User equipment coordination set full-duplex communication

Abstract

Methods, devices, systems, and apparatus for coordinated full-duplex communication are described, wherein a user equipment (UE) configured as a coordinating user equipment of a user equipment coordination set (UECS) selects a first subset of UEs in the UECS to jointly receive downlink signals (802) and selects a second subset of UEs in the UECS to jointly transmit uplink signals (804). The coordinating UE receives uplink data to be transmitted to a network entity (810) and receives demodulated and sampled downlink data (812) from the first subset of UEs that is received concurrently with the joint transmission of the uplink data. The coordinating UE combines samples received from each UE in the first subset of UEs (814) and jointly processes the combined samples to provide decoded data using the received uplink data to cancel crosstalk (816) from an uplink signal for the transmitted uplink data to a downlink signal for the received downlink data.

Description

Background Art

[0001] The evolution of wireless communications to fifth-generation (5G) and sixth-generation (6G) standards and technologies provides higher data rates and greater capacity with improved reliability and lower latency, which enhances mobile broadband services. 5G and 6G technologies also enable new categories of services for in-vehicle connectivity, fixed wireless broadband, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

[0002] A unified air interface that utilizes licensed, unlicensed, and shared licensed radio spectrum in multiple frequency bands is one aspect of enabling 5G and 6G system capabilities. The unified air interface uses radio spectrum in the sub-1 GHz (sub-gigahertz), sub-6 GHz (sub-6 GHz), and above 6 GHz bands. The radio spectrum above 6 GHz includes millimeter wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) bands, which provide wide channel bandwidths to support higher data rates for wireless broadband. Radio channels in these bands are allocated for communications using time division duplex or frequency division duplex. However, there is an opportunity to improve spectrum utilization by utilizing full-duplex communications. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This summary is provided to introduce a simplified concept of full-duplex communication for a coordinated set of user equipment. This simplified concept is further described in the detailed description below. This summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0004] In various aspects, methods, devices, systems, and apparatus for coordinating full-duplex communication are described, wherein a user equipment (UE) configured as a coordinating user equipment of a user equipment coordination set (UECS) in a wireless communication network selects a first subset of UEs in the UECS to jointly receive downlink signals and selects a second subset of UEs in the UECS to jointly transmit uplink signals. The coordinating UE sends an indication to a network entity that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication and receives a resource grant for a target UE in the UECS from the network entity. The coordinating UE receives uplink data to be transmitted to the network entity and receives demodulated and sampled downlink data from the first subset of UEs concurrently with the joint transmission of the uplink data by the second subset of UEs. The coordinating UE combines samples received from each UE in the first subset of UEs and jointly processes the combined samples to provide decoded data using the received uplink data to cancel crosstalk from the downlink signal of the received downlink data to the uplink signal of the transmitted uplink data.

[0005] In various aspects, methods, devices, systems, and apparatus for coordinating full-duplex communication are described, wherein a base station receives an indication from a user equipment coordinating set (UECS) that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication, the indication including an indication of a full-duplex bandwidth for full-duplex communication. Based on the indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex bandwidth, the base station allocates downlink resources and uplink resources for full-duplex communication with a target user equipment (UE) in the UECS, and sends a first resource grant to the UECS, the first resource grant including an indication of the downlink resources and the uplink resources. The base station receives an uplink signal for uplink data from the UECS using the uplink resources, and processes the received uplink signal using downlink data transmitted concurrently with the received uplink signal to provide decoded data using the downlink data, thereby eliminating interference from the downlink signal of the transmitted downlink data on the received uplink signal. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] The following describes one or more aspects of the user equipment coordination set full-duplex communication details. The same reference numerals are used in different instances in the description and drawings to indicate similar elements:

[0007] Figure 1 An example operating environment is illustrated in which aspects of user equipment coordinating full-duplex communications may be implemented.

[0008] Figure 2 An example equipment diagram illustrating user equipment and a serving cell base station.

[0009] Figure 3 The air interface resources extending between user equipment and a base station and by which various aspects of full-duplex communication of a coordinated set of user equipment can be implemented are illustrated.

[0010] Figure 4 An example environment is illustrated in which various aspects of a coordinated set of user equipment full-duplex communications may be implemented.

[0011] Figure 5 Various allocations of air interface resources extending between a UECS and a base station and by which various aspects of user equipment coordinated full-duplex communications may be implemented are illustrated.

[0012] Figure 6 An example environment is illustrated in which various aspects of a coordinated set of user equipment full-duplex communications may be implemented.

[0013] Figure 7 Data and control transactions between devices of a user equipment coordination set and a base station according to aspects of full-duplex communication of the user equipment coordination set are illustrated.

[0014] Figure 8Illustrated are example methods generally involving full-duplex communication of a coordinated set of user equipment by coordinated user equipment in accordance with aspects of the techniques described herein.

[0015] Figure 9 Illustrated are example methods generally involving full-duplex communication of a coordinated set of user equipment with a base station in communication with the coordinated set of user equipment in accordance with aspects of the techniques described herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] This document describes methods, devices, systems, and apparatus for coordinated full-duplex communication, wherein a user equipment (UE) configured as a coordinating user equipment of a user equipment coordination set (UECS) in a wireless communication network selects a first subset of UEs in the UECS to jointly receive downlink signals and selects a second subset of UEs in the UECS to jointly transmit uplink signals. The coordinating UE sends an indication to a network entity that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication and receives a resource grant for a target UE in the UECS from the network entity. The coordinating UE receives demodulated and sampled downlink data from the first subset of UEs concurrently with modulated and coded uplink data jointly transmitted by the second subset of UEs. The coordinating UE combines samples received from each UE in the first subset of UEs and jointly processes the combined samples to provide decoded data using the received uplink data to cancel crosstalk from a downlink signal for received downlink data to an uplink signal for transmitted uplink data.

[0017] The UECS is formed by multiple UEs, which are assigned as a group similar to distributed antennas to work together to benefit a specific UE (e.g., a target UE). The UECS includes a coordination UE that coordinates the joint transmission of uplink signals and / or the joint reception of downlink signals for the target UE or multiple target UEs in the UECS. By combining the antennas and transmitters of multiple UEs in the UECS, the effective transmit power of the target UE is significantly increased, and the effective signal quality is greatly improved. Similarly, by combining the antennas and receivers of multiple UEs in the UECS, the effective receive power of the target UE is significantly increased, and the effective signal quality is greatly improved.

[0018] Multiple UEs can each receive downlink data transmissions from a base station. Unlike traditional relay technologies, these UEs do not decode the downlink transmissions into data packets and then forward the data packets to the destination. Instead, the UE demodulates and samples the downlink transmissions to generate I / Q samples. The UE determines where to forward the I / Q samples of the downlink transmissions, such as to a coordinating UE for decoding. Note that a single UE can have the role of both a coordinating UE and a target UE. In various aspects, the target UE can be included in a subset of target UEs within the UECS. The coordinating UE receives I / Q samples from other UEs in the UECS and stores the I / Q samples in a buffer memory for decoding. The coordinating UE then synchronizes and decodes the stored I / Q samples into data packets to send to the target UE. Therefore, the processing of the I / Q samples occurs at the coordinating UE. In this way, the UECS acts as a distributed antenna for the target UE.

[0019] When a target UE has uplink data to send to the base station, it sends the uplink data to the coordinating UE, which then distributes the uplink data to each UE in the coordinated set of UEs using the local wireless network. Each UE in the coordinated set synchronizes with the base station regarding timing information and its data transmission resource allocation. All UEs in the coordinated set then jointly transmit the uplink data to the base station. The base station receives the jointly transmitted uplink data from the UEs and processes the combined signal to decode the uplink data from the target UE.

[0020] Full-duplex communication can improve the spectrum efficiency (utilization) of wireless communications. When uplink and downlink communications are concurrently using the same frequency for full-duplex communication, the output power of the transmitter at the device (e.g., UE or base station) can make reception challenging for the device receiver. For example, the transmitter output power of the device may be 100 dB or greater than the signal strength of the signal the device is attempting to receive. The isolation between the transmitter output and the receiver input of the device may be insufficient to handle the difference between the transmitted and received signal powers, causing the transmitter output to interfere with the receiver's ability to receive and decode the desired received signal (e.g., saturating the receiver's input circuitry).

[0021] In various aspects, when communicating with a base station or an active coordination set (ACS) of base stations, the UECS can exploit the geographic separation between UEs in the UECS to conduct full-duplex communications on the same frequency or channel. The geographic (physical) separation between UEs in the UECS provides greater isolation between the receiver of downlink signals and the transmitter of uplink signals than can be provided by co-located transmitters and receivers in a single UE.

[0022] In one aspect, the coordinating UE determines a first subset of UEs in the UECS to participate in joint reception and a second subset of UEs to participate in joint transmission. Any UE in the UECS can be assigned to either joint reception or joint transmission, but no UE can be assigned to both. In a further aspect, the role of the coordinating UE can be shared by assigning the role of coordinating joint reception (RX coordinating UE) to the first UE and the role of coordinating joint transmission (TX coordinating UE) to the second UE. In this aspect, the TX coordinating UE can share information related to the joint transmission with the RX coordinating UE to help the RX coordinating UE eliminate crosstalk from the joint reception signal to the joint transmission.

[0023] Sample Environment

[0024] Figure 1 An example environment 100 is illustrated, which includes multiple user equipment 110 (UE 110), illustrated as UE 111, UE 112, UE 113, and UE 114. When within communication range of a base station, each UE 110 can communicate with one or more base stations 120 (illustrated as base stations 121 and 122) via one or more wireless communication links 130 (wireless links 130), illustrated as wireless links 131 and 132. When individual UEs, such as UE 111, UE 112, UE 113, and UE 114, are individually out of communication range of a base station, those UEs can form a UECS and communicate with the base station using joint transmission and joint reception. Each UE 110 in the UECS (illustrated as UE 111, UE 112, UE 113, and UE 114) can communicate with a coordinating UE of the UECS and / or a target UE in the UECS via one or more local wireless network connections (e.g., WLAN, Bluetooth, NFC, personal area network (PAN), WiFi-Direct, IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee, Thread, millimeter wavelength communication (mmWave), etc.), such as local wireless network connections 133, 134, 135, and 136. Although illustrated as a smartphone, UE 110 can be implemented as any suitable computing or electronic device, such as a mobile communication device, a modem, a cellular phone, a gaming device, a navigation device, a media device, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, a smart appliance, a vehicle-based communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT) device (e.g., a sensor node, a controller / actuator node, a combination thereof), etc. The base station 120 (e.g., an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network node B, E-UTRAN node B, evolved node B, eNodeB, eNB, next generation node B, gNodeB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.) can be implemented in a macro cell, a micro cell, a small cell, a pico cell, a distributed base station, etc., or any combination or future evolution thereof.

[0025] Base station 120 communicates with UECS or user equipment 110 using radio links 131 and 132, respectively, which can be implemented as any suitable type of radio link. Radio links 131 and 132 include control and data communications, such as downlinks for data and control information transmitted from base station 120 to user equipment 110, uplinks for other data and control information transmitted from user equipment 110 to base station 120, or both. Radio link 130 may include one or more radio links (e.g., radio links) or bearers implemented using any suitable communication protocol or standard, or combination of communication protocols or standards, such as 3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution (3GPP LTE), Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR), and future evolutions. Multiple radio links 130 may be aggregated in carrier aggregation to provide higher data rates for UE 110. Multiple radio links 130 from multiple base stations 120 may be configured for coordinated multi-point (CoMP) communication with UE 110. For example, an active coordination set (ACS) of base stations may use CoMP communication to communicate with UE 111. The ACS may be a component of or used to implement a user-centric cell-free (UCNC) network architecture.

[0026] The base stations 120 are collectively referred to as a radio access network 140 (e.g., RAN, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network, E-UTRAN, 5G NR RAN, or NR RAN). Base stations 121 and 122 in RAN 140 are connected to a core network 150. Base stations 121 and 122 are connected to the core network 150 at 102 and 104, respectively, via an NG2 interface for control plane signaling and an NG3 interface for user plane data communication when connected to a 5G core network, or an S1 interface for control plane signaling and user plane data communication when connected to an evolved packet core (EPC) network. At 106, base stations 121 and 122 can communicate over an Xn interface using the Xn Application Protocol (XnAP) or over an X2 interface using the X2 Application Protocol (X2AP) to exchange user plane and control plane data. User equipment 110 can connect to a public network such as the Internet 160 via the core network 150 to interact with remote services 170.

[0027] Example device

[0028] Figure 2 An example device diagram 200 is illustrated of user equipment and base stations. In various aspects, the device diagram 200 depicts devices that can implement various aspects of full-duplex communication for a coordinated set of user equipment. Figure 2Included in the embodiment are multiple UEs 110 and base stations 120. For clarity of explanation, multiple UEs 110 and base stations 120 may include Figure 2 Additional functions and interfaces omitted. The UE 110 includes an antenna 202 for communicating with a base station 120 in a 5G RAN and / or E-UTRAN, a radio frequency front end 204 (RF front end 204), and a radio frequency transceiver (e.g., an LTE transceiver 206 and a 5G NR transceiver 208). The UE 110 includes one or more additional transceivers (e.g., a local wireless network transceiver 210) for communicating with at least a coordinating UE of the UECS via one or more wireless local wireless networks (e.g., WLAN, Bluetooth, NFC, a personal area network (PAN), WiFi-Direct, IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee, Thread, mmWave, etc.). The RF front end 204 of the UE 110 can couple or connect the LTE transceiver 206, the 5G NR transceiver 208, and the local wireless network transceiver 210 to the antenna 202 to facilitate various types of wireless communications.

[0029] The antenna 202 of the UE 110 may include an array of multiple antennas configured to be similar or different from each other. The antenna 202 and the RF front end 204 may be tuned and / or tunable to one or more frequency bands defined by the 3GPP LTE and 5G NR communication standards and implemented by the LTE transceiver 206 and / or the 5G NR transceiver 208. Additionally, the antenna 202, the RF front end 204, the LTE transceiver 206, and / or the 5G NR transceiver 208 may be configured to support beamforming for transmitting and receiving communications with the base station 120. By way of example and not limitation, the antenna 202 and the RF front end 204 may be implemented to operate in sub-gigahertz frequency bands, sub-6 GHz frequency bands, and / or above-6 GHz frequency bands defined by the 3GPP LTE and 5G NR communication standards. Furthermore, the RF front end 204 may be tuned and / or tunable to one or more frequency bands defined and implemented by the local wireless network transceiver 210 to support transmission and reception of communications with other UEs in the UECS over the local wireless network.

[0030] UE 110 includes sensors 212 that may be implemented to detect various properties such as temperature, supplied power, power usage, battery status, etc. As such, sensors 212 may include any one or a combination of temperature sensors, thermistors, battery sensors, and power usage sensors.

[0031] UE 110 also includes a processor 214 and a computer-readable storage medium 216 (CRM 216). Processor 214 can be a single-core processor or a multi-core processor constructed from a variety of materials, such as silicon, polysilicon, high-k dielectrics, copper, etc. The computer-readable storage medium described herein does not include propagating signals. CRM 216 can include any suitable memory or storage device, such as random access memory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), read-only memory (ROM), or flash memory, that can be used to store device data 218 for UE 110. Device data 218 includes user data, multimedia data, beamforming codebooks, applications, and / or an operating system of UE 110, which can be executed by processor 214 to enable user plane communications, control plane signaling, and user interaction with UE 110.

[0032] The CRM 216 also includes a communication manager 220 (e.g., a communication manager application 220). Alternatively or additionally, the communication manager 220 can be implemented in whole or in part as hardware logic or circuitry that is integrated or separate from other components of the UE 110. In at least some aspects, the communication manager 220 configures the RF front end 204, the LTE transceiver 206, the 5G NR transceiver 208, and / or the local wireless network transceiver 210 to implement the techniques described herein for full-duplex communication of a coordinated set of user equipment.

[0033] Figure 2 The device diagram of the base station 120 shown in FIG includes a single network node (e.g., a gNodeB). The functionality of the base station 120 may be distributed across multiple network nodes or devices and may be distributed in any manner suitable for performing the functionality described herein. The base station 120 includes an antenna 252 for communicating with the UE 110, a radio frequency front end 254 (RF front end 254), one or more LTE transceivers 256, and / or one or more 5G NR transceivers 258. The RF front end 254 of the base station 120 may couple or connect the LTE transceiver 256 and the 5G NR transceiver 258 to the antenna 252 to facilitate various types of wireless communications. The antenna 252 of the base station 120 may include an array of multiple antennas configured to be similar or different from each other. The antenna 252 and the RF front end 254 may be tuned and / or tunable to one or more frequency bands defined by the 3GPP LTE and 5G NR communication standards and implemented by the LTE transceiver 256 and / or the 5G NR transceiver 258. Furthermore, the antenna 252, RF front end 254, LTE transceiver 256, and / or 5G NR transceiver 258 may be configured to support beamforming, such as massive MIMO, for transmission and reception of communications with any UE 110 in the UECS.

[0034] The base station 120 also includes a processor 260 and a computer-readable storage medium 262 (CRM 262). The processor 260 can be a single-core processor or a multi-core processor constructed from a variety of materials, such as silicon, polysilicon, high-k dielectrics, copper, etc. The CRM 262 can include any suitable memory or storage device, such as random access memory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), read-only memory (ROM), or flash memory, that can be used to store device data 264 for the base station 120. The device data 264 includes network scheduling data, radio resource management data, beamforming codebooks, applications, and / or an operating system for the base station 120, which can be executed by the processor 260 to enable communication with the UE 110.

[0035] The CRM 262 also includes a base station manager 266 (e.g., a base station manager application 266). Alternatively or additionally, the base station manager 266 can be implemented in whole or in part as hardware logic or circuitry that is integrated or separate from the other components of the base station 120. In at least some aspects, the base station manager 266 configures the LTE transceiver 256 and the 5G NR transceiver 258 for communication with the UE 110 and for communication with the core network. The base station 120 includes an inter-base station interface 268, such as an Xn and / or X2 interface, which the base station manager 266 configures to exchange user plane and control plane data between another base station 120 to manage communications between the base station 120 and the UE 110. The base station 120 includes a core network interface 270, which the base station manager 266 configures to exchange user plane and control plane data with core network functions and entities.

[0036] Air interface resources

[0037] Figure 3 The diagram illustrates air interface resources extending between a user equipment (UE) and a base station and that can be utilized to implement various aspects of full-duplex communication for a coordinated set of UEs. Air interface resources 302 can be divided into resource units 304, each of which occupies some intersection of frequency spectrum and elapsed time. A portion of air interface resources 302 is graphically illustrated in a grid or matrix having multiple resource blocks 310, including example resource blocks 311, 312, 313, and 314. The example resource unit 304 thus includes at least one resource block 310. As shown, time is depicted along the horizontal dimension as the abscissa axis, and frequency is depicted along the vertical dimension as the ordinate axis. Air interface resources 302, as defined by a given communication protocol or standard, can span any suitable specified frequency range and / or can be divided into intervals of any specified duration. Time increments can correspond, for example, to milliseconds (mSec). Frequency increments can correspond, for example, to megahertz (MHz).

[0038] Generally in example operation, the base station 120 allocates portions of the air interface resources 302 (e.g., resource elements 304) for uplink and downlink communications. Each resource block 310 of the network access resources can be allocated to support corresponding wireless communication links 130 of multiple user devices 110. In the lower left corner of the grid, a resource block 311 can span a specified frequency range 306 as defined by a given communication protocol and include multiple subcarriers or frequency subbands. The resource block 311 can include any suitable number of subcarriers (e.g., 12), each subcarrier corresponding to a corresponding portion (e.g., 15 kHz) of the specified frequency range 306 (e.g., 180 kHz). The resource block 311 can also span a specified time interval 308 or time slot (e.g., lasting approximately one-half millisecond or seven orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols) as defined by a given communication protocol. The time interval 308 includes subintervals that can each correspond to a symbol, such as an OFDM symbol. As Figure 3 As shown, each resource block 310 may include a plurality of resource elements 320 (REs) corresponding to or defined by subcarriers of the frequency range 306 and subintervals (or symbols) of the time interval 308. Alternatively, a given resource element 320 may span more than one frequency subcarrier or symbol. Thus, a resource unit 304 may include at least one resource block 310, at least one resource element 320, and so on.

[0039] In an example embodiment, a plurality of user devices 110 (one of which is shown) communicate with a base station 120 (one of which is shown) via access provided by a portion of the air interface resources 302. The base station manager 266 ( Figure 2 ) may determine a corresponding data rate, information type, or amount of information (e.g., data or control information) to be transmitted (e.g., sent) by user equipment 110. Base station manager 266 then allocates one or more resource blocks 310 to each user equipment 110 based on the determined data rate or amount of information.

[0040] Additionally or alternatively to block-level resource grants, the base station manager 266 can allocate resource elements at the element level. Thus, the base station manager 266 can allocate one or more resource elements 320 or individual subcarriers to different user equipment 110. By doing so, a resource block 310 can be allocated to facilitate network access by multiple user equipment 110. Thus, the base station manager 266 can allocate one or up to all subcarriers or resource elements 320 of a resource block 310 to a single user equipment 110 or divide it across multiple user equipment 110 at various granularities, thereby enabling higher network utilization or increased spectral efficiency.

[0041] The base station manager 266 may thus allocate the air interface resources 302 by resource units 304, resource blocks 310, frequency carriers, time intervals, resource elements 320, frequency subcarriers, time subintervals, symbols, spreading codes, some combination thereof, etc. Based on the respective allocations of resource units 304, the base station manager 266 may send respective messages to the plurality of user equipments 110 indicating the respective allocations of resource units 304 to each user equipment 110. Each message may enable the respective user equipment 110 to queue information or configure the LTE transceiver 206 and / or the 5G NR transceiver 208 to communicate via the allocated resource units 304 of the air interface resources 302.

[0042] User equipment coordination set full-duplex communication

[0043] Figure 4 An example implementation of a coordinated set of user equipment full-duplex communication 400 is illustrated. The example shown includes base station 121 and UECS 402, which includes UE 111, UE 112, UE 113, UE 114, and UE 115. Although for clarity of illustration, Figure 4 The UECS in 402 is illustrated as including five UEs, but any number of UEs greater than one may be included in the UECS. In UECS 402, UE 111 acts as a coordinating UE for UECS 402. Although not shown for visual clarity, the UEs in the UECS communicate with each other using a local wireless network connection as discussed above.

[0044] In various aspects, coordinating UE 111 selects a first subset of UEs 404 in UECS 402 to participate in joint reception of downlink (DL) signals (DL coordinating subset 404), and selects a second subset of UEs 406 to participate in joint transmission of uplink (UL) signals (UL coordinating subset 406). Coordinating UE 111 may participate in joint reception, joint transmission, or neither. For example, in UECS 402, the coordinating UE has selected itself, UE 112, and UE 113 of DL coordinating subset 404 for joint reception of downlink signals 408 from base station 121, and the coordinating UE has selected UE 114 and UE 115 of UL coordinating subset 406 for joint transmission of uplink signals 410 to base station 121. Coordinating UE 111 may select the subsets of UEs in any suitable manner, such as including some or all UEs in both subsets or selecting the UEs of the respective subsets to provide maximum physical isolation between the transmitting and receiving UEs. For example, the coordinating UE 111 may use the location information of the UEs in the UECS to select two subsets of UEs that provide maximum isolation or minimum acceptable isolation between the joint transmitting UEs (DL coordinating subset 404) and the joint receiving UEs (UL coordinating subset 406). For example, the coordinating UE 111 selects the two subsets of UEs to provide a certain amount of isolation (e.g., at least 50 dB of isolation) that allows joint processing to cancel crosstalk from the joint transmission to the joint reception.

[0045] Coordinating UE 111 (or another UE, such as a target UE) can cancel crosstalk from joint transmission to joint reception during joint processing of received downlink signals. For example, in UECS 402, joint transmission by UEs 114 and 115 may cause interference to joint reception by UEs 111, 112, and 113. Based on the joint processing of the uplink signal for the joint transmission, coordinating UE 111 can use knowledge of the uplink signal for the joint transmission and the timing of the joint transmission to cancel crosstalk from joint transmission to joint reception.

[0046] Alternatively or additionally, the role of the coordinating UE for full-duplex communication can be shared by the two UEs by assigning the first UE a role of coordinating joint reception (RX coordinating UE) and assigning the second UE a role of coordinating joint transmission (TX coordinating UE). When sharing the role of the coordinating UE, the TX coordinating UE can share information related to the joint transmission with the RX coordinating UE to assist the RX coordinating UE in eliminating crosstalk from the joint transmission to the joint reception signal.

[0047] Any single UE in UL coordinating subset 406 or DL ​​coordinating subset 404 may not overlap their transmission and reception in a single time interval (e.g., in a single time slot or symbol), but the UEs that make up UL coordinating subset 406 and DL coordinating subset 404 may change dynamically. For example, a target DL UE (e.g., UE 112) in DL coordinating subset 404 switches to the TX coordinating UE role of UL coordinating subset 406. At the same time, DL coordinating subset 404 continues to perform DL reception for target DL UE 112.

[0048] In other aspects, the base station 121 may allocate downlink and uplink frequency resources based on the UECS 402 being capable of full-duplex communication. Figure 5 The diagram illustrates various allocations of air interface resources that extend between the UECS and the base station and that can be utilized to implement various aspects of full-duplex communication for a coordinated set of user equipment. When the UECS 402 is not operating using full-duplex communication, the base station 121 can allocate resources for time division duplex (TDD) communication, as shown in the resource element columns for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) communication at 502, or the base station 121 can allocate resources for frequency division duplex (FDD) communication, as shown in the resource element column at 504. For example, when the coordinating UE 111 can determine a subset of joint transmitting and joint receiving UEs with sufficient isolation to support joint processing for full-duplex communication with the base station 121, the coordinating UE 111 indicates the full-duplex capability of the UECS 402 to the base station 121. For example, the coordinating UE 111 indicates the full-duplex capability of the UECS 402 in a capability information element that includes a field for a UECS radio network temporary identifier (UECS-RNTI) and an associated full-duplex bandwidth that the coordinating UE 111 determines can be supported by the UECS 402. For example, the coordinating UE 111 estimates the isolation between the joint transmitting UE and the joint receiving UE (e.g., based on the locations of the UEs in the UECS) to determine a bandwidth for which joint processing in the UECS can cancel crosstalk. For example, if the coordinating UE 111 estimates a relatively low isolation, the coordinating UE 111 indicates a narrower full-duplex bandwidth (e.g., a 10 MHz bandwidth), or if the coordinating UE 111 estimates a relatively high isolation, the coordinating UE 111 indicates a wider full-duplex bandwidth (e.g., a 100 MHz bandwidth).

[0049] Based on the indicated full-duplex bandwidth, base station 121 allocates uplink and downlink resources to the joint transmitting UE and the joint receiving UE in UECS 402 in the same time slot and on the same frequency, and sends a resource grant indicating the allocated resources to the coordinating UE. For example, base station 121 allocates all resource elements in column 506 for full-duplex (DL and UL) communication between base station 121 and UECS 402. The resources used for the uplink and downlink can be the same or different within the same frequency range, such as shown in column 508. If the indicated full-duplex bandwidth indicates that UECS 402 cannot perform crosstalk cancellation and therefore cannot perform full-duplex communication, base station 121 will not grant resources for concurrent uplink and downlink communication to the UE in UECS 402 in the same time slot.

[0050] Base station 121 may schedule DL grants and UL grants for the same target UE in UECS 402 or for different target UEs in UECS 402. A resource grant different from the resource grant of the UECS for a target UE when a UE in the UECS performs joint reception or joint transmission on behalf of the target UE using non-full-duplex communication may be granted by base station 121 or coordinating UE 111, a master UE in UECS 402 that utilizes the local wireless network. For example, if base station 121 concurrently schedules DL and UL communications for UE 112 on the same time slot, coordinating UE 111 may still determine that UEs 111, 112, and 113 will perform joint reception of UE 112's downlink data, while UEs 114 and 115 will perform joint transmission of UE 112's UL data. Coordinating UE 111 coordinates crosstalk cancellation of uplink signals for UE 112's downlink reception.

[0051] In a further aspect, the ability of the UECS to perform full-duplex communication may change over time, for example, due to UEs moving within the UECS, UEs leaving the UECS, or UEs being added to the UECS. Coordinating UE 111 and / or base station 121 may determine a change in the ability to perform joint processing to cancel crosstalk during full-duplex communication based on any suitable indication or measurement of full-duplex communication. In a first example, coordinating UE 111 and / or base station 121 may monitor a ratio of negative acknowledgements (NACKs) to acknowledgements (ACKs) for downlink communications, wherein an increasing ratio of NACKs to ACKs indicates that crosstalk cancellation by joint processing is decreasing in effectiveness. Coordinating UE 111 may evaluate the ratio of NACKs to ACKs against a threshold, and based on the ratio of NACKs to ACKs exceeding the threshold, coordinating UE 111 may determine an updated value for the full-duplex bandwidth and send an indication of the updated full-duplex bandwidth to base station 121 to indicate that UECS 402 may only support a narrower bandwidth for full-duplex communication or that UECS 402 may no longer support full-duplex communication. Alternatively or additionally, base station 121 may evaluate its NACK to ACK ratio for downlink data reception against a threshold, and based on determining that the NACK to ACK ratio exceeds the threshold, the base station changes resource allocation for full-duplex communication to reduce the channel bandwidth used for full-duplex communication with UECS 402, reduce the overlap of DL and UL resources used for full-duplex communication, or reallocate resources to terminate full-duplex communication with UECS 402.

[0052] In a second example, base station 121 may allocate partially overlapping resource elements for full-duplex communication with UECS 402 to evaluate the crosstalk cancellation capability of the joint processing in UECS 402. Base station 121 allocates a first portion of the resource elements for full-duplex communication that overlap in time and frequency, and allocates a second portion that does not overlap in time or frequency. For example, base station 121 allocates resource elements in a time slot (column 508) based on frequency such that fifty percent of the resource elements are allocated for full-duplex communication (DL / UL) and the remaining resource elements are allocated for DL ​​or UL communication with UECS 402. In another example, base station 121 allocates resource elements based on time slot (as shown in column 510) such that one-third of the resource elements are allocated for full-duplex communication (DL / UL), another one-third of the resource elements are allocated for DL ​​communication, and the remaining one-third are allocated for UL communication with UECS 402. The base station 121 may allocate resource elements in any suitable manner based on time and / or frequency to allocate varying proportions of resources to downlink, uplink, and / or full-duplex communications with the UECS 402. The coordinating UE 111 determines a signal quality metric (e.g., a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or a signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SINR)) for the first portion of the resource blocks (overlapping resource blocks) and the second portion of the resource blocks (non-overlapping resource blocks) to determine the efficiency of joint processing to cancel UL-to-DL crosstalk. Based on this determination, the coordinating UE 111 may determine an updated value for the full-duplex bandwidth and send an indication of the updated full-duplex bandwidth to the base station 121 to indicate that the UECS 402 may only support a narrower bandwidth for full-duplex communication or that the UECS 402 may no longer support full-duplex communication.

[0053] Full-duplex communication between the user equipment coordination set and the active coordination set

[0054] Figure 6 An example implementation of a user equipment coordination set full-duplex communication 600 is illustrated. The illustrated example includes an active coordination set (ACS) 602 comprising base station 121 and base station 122, and a UECS 402 comprising UE 111, UE 112, UE 113, UE 114, and UE 115. Although, for clarity of illustration, Figure 6 The UECS in FIG402 is shown as including five UEs, but any number of UEs greater than one may be included in the UECS. In the UECS 402, the UE 111 acts as a coordinating UE for the UECS 402. Although not shown for clarity, the UEs in the UECS communicate with each other using local wireless network connections, as discussed above. Although for clarity, Figure 6 The ACS in is shown as including two base stations, but any number of base stations greater than one may be included in the ACS.

[0055] In the ACS 602, the base station 121 acts as a coordinating (master) base station for joint transmission and / or joint reception between the ACS 602 and the UECS 402. From the perspective of the UECS 402 and the UEs included in the UECS 402, the operation of full-duplex communication is the same as described above regarding the ACS 602 when communicating with the ACS 602. Figure 4 The same as those described for communications with base station 121. Which base station in ACS 602 is the coordinating base station is transparent to UECS 402, and the coordinating base station can change as base stations are added to and / or removed from the ACS. The coordinating base station coordinates control plane and user plane communications for joint communications with UECS 402 via Xn interface 106 (or a similar 4G, 5G, or 6G interface) to base station 122, and maintains user plane context between the target UE in UECS 402 and core network 150. Coordinating base station 121 can use proprietary or standards-based messaging, procedures, and / or protocols to coordinate the operation of ACS 602. The coordinating base station schedules air interface resources for joint communications between UECS 402 and base stations 121 and 122 based on the ACS associated with the target UE.

[0056] In terms of full-duplex communication, compared to full-duplex communication of a single base station, by using the first base station 121 in the ACS 602 for downlink transmission to the UECS 402 and using the second base station 122 in the ACS 602 that is physically separated from the base station 121 for downlink transmission, the ACS can provide higher isolation (e.g., 60 to 70 dB) between downlink transmission and uplink reception. Figure 6 As shown, base station 121 transmits downlink signals 408 to the DL coordination subset 404 of UEs in UECS 402 (UEs 111, 112, and 113), and base station 122 receives uplink signals from the UL coordination subset 406 of UEs (UEs 114 and 115). Figure 6 In FIG, base station 121 is shown transmitting downlink signals to the UE's DL coordinating subset 404 and base station 122 is shown receiving uplink signals from the UE's UL coordinating subset 406. Either base station can transmit downlink signals and the other can receive uplink signals. Although base station 121 is depicted as acting as the coordinating base station for ACS 602, which base station in the ACS is the coordinating base station is irrelevant to whether the base station transmits downlink signals or receives uplink signals for ACS 602. Coordinating base station 121 can provide downlink data and associated transmission timing and resource allocation to base station 122 using Xn interface 106, so that base station 122 can use this information to eliminate crosstalk from concurrently transmitted downlink signals to uplink signals.

[0057] In a further aspect, base station 122 receives an indication of the full-duplex capability of UECS 402 from UECS 402. Base station 122 forwards the full-duplex capability of UECS 402 to coordinating base station 121, which manages resource allocation for full-duplex communication, as described above with respect to Figure 4 described.

[0058] Figure 7 The diagram illustrates data and control transactions between devices in a user equipment coordination set and a base station according to aspects of full-duplex communication within the user equipment coordination set. The UECS includes a DL coordinating subset 404 (jointly with RX UE 404), an UL coordinating subset 406 (jointly with TX UE 406), an RX coordinating UE 702, and a TX coordinating UE 704. The roles of the RX coordinating UE 702 and the TX coordinating UE 704 may alternatively be performed by a single UE (e.g., coordinating UE 111), as shown at 706. The UECS communicates jointly on behalf of a target UE 708. Additionally or alternatively, the target UE 708 may be included in the DL coordinating subset 404, may be included in the UL coordinating subset 406, may be the RX coordinating UE 702, may be the TX coordinating UE 704, or may be the coordinating UE 111.

[0059] At 710, base station 121 configures a UECS (e.g., UECS 402) that includes joint RX UE 404, joint TX UE 406, RX coordinating UE 702, and TX coordinating UE 704. At 715, coordinating UE 111 configures full-duplex communication for the UECS, including selecting a DL coordinating subset 404 (joint RX UE 404) and a UL coordinating subset 406 (joint TX UE 406). Coordinating UE 111 also determines whether it will assume the roles of RX coordinating UE 702 and TX coordinating UE 704, or whether those roles will be split between two different UEs in the UECS.

[0060] At 720, the coordinating UE 111 sends an indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication to the base station 121. The indication may be sent jointly by all UEs or a subset of UEs in the UECS.

[0061] At 725, base station 121 sends a resource grant to target UE 708 in the UECS. The resource grant indicates downlink and uplink resources for full-duplex communication with target UE 708. Base station 121 can send the resource grant directly to coordinating UE 111 or to the UECS, which jointly receives the resource grant. When different UEs perform the roles of RX coordinating UE 702 and TX coordinating UE 704, coordinating UE 111 forwards the resource grant information to RX coordinating UE 702 and TX coordinating UE 704 using a local wireless network (not shown).

[0062] At 730, the RX coordinating UE 702 forwards the configuration for joint reception to the joint RX UE 404 using the local wireless network. At 735, the TX coordinating UE 704 forwards the configuration for joint transmission to the joint TX UE 406 using the local wireless network. The configuration for joint reception and / or joint reception includes timing advance information, beam configuration, etc.

[0063] At 740, the UECS uses the granted resources to conduct full-duplex communication with the base station 121. The UEs in the DL coordinating subset 404 (jointly with the RX UE 404) demodulate and sample the downlink signals from the full-duplex communication. At 745, the UEs in the DL coordinating subset 404 forward the I / Q samples of the downlink communication to the RX coordinating UE 702 using the local wireless network.

[0064] At 750, the TX coordinating UE 704 transmits I / Q samples of uplink data from the full-duplex communication to the RX coordinating UE 702 using a local wireless network or an internal wired connection for a single coordinating UE 111. In one alternative, the target UE 708 transmits I / Q samples of uplink data from the full-duplex communication to the RX coordinating UE 702 using a local wireless network (not shown). In another alternative, if the coordinating UE 111 is performing the roles of both the RX coordinating UE 702 and the TX coordinating UE 704, the target UE 708 transmits I / Q samples of uplink data from the full-duplex communication to the coordinating UE 111.

[0065] At 755, the RX coordinating UE 702 (or coordinating UE 111) jointly processes the combined I / Q samples of the downlink communication to provide decoded data. The RX coordinating UE 702 (or coordinating UE 111) uses the I / Q samples of the uplink data to cancel undesirable crosstalk from the received downlink signal to the uplink signal. At 760, the RX coordinating UE 702 (or coordinating UE 111) transmits the decoded downlink data to the target UE 708.

[0066] Example Method

[0067] Figure 8 An example method 800 for full-duplex communication of a coordinated set of user equipment, generally associated with coordinating UEs of a UECS, is illustrated. At 802, a coordinating user equipment (e.g., UE 111) selects a first subset of UEs (e.g., DL coordinating subset 404) in a UECS (e.g., UECS 402) to jointly receive downlink signals. At 804, the coordinating user equipment selects a second subset of UEs (e.g., UL coordinating subset 406) in the UECS to jointly transmit uplink signals. For example, coordinating UE 111 evaluates location information associated with UEs in UECS 402 to select DL coordinating subset 404 of the UEs and UL coordinating subset 406 of the UEs to maximize isolation between transmission of uplink signals and reception of downlink signals to facilitate full-duplex communication between UECS 402 and a base station or ACS.

[0068] At 806, the coordinating UE sends (or the UECS jointly sends) an indication to a network entity (e.g., base station 121 or ACS 602) that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication. For example, coordinating UE 111 sends an indication to base station 121 or ACS 602 that UECS 402 is capable of full-duplex communication. Coordinating UE 111 may send this indication in a capability information element. The indication may further include an indication of the full-duplex bandwidth used for full-duplex communication.

[0069] At 808 , the coordinating UE receives a resource grant for the target UE in the UECS from the network entity. For example, the coordinating UE 111 receives (or the UECS jointly receives) a resource grant indicating downlink and uplink resources for full-duplex communication of the target UE in the UECS 402 .

[0070] At 810, the coordinating UE receives uplink data to be sent to the network entity. For example, the coordinating UE 111 receives uplink data to be sent to the network entity from the target UE or the TX coordinating UE. The coordinating UE 111 receives the uplink data in the form of I / Q samples using a local wireless connection to other UEs in the UECS 402.

[0071] At 812, the coordinating UE receives demodulated and sampled downlink data from the first subset of UEs concurrently with the joint transmission of uplink data by the second subset of UEs. For example, coordinating UE 111 receives demodulated and sampled downlink data from DL coordinating subset of UEs 404 concurrently with the joint transmission of uplink data by UL coordinating subset of UEs 406.

[0072] At 814, the coordinating UE combines the samples received from each UE in the first subset of UEs. At 816, the coordinating UEs jointly process the combined samples to provide decoded data using the received uplink data, thereby canceling crosstalk from the uplink signal for the transmitted uplink data to the downlink signal for the received downlink data. For example, the coordinating UE 111 combines the samples received from each UE in the DL coordinating subset of UEs 404 and jointly processes the combined samples to provide decoded data using the received uplink data, thereby canceling crosstalk from the uplink signal for the transmitted uplink data to the downlink signal for the received downlink data. For example, to cancel crosstalk, the coordinating UE reconstructs the transmitted interference based on the transmitted IQ samples from the UEs performing the joint transmission. The coordinating UE then subtracts the reconstructed transmitted interference from the received IQ samples of the joint receiving UEs.

[0073] Figure 9 An example method 900 for full-duplex communication of a coordinated set of user equipment, generally associated with a base station communicating with a UECS, is illustrated. At 902, a base station (e.g., base station 121) receives an indication from a coordinated set of user equipment (e.g., UECS 402) that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication, the indication including an indication of a full-duplex bandwidth for full-duplex communication. For example, base station 121 receives an indication that UECS 402 is capable of full-duplex communication. The indication includes an indication of a full-duplex bandwidth for full-duplex communication, and base station 121 receives the indication in a capability information element.

[0074] At 904, based on the indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex bandwidth, the base station allocates downlink resources and uplink resources for full-duplex communication with the target UE in the UECS. For example, the base station 121 allocates downlink resources and uplink resources that overlap in time and frequency for full-duplex communication with the target UE in the UECS 402.

[0075] At 906, the base station sends a resource grant to the UECS, the resource grant including an indication of downlink resources and uplink resources. For example, the base station 121 sends a resource grant to the UECS 402, the resource grant including an indication of downlink resources and uplink resources for full-duplex communication.

[0076] At 908, the base station receives an uplink signal for uplink data (e.g., uplink signal 410) from the UECS using uplink resources. At 910, the base station processes the received uplink signal using downlink data transmitted concurrently with the received uplink signal to provide decoded data using the downlink data, thereby canceling crosstalk from the downlink signal for the transmitted downlink data (e.g., downlink signal 408) to the received uplink signal. For example, during full-duplex communication, base station 121 cancels crosstalk from the downlink signal for the transmitted downlink data to the received uplink signal using the downlink data transmitted concurrently with the received uplink signal by base station 121.

[0077] refer to Figure 8 and 9 Example methods 800 and 900 are described for one or more aspects of full-duplex communication according to a user equipment coordination set. The order in which the method blocks are described is not intended to be construed as limiting, and any number of the described method blocks may be skipped, repeated, or combined in any order to implement the method or an alternative method. Generally, any components, modules, methods, and operations described herein may be implemented using software, firmware, hardware (e.g., fixed logic circuitry), manual processing, or any combination thereof. Some operations of the example methods may be described in the general context of executable instructions stored on a computer-readable storage memory local and / or remote to a computer processing system, and implementations may include software applications, programs, functions, and the like. Alternatively or additionally, any functionality described herein may be performed, at least in part, by one or more hardware logic components, such as, but not limited to, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an application specific standard product (ASSP), a system on a chip (SoC), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and the like.

[0078] Some examples are described below:

[0079] Example 1: A method performed by a user equipment (UE), wherein the user equipment is configured as a coordinating user equipment of a user equipment coordination set (UECS) of UEs connected by a local wireless network in a wireless communication network, the method comprising the coordinating user equipment:

[0080] selecting a first subset of UEs in the UECS to jointly receive downlink signals;

[0081] selecting a second subset of UEs in the UECS to jointly transmit an uplink signal;

[0082] sending an indication to a network entity that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication;

[0083] receiving a resource grant for a target UE in the UECS from the network entity;

[0084] receiving uplink data to be sent to the network entity;

[0085] receiving demodulated and sampled downlink data from the first subset of UEs, the demodulated and sampled downlink data jointly received by the first subset of UEs concurrently with modulated and coded uplink data jointly transmitted by the second subset of UEs;

[0086] combining the samples received from each UE in the first subset of UEs; and

[0087] The combined samples are jointly processed to provide decoded data using the received modulated and coded uplink data to cancel crosstalk of an uplink signal for the transmitted uplink data from a downlink signal for the received downlink data.

[0088] Example 2: The method of Example 1, wherein the sending the indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication comprises:

[0089] An indication of a UECS Radio Network Temporary Identifier (UECS-RNTI) and / or an associated full-duplex bandwidth is sent to the network entity.

[0090] Example 3: The method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the sending the indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication includes:

[0091] The indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication is sent in a capability information element.

[0092] Example 4: The method of any one of the preceding examples, wherein the UEs included in the first UE subset do not overlap with the UEs included in the second UE subset.

[0093] Example 5: The method of any preceding example, wherein the selecting the first UE subset and the selecting the second UE subset include:

[0094] The UEs of the first subset of UEs are selected based on location information associated with each respective UE in the UECS and the second subset of UEs is selected.

[0095] Example 6: The method of any preceding example, wherein the coordinating UE coordinates joint reception of the downlink signals by the first subset of UEs, wherein the coordinating UE coordinates joint transmission of the uplink signals by the second subset of UEs, and wherein the receiving the uplink data to be sent to the network entity comprises:

[0096] The uplink data is received from the target UE via a local wireless connection.

[0097] Example 7: The method of any preceding example, wherein the coordinating UE coordinates joint reception of the downlink signals by the first subset of UEs, wherein another coordinating UE coordinates joint transmission of the uplink signals by the second subset of UEs, and wherein receiving the uplink data to be sent to the network entity comprises:

[0098] The uplink data is received from the another coordinating UE.

[0099] Example 8: The method of any of the preceding examples, further comprising the coordinating user equipment:

[0100] monitoring an indication of performance of said full-duplex communication;

[0101] determining an updated full-duplex bandwidth based on determining that the indication of the performance is below a performance threshold; and

[0102] The updated full-duplex bandwidth is sent to the network entity.

[0103] Example 9: The method of Example 8, wherein the indication of the performance of the full-duplex communication comprises a ratio of negative acknowledgements (NACKs) to acknowledgements (ACKs) for downlink communications.

[0104] Example 10: The method of Example 8, wherein the monitoring the indication of the performance of the full-duplex communication comprises:

[0105] Link quality parameters are measured for downlink communications.

[0106] Example 11: The method of Example 10, wherein the link quality parameter comprises:

[0107] signal-to-noise ratio; or

[0108] Signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio.

[0109] Example 12: The method of any preceding example, wherein the first UE subset includes the coordinating UE, the method further comprising the coordinating UE:

[0110] receiving a downlink signal for the downlink data;

[0111] demodulating and sampling the downlink signal to generate the downlink signal sample set; and

[0112] Wherein combining the samples received from each UE in the first subset of UEs comprises combining the samples with a generated sample set.

[0113] Example 13: The method of any preceding example, wherein the network entity is a base station.

[0114] Example 14: The method of any one of Examples 1 to 12, wherein the network entity is an active coordination set (ACS), comprising a plurality of base stations configured for coordinated multipoint communication, wherein the first subset of UEs in the UECS jointly receives downlink signals from a first subset of base stations in the ACS, and wherein the second subset of UEs in the UECS jointly sends uplink signals to a second subset of base stations in the ACS.

[0115] Example 15: The method of any of the preceding examples, wherein the resource grant includes an indication of downlink resources and uplink resources in the same frequency bandwidth and at overlapping times.

[0116] Example 16: A user device comprising:

[0117] RF transceiver;

[0118] processor; and

[0119] A memory comprising instructions for a communication manager application, which is executable to configure the user equipment to perform any one of the methods in the above examples.

[0120] Example 17: A method performed by a base station in a wireless communication network, the method comprising the base station:

[0121] receiving an indication from a user equipment coordinating set UECS that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication;

[0122] allocating, in the UECS, downlink resources and uplink resources for full-duplex communication with a target user equipment UE based on the indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex bandwidth;

[0123] sending a first resource grant to the UECS, the first resource grant including an indication of the downlink resource and the uplink resource;

[0124] receiving an uplink signal for uplink data from the UECS using the uplink resource; and

[0125] Using downlink data transmitted concurrently with the received uplink signal to the UECS, the received uplink signal is processed to provide decoded data using the downlink data to cancel crosstalk of the downlink signal for the transmitted downlink data from the received uplink signal.

[0126] Example 18: The method of Example 17, the method further comprising the base station:

[0127] receiving an indication of an updated full-duplex bandwidth for the full-duplex communication;

[0128] modifying the allocation of the downlink resources and the uplink resources for the full-duplex communication based on the updated indication of full-duplex bandwidth; and

[0129] A second resource grant is sent to the UECS, the second resource grant including an indication of the modified allocation of the downlink resources and the uplink resources.

[0130] Example 19: The method of Example 17, the method further comprising the base station:

[0131] receiving an indication of full-duplex communication capability from the UECS;

[0132] Based on the received indication, modifying the allocation of the downlink resources and the uplink resources for the full-duplex communication so that portions of the downlink resources and the uplink resources overlap; and

[0133] A second resource grant is sent to the UECS, the second resource grant including an indication of the modified allocation of the downlink resources and the uplink resources.

[0134] Example 20: The method of any one of Examples 17 to 19, further comprising the base station:

[0135] The downlink data is sent to the UECS concurrently with the uplink signal for receiving the uplink data from the UECS.

[0136] Example 21: The method of any one of Examples 17 to 20, wherein the base station is included in an active coordination set (ACS), the method further comprising the base station:

[0137] The downlink data concurrently transmitted to the UECS is received from another base station in the ACS.

[0138] Example 22: The method of any one of Examples 17 to 21, wherein the indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication comprises an indication of a full-duplex bandwidth for the full-duplex communication.

[0139] Example 23: A base station comprising:

[0140] Wireless transceiver;

[0141] Inter-base station interface;

[0142] processor; and

[0143] A memory comprising instructions for a base station manager application, the instructions being executable by the processor to configure the base station to perform any one of the methods of Examples 17 to 22.

[0144] Example 24: A computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause an apparatus comprising the processor to perform any of the methods of Examples 1 to 15 or 17 to 22.

[0145] Although aspects of user equipment coordination set full-duplex communication have been described using language specific to features and / or methods, the subject matter of the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as example implementations of user equipment coordination set full-duplex communication, and other equivalent features and methods are intended to be within the scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, various different aspects have been described, and it should be understood that each described aspect can be implemented independently or in combination with one or more other described aspects.

Claims

1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE is configured as a coordinating user equipment of a user equipment coordination set (UECS) of UEs connected by a local wireless network in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: selecting a first subset of UEs in the UECS to jointly receive downlink signals; selecting a second UE subset in the UECS to jointly transmit an uplink signal, the UEs included in the second UE subset having no overlap with the UEs included in the first UE subset; sending an indication to a network entity that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication; receiving a resource grant for a target UE in the UECS from the network entity; receiving uplink data to be sent to the network entity; receiving demodulated and sampled downlink data from the first subset of UEs concurrently with jointly transmitting modulated and coded uplink data by the second subset of UEs, the demodulated and sampled downlink data being jointly received by the first subset of UEs; combining samples received from each UE in the first subset of UEs; as well as The combined samples are jointly processed to provide decoded data using the received modulated and coded uplink data, thereby canceling crosstalk of an uplink signal for the transmitted uplink data from a downlink signal for the received downlink data.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein Sending the indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication includes: An indication of a UECS Radio Network Temporary Identifier (UECS-RNTI) and / or an associated full-duplex bandwidth is sent to the network entity.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein Sending the indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication includes: The indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication is sent in a capability information element.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein Selecting the first UE subset and selecting the second UE subset include: UEs are selected for the first subset of UEs and the second subset of UEs based on location information associated with each respective UE in the UECS.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein The coordinating UE coordinates joint reception of the downlink signals by the first subset of UEs, wherein the coordinating UE coordinates joint transmission of the uplink signals by the second subset of UEs, and wherein receiving the uplink data to be sent to the network entity comprises: The uplink data is received from the target UE via a local wireless connection.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein The coordinating UE coordinates joint reception of the downlink signals by the first subset of UEs, wherein another coordinating UE coordinates joint transmission of the uplink signals by the second subset of UEs, and wherein receiving the uplink data to be sent to the network entity comprises: The uplink data is received from the another coordinating UE.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: monitoring an indication of performance of said full-duplex communication; Based on determining that the indication of the performance is below a performance threshold: Determine updated full-duplex bandwidth; as well as The updated full-duplex bandwidth or an indication that the UECS is no longer able to support full-duplex communication is sent to the network entity.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The indication of the performance of the full-duplex communication comprises a ratio of negative acknowledgements (NACKs) to acknowledgements (ACKs) for downlink communications.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein: Monitoring the indication of performance of the full-duplex communication includes: Link quality parameters are measured for downlink communications.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein: The link quality parameters include: signal-to-noise ratio; or Signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein The first UE subset includes the coordinating UE, and the method further includes: receiving a downlink signal for the downlink data; demodulating and sampling the downlink signal to generate a sample set of the downlink signal; and Combining the samples received from each UE in the first subset of UEs comprises combining the samples with a generated sample set.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein The network entity is a base station.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein The network entity is an active coordination set (ACS), the active coordination set (ACS) comprising a plurality of base stations configured for coordinated multipoint communication, wherein the first subset of UEs in the UECS jointly receives downlink signals from a first subset of base stations in the ACS, and wherein the second subset of UEs in the UECS jointly sends uplink signals to a second subset of base stations in the ACS.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein: The resource grant includes an indication of downlink resources and uplink resources in the same frequency bandwidth and at overlapping times.

15. A user equipment comprising: RF transceiver; processor; as well as A memory comprising instructions for a communication manager application, which are executable to configure the user equipment to perform the method of any one of claims 1-14.

16. A method performed by a base station in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: receiving, from a user equipment coordination set (UECS), an indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication, the UECS comprising a first UE subset for jointly receiving downlink signals and a second UE subset for jointly transmitting uplink signals, the UEs included in the second UE subset not overlapping with the UEs included in the first UE subset; allocating, based on the indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication, downlink resources and uplink resources for full-duplex communication with a target user equipment UE in the UECS; sending a first resource grant to the UECS, the first resource grant including an indication of the downlink resource and the uplink resource; receiving, using the uplink resources, uplink signals for uplink data from the second subset of UEs in the UECS; as well as Using downlink data transmitted concurrently with the received uplink signal to the first subset of UEs in the UECS, the received uplink signal is processed to provide decoded data using the downlink data, thereby canceling crosstalk of the downlink signal for the transmitted downlink data from the received uplink signal.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: receiving an indication of an updated full-duplex bandwidth for the full-duplex communication; modifying said allocation of said downlink resources and said uplink resources for said full-duplex communication in accordance with said indication of said updated full-duplex bandwidth; as well as A second resource grant is sent to the UECS, the second resource grant including an indication of the modified allocation of the downlink resources and the uplink resources.

18. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: receiving an indication of full-duplex communication capability from the UECS; Based on the received indication, modifying the allocation of the downlink resources and the uplink resources for the full-duplex communication so that portions of the downlink resources and the uplink resources overlap; as well as A second resource grant is sent to the UECS, the second resource grant including an indication of the modified allocation of the downlink resources and the uplink resources.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising: The downlink data is transmitted to the UECS within the same frequency band concurrently with receiving an uplink signal for uplink data from the UECS.

20. The method according to claim 16, wherein The base station is included in an active coordination set (ACS), and the method further comprises: The downlink data concurrently transmitted to the UECS is received from another base station in the ACS.

21. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, wherein: The indication that the UECS is capable of full-duplex communication includes an indication of a full-duplex bandwidth used for the full-duplex communication.

22. A base station, comprising: Wireless transceiver; Inter-base station interface; processor; as well as A memory comprising instructions for a base station manager application, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to configure the base station to perform the method according to any one of claims 16 to 21.

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