with appropriate hardware and/or software interfaces between them. Several of the functions may be implemented on a processor shared with other functional components of a wireless device or network node, for example.

Alternatively, several of the functional elements of the processing means discussed may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware, while others are provided with hardware for executing software, in association with the appropriate software or firmware. Thus, the term “processor” or “controller” as used herein does not exclusively refer to hardware capable of executing software and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) for storing software, random-access memory for storing software and/or program or application data, and non-volatile memory. Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included. Designers of communications devices will appreciate the cost, performance, and maintenance trade-offs inherent in these design choices.

It will be appreciated that the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings represent non-limiting examples of the methods and apparatus taught herein. As such, the apparatus and techniques taught herein are not limited by the foregoing description and accompanying drawings. Instead, the embodiments herein are limited only by the following claims and their legal equivalents.

Claims

1. A method performed by a source user equipment, UE, (101) for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: obtaining (703) an indication that sensing context data of a sensing object is to be handed over to one or more UEs; triggering (704) a discovery procedure to select a target UE (102); and initiating (705) a handover of the sensing context data to the target UE (102).

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining (701) a configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering the sensing object and/or for indicating that the sensing context data of the sensing object is to be handed over to one or more UEs.

3. The method according to any of the claims 1-2, wherein obtaining (703) the indication comprises detecting that the sensing object is leaving or is possible to leave the radio coverage area of the source UE (101); and/or determining that the source UE (101) is not able to serve a sensing procedure.

4. The method according to any of the claims 1-3, wherein triggering (704) the discovery procedure comprises determining the target UE (102), and/or initiating the discovery procedure by transmitting a request to a network node (130).

5. The method according to any of the claims 1-4, wherein initiating (705) the handover comprises sending a handover request to the target UE (102) and/or a network node (130).

6. The method according to any of the claims 1-5, further comprising: forwarding (707) the sensing context data to the target UE (102) directly or via a network node (130), wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object.

7. The method according to any of the claims 1-6, further comprising: reporting (708) to a network node (130) a report indicating handover information, and/or failure to handover and/or discovery of a target UE (102).

8. A method performed by a target user equipment, UE, (102) for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: obtaining (801) a configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering a sensing object and/or for performing a sensing procedure; receiving (805) sensing context data from a source UE (101) directly or via a network node (130,12,13), wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object; and performing (806) the sensing procedure of the sensing object.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising performing (804) a handover of the sensing context data with the source UE (101) and/or the network node (130).

10. A method performed by a network node (130) for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: providing (901) to a source user equipment, UE, (101) and/or a target UE (102), a configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering a sensing object and/or for performing a sensing procedure; performing (903) a handover of a sensing context data of the sensing object from the source UE (101) to the target UE (102).

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising identifying (902) the target UE (102).

12. The method according to any of the claims 10-11, further comprising forwarding (904) the sensing context data to the target UE (102), directly from the source UE (101) or via a second radio network node (13), wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object.

13. The method according to any of the claims 10-12, further comprising: receiving (905) a report from the source UE (101), indicating handover information, and/or failure to handover and/or discovery of a target UE (102).

14. The method according to any of the claims 10-13, wherein the network node is a radio network node (12,13) or a core network node (15).

15. A computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of the claims 1-14, as performed by the network node, and the UEs, respectively.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to the any of the claims 1-14, as performed by the network node, and the UEs, respectively.

17. A source user equipment, UE, (101) for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network, wherein the source UE (101) is configured to: obtain an indication that sensing context data of a sensing object is to be handed over to one or more UEs; trigger a discovery procedure to select a target UE (102); and initiate a handover of the sensing context data to the target UE (102).

18. The source UE (101) according to claim 17, wherein the source UE (101) is configured to: obtain a configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering the sensing object and/or for indicating that the sensing context data of the sensing object is to be handed over to one or more UEs.

19. The source UE (101) according to any of the claims 17-18, wherein the source UE (101) is configured to obtain the indication by detecting that the sensing object is leaving or is possible to leave the radio coverage area of the source UE (101); and/or determining that the source UE (101) is not able to serve a sensing procedure.

20. The source UE (101) according to any of the claims 17-19, wherein the source UE

(101) is configured to trigger the discovery procedure by determining the target UE

(102), and/or initiating the discovery procedure by transmitting a request to a network node (130).

21. The source UE (101) according to any of the claims 17-20, wherein the source UE (101) is configured to initiate the handover by sending a handover request to the target UE (102) and/or a network node (130).

22. The source UE (101) according to any of the claims 17-21 , wherein the source UE (101) is configured to: forward the sensing context data to the target UE (102) directly or via a network node (130), wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object.

23. The source UE (101) according to any of the claims 17-22, wherein the source UE (101) is configured to: report to a network node (130) a report indicating handover information, and/or failure to handover and/or discover a target UE (102).

24. A target user equipment, UE, (102) for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network, wherein the target UE (102) is configured to: obtain a configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering a sensing object and/or for performing a sensing procedure; receive sensing context data from a source UE (101) directly or via a network node (130,12,13), wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object; and perform the sensing procedure of the sensing object.

25. The target UE (102) according to claim 24, wherein the target UE (102) is configured to: perform a handover of the sensing context data with the source UE (101) and/or the network node (130).

26. A network node (130) for handling sensing of one or more sensing objects in a wireless communication network, wherein the network node (130) is configured to: provide to a source user equipment, UE, (101) and/or a target UE (102), a configuration comprising one or more resources and/or characteristics for discovering a sensing object and/or for performing a sensing procedure; perform a handover of a sensing context data of the sensing object from the source UE (101) to the target UE (102).

27. The network node (130) according to claim 26, wherein the network node (130) is configured to: identify the target UE (102).

28. The network node (130) according to any of the claims 26-27, wherein the network node (130) is configured to: forward the sensing context data to the target UE (102), directly from the source UE (101) or via a second radio network node (13), wherein the sensing context data comprises sensing data indicating sensing results and/or the sensing object.

29. The network node (130) according to any of the claims 26-28, wherein the network node (130) is configured to: receive a report from the source UE (101), indicating handover information, and/or failure to handover and/or discover a target UE (102).

30. The network node (130) according to any of the claims 26-29, wherein the network node is a radio network node (12,13) or a core network node (15).