Effective signaling of non-preferred transmission resources

Abstract

Various example embodiments relate to signaling non-preferred transmission resources. An apparatus may determine a set of non-preferred transmission resources for a second apparatus. The apparatus may also determine a set of unsuitable transmission resources for the second apparatus. The apparatus may determine a reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources based on excluding at least one unsuitable transmission resource from the set of unsuitable transmission resources. The apparatus may send an indication of the reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources to the second apparatus. Apparatus, methods, and computer programs are disclosed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various exemplary embodiments generally relate to the field of data communications. In particular, some exemplary embodiments relate to signaling of non-preferred transmission resources. Background Art

[0002] In various wireless communication systems, such as 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR), a device (such as, for example, a user equipment (UE)) can communicate not only with a base station, but also directly with (multiple) other devices via a sidelink connection (SL). Sidelink connections can be used, for example, for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) applications, where time-critical information can be exchanged between vehicles. Coordination of transmission resources can be applied between devices. However, it may be desirable to avoid excessive signaling overhead. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that will be further described in the detailed description below. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. The scope of protection sought by various embodiments of the present invention is defined by the independent claims. Example embodiments and features (if any) described in this specification that do not fall within the scope of the independent claims are to be construed as examples useful for understanding the various example embodiments of the present invention.

[0004] The exemplary embodiments enable reduction of the signaling overhead associated with signaling non-preferred transmission resources. This and other advantages are achieved by the features of the independent claims. Further advantageous implementations are provided in the dependent claims, the description and the drawings.

[0005] According to a first aspect, a device may include: a component for determining a set of non-preferred transmission resources for a second device; a component for determining a set of inapplicable transmission resources for the second device; a component for determining a reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources based on excluding at least one set of inapplicable transmission resources from the set of non-preferred transmission resources; and a component for sending an indication of the reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources to the second device.

[0006] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus may further comprise means for determining a reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources based on excluding an intersection of the set of non-preferred transmission resources and the set of unsuitable transmission resources from the set of non-preferred transmission resources.

[0007] According to example embodiments of the first aspect, the set of inapplicable transmission resources may include at least one first transmission resource overlapping with at least one scheduled transmission by or to the second apparatus.

[0008] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the device may also include: a component for determining capability information of the second device; and a component for assigning at least one first transmission resource to a set of inapplicable transmission resources in response to determining that transmission by the second device on at least one first transmission resource is hindered due to at least one capability of the second device indicated in the capability information.

[0009] According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect, the capability information of the second device may be preconfigured at the device, or the device may further include: a component for receiving the capability of the second device from the second device or from a third device.

[0010] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the capability information of the second device may include at least one of the following: an indication of half-duplex capability, an indication of half-duplex capability at the side link interface, an indication of half-duplex capability at the radio access network air interface, an indication of whether the second device supports multiple simultaneous transmissions at the side link interface, or an indication of whether the second device supports multiple simultaneous transmissions at the radio access network air interface.

[0011] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus may further include: a component for receiving an indication of at least one identifier configured to be used by the second apparatus; and a component for determining at least one first transmission resource based on sidelink control information indicating a resource allocation for at least one scheduled transmission, wherein the at least one scheduled transmission is associated with the at least one identifier configured to be used by the second apparatus.

[0012] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the at least one scheduled transmission may comprise a hybrid automatic repeat request feedback transmission.

[0013] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the at least one first transmission resource may include at least one physical sidelink feedback channel resource allocated by the second apparatus for hybrid automatic repeat request feedback transmission.

[0014] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus may further include: a component for assigning resource allocation for at least one scheduled transmission to a set of inapplicable transmission resources in response to detecting a hybrid automatic repeat request feedback message at a physical sidelink feedback channel resource associated with sidelink control information indicating resource allocation for at least one scheduled transmission, wherein the at least one scheduled transmission is indicated by the sidelink control information.

[0015] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the device may also include: a component for obtaining capability information of at least one intended receiver for sidelink data transmission by the second device; and a component for assigning at least one second transmission resource to a set of inapplicable transmission resources in response to determining that reception of at least one second transmission resource by the at least one intended receiver is hindered due to at least one capability indicated in the capability information of the at least one intended receiver.

[0016] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the capability information of the at least one intended receiver may include an indication of a discontinuous reception configuration of the at least one intended receiver.

[0017] According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect, it is contemplated that a receiver may comprise the apparatus.

[0018] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the at least one second transmission resource may include at least one sidelink transmission resource allocated for sidelink communication between the device and the second device.

[0019] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the at least one intended receiver may include a plurality of broadcast or multicast receivers associated with a network-configured discontinuous reception configuration or a pre-configured discontinuous reception configuration.

[0020] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the at least one intended receiver may include a third device, and the device may further include means for receiving capability information of the intended receiver from the second device or from the third device.

[0021] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus may further include: a component for receiving a sidelink coordination request between user equipments.

[0022] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, a sidelink coordination request between user equipment may include at least one identifier configured for use by a second device, capability information of at least one intended receiver, and / or an indication of a priority of sidelink data transmission, wherein the sidelink data transmission is to be coordinated by the device.

[0023] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus may further include: a component for assigning at least one first transmission resource and / or at least one second transmission resource to a set of inapplicable transmission resources in response to determining that a priority associated with at least one first transmission resource and / or at least one second transmission resource is higher than or equal to a threshold.

[0024] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the threshold may comprise a priority threshold for the priority of the sidelink data transmission.

[0025] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus may further include a component for assigning at least one second transmission resource to a set of inapplicable transmission resources in response to determining that the priority of the sidelink transmission to at least one intended receiver at the at least one second transmission resource is lower than the priority of the sidelink transmission to the second apparatus at the at least one second transmission resource.

[0026] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus may further include: a component for assigning at least one first transmission resource and / or at least one second transmission resource to a set of inapplicable transmission resources in response to determining that at least one first transmission resource and / or at least one second transmission resource belong to a plurality of periodically allocated transmission resources.

[0027] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus may further include: a component for receiving a transmission from the second apparatus from at least one third transmission resource; and a component for assigning transmission resources associated with the at least one third transmission resource in configuration data of a resource pool from which the transmission is received to a set of inapplicable transmission resources.

[0028] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus may further comprise means for determining a transmission resource associated with the at least one third transmission resource based on at least one resource reservation period indicated in configuration data of the resource pool.

[0029] According to an example embodiment of the first aspect, the set of non-preferred transmission resources may comprise non-preferred transmission resources from the perspective of at least one intended receiver of the second apparatus.

[0030] According to a second aspect, a method may include: determining a set of non-preferred transmission resources for a second device; determining a set of inapplicable transmission resources for the second device; determining a reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources based on excluding at least one inapplicable transmission resource in the set of inapplicable transmission resources from the set of non-preferred transmission resources; and transmitting an indication of the reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources to the second device.

[0031] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the method may further include determining a reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources based on excluding an intersection of a set of non-preferred transmission resources and a set of unsuitable transmission resources from the set of non-preferred transmission resources.

[0032] According to example embodiments of the second aspect, the set of inapplicable transmission resources may include at least one first transmission resource overlapping with at least one scheduled transmission by or to the second apparatus.

[0033] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the method may further include: determining capability information of the second device; and assigning the at least one first transmission resource to a set of inapplicable transmission resources in response to determining that transmission by the second device on the at least one first transmission resource is hindered due to at least one capability of the second device indicated in the capability information.

[0034] According to an exemplary embodiment of the second aspect, the capability information of the second device may be preconfigured, or the method may further include: receiving the capability of the second device from the second device or from a third device.

[0035] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the capability information of the second device may include at least one of the following: an indication of half-duplex capability, an indication of half-duplex capability at the side link interface, an indication of half-duplex capability at the radio access network air interface, an indication of whether the second device supports multiple simultaneous transmissions at the side link interface, or an indication of whether the second device supports multiple simultaneous transmissions at the radio access network air interface.

[0036] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the method may further include: receiving an indication of at least one identifier configured for use by the second device; and determining at least one first transmission resource based on sidelink control information indicating resource allocation for at least one scheduled transmission, wherein the at least one scheduled transmission is associated with the at least one identifier configured for use by the second device.

[0037] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the at least one scheduled transmission may comprise a hybrid automatic repeat request feedback transmission.

[0038] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the at least one first transmission resource may include at least one physical sidelink feedback channel resource allocated by the second apparatus for hybrid automatic repeat request feedback transmission.

[0039] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the method may further include assigning resource allocation for at least one scheduled transmission to a set of inapplicable transmission resources in response to detecting a hybrid automatic repeat request feedback message at a physical sidelink feedback channel resource, the physical sidelink feedback channel resource being associated with sidelink control information indicating resource allocation for at least one scheduled transmission, wherein the at least one scheduled transmission is indicated by the sidelink control information.

[0040] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the method may also include: obtaining, by the second device, capability information of at least one intended receiver for sidelink data transmission; and assigning, in response to determining that reception of at least one second transmission resource by the at least one intended receiver is hindered due to at least one capability indicated in the capability information of the at least one intended receiver, at least one second transmission resource to a set of inapplicable transmission resources.

[0041] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the capability information of the at least one intended receiver may include an indication of a discontinuous reception configuration of the at least one intended receiver.

[0042] According to example embodiments of the second aspect, it is contemplated that the receiver may include an apparatus configured to perform the method of the second aspect.

[0043] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the at least one second transmission resource may include at least one sidelink transmission resource allocated for sidelink communication between the apparatus configured to perform the method according to the second aspect and the second apparatus.

[0044] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the at least one intended receiver may include a plurality of broadcast or multicast receivers associated with a network-configured discontinuous reception configuration or a pre-configured discontinuous reception configuration.

[0045] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the at least one intended receiver may include a third device, and the method may further include receiving capability information of the intended receiver from the second device or from the third device.

[0046] According to an exemplary embodiment of the second aspect, the method may further include: receiving a sidelink coordination request between user equipments.

[0047] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the sidelink coordination request between user equipments may include at least one identifier configured for use by the second device, capability information of at least one intended receiver, and / or an indication of a priority of the sidelink data transmission.

[0048] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the method may further include: assigning at least one first transmission resource and / or at least one second transmission resource to a set of inapplicable transmission resources in response to determining that a priority associated with at least one first transmission resource and / or at least one second transmission resource is higher than or equal to a threshold.

[0049] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the threshold may comprise a priority threshold for the priority of the sidelink data transmission.

[0050] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the method may further include assigning at least one second transmission resource to a set of inapplicable transmission resources in response to determining that the priority of the sidelink transmission to at least one intended receiver at the at least one second transmission resource is lower than the priority of the sidelink transmission to the second device at the at least one second transmission resource.

[0051] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the method may further include: assigning at least one first transmission resource and / or at least one second transmission resource to a set of inapplicable transmission resources in response to determining that at least one first transmission resource and / or at least one second transmission resource belong to a plurality of periodically allocated transmission resources.

[0052] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the method may further include: receiving a transmission from the second device from at least one third transmission resource; and assigning a transmission resource associated with the at least one third transmission resource in the configuration data of the resource pool from which the transmission is received to a set of inapplicable transmission resources.

[0053] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the method may further comprise determining a transmission resource associated with the at least one third transmission resource based on at least one resource reservation period indicated in configuration data of the resource pool.

[0054] According to an example embodiment of the second aspect, the set of non-preferred transmission resources may comprise non-preferred transmission resources from the perspective of at least one intended receiver of the second apparatus.

[0055] According to a third aspect, a computer program may include instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the following operations: determine a set of non-preferred transmission resources for a second apparatus; determine a set of unsuitable transmission resources for the second apparatus; determine a reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources based on excluding at least one unsuitable transmission resource in the set of unsuitable transmission resources from the set of non-preferred transmission resources; and send an indication of the reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources to the second apparatus. The computer program may also include instructions for causing the apparatus to perform any exemplary embodiment of the method of the second aspect.

[0056] According to a fourth aspect, an apparatus may include at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer code being configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: determine a set of non-preferred transmission resources for a second apparatus; determine a set of unsuitable transmission resources for the second apparatus; determine a reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources based on excluding at least one unsuitable transmission resource in the set of unsuitable transmission resources from the set of non-preferred transmission resources; and send an indication of the reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources to the second apparatus. The computer code may also be configured to cause the apparatus to perform any exemplary embodiment of the method of the second aspect.

[0057] Any exemplary embodiment may be combined with one or more other exemplary embodiments.Many of the attendant features will be more readily understood as they become better understood by reference to the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0058] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of example embodiments and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate example embodiments and together with the description assist in understanding the example embodiments. In the drawings:

[0059] Figure 1 illustrates an example of a communication network including network nodes and devices according to example embodiments;

[0060] Figure 2 illustrates an example of an apparatus configured to practice one or more example embodiments;

[0061] Figure 3 illustrates an example of inter-UE coordination of transmission resources according to an example embodiment, where the coordinating UE is also the intended receiver;

[0062] Figure 4 illustrates an example of inter-UE coordination of transmission resources according to an example embodiment, where the intended receiver is different from the coordinating UE;

[0063] Figure 5 illustrates an example of communications and operations at two UEs according to example embodiments; and

[0064] Figure 6 An example of a method for signaling non-preferred transmission resources according to an example embodiment is illustrated.

[0065] In the drawings, the same reference numerals are used to denote the same parts. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0066] Reference will now be made in detail to example embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The detailed description provided below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is intended as a description of this example and is not intended to represent the only form in which this example may be constructed or utilized. This description sets forth the functionality of the example and the sequence of steps for constructing and operating the example. However, the same or equivalent functionality and sequence may be achieved with different examples.

[0067] Devices (such as user equipment (UE)) can access services via a radio access network (RAN). In addition, devices can be enabled to communicate with each other via a sidelink connection. For example, sidelink functionality can be used to support advanced vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications and other new services. Therefore, example embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied, for example, to enable advanced V2X services, as well as to support other use cases, such as in public safety, entertainment, and other commercial applications. For such use cases, power saving, enhanced reliability, and / or reduced latency can be considered possible advantages. For example, enhanced reliability and reduced latency can enable the system to support ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) type sidelink use cases in various operating scenarios. The system-level reliability and latency performance of the sidelink may be affected by, for example, communication conditions, such as the state of the wireless radio channel and / or the load provided. Under at least certain conditions, such as when the channel is busy, some methods for implementing sidelink communication may not provide sufficiently high reliability and sufficiently low latency. Therefore, example embodiments of the present disclosure can achieve enhanced reliability and reduced latency, for example, to better serve use cases that require low latency and high reliability under such communication conditions.

[0068] In order to improve the reliability of the sidelink transmission, an acknowledgment scheme (such as a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) scheme) can be applied. This enables the sidelink transmitter UE to know the reception status of (multiple) sidelink receiver UEs. After the sidelink transmitter UE sends data on the transmission channel, for example on the physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) and / or the physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), the sidelink receiver UE can indicate its reception status via a feedback channel (for example, a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) associated with (multiple) transmission channel resources). Data communication between UEs can be based on a protocol stack comprising multiple interconnected protocol layers, where different layers can provide different functions. The HARQ function can be implemented, for example, on the media access control (MAC) layer. As disclosed herein, the characteristics of the HARQ process can be utilized to optimize the inter-UE coordination of sidelink transmission resources.

[0069] To achieve enhanced reliability and lower latency, inter-UE coordination can be applied in sidelink resource allocation. For example, a set of transmission resources can be determined at a first UE. An indication of the determined set of transmission resources can be sent to a second UE, which can take into account the received resource selection for its own transmission. This approach can be applied to in-coverage, partial coverage, or out-of-coverage situations. Transmission resources may include radio channel resources. Transmission resources may be used or allocated for data transmission. Transmission resources may include any suitable (multiple) time domain resources, such as time slots, transmission time intervals (TTIs), or time domain symbols. Alternatively, transmission resources may include frequency domain resources, such as, for example, subchannels, subcarriers, etc. Transmission resources may also include time-frequency domain transmission resources, such as, for example, subchannel blocks or other frequency domain resources during a specific time domain resource. For example, in the time domain only case, if a sidelink time slot is allocated for specific data, all subchannels in the sidelink time slot may be allocated to the data. The indicated set of transmission resources may include, for example, continuous frequency domain resources, non-continuous frequency domain resources, continuous time domain resources, or non-continuous time domain resources.

[0070] In an inter-UE coordination scenario, a first UE may determine preferred sidelink transmission resources for a second UE and recommend these transmission resources to the second UE. The second UE may select its sidelink transmission resources based on the transmission resources recommended by the first UE. This scheme may be enhanced to indicate non-preferred transmission resources instead of, or in addition to, preferred transmission resources. Example embodiments of the present disclosure enable signaling of non-preferred transmission resources to the second UE with low signaling overhead.

[0071] According to an example embodiment, the apparatus may determine a non-preferred transmission resource (S NPR，R ). Set S NPR，R This may include non-preferred transmission resources from the perspective of the intended receiver, which may be the device itself or a third device. The device may also determine a set of unsuitable transmission resources (S NPR，B ). Set S NPR，B This may include transmission resources that the second device will not use regardless of whether they are indicated as non-preferred transmission resources for the second device. NPR，B The device may include (a plurality of) transmission resources that are not suitable for the second device. The device may be based on selecting from a set of non-preferred transmission resources (S NPR，R ) excludes the set of inapplicable transmission resources (S NPR，B ) of at least one inapplicable transmission resource set (S NPR，B ) to determine the reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources (S NPR，OThe device may send a reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources (S NPR，O ) indication. Thus, the overhead of signaling non-preferred transmission resources can be reduced. In addition, a set (S NPR，R 、S NPR，B ) various methods.

[0072] Figure 1 An example of a communication network including network nodes and devices according to an example embodiment is illustrated. The communication network 100 may include one or more core network elements, such as, for example, an access and mobility management function (AMF) and / or a user plane function (UPF) 130, and one or more base stations 120, 122, 124. For example, the base stations may include 5G base stations (gNBs). The communication network 100 may also include one or more devices, which may be referred to as user nodes or user equipment (UEs). UEs may include, for example, vehicles, mobile phones, or any other devices that may or may not communicate with the base stations 120, 122, 124.

[0073] like Figure 1 As shown, as a non-limiting example, the communication network 100 may include a plurality of user equipments UE-A 110, UE-B 112 and / or UE-C 114. Any of the UEs 110, 112, 114 may be configured to operate as a sidelink transmitter and / or a sidelink receiver. The communication network 100 may be configured, for example, according to a fifth generation digital cellular communication network defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In one example, the communication network 100 may operate based on 3GPP 5G NR (5G New Radio). However, it should be understood that the example embodiments presented herein are not limited to this example network and may be applied to any current or future wireless or wired communication network or a combination thereof, such as other types of cellular networks, short-range wireless networks, broadcast or multicast networks, and the like.

[0074] UE 110, 112, 114 can communicate with zero or more base stations 120, 122, 124 via (multiple) radio channels, for example, via the Uu interface of the 3GPP standard. The Uu interface is provided as an example of a RAN air interface. The base stations 120, 122, 124 can communicate with one or more other base stations via a base station interface (such as, for example, the Xn interface of the 3GPP standard). In addition, UE-B 112 can communicate with UE-A 110 and / or UE C 114 via (multiple) side link interfaces or (multiple) connections, for example, via the PC5 interface of the 3GPP standard. The side link connection can be a direct radio (air interface) connection between UEs. UE-B 112 can act as a link between the base station 120 and UE-A 110 or UE-C 114.

[0075] The base stations 120, 122, 124 may be configured to communicate with core network elements via a communication interface, such as a control plane interface or a user plane interface NG-C / U, as defined by 3GPP standards. Base stations may also be referred to as radio access network (RAN) nodes, and they may be part of a radio access network between the core network and the UEs 110, 112, 114. The functionality of a base station may be distributed between a central unit (CU) (e.g., a gNB-CU) and one or more distributed units (DUs) (e.g., a gNB-DU). The network elements AMF / UPF, gNB, gNB-CU, and gNB-DU may be collectively referred to as network nodes or network devices. Although described as a single device, a network node may not be a standalone device, but rather a distributed computing system coupled to a remote radio head, for example. For example, a cloud radio access network (cRAN) may be used for separate control of radio functions to optimize performance and cost.

[0076] The sidelink interface can be designed to facilitate the UE to communicate with (multiple) other nearby UEs via sidelink communication through a direct radio connection, which can be a line-of-sight connection or a non-line-of-sight connection. Sidelink resource allocation can be performed based on different resource allocation modes. The sidelink transmitter (Tx) UE can be configured with one of the modes to perform its sidelink transmission. The sidelink resource allocation mode may include a first resource allocation mode (mode 1), such as NRSL mode 1, and a second sidelink resource allocation mode (mode 2), such as NR SL mode 2. In mode 1, (multiple) sidelink transmission resources can be assigned to the sidelink transmitter UE by the network (NW) (e.g., via a base station).

[0077] In Mode 2, the sidelink transmitter UE may autonomously select its sidelink transmission resources. For example, in an inter-UE coordination scenario, UE-A 110 may select preferred sidelink transmission resource(s), e.g., based on sensing performed by UE-A 110. UE A 110 may then recommend the selected resource(s) to UE-B 112, which may select its sidelink transmission resource(s) by considering the resource(s) indicated by UE-A 110. For example, UE-B 112 (which may operate as a sidelink transmitter) may transmit to UE-A 110 (which may operate as a sidelink receiver) using the recommended resource(s). Thus, by using the inter-UE coordination scheme, UE-A 110 may attempt to ensure that there are no packet collisions or strong interference on the selected resource(s), and thus may improve the reliability of transmissions from UE-B 112 to UE A 110. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied, for example, in response to determining that UE-A 110 is operating in Mode 2.

[0078] Figure 2 An example embodiment of an apparatus 200 is illustrated, such as UE-A 110, UE-B 112, UE-C 114, or any of base stations 120, 122, 124. Apparatus 200 may include at least one processor 202. The at least one processor 202 may include, for example, one or more of a variety of processing devices or processor circuitry, such as, for example, a coprocessor, a microprocessor, a controller, a digital signal processor (DSP), processor circuitry with or without an accompanying DSP, or various other processing devices, including integrated circuits, such as, for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a hardware accelerator, a dedicated computer chip, and the like.

[0079] The apparatus 200 may further include at least one memory 204. The at least one memory 204 may be configured to store, for example, computer program code, such as operating system software and application software. The at least one memory 204 may include one or more volatile memory devices, one or more non-volatile memory devices, and / or a combination thereof. For example, the at least one memory 204 may be implemented as a magnetic storage device (such as a hard drive, a floppy disk, a magnetic tape, etc.), an optical magnetic storage device, or a semiconductor memory (such as a mask ROM, a PROM (programmable ROM), an EPROM (erasable PROM), a flash ROM, a RAM (random access memory), etc.).

[0080] The apparatus 200 may also include a communication interface 208 configured to enable the apparatus 200 to send and / or receive information to / from other devices. In one example, the apparatus 200 may use the communication interface 208 to send or receive signaling information and data according to at least one cellular communication protocol. The communication interface may be configured to provide at least one wireless radio connection, such as, for example, a 3GPP mobile broadband connection (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G). However, the communication interface may be configured to provide one or more other types of connections, such as a wireless local area network (WLAN) connection, such as, for example, standardized by the IEEE 802.11 series or the Wi-Fi Alliance; a short-range wireless network connection, such as, for example, Bluetooth, NFC (near field communication), or an RFID connection; a wired connection, such as, for example, a local area network (LAN) connection, a universal serial bus (USB) connection, or an optical network connection; or a wired Internet connection. The communication interface 208 may include or be configured to be coupled to at least one antenna to send and / or receive radio frequency signals. One or more of the various types of connections may also be implemented as a separate communication interface, which may be coupled or configured to be coupled to one or more of the multiple antennas.

[0081] The apparatus 200 may further include a user interface 210, which may include an input device and / or an output device. The input device may take various forms, such as a keyboard, a touch screen, or one or more embedded control buttons. The output device may include, for example, a display, a speaker, a vibration motor, and the like.

[0082] When the apparatus 200 is configured to implement certain functions, some components and / or components of the apparatus 200 (such as, for example, at least one processor 202 and / or at least one memory 204) may be configured to implement the functions. In addition, when the at least one processor 202 is configured to implement certain functions, the functions may be implemented using, for example, the program code 206 included in the at least one memory 204.

[0083] The functions described herein may be performed, at least in part, by one or more computer program product components (such as software components). According to one embodiment, the apparatus includes a processor or processor circuitry (such as, for example, a microcontroller) configured by program code when executed to perform the described embodiments of the operations and functions. Alternatively or additionally, the functions described herein may be performed, at least in part, by one or more hardware logic components. For example, but not limited to, illustrative types of hardware logic components that may be used include field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application specific standard products (ASSPs), systems on chip (SOCs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), and graphics processing units (GPUs).

[0084] The apparatus 200 may include components for performing one or more example embodiments described herein. In one example, the components include at least one processor 202, at least one memory 204 including program code 206, the program code 206 being configured to cause the apparatus 200 to perform (a plurality of) example embodiments when executed by the at least one processor.

[0085] The apparatus 200 may include, for example, a computing device such as a base station, a server, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, and the like. Examples of IoT devices include, but are not limited to, consumer electronics, wearable devices, sensors, and smart appliances. In one example, the apparatus 200 may include a vehicle such as a car. Although the apparatus 200 is illustrated as a single device, it should be understood that, where applicable, the functionality of the apparatus 200 may be distributed across multiple devices, for example, to implement the example embodiments as a cloud computing service.

[0086] Figure 3An example of inter-UE coordination of transmission resources according to an example embodiment is illustrated, where the coordinating UE is also the intended receiver. Coordination information can be exchanged between UE A 110 and UE B 112 for allocating sidelink transmission resources (SL Tx) to UE B 112. In this example, the coordinating UE (UE A 110) operates as a sidelink receiver (SL Rx). The exchange of coordination information can be responsive to detection of a trigger at UE A 110 for performing inter-UE coordination for allocating sidelink transmission resources. UE-A 110 can detect the trigger, for example, by detecting a predetermined or (pre)configured trigger condition. The trigger condition can include, for example, a certain number of consecutive NACK messages associated with the currently used transmission resource(s), a delay exceeding a threshold, insufficient sensing information, or a quality of service (QoS) level of the transmission exceeding a threshold. The trigger can also include a trigger message sent by UE-B, for example, via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a MAC control element (CE), an SCI, and / or PSFCH signaling. Subsequently, data transmission from UE B 112 to UE A 110 may occur.

[0087] Figure 4 An example of inter-UE coordination of transmission resources according to an example embodiment is shown, where the intended receiver is different from the coordinating UE. Figure 3 Similar to the example of , coordination information can be exchanged between UE A 110 and UE B 112 for allocating sidelink transmission resources (SL Tx) for UE B 112. In this example, a third UE (UE C 114) operates as a sidelink receiver (SLRx). The exchange of coordination information can again be responsive to detecting a trigger at UE A 110 for performing inter-UE coordination for allocating sidelink transmission resources. Since UE-C 114 is the intended sidelink receiver, data transmission from UE B 112 to UE C 114 can then occur. In another example, both UE-A 110 and UE-C 114 can be used as sidelink receivers for data transmission from UE-B 112.

[0088] In mode 2, a sidelink transmitter UE (e.g., UE B 112) may perform a sensing process on a configured sidelink transmission resource pool (s) in order to obtain knowledge of the transmission resources (s) reserved by (s) other nearby sidelink transmitter UEs. The resource pool may include a set of transmission or reception resources assigned to sidelink operation, for example, as a subframe / time slot or (s) resource blocks / (s) subchannels. The set of transmission resources may include one or more transmission resources. Based on the knowledge obtained by sensing, the sidelink transmitter UE may select (s) transmission resources from the available sidelink resources. In order to perform sensing and obtain the necessary information for receiving SL transmission, the sidelink transmitter UE may, for example, decode the associated signaling information from the sidelink control information (SCI). An example possible information field included in such signaling information is provided below. This type of information may be included in the sidelink control information, as in the following example, or in any other appropriate signaling information. Various information fields may also be distributed between different types of signaling information.

[0089] The SCI associated with data transmission can be divided into first-stage SCI and second-stage SCI. The first SCI can also include SCI format 1-A. SCI format 1-A can be used for scheduling data on the second-stage SCI and PSSCH. SCI format 1-A, or general SCI, can include one or more of the following signaling fields:

[0090] - Priority: This field may indicate the priority of the data transmission. Priority levels may be used to implement different treatment of service data (e.g., V2X data) across different communication modes (e.g., broadcast, multicast, or unicast). If the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of all sidelink (e.g., PC5) service data cannot be met, e.g., associated with a specific PC5 reference point, then the priority level may be used to select for which sidelink service data QoS requirements are prioritized. For example, a service data packet with a priority level value of N may take precedence over a service data packet with a higher priority level value, e.g., N+1, N+2, etc., where a smaller number is used to indicate a higher priority.

[0091] - Frequency Resource Assignment: This field may indicate the frequency resources allocated for data transmission.

[0092] -Time Resource Assignment: This field may indicate the time resources allocated for data transmission.

[0093] - Resource Reservation Period: This field may indicate the period of the resource assignment(s).

[0094] -Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) Pattern: This field may indicate the pilot pattern associated with the data transmission.

[0095] -Phase 2 SCI Format. This field may indicate the format of Phase 2 SCI, such as SCI Format 2-A or SCI Format 2-B.

[0096] - Beta_offset indicator. This field may indicate the beta_offset used for the hybrid automatic repeat request process associated with the data transmission.

[0097] - Number of DMRS Ports(s): This field may indicate the number of antenna ports used for DMRS associated with data transmission.

[0098] - Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS): This field may indicate the modulation and / or forward error correction coding scheme used for data transmission.

[0099] - Additional MCS Table Indicator: This field may indicate the use of an additional MCS table for data transmission.

[0100] -Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) overhead indication

[0101] SCI format 2-A may be used for decoding of the PSSCH when the HARQ-ACK (acknowledgement) information includes ACK (acknowledgement) or NACK (negative ACK), or when there is HARQ operation when there is no feedback of HARQ-ACK information. SCI format 2-A, or general SCI or second stage SCI format, may include one or more of the following signaling fields:

[0102] -HARQ process number. This field may identify the HARQ process associated with the data transmission.

[0103] - New Data Indicator: This field may indicate whether the data transmission is a new transmission, for example, used to trigger the flushing of the HARQ buffer.

[0104] - Redundancy Version: This field may indicate the version of the redundancy information, such as the incremental redundancy used in conjunction with the HARQ process.

[0105] -Source ID: This field may identify the sidelink transmitter UE associated with the data transmission.

[0106] - Destination ID: This field may identify the sidelink receiver UE associated with the data transmission.

[0107] -HARQ Feedback Enable / Disable Indicator: This field may indicate whether HARQ feedback is enabled or disabled for data transmission.

[0108] -Cast Type Indicator: This field may indicate the type of data transmission, such as broadcast, multicast, or unicast.

[0109] -CSI Request: This field may indicate a request to provide channel state information (CSI).

[0110] SCI format 2-B may be used for decoding of the PSSCH with HARQ operation when the HARQ-ACK information includes only NACK, or when there is no feedback of HARQ-ACK information. SCI format 2-B, or general SCI or second stage SCI format, may include one or more of the following signaling fields:

[0111] -HARQ process number. This field may identify the HARQ process associated with the data transmission.

[0112] - New Data Indicator: This field may indicate whether the data transmission is a new transmission, for example, used to flush the HARQ buffer.

[0113] - Redundancy Version: This field may indicate the version of the redundancy information, such as the incremental redundancy used in conjunction with the HARQ process.

[0114] -Source ID: This field may identify the sidelink transmitter UE associated with the data transmission.

[0115] - Destination ID: This field may identify the sidelink receiver UE associated with the data transmission.

[0116] -HARQ Feedback Enable / Disable Indicator: This field may indicate whether HARQ feedback is enabled or disabled for data transmission.

[0117] -Region ID: This field may identify the region associated with the data transmission.

[0118] -Communication Range Requirement: This field may indicate the communication range required for data transmission.

[0119] Therefore, information related to the sensing purpose can be obtained based on receiving the SCI. For example, the sidelink transmitter UE can send a first-stage SCI and indicate the reserved sidelink resources to the nearby UEs, for example by using the fields resource reservation period, time resource assignment and / or frequency resource assignment. Therefore, the nearby UEs can avoid using the resources reserved by the sidelink transmitter UE that provides the SCI. The SCI can also include information for identifying the sidelink receiver UE intended to receive the data transmission (data payload). For example, the intended sidelink receiver UE can be determined based on the destination ID carried in the second-stage SCI.

[0120] As described above, in an inter-UE coordination scenario, UE-A 110 may send a set of non-preferred resources for UE-B 112's transmissions. UE-A 110 may determine the set of non-preferred resources based on, for example, its sensing results (e.g., based on received SCI) and / or expected or potential resource conflicts. Generally, non-preferred resources may include any transmission resource for which a risk of unreliable communication has been determined. For example, if the intended receiver operates in half-duplex mode, non-preferred transmission resources may include resources on which intended reception is excluded or determined to be transmitted. Non-preferred transmission resources may also include resources on which intended reception is excluded or determined to be unavailable, for example, due to a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle off period, etc. Non-preferred transmission resources may also include resources scheduled for other transmissions to the intended receiver. Such transmissions may be determined, for example, based on semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) information. Non-preferred transmission resources may also be determined based on expected interference, for example, due to transmissions by other UEs. It should also be noted that even though some example embodiments have been described with reference to a single intended receiver, similar embodiments may be applied to multiple intended receivers, such as in broadcast or multicast operations.

[0121] For example, upon being triggered and after obtaining information about non-preferred transmission resources, UE-A 110 may send information about non-preferred transmission resources to UE-B 112, which may take the non-preferred transmission resources into account when selecting which resources to transmit to its intended receiver. If UE-A 110 is the intended receiver of UE-B 112, UE-A 110 may be aware of its own non-preferred transmission resources. However, if the intended receiver is UE-C 114, UE A 110 may obtain at least a portion of this information from UE-C 114. This may be done implicitly, for example, based on UE-A 110's awareness of the relevant transmission resource pool. Alternatively or additionally, UE-A 110 may obtain information about non-preferred transmission resources through explicit signaling. For example, UE-C 114 may send an indication of its non-preferred resources to UE-A 110 or provide its ID(s) (e.g., source ID and / or destination ID) to UE-A 110 in order to facilitate sensing operations and identification of UE-C 114's non-preferred resources by UE-A 110 to UE-B 112.

[0122] The number of bits required to indicate a non-preferred resource may depend on at least the following factors: (i) how far out in time the non-preferred resource can be indicated, and (ii) how many non-preferred resources can be indicated. While the first factor (i) may be expected to depend on the resource pool configuration or the potential resource selection interval derived by UE-A 110 itself or indicated to UE-B 112, the second factor (ii) may depend solely on the number of non-preferred resources in the selection interval.

[0123] Since one design goal in sidelink communications may be to minimize over-the-air signaling overhead, it may be desirable to minimize the number of bits used to indicate non-preferred transmission resources. One effective approach is to reduce the number of non-preferred resources indicated to the sidelink transmitter. Therefore, example embodiments of the present disclosure may enable a reduction in the set of non-preferred resources indicated to the sidelink transmitter.

[0124] Figure 5 An example of communication and operation at two UEs according to an example embodiment is illustrated. UE-A 110 may act as a coordinating UE that indicates non-preferred transmission resources to UE B 112, which may operate as a sidelink transmitter. UE-B 112 may also be referred to as a second UE. UE-A 110 may operate as a sidelink receiver and be the intended receiver of UE B 112's transmissions. Alternatively, UE-A 110 may not be the intended receiver of UE B 112's transmissions. Conversely, a third UE (not shown) (e.g., UE-C 114) may operate as the intended receiver of UE B 112's transmissions. Figure 5 The example enables UE-A 110 to exclude from signaling NPR transmission resource(s) that are not applicable anyway.

[0125] At operation 501, UE-B 112 may send an inter-UE sidelink coordination request to UE-A 110. Thus, UE-B 112 may request inter-UE coordination support from UE-A 110. The request may include various signaling information associated with sidelink coordination. Alternatively, such signaling information may be sent separately by UE-B 112 to UE-A 110, for example, in any appropriate control message(s), such as, for example, radio resource control (RRC) message(s), MAC CE(s), SCI, and / or PSFCH signaling. The signaling information may include an indication of an identity(ies) or identifier(s) configured for use by UE-B 112. The identity(ies) or identifier(s) may, for example, include a layer 1 (L1) identifier(s) of UE-B 112 included in sidelink control information (SCI), for example, in a second stage SCI (e.g., source ID and / or destination ID). In one option, the identity(ies) or identifier(s) indicated by UE-B 112 may be different from the identity(ies) or identifier(s) used by UE-B 112 to communicate with UE-A 110. Additionally or alternatively, the identity(ies) or identifier(s) may be the identity(ies) or identifier(s) used by UE-B 112 to communicate with UE-A 110. The signaling information may also include an indication of the priority of the sidelink data transmissions to be coordinated by UE-A 110. The priority information may be used to determine whether or not UE-B 112 is unsuitable for certain transmission resource(s), regardless of whether UE-A 110 signals NPR(s) to UE-B 112.

[0126] Alternatively or additionally, the signaling information may include further capability information for UE-B 112, such as, for example, an indication of the duplex capability (e.g., half / full) of one or more communication interfaces. The capability information for UE-B 112 may, for example, include an indication of half-duplex capability (generally applicable to both the sidelink and RAN interfaces), an indication of half-duplex capability at the sidelink interface, an indication of half-duplex capability at the RAN interface, an indication of whether UE-B 112 supports multiple simultaneous transmissions at the sidelink interface, or an indication of whether UE-B 112 supports multiple simultaneous transmissions at the RAN interface. The indication of whether multiple simultaneous transmissions are supported may include, for example, an indication of the individual sub-channel transmission capability of the sidelink interface and / or the RAN interface. Based on the individual sub-channel capability indications, UE-A 110 may determine that UE-B 112 does not support multiple simultaneous transmissions at the corresponding interface. UE-A 110 may then accordingly assign the transmission resource(s) to the set of inapplicable transmission resources. The sidelink interface may include a PC5 interface between sidelink UEs. The RAN interface may include a RAN air interface, such as a Uu interface between UE-B 112 and base station 120. The duplex capability information may be used to determine whether use of certain transmission resources is hindered by other scheduled receptions of UE-B 112, as will be further described below. UE-A 110 may receive information or message(s) sent by UE-B 112, for example, via a PC5 RRC message and / or a MAC CE. In one option, at least a portion of the capability information of UE-B 112 may also be provided by an SCI. Thus, the capability information of UE-B 112 may generally include the SCI and / or any applicable signaling fields of higher layer messages, such as a PC5 RRC message and / or a MAC CE. Additionally, the capability information of UE-B 112 may also indicate whether UE-B 112 supports multiple transmissions simultaneously. This capability information may be used to determine whether use of certain transmission resources is hindered by other scheduled transmissions of UE-B 112, as will be further described below. The capability information of UE-B 112 may also be provided to UE-B 112 by a third UE (e.g., UE-C 114). UE-A 110 may generally determine the capability information of UE-B 112. This may include retrieving pre-configured capability information of UE-B 112 from a memory of UE-A 110. The pre-configured capability information may be stored in the memory, for example, according to a technical specification enabling sidelink communication. Determining the capability information may also include receiving the capability information of UE-B 112 from UE-B 112 or a third UE (e.g., UE-C 114).

[0127] UE-A 110 may also obtain capability information of an intended receiver of the transmission of UE-B 112. If UE-A 110 is also an intended receiver, the capability information may be pre-configured at UE-A 110 or may be configured on the network. Thus, obtaining the capability information of the intended receiver may include retrieving the capability information from a memory of UE-A 110 or receiving a configuration message from the network, e.g., via base station 122.

[0128] However, if UE-A 110 is not the intended receiver, capability information of the intended receiver (e.g., UE-C 114) may be received from UE-B 112 or UE-C 114, for example, included in an inter-UE sidelink coordination request (501) or (multiple) other control messages, such as (multiple) (PC5) RRC messages. The capability information of the intended receiver may, for example, include a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle of the intended receiver. This information may be used by UE-A 110 to determine whether reception from one or more transmission resources is hindered due to the activity state of the intended receiver, as will be further described below. In one option, at least a portion of the capability information of the intended receiver may also be provided by the SCI. Thus, the capability information of the intended receiver may generally include the SCI and / or any applicable signaling fields of higher layer messages, such as PC5 RRC messages and / or MAC CEs. Additionally, the capability information of the intended receiver may also indicate whether the intended receiver supports multiple transmissions simultaneously. This capability information may be used to determine whether the use of certain transmission resources is hindered by other scheduled transmissions of the intended receiver, as will be further described below.

[0129] In response to receiving a request for inter-UE sidelink coordination, or in response to being triggered, UE-A 110 may obtain information about non-preferred resources, for example based on sensing as described above. In another example, UE-A 110 may obtain information about non-preferred resources based on scheduled transmissions from the intended receiver, where non-preferred resources are transmission resources that may cause half-duplex issues at the intended receiver. This initial set of (multiple) NPRs may be used as a basis for determining a reduced set of (multiple) NPRs based on excluding transmission resources determined to be unsuitable.

[0130] At operation 502, UE-A 110 may identify a set of NPRs from the perspective of the intended receiver(s) of UE-B 112. The set of NPRs may be represented as S NPR，R For example, the set S may be determined by assigning thereto transmission resources that overlap with already scheduled sidelink transmissions to / from the intended receiver. NPR，R UE-A 110 may also determine to assign transmission resource(s) to S based on the capability information of the intended receiver.NPR，R For example, in response to determining that reception from the transmission resource(s) by the intended receiver is impeded due to the capability(s) of the intended receiver, the transmission resource(s) may be assigned to S NPR，R The capabilities of the intended receiver may include capability(ies) indicated in capability information received from UE-B 112 or known to UE A 110. An example of the capabilities of the intended receiver is its DRX configuration, such as DRX ON / OFF period(s), which may be included in the received assistance information. For example, UE-A 110 may assign transmission resources (multiple) that occur during the DRX OFF period of the intended receiver to S NPR，R .

[0131] At operation 503, UE-A 110 may identify a set of NPR(s) from the perspective of UE-B 112. The set of NPR(s) may be represented by S NPR，B For example, the set S may be determined based on information about scheduled sidelink transmissions to / from UE-B 112 or transmissions between UE-B 112 and base station 120. NPR，B Therefore, UE-A 110 can be in the set S NPR，B The transmission resource(s) that overlap with scheduled transmissions by or to UE-B 112 are included in UE-B 112. This enables reducing the amount of NPR signaling by exploiting the knowledge of overlapping transmissions to / from UE-B 112.

[0132] UE-A 110 may also determine the number of devices to be included in the S based on the capability information of UE-B 112. NPR，BAccording to an example embodiment, in response to determining that transmission by UE-B 112 at some transmission resource or resources is blocked due to capability(ies) of UE-B 112, UE-A 110 may determine to include the transmission resource(s) into the set of inapplicable transmission resources. This enables UE-B 112 to take the capability(ies) of UE-B 112 into account when determining whether overlapping transmissions are actually blocking sidelink transmissions to / from UE-B 112. The capability(ies) may be indicated in the capability information of UE-B 112. For example, UE-A 110 may determine that there are overlapping scheduled transmission(s) at time(s) when UE-B 112 has other transmission / reception(s), such as future reserved transmission(s) on existing pre-reserved resource(s), and that due to power limitations or other UE capability limitations (such as half-duplex capability), UE-B 112 is unable to perform additional sidelink transmissions, such as on another subchannel. If UE-B 112 is restricted to half-duplex operation, UE-A 110 may determine that there are overlapping scheduled transmission(s) at the time(s) that UE-B 112 has scheduled (future reserved) receptions (e.g., at the same or another PC5 resource pool).

[0133] In one embodiment, if UE-A 110 is already in the time slot Upon receiving data or coordination request from UE-B 112, UE-A 110 may include time resource(s) The time resource includes S NPR，B (multiple) time and frequency resources R in x，y , if any period value allowed by the higher layer parameter sl-ResourceReservePeriodList configured for the resource pool from which UE-A 110 has received data or coordination request from UE-B 112, and for , where the "Resource Retention Period" field is set to this periodic value and indicates all subchannels of the resource pool in this time slot, condition c) in step 6 of section 8.1.4 of ETSI TS 38.214 v.16.4.0 (2021-01) will be satisfied. Basically, in Mode 2, when UE-A 110 is in time slot When receiving a transmission (e.g., a coordination request message or a data message) from UE-B 112, UE-B 112 will not have a sensing result for that time slot due to its half-duplex problem. Therefore, UE-B 112 will assume that there is a periodic resource reservation indicated in that time slot corresponding to all possible allowed reservation periods for that resource pool and exclude the use of the reserved time slot for future transmissions by UE-B 112. Therefore, UE-A 110 can determine the transmission (time) resources that are not applicable to UE-B 112 based on the time when UE-A 110 receives the transmission (e.g., data and / or coordination request) from UE-B 112 and the configuration of the resource pool(s) from which UE-A 110 receives the transmission from UE-B, such as the parameter sl-ResourceReservePeriodList in the resource pool configuration.

[0134] Therefore, in general, the UE 110 may send a NPR，B Assign (multiple) transmission resources that are associated with (multiple) resources from which the data transmission from UE-B 112 is received. The associated transmission resources may be determined based on the configuration data of the resource pool from which the data transmission is received. For example, the associated transmission resources may be determined based on ResourceReservePeriodList (or generally the resource reservation period(s) indicated in the configuration data of that resource pool). UE-A 110 may, for example, send a request to S NPR，B Assign the transmission resource(s) that occur during the indicated resource reservation period. For example, for resource selection in Mode 2, UE-B 112 may perform sensing to identify resources reserved by other nearby UEs. However, if UE-B 112 is at time t m In this case, UE-B 112 may assume that at time t m An SCI may occur which is lost due to half-duplex capability and the lost SCI will reserve sidelink resources in all possible periods indicated, for example, in the Information Element (IE) ResourceReservePeriod. For example, if only a periodicity of 10 ms is allowed (in principle more allowed periodicity values ​​can be configured, for example via the signaling field sl-ResourceReservePeriodList), UE-B 112 may assume that t m+10 , t m+10×2 Therefore, UE-B 12 does not select new resources from any of those time slots.

[0135] In the case of the RAN interface, UE-A 110 may determine that there are scheduled overlapping transmissions at the time(s) that UE-B 112 has reception at the RAN interface. This may be determined, for example, by detecting transmissions scheduled to UE-B 112 at the Uu interface.

[0136] The above transmission resource conflicts may be known or determined by UE-B 112. However, there may be some sidelink half-duplex-capable transmission resources that UE-B 112 may not be aware of. For example, an original transmission to UE-B 112 may not be successfully decoded by UE-B 112, e.g., due to interference or other resource conflicts, and thus the indication of future transmission resources included in the original transmission may be lost. Consequently, UE-B 112 may not be aware of the indicated future transmission resources.

[0137] In general, if UE-A 110 knows the (multiple) identities / (multiple) IDs used by UE-B 112 to communicate with other sidelink peer UEs, UE-A 110 can obtain information about unavailable transmission resources due to concurrent transmissions and / or half-duplex capabilities at the sidelink interface based on, for example, monitoring the SCI in the configured (multiple) sidelink resource pools. As described above, UE-B 112 can send its ID list and / or its sidelink UE capability information to UE-A 110. As described herein, this information can be used by UE-A 110 to derive the resource set S NPR，B .

[0138] For example, UE-A 110 may determine the resources to be included in the SCI based on the SCI indicating the resource allocation of the scheduled transmission(s) associated with the identifier (ID) configured for use by UE B 112. NPR，B (multiple) transmission resources in. For example, based on detecting an identifier used by UE-B 112 from the second stage SCI, for example, during UE-A 110's reception of a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), UE-A 110 can examine resource reservation information, such as in the first stage SCI associated with the second stage SCI, and determine the (multiple) transmission resources reserved for UE-B 112 to transmit or receive data from a sidelink peer UE. Therefore, UE-A 110 can determine that the (multiple) reserved resources will naturally (i.e., not indicated to UE-B 112 by UE-A 110) be considered as (multiple) non-preferred transmission resources by UE-B 112 because UE-B 112, as a transmitter UE or receiver UE of the SCI, will be configured to avoid simultaneous transmission and / or simultaneous transmission and reception by itself. This can avoid signaling of some non-preferred transmission resources from UE-A 110 to UE-B 112. Therefore, UE-A 110 canNPR，B The determined (multiple) transmission resources are included in the SCI. Thus, overlapping scheduled transmissions may include concurrent transmissions at a sidelink interface (e.g., PC5) or a RAN interface (e.g., Uu). In one embodiment, UE-A 110 may also check the priority value associated with the (multiple) identifiers (IDs) configured for use by UE B 112 carried in the SCI to determine whether the (multiple) resources reserved by the SCI should be considered (multiple) inapplicable resources. In one example, UE-A 110 may also know the priority of UE-B 112's data transmission to be coordinated, for example, based on a coordination request message from UE-B 112, or UE-A 110 monitoring / receiving communications from UE-B 112 in the past. In this case, if the SCI of the reserved resource(s) indicates a higher priority than the data transmission of UE-B 112 to be coordinated, UE-A 110 may treat the resource(s) reserved by the SCI as unsuitable resource(s) because UE-B 112 will prioritize its communication with the higher priority among the reserved resource(s).

[0139] According to an example embodiment, the scheduled transmission(s) may include HARQ feedback transmission(s). UE-A 110 may detect an SCI addressed to UE-B 112. The SCI may indicate the enabling of HARQ feedback. The SCI may also include an indication of future transmission resource(s) reserved for (re)transmission(s) towards UE-B 112. UE-A 110 may determine the corresponding HARQ feedback resource(s), e.g., on a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) associated with the reserved transmission resource(s). UE B 112 may then use the determined PSFCH resource(s) to send its HARQ feedback(s). UE-A 110 may therefore include, e.g., transmission resource(s) (e.g., time domain resource(s) such as sidelink time slots)) to the SCI, e.g., including the determined PSFCH resource(s). NPR，B Therefore, S NPR，B The included transmission resource(s) may include PSFCH resource(s) allocated by UE-B 112 for HARQ feedback. This may be, for example, in response to determining that UE-B 112 has limited UE capabilities to support simultaneous transmissions, and / or in response to detecting an indication of HARQ enablement in sidelink control information addressed to UE-B 112. This enables avoiding NPR signaling of transmission resources that are not applicable due to the HARQ process at UE-B 112, thereby further improving the efficiency of NPR signaling.

[0140] According to an example embodiment, in response to detecting the HARQ feedback message at the PSFCH resource(s), UE-A 110 may include the determined PSFCH resource(s) into the S NPR，B The HARQ feedback message may include an acknowledgement message (ACK) or a negative acknowledgement message (NACK). For example, if UE-A 110 detects that UE-B 112 is a sidelink receiver UE for the considered SCI and HARQ feedback is enabled based on the considered SCI, UE-A 110 may include the determined reserved resource(s) in the SCI only if HARQ ACK / NACK is detected at the PSFCH resource(s) associated with the considered SCI. NPR，B In other words, in response to detecting the HARQ feedback message at the PSFCH resource(s) associated with the SCI indicating the resource allocation for the scheduled transmission(s), UE-A 110 may NPR，B The resource allocation for the scheduled transmission resource(s) indicated by the SCI is included in the SCI. This ensures that UE-B 112, which is a receiver UE of the SCI, has already obtained the corresponding resource reservation from its peer transmitter UE, so that UE-B 112 will always view the reserved resource(s) as the NPR(s) for its own transmission. Thus, the unnecessary inclusion of unused HARQ feedback resources in the set of inapplicable transmission resources can be avoided. As described above, PSFCH resources are used as an example, and thus the example embodiments can be applied to any HARQ feedback resource.

[0141] According to an example embodiment, in response to determining that the priority associated with the transmission resource(s) is greater than or equal to the threshold, UE-A 110 may select a set of inapplicable transmission resources (S NPR，B ) assigns (multiple) transmission resources that are determined to be unsuitable from the perspective of UE-B 112 or its intended receiver. The threshold may include a priority threshold for the priority of the sidelink data transmission to be coordinated. The threshold may be pre-configured at UE A 110, or the threshold may be configured by the network, for example by indicating the threshold in a control message sent by base station 122 to UE-A 110. In response to determining that the data priority associated with the determined resources is higher than the configured threshold, UE-A 110 may assign non-priority transmission resources to S NPR，B In another example, if UE A 110 knows the priority of UE-B 112's transmission to the intended receiver (e.g., by receiving a request or control message from UE-B 112 indicating a corresponding priority value m), UE-A 110 may include the determined resources in the SCI in response to determining that the priority indication of the SCI for reserving the determined resources is lower than the priority value m. NPR，BIn this example, a lower priority value indicates a higher priority. This makes it possible to increase the number of priorities included in S NPR，B The probability that the transmission resource(s) in UE-B 112 are actually used for transmission by UE-B 112 due to the high priority. This enables further reduction in the amount of NPR signaling.

[0142] According to an example embodiment, in response to determining that the transmission resource(s) belong to a plurality of periodically allocated transmission resources, UE-A 110 may select a set of inapplicable transmission resources (S NPR，B ) includes transmission resource(s) determined to be unavailable from the perspective of UE-B 112 or its intended receiver. Determining whether the transmission resource belongs to periodically allocated resources may be based on decoding a corresponding indication in the SCI. For example, in response to determining that the determined resource is part of a set of periodic resources detected by UE-A 110, UE-A 110 may include the determined resource in the SCI. NPR，B For example, when UE-A 110 detects an SCI sent to UE-B 112, where the SCI reserves future transmission resource(s), if the reserved transmission resource(s) are part of the periodic resources reserved by the SCI, UE-A 110 may include the reserved transmission resource(s) in the SCI. NPR，B This may enable excluding transmission resources associated with periodic transmissions from UE-B 112 or its intended receivers (or marking them as non-preferred).

[0143] As described above, the transmissions to / from UE-B 112 under consideration are not limited to occurring between UE-B 112 and a third UE (e.g., UE-C 114). Such communications may also occur between UE-B 112 and UE-A 110 itself. UE-A 110, for example, may be the intended receiver of the transmissions from UE-B 112. If UE-A 110 is in ongoing sidelink communication with UE B 112, and UE B 112 reserves certain sidelink transmission resources, the reserved sidelink resource(s) may also be included in the S NPR，B Thus, the transmission resource(s) included in the set of inapplicable transmission resources may include the transmission resource(s) allocated for sidelink communication between UE-A 110 and UE-B 112.

[0144] According to an example embodiment, UE-A 110 may be aware that UE-B 112 is aware of some (or all) DRX OFF periods of the intended receiver. If UE-B 112 is aware of the DRX configuration (e.g., DRX cycle) of the intended receiver, UE-B 112 may not transmit anything to the intended receiver during the DRX OFF period of the intended receiver, regardless of whether UE-A 110 indicates such transmission resources as non-preferred to UE-B 112. Thus, UE-A 110 may determine that such (multiple) transmission resources are not applicable to UE-B 112 and may avoid signaling these transmission resources as (multiple) NPRs to UE-B 112. UE-A 110 may therefore select the transmission resource that is not applicable to UE-B 112 during the DRX OFF period. NPR，B The transmission resource(s) that occur during the DRX OFF period of the intended receiver are included in the NPR. If the indicated NPR is configured for sidelink broadcast or sidelink multicast by UE-B 112, whose sidelink DRX configuration is pre-configured or configured by the network, then both UE-A 110 and UE-B 112 may be aware of the DRX OFF period of the intended receiver. As described above, in some embodiments, inter-UE coordination of the NPR(s) may occur after configuration data (e.g., information about the DRX ON and OFF periods of the intended receiver) is provided to UE-A 110 by UE B 112 or the network. If UE-A 110 is the intended receiver, then the transmission resource(s) included in the NPR are included in the NPR. NPR，B The transmission resources in may also include (multiple) transmission resources allocated for sidelink communication between UE-A 110 and UE-B 112.

[0145] The set of (multiple) NPRs may include only non-preferred resources in (i) the time domain or (ii) the time and frequency domains. For (i), if the set of (multiple) NPRs is determined due to half-duplex and / or simultaneous transmission issues, UE-A 110 may indicate a timeslot or TTI index as the NPR indication. In this case, if UE-A 110 identifies, for example, that UE-B 112 has sidelink receptions / transmissions from / to other UEs on the same timeslot or TTI (even if they are not in the same subchannel), UE-A 110 may exclude those timeslots or TTIs from the NPR indication to UE-B 112, e.g., including S NPR，B The indication of the NPR(s) may therefore comprise an indication of the time slot or TTI. However, in general, the time domain NPR(s) may be indicated in any other suitable manner, for example as an indication of a subframe or a time domain symbol (such as an OFDM symbol).

[0146] For (ii), if the NPR(s) from UE-A 110 are determined due to resource conflicts at the intended receiver (e.g., to resolve the hidden UE problem), UE-A 110 may indicate the time domain and frequency domain information of the conflicting resource(s) to UE-B 112 in the NPR set. In other words, the NPR(s) included by UE-A 110 due to the reception resources and / or interference of the intended receiver may be included in the set of NPR(s). Therefore, they may not be included in the set of NPRs. NPR，B and excluded from the signaled NPR(s).

[0147] According to an example embodiment, UE-A 110 may consider the priority of the sidelink communication when determining whether to include a transmission resource in the set of inapplicable transmission resources. For example, if UE-A 110 identifies that UE-B 112 is scheduled to receive sidelink communications having a higher priority than UE-B 112's own sidelink transmission from other UEs via (multiple) non-preferred resources in the same time slot or TTI, UE-A 110 may exclude these time slots or TTIs from the NPR indication to UE-B 112. In addition, if the priority of the sidelink transmission to the intended receiver(s) of UE-B 112 on some or some transmission resources is lower than the priority of the sidelink transmission to UE-B 112 on the same transmission resource(s), UE-A 110 may assign these transmission resources to S NPR，B Thus, if UE-B 112 does not use the transmission resource(s) for its own transmission due to its optimization process, the transmission resources (e.g., time slot(s) or TTI(s)) may be assigned to S NPR，B .

[0148] Furthermore, if UE-A 110 determines that UE-B 112 is scheduled to transmit a signal having a higher frequency than that belonging to S in the same time slot(s) or transmission time interval(s) (TTIs), NPR，B The UE-A110 can transmit on the sidelink with a high priority on the non-preferred transmission resources of S NPR，B , because the higher priority transmission of UE-B 112 would anyway take precedence over the transmission to the intended receiver via the non-priority transmission resource(s). This may be the case, for example, if UE-B 112 has limited UE capabilities to support simultaneous transmissions. Therefore, in response to determining that the priority of the other sidelink transmission at the transmission resource(s) is higher than the priority of the sidelink transmission to the intended receiver at the transmission resource(s), UE-A 110 may assign the transmission resource(s) to S NPR，B .

[0149] According to an example embodiment, if UE-A 110 identifies that UE-B 112 may also transmit sidelink communications in the same time slot or TTI using non-overlapping but sufficiently distant frequency domain subchannels, UE-A 110 may not include S NPR，B , since the separation between the subchannels will be sufficient to avoid intermodulation interference, for example if UE-B 112 supports simultaneous transmission in this case. Therefore, if a predetermined separation of the subchannels is provided in the frequency domain, UE-A 110 may not be in S NPR，B The transmission resources that overlap with the scheduled transmission(s) in the time domain are included in the UE. Sufficient separation may depend on the ability of the transmitter UE filter to suppress out-of-band emissions. For example, a (pre-)configured number of subchannels or a (pre-)configured number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) may be used. The (pre-)configured number of subchannels or PRBs may correspond to achieving out-of-band suppression equal to a threshold value (e.g., 60 dB).

[0150] According to an example embodiment, UE-B 112 may send data or signaling on some transmission resource or resources to UE-A 110. UE-A 110 may receive the transmission. UE-A 110 may specify in the configuration data of the resource pool from which the transmission is received that UE-B 112 transmits data or signaling to UE-A 110. NPR，B Assigning transmission resource(s) associated with the transmission resource(s) from which the transmission is received. UE-A 110 determines the transmission resource(s) associated with these transmission resource(s) based on the resource reservation period(s) indicated in the configuration data of the resource pool. This enables the configuration of the resource pool associated with the transmission to be taken into account when optimizing NPR signaling. For example, transmission resource(s) that overlap with the periodic resource reservation in the resource pool may be included in the S NPR，B middle.

[0151] At operation 504, UE-A 110 may determine a reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources. The reduced set of (multiple) NPRs may be represented by S NPR，O Denotes ("O" denotes optimized). Determining a set of reduced NPR(s) may include selecting from the determined set of NPR(s) (S NPR，R ) excludes inapplicable resource collections (S NPR，B ) in the set of non-preferred transmission resources. This reduces the amount of NPR signaling between UE-A 110 and UE-B 112. UE-A 110 may, for example, exclude the intersection of the set of non-preferred transmission resources and the set of non-applicable transmission resources from the set of non-preferred transmission resources. This operation may be expressed as

[0152] S NPR，O =S NPR，R -{S NPR，R ∩S NPR，B}.

[0153] UE-A 110 may alternatively exclude (all) the set of unsuitable transmission resources (S NPR，O =S NPR，R -S NPR，B ).

[0154] At operation 505, UE-A 110 may transmit a set of reduced NPR(s) to UE-B 112 (S NPR，O ). UE-B 112 may then determine not to use these transmission resources, as well as otherwise inapplicable transmission resources, for transmission of data to the intended receiver.

[0155] Figure 6 An example of a method for signaling a non-reference transmission resource according to an example embodiment is illustrated. The method may be performed by an apparatus.

[0156] At 601 , the method may include determining a set of non-preferred transmission resources for a second apparatus.

[0157] At 602, the method may include determining a set of unsuitable transmission resources for a second apparatus.

[0158] At 603 , the method may include determining a reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources based on excluding at least one set of unsuitable transmission resources from the set of non-preferred transmission resources.

[0159] At 604, the method may include sending an indication of the reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources to the second apparatus.

[0160] As described in the accompanying claims and throughout the specification, further features of the method are directly derived from the functionality and parameters of UE-A 110, UE-B 112, or UE-C 114, or any of the base stations 120, 122, 124, and are therefore not repeated here. As described in conjunction with the various exemplary embodiments, different variations of the method may also be applied.

[0161] An apparatus (e.g., UE-A 110, UE B 112, or UE-C 114, or any of base stations 120, 122, 124) may be configured to perform or cause the performance of any aspect of the methods described herein. Furthermore, a computer program may include instructions for causing an apparatus to perform any aspect of the methods described herein when executed. Furthermore, an apparatus may include means for performing any aspect of the method(s) described herein. According to an example embodiment, the means include at least one processor, and at least one memory, the at least one memory including program code, the at least one processor and the program code being configured to cause the performance of any aspect of the method(s) when executed by the at least one processor.

[0162] Any range or device value given herein may be expanded or changed without losing the effect sought. In addition, any embodiment may be combined with another embodiment unless explicitly prohibited.

[0163] Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and / or acts, it should be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as examples of implementing the claims, and other equivalent features and acts are intended to fall within the scope of the claims.

[0164] It will be understood that the benefits and advantages described above may relate to one embodiment or may relate to several embodiments. The embodiments are not limited to those that solve any or all of the problems described or those that have any or all of the benefits and advantages described. It will be further understood that reference to "an" item may refer to one or more of those items.

[0165] The steps or operations of the methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order, or simultaneously where appropriate. Additionally, individual blocks can be deleted from any method without departing from the scope of the subject matter described herein. Aspects of any of the above embodiments can be combined with aspects of any other embodiment described to form additional embodiments without losing the effects sought.

[0166] The term "comprising" is used herein to mean including the identified methods, blocks or elements, but that such blocks or elements do not comprise an exclusive list and the method or apparatus may include additional blocks or elements.

[0167] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) a hardware circuit implementation only (such as an implementation in analog and / or digital circuitry only) and (b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as, as applicable: (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry with software / firmware and (ii) any portion of hardware processor(s) (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(s) with software that work together to enable a device (such as a mobile phone or server) to perform various functions and (c) hardware circuitry and / or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or portion(s) of microprocessor(s) that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but that software may not be present when the software is not required for operation. This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims.

[0168] As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. For example, the term circuitry also covers a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or networking device, if applicable to the particular claim element.

[0169] It should be understood that the above description is given only as an example and that various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art. The above description, examples, and data provide a complete description of the structure and use of the exemplary embodiments. Although various embodiments have been described above with a certain degree of particularity or with reference to one or more individual embodiments, those skilled in the art may make various changes to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope of this specification.

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising: means for determining a set of non-preferred transmission resources for the second apparatus; means for determining a set of unsuitable transmission resources for the second apparatus, wherein the set of unsuitable transmission resources comprises transmission resources that the second apparatus will not use, regardless of whether they are indicated as non-preferred transmission resources for the second apparatus; means for determining a reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources based on excluding at least one unsuitable transmission resource in the set of unsuitable transmission resources from the set of non-preferred transmission resources; as well as Means for sending an indication of the reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources to the second apparatus.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for determining the reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources based on excluding an intersection of the set of non-preferred transmission resources and the set of unsuitable transmission resources from the set of non-preferred transmission resources.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of inapplicable transmission resources comprises at least one first transmission resource that overlaps with at least one scheduled transmission by or to the second apparatus.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: means for determining capability information of the second device; as well as means for assigning the at least one first transmission resource to the set of unsuitable transmission resources in response to determining that transmission by the second apparatus on the at least one first transmission resource is impeded due to at least one capability of the second apparatus indicated in the capability information.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the capability information of the second apparatus is preconfigured at the apparatus, or wherein the apparatus further comprises: Means for receiving the capabilities of the second device from the second device or from a third device.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the capability information of the second apparatus comprises at least one of the following: Indication of half-duplex capability, An indication of half-duplex capability at the side-link interface, an indication of half-duplex capability at the radio access network air interface, an indication of whether the second apparatus supports multiple simultaneous transmissions at the sidelink interface, or An indication of whether the second apparatus supports multiple simultaneous transmissions at the radio access network air interface.

7. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: means for receiving an indication of at least one identifier configured for use by the second apparatus; as well as means for determining the at least one first transmission resource based on sidelink control information indicating a resource allocation for the at least one scheduled transmission associated with the at least one identifier configured for use by the second apparatus.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least one scheduled transmission comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request feedback transmission.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising: means for assigning the resource allocation for the at least one scheduled transmission to the set of inapplicable transmission resources in response to detecting a hybrid automatic repeat request feedback message at a physical sidelink feedback channel resource associated with the sidelink control information indicative of the resource allocation for the at least one scheduled transmission, wherein the at least one scheduled transmission is indicated by the sidelink control information.

10. The apparatus according to any preceding claim, further comprising: means for obtaining, by the second device, capability information of at least one intended receiver for sidelink data transmission; as well as Means for assigning at least one second transmission resource to the set of unsuitable transmission resources in response to determining that reception from the at least one second transmission resource by the at least one intended receiver is impeded due to at least one capability indicated in the capability information of the at least one intended receiver.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the capability information of the at least one intended receiver comprises an indication of a discontinuous reception configuration of the at least one intended receiver.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the intended receiver comprises the apparatus.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one second transmission resource comprises at least one sidelink transmission resource allocated for sidelink communication between the apparatus and the second apparatus.

14. The apparatus according to any preceding claim, further comprising: means for receiving a transmission from said second apparatus from at least one third transmission resource; as well as Means for assigning transmission resources associated with said at least one third transmission resource in configuration data of a resource pool from which said transmission is received to said set of unavailable transmission resources.

15. A communication method, comprising: determining a set of non-preferred transmission resources for the second device; determining a set of unsuitable transmission resources for the second apparatus, wherein the set of unsuitable transmission resources includes transmission resources that the second apparatus will not use, regardless of whether they are indicated as non-preferred transmission resources for the second apparatus; determining a reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources based on excluding at least one unsuitable transmission resource in the set of unsuitable transmission resources from the set of non-preferred transmission resources; as well as An indication of the reduced set of non-preferred transmission resources is sent to the second apparatus.

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