Method and user equipment for autonomously selecting resources

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and user equipment for autonomously selecting resources. The method comprises: obtaining a sidelink resource set, the current number of user equipments participating in sidelink transmission in a current service cell, and a first user identifier allocated by the network to the user equipment from a network; dividing resources in the sidelink resource set into multiple resource units according to a minimum resource allocation granularity, and allocating sequence numbers to the multiple resource units; selecting a resource unit with a predetermined sequence number from the sidelink resource set as a sidelink resource of the user terminal based on the current number of user terminals and the first user identifier; and sending data of the user terminal using the sidelink resource of the user terminal.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Some example embodiments relate to a method for autonomous resource selection by a user equipment (UE), a user equipment and a non-transitory computer-readable medium, and more specifically, to a method for a user equipment to autonomously select side transmission resources in NR (New Radio) V2X (vehicle to everything) mode 2, a user equipment and / or a non-transitory computer-readable medium. Background Art

[0002] Sidelink communication is a communication mode whereby user equipment (UE) or user terminals can communicate with each other directly through the PC5 interface. According to the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) protocol, there are two modes for resource selection of NR V2X sidelink data transmission: Mode 1 is that the network allocates sidelink transmission resources, and Mode 2 is that the user equipment autonomously selects sidelink transmission resources based on network configuration or pre-configured information.

[0003] In mode 2, the user equipment autonomously selects the sidelink transmission resource, which is an unplanned behavior (e.g., unplanned access to the sidelink transmission resource). As the number of user equipment in a cell increases, the probability of resource collision also increases. In addition, the user equipment needs to continuously perform resource listening, RSRP (Reference Signal Receiving Power) measurement and other processes, resulting in high power consumption and excessive occupation of processing resources.

[0004] Therefore, an improved technology for user equipment to autonomously select resources is being sought. Summary of the invention

[0005] This Summary is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features and / or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0006] According to some example embodiments, a method for a user equipment (UE) to autonomously select resources may include: obtaining a sidelink resource set, a current number of user equipments and a first user identifier (ID) from a network, wherein the current number of user equipments corresponds to a plurality of user equipments currently participating in sidelink transmission in a serving cell; assigning a plurality of sequence numbers to a plurality of resource units in the sidelink resource set; selecting a subset of the plurality of resource units as sidelink resources of the user equipment based on the current number of user equipments and the first user identifier, the subset of the plurality of resource units having a specific sequence number among the plurality of sequence numbers; and sending a communication signal using the sidelink resources of the user equipment.

[0007] The method may include: dividing the sidelink resource set according to both the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain to obtain the multiple resource units, wherein the step of allocating the multiple sequence numbers includes: allocating the multiple sequence numbers to the multiple resource units in ascending order in the time domain before the frequency domain.

[0008] The minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain may include a time slot or an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol, and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain may include one of a subchannel, a resource block, a physical resource block, and a resource block group.

[0009] The side link resources of the user equipment may include an initial transmission resource unit and a retransmission resource unit, the retransmission resource unit including a first retransmission resource unit to an Nth retransmission resource unit, N being a positive integer; the step of selecting a subset of the multiple resource units may include: determining a specific sequence number among the multiple sequence numbers, the specific sequence number including a first sequence number and multiple second sequence numbers, the first sequence number being determined by performing a modulo operation based on a first user identifier and the number of the multiple resource units, and a specific second sequence number among the multiple second sequence numbers being determined by adding the product of the current number of user equipment and N to the first sequence number; selecting the initial transmission resource unit based on the first sequence number and selecting the retransmission resource unit based on the multiple second sequence numbers, the specific second sequence number corresponding to the Nth retransmission resource unit.

[0010] The method may include repeating the step of obtaining a sidelink resource set from a network based on a time period or a change in the number of current user equipments.

[0011] The period may be 32 time slots.

[0012] The first user identifier may be assigned to the user equipment by the network, the first user identifier may be an integer between 0 and 255, and the first user identifier is unique within the serving cell. The method may include: when the user equipment exits the serving cell, the user equipment releases the first user identifier, and the network reallocates the first user identifier to another user equipment newly joining the serving cell based on the first user identifier with the lowest value among the available user identifiers.

[0013] All user equipments in the serving cell may perform the allocation step at the same time and according to the same minimum resource allocation granularity, so that the plurality of sequence numbers allocated to the plurality of resource units are the same for all user equipments.

[0014] According to some example embodiments, a user equipment (UE) may include: a processing circuit configured to: obtain a sidelink resource set, a current number of user devices, and a first user identifier from a network, the current number of user devices corresponding to a plurality of user devices currently participating in sidelink transmission in a serving cell; assign multiple sequence numbers to a plurality of resource units in the sidelink resource set; based on the current number of user devices and the first user identifier, select a subset of the plurality of resource units as sidelink resources of the user equipment, the subset of the plurality of resource units having a specific sequence number among the plurality of sequence numbers; and send a communication signal using the sidelink resources of the user equipment.

[0015] The processing circuit can be configured to: divide the sidelink resource set according to both the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain to obtain the multiple resource units, and allocate the multiple serial number allocations to the multiple resource units in ascending order in the time domain before the frequency domain.

[0016] The minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain may include a time slot or an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol, and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain may include one of a subchannel, a resource block, a physical resource block, and a resource block group.

[0017] The sidelink resources of the user equipment may include an initial transmission resource unit and a retransmission resource unit, the retransmission resource unit including a first retransmission resource unit to an Nth retransmission resource unit, N being a positive integer; and the processing circuit may be configured to select a subset of the multiple resource units through the following steps: determining a specific sequence number among the multiple sequence numbers, the specific sequence number including a first sequence number and multiple second sequence numbers, the first sequence number being determined by performing a modulo operation based on a first user identifier and the number of the multiple resource units, and a specific second sequence number among the multiple second sequence numbers being determined by adding the product of the current number of user equipment and N to the first sequence number; and selecting an initial transmission resource unit based on the first sequence number and selecting a retransmission resource unit based on the multiple second sequence numbers, the specific second sequence number corresponding to the Nth retransmission resource unit.

[0018] The processing circuit may be configured to re-acquire the sidelink resource set from the network based on a time period or a change in the number of current user equipments.

[0019] The period may be 32 time slots.

[0020] The first user identifier may be assigned to the user equipment by the network, the first user identifier may be an integer between 0 and 255, and the first user identifier is unique within the serving cell. The method may include: when the user equipment exits the serving cell, the user equipment releases the first user identifier, and the network reallocates the first user identifier to another user equipment newly joining the serving cell based on the first user identifier with the lowest value among the available user identifiers.

[0021] All user equipments in the serving cell may perform the allocation step at the same time and according to the same minimum resource allocation granularity, so that the plurality of sequence numbers allocated to the plurality of resource units are the same for all user equipments.

[0022] According to some example embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the following operations: obtain a sidelink resource set, a current number of user devices, and a first user identifier from a network, wherein the current number of user devices corresponds to a plurality of user devices currently participating in sidelink transmission in a service cell; assign multiple sequence numbers to a plurality of resource units in the sidelink resource set; based on the current number of user devices and the first user identifier, select a subset of the plurality of resource units as sidelink resources for the user equipment, the subset of the plurality of resource units having a specific sequence number among the plurality of sequence numbers; and send a communication signal using the sidelink resources of the user equipment.

[0023] The instruction may cause the at least one processor to perform the following operations: divide the sidelink resource set according to both the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain to obtain the multiple resource units, and allocate the multiple serial number allocations to the multiple resource units in ascending order in the time domain before the frequency domain.

[0024] The minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain may include a time slot or an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbol, and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain may include one of a subchannel, a resource block, a physical resource block, and a resource block group.

[0025] The sidelink resources of the user equipment may include an initial transmission resource unit and a retransmission resource unit, and the retransmission resource unit may include a first retransmission resource unit to an Nth retransmission resource unit, where N is a positive integer; and the instruction may enable the at least one processor to perform the following operations: determine a specific sequence number among the multiple sequence numbers, the specific sequence number including a first sequence number and multiple second sequence numbers, the first sequence number being determined by performing a modulo operation based on a first user identifier and the number of the multiple resource units, and a specific second sequence number among the multiple second sequence numbers being determined by adding the product of the current number of user equipment and N to the first sequence number; and select an initial transmission resource unit based on the first sequence number and select a retransmission resource unit based on the multiple second sequence numbers, the specific second sequence number corresponding to the Nth retransmission resource unit.

[0026] The instructions may cause the at least one processor to reacquire a sidelink resource set from a network based on a time period or a change in the current number of user equipments.

[0027] The period may be 32 time slots.

[0028] According to some example embodiments of the present invention, the method for user equipment to autonomously select resources and the communication device can reasonably plan (or schedule) sidelink resources based on the user identifier and the number of user equipment currently participating in sidelink transmission in the current service cell, thereby reducing the probability of resource collision, reducing the time (or amount of time) used to determine candidate resources, reducing the probability of re-evaluation process and preemption process, and reducing the power consumption of the user equipment.

[0029] Additional aspects and / or advantages of the present inventive concepts will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, and / or may be learned by practice of certain example embodiments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent through the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0031] Figure 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method for a user device to autonomously select resources according to some example embodiments;

[0032] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of partitioning of resource units according to some example embodiments;

[0033] Figure 3 and Figure 4 shows simulation results according to the traditional resource selection method;

[0034] Figure 5 shows simulation results of a method for a user equipment to autonomously select resources according to some example embodiments;

[0035] Figure 6 A block diagram illustrating a communication device according to some example embodiments;

[0036] Figure 7 Show Figure 6 A system in which the communication equipment operates. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] The following detailed description is provided to help the reader obtain a comprehensive understanding of the method, device and / or system described herein. However, after understanding the disclosure of the present application, various changes, modifications and equivalents of the method, device and / or system described herein will be clear. For example, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the order of operations described herein is only an example and is not limited to those orders set forth herein, but can be changed as will be clear after understanding the disclosure of the present application. In addition, for greater clarity and simplicity, the description of features known in the art may be omitted.

[0038] The features described herein may be implemented in different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the examples described herein. Rather, the examples described herein have been provided to illustrate only some of the many possible ways to implement the methods, devices, and / or systems described herein that will be clear after understanding the disclosure of the present application.

[0039] The structural or functional description of the examples disclosed herein below is intended only for the purpose of describing the examples, and the examples may be implemented in various forms. The examples are not intended to be limiting, but various modifications, equivalents, and substitutes are also intended to be included within the scope of the claims.

[0040] Although the terms "first" or "second" may be used to explain various components, the components are not limited to the terms. These terms are used to distinguish one component from another component. For example, a "first" component may be referred to as a "second" component, or similarly, a "second" component may be referred to as a "first" component.

[0041] It will be understood that when a component is referred to as being “connected to” another component, the component may be directly connected or coupled to the other component or intervening components may be present.

[0042] As used herein, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the singular form is also intended to include the plural form. It should also be understood that when the terms "include" and / or "comprising" are used in this specification, it indicates the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components or combinations thereof, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and / or groups thereof.

[0043] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical or scientific terms) used herein have the same or similar meanings as those commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the examples belong. It will also be understood that, unless expressly defined as such herein, terms (such as those defined in general dictionaries) should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art, and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense.

[0044] Hereinafter, examples will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Regarding reference numerals assigned to elements in the drawings, it should be noted that the same elements (or similar elements) will be denoted by the same reference numerals (or similar reference numerals) and redundant descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0045] Hereinafter, "network" may refer to a base station that communicates with a user terminal or user equipment (UE), and may be referred to as other terms, such as base station (BS), access point (AP), B node, etc. Each network may provide communication coverage for a specific geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" may refer to the coverage area of ​​a network.

[0046] There may be multiple UEs in a cell, and each UE may be fixed or mobile. UE may also be referred to as an access terminal, a terminal, a user terminal, a communication device, etc. In this document, "user equipment" and "terminal" may be used interchangeably.

[0047] According to 3GPP protocol 38214-g40, the resource selection and transmission process under NR V2X sidelink mode 2 includes: (1) determining candidate resource set A; (2) evaluating resource set A to determine the final resource set B; (3) continuously performing re-evaluation and pre-emption; (4) using resources selected from resource set B to send service data.

[0048] The terminal may obtain a candidate resource set A (e.g., an indication of time domain resources / frequency domain resources that can be used for sidelink communication) through network configuration or pre-configuration, and / or may determine the candidate resource set A through autonomous listening. When determining the candidate resource set A through autonomous listening, since the terminal may not be able to predict when the service data packet arrives, resource listening will continue, which will increase the power consumption of the terminal. In addition, since the candidate resource set determined by each terminal through autonomous listening may be different, and the resources selected by autonomous listening are likely to be dynamically scheduled (e.g., selected) and used by other terminals at a future moment, the resources selected for transmission and retransmission of the next 32 time slots according to autonomous listening are likely to be occupied by other terminals, that is, resource collision may occur, resulting in failure of resource selection and / or communication (or reduced efficiency).

[0049] Then, the terminal performs RSRP measurement on all resources in resource set A, and determines the final resource set B according to the side link (SL)-RSRP configured by the network and the final resource proportion X% configured by the terminal. The RSRP measurement process has many iterations and occupies too many processing resources, resulting in high power consumption.

[0050] Finally, after the terminal completes resource selection, the resources that have been selected but not yet used may still be selected by other terminals or dynamically scheduled by other terminal networks, resulting in resource collision. Therefore, the terminal continues to re-evaluate and preempt.

[0051] The present disclosure provides an optimized or improved resource selection algorithm in sidelink mode 2. By rationally planning the sidelink resources based on the user identifier (ID, represented by source ID in SCI 2-A) and the current number of user devices, the probability of resource collision can be reduced, the candidate resource determination time can be reduced, the probability of re-evaluation process and preemption process can be reduced, and the power consumption of the terminal can also be reduced.

[0052] Figure 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method for a user device to autonomously select resources according to some example embodiments.

[0053] Reference Figure 1 In operation S110, the user equipment may obtain from the network a sidelink resource set (e.g., an indication of time domain resources / frequency domain resources that can be used for sidelink communication), the number of user equipment currently participating in sidelink transmission in the current serving cell (e.g., an indication of the number), and / or a first user ID assigned by the network to the user equipment. Hereinafter, the "number of user equipment currently participating in sidelink transmission in the current serving cell" may be referred to as the "current number of user equipment".

[0054] In NR V2X mode 2, the parameters for sidelink resource transmission may include: sl-NumSubchannel, sl-SubchannelSize, startSLsymbols, lengthSLsymbols, which are obtained from the RRCReconfiguration->SL-ConfigDedicatedNR->SL-FreqConfig->SL-BWP-Config IE configuration sent from the base station to the user equipment in 3GPP protocol 38331-g31. In order to simplify the implementation of the user equipment and maintain consistency with the 3GPP protocol, in an example embodiment according to the present disclosure, the network may also use the above parameters to configure a sidelink resource set for the user equipment. In order to reduce the message interaction between the network and the user equipment, these parameters may be sent in the system information broadcast. At the same time, the current number of user equipment may also be sent together from the system information broadcast. The allocation of user IDs may be consistent with the current 3GPP protocol provisions, that is, it may be obtained from RRCReconfiguration. However, the above parameters are only examples, and the parameters and / or data structures used by the network to send information for autonomous resource selection are not limited thereto.

[0055] The user equipment may obtain a configured or preconfigured sidelink resource set (or resource pool) from the network, and the resource set configured or preconfigured by the network for each user in the cell may be the same or similar. In other words, when configuring or preconfiguring the sidelink resource set, the network may avoid (or try to avoid) selecting resources from the dynamic scheduling resource pool configured or preconfigured for the terminal.

[0056] The network may assign a user ID to all user equipments in the current serving cell. In some example embodiments, the user ID may be an integer between 0 and 255 and may be represented by 8 bits. The user ID may be represented by a source ID in SCI 2-A. However, some example embodiments are not limited thereto, and the user ID may be a value within another range.

[0057] The network may, for example, allocate a user ID with an initial value (e.g., 0) of the ID range, and allocate subsequent user IDs in ascending order by increasing the value of the previously allocated user ID, to allocate the user ID to the user equipment participating in the sideline transmission in the current serving cell. In a cell, the user IDs may be different from each other (e.g., unique within the cell). In some example embodiments, when a user equipment exits a cell, its user ID may be released and re-enters the user ID allocation resource pool. That is, the network may reallocate the released user ID to a new user equipment that has just entered the cell (e.g., the user ID may be used continuously). In some example embodiments, the network may allocate the currently idle minimum user ID (e.g., the lowest value) to the user equipment that has just joined the cell.

[0058] In addition, the network can broadcast the number of user equipments participating in the sidelink mode 2 resource allocation in the current serving cell to all user equipments. Whenever the number of user equipments is updated (for example, a user equipment exits the network or a new user equipment joins the network), the network can immediately (or quickly) broadcast the new number of user equipments to all user equipments in the current cell, and all user equipments can immediately (or quickly) reallocate the sidelink connection resources.

[0059] In addition, when the sidelink resource pool changes, the network may also immediately (or quickly) broadcast the corresponding indication to all user equipments in the current serving cell, and all user equipments may immediately (or quickly) reallocate the sidelink resources.

[0060] In operation S120, the user equipment divides the resources in the sidelink resource set into multiple resource units according to the minimum resource allocation granularity, and assigns sequence numbers to the multiple resource units. In this article, "resource unit" can be a basic unit of time-frequency resources divided according to the minimum resource allocation granularity.

[0061] In some example embodiments, the terminal may divide the time-frequency resources in the sidelink resource set according to both the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain. The minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain may include a time slot or an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol; the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain may include one of a subchannel, a resource block (RB), a physical resource block (PRB), and / or a resource block group (RBG).

[0062] In some example embodiments, the divided multiple resource units may be assigned serial numbers in order according to the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain (in ascending order), wherein for resource units with the same minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain, serial numbers may be assigned in ascending order of the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain. In other words, serial numbers may be assigned first in ascending order in the frequency domain, and then in ascending order in the time domain.

[0063] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of partitioning of resource units according to some example embodiments. Figure 2 In the example, it is assumed that the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain is a time slot and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain is a PRB.

[0064] like Figure 2 As shown in , the time-frequency resources of the sidelink resource set can be divided into multiple resource units according to both the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain. Then, the multiple resource units can be assigned serial numbers in ascending order of the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain. Specifically, the serial numbers can be assigned in ascending order based on the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain with a higher priority, and the serial numbers can be assigned in ascending order based on the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain with a lower priority. For example, the 9 resource units in time slot i (corresponding to PRB j to PRB j+8, respectively) can first be sorted in ascending order according to the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain (e.g., PRB), and assigned serial numbers 1 to 9. Then, the 9 resource units in time slot i+1 can be sorted in ascending order according to the PRB, and assigned serial numbers 10 to 18.

[0065] It should be understood that Figure 2 Only one example of dividing the time-frequency resources is shown, and the inventive concept is not limited thereto. In some example embodiments, the time domain resources and frequency domain resources in the sidelink resource set obtained by the user equipment from the network may be discontinuous. For example, the network may allocate PRB 0 to PRB 20 in time slot 1 and PRB 5 to PRB 15 in time slot 3 to the user equipment. In this case, when the above-mentioned sidelink resource set allocated by the network is divided according to time slots and PRBs, there may be 21 resource units in time slot 1 and 11 resource units in time slot 3.

[0066] In some example embodiments, in order to ensure that the sequence numbers of resource units in the sidelink resource set are the same for all user devices, all user devices in the network can divide the resources in the sidelink resource set within the same period and assign sequence numbers at the same time point (or simultaneously) according to the same minimum resource allocation granularity.

[0067] Return to reference Figure 1In operation S130, the user equipment may select a resource unit with a predetermined (or optionally, a given) sequence number from a sidelink resource set as a sidelink resource of the user equipment based on the current number of user equipments and the first user ID.

[0068] Each user equipment in the cell may select its own sidelink resource based on the current number of user equipments and their own user IDs through operation S130.

[0069] The sidelink resources of the user equipment may include an initial transmission resource unit and a retransmission resource unit, and the retransmission resource unit may include a first retransmission resource unit to an Nth retransmission resource unit, where N is a positive integer.

[0070] In some example embodiments, the step of selecting a resource unit with a predetermined (or optionally, a given) sequence number from a sidelink resource set includes: determining the sequence number of the initial transmission resource unit and the sequence number of the retransmission resource unit based on the current number of user devices and the user ID (e.g., the first user ID) of the user device; and selecting the initial transmission resource unit and the retransmission resource unit with the determined sequence number from the sidelink resource set.

[0071] In some example embodiments, the sequence number of the initial transmission resource unit is a value obtained by performing a modulo operation on the first user ID and the number of the plurality of resource units (eg, the first user ID mod the number of the plurality of resource units).

[0072] In some example embodiments, the sequence number of the Nth retransmission resource unit is the value obtained by adding the product of the current number of user equipment and N to the sequence number of the initial transmission resource unit (eg, (current number of user equipment × N) + sequence number of the initial transmission resource unit).

[0073] For example, assuming that the number of user devices in the current cell is 4, whose IDs are 0 to 3, and the time-frequency resources in the network are divided into 32 resource units, whose serial numbers are 0 to 31, then for the first user device (ID=0), the serial number of the initial transmission resource unit is 0 (=0mod(32)), and the serial numbers of the first and Nth retransmission resource units are 4 (=0+4) and 4N (=0+4×N), respectively; for the second user device (ID=1), the serial number of the initial transmission resource unit is 1, and the serial numbers of the first and Nth retransmission resource units are 5 and (1+4×N), respectively.

[0074] The user equipment can flexibly select the above sidelink resources according to parameters such as the current transmission situation, the amount of data to be sent, the service priority of the data packet, the maximum (or highest) delay budget of the data packet, etc. In some example embodiments, some resources may not be selected. For example, in the above example, the sequence number of the resource unit allocated to the first user equipment (ID=0) can be (0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28). The resource unit with a smaller sequence number indicates that it is closer to the front in the time domain, and vice versa. The resource unit with a larger sequence number indicates that it is closer to the back in the time domain. When the user equipment allocates sidelink resources to the data to be sent, the data with a small delay budget and a high priority is preferentially allocated to the sidelink resources with a smaller sequence number, and the allocation of sidelink resources is allocated in ascending order of resource units until all sidelink resources are allocated. If the user equipment has not sent all the data to be sent at this time, the user equipment needs to wait until the next cycle to select and allocate resource units for sending; if the user equipment has sent all the data to be sent and there is no subsequent data to be sent, the user can report to the base station that there is no sidelink resource allocation demand. The base station evaluates the current sidelink resource pool and the current number of user equipment to determine whether to reclaim the user ID. For example, when the current sidelink resource pool is small (e.g., less than a predetermined threshold), or the number of user equipment currently participating in sidelink resource transmission is large (e.g., greater than a predetermined threshold), the base station can promptly reclaim the ID of the user equipment that has no sidelink transmission requirements.

[0075] In operation S140, the user equipment may use its sidelink resources to send traffic data of the user equipment. According to some example embodiments, operation S140 may include sending, by the user equipment, a communication signal to another device (e.g., a network, another user equipment, etc.) using the sidelink resources of the user equipment. According to some example embodiments, the communication signal may be a sidelink communication signal.

[0076] In some example embodiments, all terminals may repeat the processing of operations S110 to S140 every predetermined period (or given period). For example, time slot 0 of SFN0 (system frame number 0) may be used as a base point, and multiple user devices may obtain a sidelink resource set, the current number of user devices, and respective user IDs assigned by the network from the network every 32 time slots, and then divide the time-frequency resources in the resource set according to the same minimum resource allocation granularity, assign serial numbers to the divided multiple resource units according to the same ascending sorting rule, and then select respective resources based on respective user IDs and the current number of users.

[0077] In some example embodiments, every time the number of user equipments in a cell changes, all user equipments in the cell may re-perform the process of operations S110 to S140 .

[0078] In some example embodiments, every time a sidelink resource pool in a cell changes, all user equipments in the cell may re-perform the process of operations S110 to S140.

[0079] According to the above resource allocation principle, the resources of multiple user equipments in a cell will not overlap (or the occurrence and / or degree of overlap will be reduced). Therefore, each user equipment can only use its own resources, and cannot use the resources of other user equipments to send service data. Therefore, the probability of resource conflicts can be reduced, and the power consumption of user equipment can be reduced.

[0080] Figure 3 and Figure 4 The simulation result of the user equipment autonomously selecting resources according to the comparative example is shown.

[0081] exist Figure 3 and Figure 4 In the simulation, the following conditions are assumed: the sidelink resource set is divided into 1024 resource units according to the principle that the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain is the time slot and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain is the subchannel, that is, there are 32 time slots in the time domain and each time slot has 32 subchannels; there are 250 user devices participating in the sidelink transmission resource selection in the current cell, and their user IDs are successively increasing integers between 0 and 249; each user device selects 4 resource units as its sidelink resources.

[0082] Because the 250 user devices are completely random in the time domain and the frequency domain when performing resource selection, and each user device performs resource selection independently, the resource selection effect in this case can be considered to be equal to 1000 random resource selections in the time domain and the frequency domain.

[0083] Figure 3 FIG. 4 shows a distribution diagram of resource units selected by user equipment in a simulation. Figure 3 In the middle, the black solid dot (in Figure 3 In the example, the resource unit selected by the user equipment is indicated by "x". Since the resource set is not planned, each user equipment selects resources independently, resulting in more resource collisions and resource waste (for example, Figure 3 According to the simulation results, Figure 3 In the case of random time-frequency resource selection, the probability of resource collision is 37.80%.

[0084] In order to obtain more accurate simulation results with statistical significance, the above simulation process was repeated 100 times. Figure 4 A graph showing the probability of a resource collision occurring during 100 simulations, wherein the average value of the probability of a resource collision occurring is 36.06%.

[0085] Figure 5 Simulation results of a method in which a user equipment autonomously selects resources according to some example embodiments are shown.

[0086] In addition to the user equipment selecting the sidelink resource based on the user ID and the current number of user equipments, Figure 5 The simulation conditions and Figure 3 and Figure 4 The same (or similar) parts will not be described again here.

[0087] Figure 5 The distribution diagram of resource units selected by user equipment in a simulation is shown in FIG. Figure 5 In the case where the user equipment according to some example embodiments autonomously selects resources, resource utilization is improved, resource waste is reduced, and the probability of resource collision is 0 (or approximately 0).

[0088] Through the above simulation results, the optimized (or improved) resource selection algorithm according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure can reasonably plan (or schedule) the side link resources based on the user ID and the current number of user devices, thereby greatly reducing the probability of resource collisions, reducing the time for determining candidate resources, reducing the probability of re-evaluation and preemption processes, and reducing the power consumption of the terminal.

[0089] Figure 6 A block diagram illustrating a communication device according to some example embodiments, Figure 7 Show Figure 6 A system in which the communication equipment operates.

[0090] like Figure 6 As shown in , a user equipment (eg, communication device) 600 according to some example embodiments includes a processor 610 and a memory 620 .

[0091] The processor 610 may control the overall operation of the communication device and may control some or all of the internal elements of the communication device. The processor 610 may be implemented as a wireless communication baseband processor, a communication processor CP (Communication Processor), a general processor, an application processor (AP), a dedicated integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, etc., but some example embodiments are not limited thereto. The processor 610 may be configured to implement the method for autonomously selecting resources for a user device disclosed herein.

[0092] The memory 620 may include a volatile memory and / or a non-volatile memory. The memory 620 may store various data generated and used by the communication device. For example, the memory 620 may store an operating system and / or an application program (e.g., an application program associated with the method of the inventive concept) for controlling the operation of the communication device.

[0093] Figure 7 Three user equipments 600 (eg, UE1, UE 2, and UE 3) located within the coverage of a base station (ie, within a serving cell) are shown, but this is only an example, and the number of user equipments located in a serving cell is not limited thereto.

[0094] Reference Figure 7 , UE 1 and UE 2 participate in the sidelink transmission, while UE 3 does not participate in the sidelink transmission. The base station first broadcasts the sidelink resource set and the current number of user equipment (e.g., 2). Then, each user equipment participating in the sidelink transmission in the serving cell (e.g., UE 1 and UE 2) selects its own sidelink resource according to the method for autonomous resource selection disclosed in the present invention, and uses its own sidelink resource to send service data.

[0095] Conventional devices for autonomous resource selection select resources for communication in a non-scheduled manner. For example, conventional devices perform resource sensing to determine a set of resources for communication (e.g., sidelink communication). However, other conventional devices in a cell with conventional devices dynamically select resources from the set of resources determined by the conventional devices. Therefore, as the number of conventional devices in a cell increases, the probability of resource conflicts increases. In order to limit the probability of resource conflicts, conventional devices continuously perform resource sensing, resulting in excessive resource consumption (e.g., processor, power, memory, storage, delay, etc.).

[0096] However, according to some example embodiments, an improved device (e.g., user equipment) is provided for autonomous resource selection. For example, each corresponding improved device can select (e.g., schedule) a set of resources for communication (e.g., sidelink communication) based on a corresponding user ID and the number of devices in the cell and / or according to a selection procedure used by all devices in the cell. Therefore, the improved device prevents or reduces resource conflicts between devices in the cell without the need to continuously perform resource listening. Therefore, the improved device overcomes the shortcomings of traditional devices and at least reduces resource consumption (e.g., processor, power, memory, bandwidth, delay, etc.).

[0097] According to some example embodiments, the operations described herein as being performed by the user device 600, the processor 610, and / or the network may be performed by a processing circuit. The term "processing circuit" used in the present disclosure may refer to, for example, hardware including a logic circuit, a hardware / software combination (such as a processor that executes software), or a combination thereof. For example, the processing circuit may more specifically include, but is not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU), an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a system on a chip (SoC), a programmable logic unit, a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.

[0098] The devices, units, modules and other components described herein are implemented by hardware components. Examples of hardware components that can be used to perform the operations described in this application include, where appropriate, controllers, sensors, generators, drivers, memories, comparators, arithmetic logic units, adders, subtractors, multipliers, dividers, integrators and / or any other electronic components configured to perform the operations described in this application. In other examples, one or more hardware components in the hardware components that perform the operations described in this application are implemented by computing hardware (e.g., by one or more processors or computers). A processor or computer may be implemented by one or more processing elements (such as logic gate arrays, controllers, arithmetic logic units, digital signal processors, microcomputers, programmable logic controllers, field programmable gate arrays, programmable logic arrays, microprocessors and / or any other device or combination of devices configured to respond and execute instructions in a limited manner to achieve the desired result). In one example, a processor or computer includes or is connected to one or more memories storing instructions or software executed by a processor or computer. The hardware components implemented by a processor or a computer can execute instructions or software (such as an operating system (OS) and one or more software applications running on the OS) for performing the operations described in this application. The hardware components can also access, manipulate, process, create and store data in response to the execution of instructions or software. For simplicity, the singular term "processor" or "computer" can be used in the description of the examples described in this application, but in other examples, multiple processors or computers can be used, or the processor or computer can include multiple processing elements, or multiple types of processing elements, or both. For example, a single hardware component, or two or more hardware components can be implemented by a single processor, or two or more processors, or a processor and a controller. One or more hardware components can be implemented by one or more processors, or a processor and a controller, and one or more other hardware components can be implemented by one or more other processors, or another processor and another controller. One or more processors, or a processor and a controller can implement a single hardware component, or two or more hardware components. The hardware components may have any one or more of different processing configurations, examples of which include: a single processor, independent processors, parallel processors, single instruction single data (SISD) multiprocessing, single instruction multiple data (SIMD) multiprocessing, multiple instruction single data (MISD) multiprocessing, and / or multiple instruction multiple data (MIMD) multiprocessing.

[0099] The method for performing the operations described in this application is performed by computing hardware (e.g., by one or more processors or computers), which is implemented as executing instructions or software as described above to perform the operations performed by the method described in this application. For example, a single operation, or two or more operations may be performed by a single processor, or two or more processors, or a processor and a controller. One or more operations may be performed by one or more processors, or a processor and a controller, and one or more other operations may be performed by one or more other processors, or another processor and another controller. One or more processors, or a processor and a controller may perform a single operation, or two or more operations.

[0100] Instructions or software for controlling a processor or computer to implement hardware components and perform methods as described above may be written as computer programs, code segments, instructions, or any combination thereof to individually or collectively instruct or configure a processor or computer to operate as a machine or special-purpose computer to perform operations performed by hardware components and methods as described above. In one example, instructions and / or software include machine code (such as machine code generated by a compiler) directly executed by a processor or computer. In another example, instructions or software include high-level code executed by a processor or computer using an interpreter. A person of ordinary skill in the art or a programmer may easily write instructions and / or software based on the block diagrams and flow charts shown in the accompanying drawings and the corresponding descriptions in the specification, and the block diagrams and flow charts shown in the accompanying drawings and the corresponding descriptions in the specification disclose algorithms for performing operations performed by hardware components and methods as described above.

[0101] Instructions or software for controlling a processor or computer to implement hardware components and perform the methods described above, as well as any associated data, data files, and data structures, may be recorded, stored, or fixed in or on one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable storage media include: read-only memory (ROM), random access programmable read-only memory (PROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), flash memory, non-volatile memory, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD+R, CD-RW, CD+RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RLTH, BD-RE, At least one of a Blu-ray or optical disk storage device, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid-state drive (SSD), a flash memory, a card memory (such as a multimedia card or a micro card (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) or Extreme Digital (XD))), a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, a magneto-optical data storage device, an optical data storage device, a hard disk, a solid-state disk, and / or any other device, any other device configured to store instructions or software and any associated data, data files and / or data structures in a non-transitory manner and provide the instructions or software and any associated data, data files and / or data structures to a processor or computer so that the processor or computer can execute the instructions.

[0102] Although some example embodiments have been described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A method for a user device to autonomously select resources, the method comprising: Obtaining a sidelink resource set, a current number of user equipments and a first user identifier from a network, wherein the current number of user equipments corresponds to a plurality of user equipments currently participating in sidelink transmission in a serving cell; assigning a plurality of sequence numbers to a plurality of resource units in a sidelink resource set; Based on the current number of user equipments and the first user identifier, select a subset of the plurality of resource units as a sidelink resource for the user equipment, the subset of the plurality of resource units having a specific sequence number among the plurality of sequence numbers; Using the sidelink resource of the user equipment to send a communication signal, The sidelink resources of the user equipment include an initial transmission resource unit and a retransmission resource unit, and the retransmission resource unit includes a first retransmission resource unit to an Nth retransmission resource unit, where N is a positive integer; The step of selecting a subset of the plurality of resource units comprises: determining a sequence number of an initial transmission resource unit and a sequence number of a retransmission resource unit based on the current number of user equipments and the first user identifier, and selecting the initial transmission resource unit and the retransmission resource unit having the determined sequence number from the sidelink resource set, Among them, the sequence number of the initial transmission resource unit is a value obtained by performing a modulo operation on the first user identifier and the number of the multiple resource units, and the sequence number of the Nth retransmission resource unit is a value obtained by adding the product of the current number of user devices and N to the sequence number of the initial transmission resource unit.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Dividing the sidelink resource set according to both the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain to obtain the plurality of resource units, The step of allocating the multiple sequence numbers includes: allocating the multiple sequence numbers to the multiple resource units in ascending order in the time domain before the frequency domain.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain includes time slots or OFDM symbols, and The minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain includes one of a subchannel, a resource block, a physical resource block, and a resource block group.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Based on a time period or a change in the number of current user equipments, the step of obtaining a sidelink resource set from the network is repeated.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein: The period is 32 time slots.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: A first user identifier is assigned to the user equipment by a network, wherein the first user identifier is an integer between 0 and 255, and the first user identifier is unique within the serving cell, The method further includes: when the user equipment exits the serving cell, the user equipment releases the first user identifier, and the network reallocates the first user identifier to another user equipment newly joining the serving cell based on the first user identifier having the lowest value among available user identifiers.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: All user equipments in the serving cell perform the allocation step at the same time and according to the same minimum resource allocation granularity, so that the plurality of sequence numbers allocated to the plurality of resource units are the same for all user equipments.

8. A user equipment, comprising: The processing circuit is configured to: Obtaining a sidelink resource set, a current number of user equipments and a first user identifier from a network, wherein the current number of user equipments corresponds to a plurality of user equipments currently participating in sidelink transmission in a serving cell; assigning a plurality of sequence numbers to a plurality of resource units in a sidelink resource set; Based on the current number of user equipments and the first user identifier, select a subset of the plurality of resource units as a sidelink resource for the user equipment, the subset of the plurality of resource units having a specific sequence number among the plurality of sequence numbers; Using the sidelink resource of the user equipment to send a communication signal, The sidelink resources of the user equipment include an initial transmission resource unit and a retransmission resource unit, and the retransmission resource unit includes a first retransmission resource unit to an Nth retransmission resource unit, where N is a positive integer; The processing circuit is configured to select a subset of the plurality of resource units by: determining a sequence number of an initial transmission resource unit and a sequence number of a retransmission resource unit based on the current number of user equipments and the first user identifier, and selecting the initial transmission resource unit and the retransmission resource unit having the determined sequence number from the sidelink resource set, Among them, the sequence number of the initial transmission resource unit is a value obtained by performing a modulo operation on the first user identifier and the number of the multiple resource units, and the sequence number of the Nth retransmission resource unit is a value obtained by adding the product of the current number of user devices and N to the sequence number of the initial transmission resource unit.

9. The user equipment according to claim 8, wherein: The processing circuit is configured to: Dividing the sidelink resource set according to both the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain to obtain the plurality of resource units, The plurality of sequence numbers are sequentially allocated to the plurality of resource units in ascending order for the time domain prior to the frequency domain.

10. The user equipment according to claim 9, wherein: The minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain includes time slots or OFDM symbols, and The minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain includes one of a subchannel, a resource block, a physical resource block, and a resource block group.

11. The user equipment according to claim 8, wherein: The processing circuit is configured to re-acquire a sidelink resource set from the network based on a time period or a change in the number of current user equipments.

12. The user equipment according to claim 11, wherein: The period is 32 time slots.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the following operations: Obtaining a sidelink resource set, a current number of user equipments and a first user identifier from a network, wherein the current number of user equipments corresponds to a plurality of user equipments currently participating in sidelink transmission in a serving cell; assigning a plurality of sequence numbers to a plurality of resource units in a sidelink resource set; Based on the current number of user equipments and the first user identifier, select a subset of the plurality of resource units as a sidelink resource for the user equipment, the subset of the plurality of resource units having a specific sequence number among the plurality of sequence numbers; Using the sidelink resource of the user equipment to send a communication signal, The sidelink resources of the user equipment include an initial transmission resource unit and a retransmission resource unit, and the retransmission resource unit includes a first retransmission resource unit to an Nth retransmission resource unit, where N is a positive integer; The instruction causes the at least one processor to perform the following operations: determine a sequence number of an initial transmission resource unit and a sequence number of a retransmission resource unit based on the current number of user equipments and the first user identifier, and select the initial transmission resource unit and the retransmission resource unit having the determined sequence number from the sidelink resource set, Among them, the sequence number of the initial transmission resource unit is a value obtained by performing a modulo operation on the first user identifier and the number of the multiple resource units, and the sequence number of the Nth retransmission resource unit is a value obtained by adding the product of the current number of user devices and N to the sequence number of the initial transmission resource unit.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein: The instructions cause the at least one processor to: Dividing the sidelink resource set according to both the minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain and the minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain to obtain the plurality of resource units, The plurality of sequence numbers are sequentially allocated to the plurality of resource units in ascending order for the time domain prior to the frequency domain.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein: The minimum resource allocation granularity in the time domain includes time slots or OFDM symbols, and The minimum resource allocation granularity in the frequency domain includes one of a subchannel, a resource block, a physical resource block, and a resource block group.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein: The instructions cause the at least one processor to reacquire a sidelink resource set from a network based on a time period or a change in the number of current user equipments.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein: The period is 32 time slots.

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