Method and apparatus for handling sidelink reference signals for beam management in communications

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices are provided for handling sidelink reference signals for beam management in a wireless communication system, wherein the method of the first device comprises scheduling or requesting to perform one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions, receptions or measurements in a first sidelink transmission time interval in a first sidelink resource pool in a sidelink carrier or cell; scheduling or requesting to perform a first sidelink data and / or feedback transmission or reception in a first sidelink transmission time interval in a sidelink carrier or cell; and determining to perform one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmission, reception or measurement or first sidelink data and / or feedback transmission or reception in the first sidelink transmission time interval based at least on the parameters of the independent sidelink channel state information reference signals.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 528,302 filed on July 21, 2023 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 528,311 filed on July 21, 2023; each of the applications and publications cited therein are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication networks, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for handling sidelink reference signals for beam management in wireless communication systems. Background Art

[0004] With the rapid growth of the demand for transmitting large amounts of data to and from mobile communication devices, traditional mobile voice communication networks have evolved into networks that communicate using Internet Protocol (IP) packets. This IP packet communication can provide IP-bearing voice, multimedia, multicast and on-demand communication services for users of mobile communication devices.

[0005] An exemplary network structure is an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN). The E-UTRAN system can provide high data throughput to enable the above-mentioned IP-bearing voice and multimedia services. Currently, the 3GPP standards organization is discussing new next-generation (e.g., 5G) radio technologies. Therefore, changes to the current body of 3GPP standards are currently being submitted and considered to enable the 3GPP standards to evolve and complete. Summary of the invention

[0006] Provided are a method, system, and device for handling sidelink reference signals for beam management in a wireless communication system. For independent sidelink (SL) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission, reception, and / or measurement, a user equipment (UE) can obtain corresponding sidelink resources and can handle and / or avoid different conflict situations.

[0007] In various embodiments, a method of a first device includes: being scheduled or requested to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, receptions or measurements in a first sidelink transmission time interval (TTI) in a first sidelink resource pool in a sidelink carrier or cell; being scheduled or requested to perform first sidelink data and / or feedback transmission or reception in a first sidelink TTI in a sidelink carrier or cell; and determining to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, receptions or measurements or first sidelink data and / or feedback transmission or reception in the first sidelink TTI based at least on parameters of the independent SLCSI-RS.

[0008] In various embodiments, a method of a first device includes: obtaining or receiving a configuration of a first side link resource pool in a side link carrier or cell; obtaining or receiving a configuration of a first one or more resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement in the side link carrier or cell; obtaining or receiving a configuration of a second one or more resources for SL data and / or feedback transmission, reception or measurement in the side link carrier or cell; and performing one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement within the first one or more resources. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Figure 1 The drawings show a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0010] Figure 2 is a block diagram of a transmitter system (also referred to as an access network) and a receiver system (also referred to as a user equipment or UE) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0011] Figure 3 is a functional block diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0012] Figure 4 According to an embodiment of the present invention Figure 3 Functional block diagram of the program code.

[0013] Figure 5 It is from 3GPP TS 38.321V17.5.0(2023-06)3GPP Figure 6 .1.3.35-1: Reproduction of the sidelink CSI reporting MAC CE.

[0014] Figure 6 It is from R1-2304344 Figure 3 : Reproduction of a pair of SL UEs (A, B) performing SL beam refinement for unicast communication.

[0015] Figure 7 It is from R1-2304344 Figure 4 : Reproduction of SL beam refinement based on exhaustive beam search (slot-by-slot TX beam sweeping at UE A, symbol-by-symbol RX beam sweeping at UE B).

[0016] Figure 8 It is from R1-2304344 Figure 5 : Reproduction of SL beam refinement (UE A plays the role of gNB) based on Uu procedure [P-2, P-3] (symbol-by-symbol TX beam sweeping at UE A, symbol-by-symbol RX beam sweeping at UE B).

[0017] Fig. 9 It is from R1-2304344 Figure 6 : Reproduction of SL beam refinement (symbol-by-symbol RX beam sweeping at UE B, symbol-by-symbol RX beam sweeping at UE A) based on TX / RX beam correspondence [P-3, P-3].

[0018] Fig.10 It is from R1-2305424 Figure 4 : Reproduction of multiple CSI-RS in one time slot.

[0019] Fig.11 It is from R1-2305424 Figure 5 : Reproduction of a single SL CSI-RS structure.

[0020] Fig.12 It is from R1-2305424 Figure 6 : Reproduction of resource configuration between CSI-RS and PSFCH.

[0021] Fig.13 It is from R1-2305633 Figure 3 : Reproduction of an example of SL beam maintenance based on existing SL CSI reporting.

[0022] Fig.14 It is from R1-2305633 Figure 4 : Reproduction of an example of SL beam maintenance based on SL CSI reporting.

[0023] Fig.15A 2 is an example diagram showing that one side link slot may include SL CSI-RS1-4 transmissions with corresponding SCIs (PSCCH and level 2 SCI) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] Fig. 15B2 is an example diagram showing that one side link slot may include SL CSI-RS1 ˜ 9 transmissions with corresponding SCIs (PSCCH and level 2 SCI) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Fig.16 is an example diagram showing that when sensing-based resource selection is triggered / requested in time slot n, a UE (physical layer) will have an (initial) candidate single-slot resource set including a plurality of candidate single-slot resources according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Fig.17A is an example diagram showing that a first UE determines side link resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission based on a gray RX beam sensing result according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] Fig. 17B is an example diagram showing that a first UE can perform 5 SL CSI-RS transmission via different TX beams according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0028] Fig. 17C is an example diagram showing that a first UE can perform 5 SL CSI-RS transmission via different TX beams according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0029] Fig.17D is an example diagram showing that a gray RX beam is determined as a reference beam for determining side link resources according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0030] Fig.17E This is an example illustration showing that, for a TTI including more than one RX beam for monitoring (e.g., the second TTI in the first sensing window) according to an embodiment of the present invention, the UE will consider the sensing result in the second TTI to be associated with a gray RX beam (e.g., an RX beam for monitoring SCI) or the sensing result to be associated with more than one RX beam.

[0031] Fig.18 It is a flowchart of a method of a first device according to an embodiment of the present invention, the method comprising: having / receiving a configuration of a network scheduling mode for acquiring side link resources; triggering or requesting to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a side link TTI; not having side link resources for performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions; triggering a side link buffer status report to a network node; and transmitting the side link buffer status report to the network node.

[0032] Fig.19It is a flowchart of a method of a first device according to an embodiment of the present invention, the method comprising: having / receiving a configuration of a network scheduling mode for acquiring side link resources; triggering or requesting to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a side link TTI; not having side link resources for performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions; triggering a side link scheduling request to a network node; and transmitting the side link scheduling request to the network node.

[0033] Fig. 20 It is a flowchart of a method of a first device according to an embodiment of the present invention, the method comprising: triggering or requesting one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions via one or more first TX beams in a side link TTI; performing a first sensing-based resource selection for selecting one or more first side link resources in a first side link resource pool; based on the sensing results in the first side link resource pool, determining a first set of identified / valid candidate resources and selecting the one or more first side link resources from the first set of identified / valid candidate resources; and performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions on the selected one or more first side link resources.

[0034] Fig.21 This is a flowchart of a method of a first device according to an embodiment of the present invention, the method comprising: having / receiving a configuration of a time slot set for independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement in a side link carrier / cell; and the first device (limited to) performing independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement within the time slot set.

[0035] Fig. 22 It is a flowchart of a method of a first device according to an embodiment of the present invention, the method comprising: being scheduled or requested to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement in a first side link TTI in a first side link resource pool in a side link carrier or cell; being scheduled or requested to perform first side link data and / or feedback transmission or reception in a first side link TTI in a side link carrier or cell; and determining to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement or first side link data and / or feedback transmission or reception in the first side link TTI based at least on parameters of the independent SL CSI-RS.

[0036] Fig.23It is a flowchart of a method of a first device according to an embodiment of the present invention, the method comprising: obtaining or receiving a configuration of a first side link resource pool in a side link carrier or a cell; obtaining or receiving a configuration of a first one or more resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement in the side link carrier or the cell; obtaining or receiving a configuration of a second one or more resources for SL data and / or feedback transmission, reception or measurement in the side link carrier or the cell; and (limited to) performing one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement within the first one or more resources. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] The present invention described herein may be applied to or implemented in the exemplary wireless communication systems and devices described below. In addition, the present invention is mainly described in the context of the 3GPP architecture reference model. However, it should be understood that with the help of the disclosed information, those skilled in the art can easily adapt and use and implement aspects of the present invention in the 3GPP2 network architecture as well as other network architectures.

[0038] The exemplary wireless communication systems and devices described below employ wireless communication systems that support broadcast services. Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communications, such as voice, data, etc. These systems can be based on code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access, 3GPP Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) radio access, 3GPP2 Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), WiMax, 3GPP New Radio (NR), or some other modulation technology.

[0039] In particular, the exemplary wireless communication systems and devices described below may be designed to support one or more standards, such as those provided by a consortium named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" referred to herein as 3GPP, including: [1] 3GPP TS 38.213 V17.6.0 (2023-06) 3GPP; TSG RAN; NR; Physical layer procedures for control (Release 17); [2] 3GPP TS 38.214 V17.6.0 (2023-06) 3GPP; TSG RAN; NR; Physical layer procedures for data (Release 17); [3] 3GPP TS 38.212 V17.5.0 (2023-03) 3GPP; TSG RAN; NR; Multiplexing and channel coding (Release 17); [4] 3GPP TS 38.321 V17.5.0 (2023-06) 3GPP; TSG RAN; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol Specification (Release 17); [5] RP-230077, “WID Amendment: NR Sidelink Evolution”, OPPO; [6] RAN1 Chairman’s Note of 3GPP TSG RANWG1#112bis; [7] RAN1 Chairman’s Note of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1#113; [8] R1-2304344, “Beam Management for Sidelink in FR2”, Nokia, Nokia Shanghai Bell Company; [9] R1-2304483, “Enhanced Sidelink Operation on FR2 Licensed Spectrum”, vivo;

[10] R1-2305424, “Beam Management for Sidelink in FR2”, OPPO; and

[11] R1-2305633, “Discussion on Enhanced Sidelink Operation on FR2 Licensed Spectrum”, LG Electronics. The standards and documents listed above are hereby expressly and completely incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0040] Figure 1 1 shows a multiple access wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. An access network 100 (AN) includes multiple antenna groups, one including 104 and 106, another including 108 and 110, and another including 112 and 114. Figure 11, only two antennas are shown for each antenna group, however, each antenna group may utilize more or fewer antennas. Access terminal (AT) 116 communicates with antennas 112 and 114, where antennas 112 and 114 transmit information to access terminal 116 via forward link 120 and receive information from AT 116 via reverse link 118. AT 122 communicates with antennas 106 and 108, where antennas 106 and 108 transmit information to AT 122 via forward link 126 and receive information from AT 122 via reverse link 124. In an FDD system, communication links 118, 120, 124, and 126 may use different frequencies for communication. For example, forward link 120 may use a different frequency than the frequency used by reverse link 118.

[0041] Each group of antennas and / or the area in which they are designed to communicate is often referred to as a sector of the access network. In an embodiment, the antenna groups are each designed to communicate with access terminals in a sector of the area covered by the access network 100.

[0042] In communicating via forward links 120 and 126, the transmit antennas of access network 100 may utilize beamforming in order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the forward links for the different access terminals 116 and 122. Additionally, an access network that transmits to access terminals randomly dispersed throughout its coverage area using beamforming may cause less interference to access terminals in neighboring cells than an access network that transmits to all of its access terminals via a single antenna.

[0043] AN may be a fixed station or base station for communicating with a terminal, and may also be referred to as an access point, Node B, base station, enhanced base station, eNodeB, or some other term. AT may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, a terminal, an access terminal, or some other term.

[0044] Figure 2 2 is a simplified block diagram of an embodiment of a transmitter system 210 (also referred to as an access network) and a receiver system 250 (also referred to as an access terminal (AT) or user equipment (UE)) in a MIMO system 200. At the transmitter system 210, traffic data for a number of data streams is provided from a data source 212 to a transmit (TX) data processor 214.

[0045] In one embodiment, each data stream is transmitted through a respective transmit antenna.TX data processor 214 formats, codes, and interleaves the traffic data for each data stream based on a particular coding scheme selected for that data stream to provide coded data.

[0046] The coded data for each data stream may be multiplexed with pilot data using OFDM techniques. The pilot data is typically a known data pattern that is processed in a known manner and may be used at the receiver system to estimate the channel response. The multiplexed pilot and coded data for each data stream are then modulated (e.g., symbol mapped) based on a particular modulation scheme (e.g., BPSK, QPSK, M-PSK, or M-QAM) selected for the data stream to provide modulation symbols. Instructions executed by processor 230 may determine the data rate, coding, and modulation for each data stream. Memory 232 is coupled to processor 230.

[0047] The modulation symbols for all data streams are then provided to a TX MIMO processor 220, which may further process the modulation symbols (e.g., for OFDM). The TX MIMO processor 220 then converts the N T The modulation symbol stream is provided to N T transmitters (TMTR) 222a through 222t. In certain embodiments, TX MIMO processor 220 applies beamforming weights to the symbols of the data streams and to the antenna from which the symbol is being transmitted.

[0048] Each transmitter 222 receives and processes a respective symbol stream to provide one or more analog signals, and further conditions (eg, amplifies, filters, and up-converts) the analog signals to provide a modulated signal suitable for transmission via a MIMO channel. T The antennas 224a to 224t transmit the N signals from the transmitters 222a to 222t. T a modulated signal.

[0049] At the receiver system 250, N R The transmitted modulated signals are received by each antenna 252a through 252r and the received signal from each antenna 252 is provided to a respective receiver (RCVR) 254a through 254r. Each receiver 254 conditions (e.g., filters, amplifies, and downconverts) a respective received signal, digitizes the conditioned signal to provide samples, and further processes the samples to provide a corresponding “received” symbol stream.

[0050] RX data processor 260 then extracts the N R The receiver 254 receives and processes N R received symbol streams to provide N TThe RX data processor 260 then demodulates, deinterleaves, and decodes each detected symbol stream to recover the traffic data for the data stream. The processing by the RX data processor 260 is complementary to the processing performed by the TX MIMO processor 220 and the TX data processor 214 at the transmitter system 210.

[0051] Processor 270 periodically determines which pre-coding matrix to use (discussed below). Processor 270 formulates a reverse link message comprising a matrix index portion and a rank value portion.

[0052] The reverse link message may include various types of information about the communication link and / or the received data stream. The reverse link message is then processed by the TX data processor 238 (which also receives traffic data for a number of data streams from the data source 236), modulated by the modulator 280, conditioned by the transmitters 254a to 254r, and transmitted back to the transmitter system 210.

[0053] At the transmitter system 210, the modulated signal from the receiver system 250 is received by the antenna 224, conditioned by the receiver 222, demodulated by the demodulator 240, and processed by the RX data processor 242 to extract the reverse link message transmitted by the receiver system 250. The processor 230 then determines which precoding matrix to use to determine the beamforming weights and then processes the extracted message.

[0054] The memory 232 may be used to temporarily store some buffer / calculated data from 240 or 242 via the processor 230, store some buffer data from 212, or store some specific program codes. Also, the memory 272 may be used to temporarily store some buffer / calculated data from 260 via the processor 270, store some buffer data from 236, or store some specific program codes.

[0055] Go to Figure 3 , this figure shows an alternative simplified functional block diagram of a communication device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 As shown, the communication device 300 in the wireless communication system can be used to implement Figure 1UE (or AT) 116 and 122 in, and the wireless communication system is preferably an NR system. The communication device 300 may include an input device 302, an output device 304, a control circuit 306, a central processing unit (CPU) 308, a memory 310, a program code 312, and a transceiver 314. The control circuit 306 executes the program code 312 in the memory 310 through the CPU 308, thereby controlling the operation of the communication device 300. The communication device 300 can receive a signal input by a user through the input device 302 (e.g., a keyboard or a keypad), and can output images and sounds through the output device 304 (e.g., a monitor or a speaker). The transceiver 314 is used to receive and transmit wireless signals, pass the received signal to the control circuit 306, and wirelessly output the signal generated by the control circuit 306.

[0056] Figure 4 According to one embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 4. In this embodiment, program code 312 includes application layer 400, layer 3 portion 402, and layer 2 portion 404, and is coupled to layer 1 portion 406. Layer 3 portion 402 typically performs radio resource control. Layer 2 portion 404 typically performs link control. Layer 1 portion 406 typically performs physical connectivity.

[0057] For LTE, LTE-A or NR systems, the layer 2 portion 404 may include a radio link control (RLC) layer and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The layer 3 portion 402 may include a radio resource control (RRC) layer.

[0058] Any two or more of the following paragraphs, (sub)bullets, points, actions or claims described in each invention may be logically, reasonably and appropriately combined to form a specific method.

[0059] Any sentence, paragraph, (sub) bullet, key point, action or claim described in each of the following invention paragraphs or sections can be implemented independently and individually to form a specific method or device. Dependencies such as "based on", "more specifically", "example" and the like in the following disclosure of the present invention are only one possible embodiment that does not limit a specific method or device.

[0060] In TS 38.213 ([1] 3GPP TS 38.213 V17.6.0 (2023-06) 3GPP), SL-related procedures for control are specified.

[0061] **********************Quote [1]Start *************************

[0062] 16 UE procedures for sidelink

[0063] The BWP for SL transmission (SL BWP) is provided to the UE by SL-BWP-Config or SL-BWP-ConfigCommon, which has basic parameters and resource grid determined as described in [4, TS 38.211]. For the resource pool within the SL BWP, a number of subchannels are provided to the UE by sl-NumSubchannel, where each subchannel contains a number of consecutive RBs provided by sl-SubchannelSize. The first RB of the first subchannel in the SL BWP is indicated by sl-StartRB-Subchannel. The available time slots for the resource pool are provided by sl-TimeResource and occur with a periodicity of 10240ms. For available time slots without S-SS / PSBCH blocks, SL transmission can start from the first symbol indicated by sl-StartSymbol and within a number of consecutive symbols indicated by sl-LengthSymbols. For available time slots with S-SS / PSBCH blocks, the first symbol and the number of consecutive symbols are predetermined.

[0064] The priority of the PSSCH according to NR radio access or according to E-UTRA radio access is indicated by the priority field in the corresponding scheduling SCI format. The priority of the PSSS / SSSS / PSBCH according to E-UTRA radio access is provided by sl-SSB-PriorityEUTRA [13, TS 36.213]. The priority of the S-SS / PSBCH block is provided by sl-SSB-PriorityNR. The priority of the PSFCH is determined as described in clause 16.2.4.2.

[0065] …

[0066] 16.2.4 Prioritization of Transmit / Receive

[0067] 16.2.4.1 Simultaneous NR and E-UTRA transmission / reception

[0068] If UE

[0069] - the first channel / signal is to be transmitted using E-UTRA radio access and the second channel / signal is to be transmitted using NR radio access, and

[0070] - the transmission of the first channel / signal will overlap in time with the transmission of the second channel / signal, and

[0071] - the priority of the channel / signal is known at the UE for both E-UTRA radio access and NR radio access T milliseconds before the start of the earliest of the two transmissions, where T≤4 and is based on the UE implementation,

[0072] UE transmits only the channel / signal of the radio access technology with the highest priority

[0073] - as determined by the SCI format of the scheduled transmission, or

[0074] - as indicated by higher layers in the case of S-SS / PSBCH blocks or sidelink synchronization signals using E-UTRA radio access, or

[0075] - In case of PSFCH transmission as determined in clause 16.2.4.2.

[0076] If UE

[0077] - the first channel / signal will be transmitted or received using E-UTRA radio access and the second channel / signal will be received or transmitted using NR radio access, respectively, and

[0078] - the transmission or reception of the first channel / signal will overlap in time with the reception of the second channel / signal or the transmission of the second channel / signal, respectively, and

[0079] - the priority of the channel / signal is known at the UE for both E-UTRA radio access and NR radio access T milliseconds before the start of the earliest transmission or reception, where T≤4 and is based on the UE implementation,

[0080] The UE transmits or receives the channel / signal of the radio access technology with the highest priority

[0081] - as determined by the SCI format of the scheduled transmission, or

[0082] - as indicated by higher layers in the case of S-SS / PSBCH blocks or sidelink synchronization signals using E-UTRA radio access, or

[0083] - During PSFCH transmission / reception as determined in clause 16.2.4.2.

[0084] 16.2.4.2 Simultaneous PSFCH Transmission / Reception

[0085] For PSFCH transmission or reception with HARQ-ACK information, the priority value for the PSFCH is equal to the priority value indicated by SCI format 1-A associated with the PSFCH.

[0086] For PSFCH transmissions with conflicting information, the priority value for the PSFCH is equal to the minimum priority value determined by the corresponding SCI format 1-A for the conflicting resources.

[0087] For PSFCH reception with contention information, the priority value for PSFCH is equal to the priority value determined by the corresponding SCI format 1-A for the contention resources.

[0088] If UE

[0089] - will transmit N sch，Tx，PSFCH PSFCH and receive N sch，Rx，PSFCH PSFCH, and

[0090] -N sch，Tx，PSFCH The transmission of the PSFCH will be in time with N sch，Rx，PSFCH The reception of PSFCHs overlaps

[0091] The UE transmits or receives only a set of PSFCHs corresponding to the minimum priority field value, such as when one or more of the PSFCHs provide HARQ-ACK information by respectively communicating with the PSFCHs having the value from N sch，Tx，PSFCH The PSFCH with HARQ-ACK information from N PSFCHs and sch，Rx，PSFCH The first group of SCI formats 1-A and / or the second group of SCI formats 1-A associated with the PSFCH of the HARQ-ACK information of the PSFCH are determined [5, TS 38.212]. sch，Tx，PSFCH PSFCH and N sch，Rx，PSFCH None of the PSFCHs provide HARQ-ACK information. If the PSFCH provides conflicting information, the UE only transmits or receives the packets corresponding to the packets respectively corresponding to N sch，Tx，PSFCH PSFCH and N sch，Rx，PSFCH A group of PSFCHs with the minimum priority value of the first group of PSFCHs and the second group of PSFCHs associated with the PSFCHs.

[0092] If the UE transmits N sch，Tx，PSFCH PSFCH, the UE first transmits the Tx，PSFCH The minimum priority field value among the priority field values ​​(if any) Tx，PSFCH Then, the UE transmits a PSFCH corresponding to N PSFCHs with HARQ-ACK information. Tx，PSFCH The remaining PSFCH with conflicting information is the one with the minimum remaining priority field value among the priority field values ​​(if any).

[0093] If the UE indicates to receive N in the PSFCH reception opportunity Rx，PSFCHIf the UE has the capability of receiving multiple PSFCHs [18, TS 38.306], the UE first receives the PSFCH with HARQ-ACK information (if present), and then receives the PSFCH with contention information (if present).

[0094] …16.3 UE procedures for reporting and obtaining control information in PSFCH

[0095] The control information provided by the PSFCH transmission includes HARQ-ACK information or contention information.

[0096] 16.3.0 UE Procedure for Transmitting PSFCH with Control Information

[0097] The UE may be instructed by the SCI format that schedules PSSCH reception to transmit a PSFCH with HARQ-ACK information in response to PSSCH reception. The UE provides HARQ-ACK information including ACK or NACK or only NACK.

[0098] The number of slots in the resource pool within the period of the PSFCH transmission opportunity resource may be provided to the UE by sl-PSFCH-Period. If the number is zero, PSFCH transmission from the UE in the resource pool is disabled.

[0099] …

[0100] 16.3.1 UE Procedure for Receiving PSFCH with Control Information

[0101] A UE transmitting a PSSCH scheduled by SCI format 2-A / 2-B / 2-C indicating that HARQ feedback is enabled attempts to receive an associated PSFCH with HARQ-ACK information according to a PSFCH resource determined as described in clause 16.3.0. The UE determines an ACK or NACK value for the HARQ-ACK information provided in each PSFCH resource as described in [8-4, TS 38.101-4]. For a PSFCH resource, the UE does not determine both an ACK value and a NACK value simultaneously.

[0102] …16.4 UE procedures for transmitting PSCCH

[0103] For PSCCH transmission with SCI format 1-A, several symbols from a resource pool starting from the second symbol available for SL transmission in the time slot may be provided to the UE via sl-TimeResourcePSCCH, and several PRBs from a resource pool starting from the lowest PRB of the lowest subchannel of the associated PSSCH may be provided to the UE via sl-FreqResourcePSCCH.

[0104] UE transmitting PSCCH with SCI format 1-A using sidelink resource allocation mode 2 [6, TS 38.214]

[0105] - Set the "Resource Reservation Period" to the index in the sl-ResourceReservePeriodList corresponding to the reservation period provided by higher layers [11, TS 38.321], provided that the UE is provided with sl-MultiReserveResource

[0106] - The values ​​of the frequency resource assignment field and the time resource assignment field are set as described in [6, TS 38.214] to indicate the resource set {R y}, which has N minimum time slot indexes y i , where 0≤i≤N-1, so that y0 <y1<…<y N-1 ≤y0+31, where:

[0107] -N=min(N 选定 , N max_reserve ), where N 选定 is a time slot index y i Collection of NR y}, 0≤j≤N 选定 -1, making And N max_reserve Provided by sl-MaxNumPerReserve

[0108] -From the resource collection {R y Each resource of} corresponds to L subCH A set of contiguous subchannels and time slots The time slots in which L subCH is the number of subchannels available for PSSCH / PSCCH transmission in a time slot

[0109] - is the set of time slots in the sidelink resource pool [6, TS 38.214]

[0110] -y0 is the index of the slot in which the PSCCH with SCI format 1-A is transmitted.

[0111] UE configuration for transmitting PSCCH with SCI format 1-A using sidelink resource allocation mode 1 [6, TS 38.214]

[0112] - the values ​​of the frequency resource assignment field and the time resource assignment field of SCI format 1-A transmitted in the m-th resource of PSCCH / PSSCH transmission provided by dynamic grant or SL configured grant, where m={1, ..., M} and M is the total number of resources for PSCCH / PSSCH transmission provided by dynamic grant or the number of resources for PSCCH / PSSCH transmission in a period provided by SL configured grant type 1 or SL configured grant type 2, as follows:

[0113] - The frequency resource assignment field and the time resource assignment field indicate the mth to Mth resources, as described in [6, TS 38.214].

[0114] …

[0115] 16.7 Operations for Intra-Device Coexistence

[0116] If the UE is to transmit or receive a first channel / signal using E-UTRA radio access and a second channel / signal using NR radio access, when

[0117] - the first channel / signal and the second channel / signal are time division multiplexed, and

[0118] - The UE knows the frame index of the first channel / signal and the frame index of the second channel / signal,

[0119] The UE transmits or receives each channel / signal such that a subframe boundary of the second channel / signal is aligned with a subframe boundary of the first channel / signal, wherein the subframe boundary alignment is achieved by UE implementation means.

[0120] **********************End of Quote [1]***********************

[0121] In TS 38.214 ([2] 3GPP TS 38.214 V17.6.0 (2023-06) 3GPP), SL-related procedures for data are specified.

[0122] **********************Quote [2] starts************************

[0123] 8 Physical side link shared channel related procedures

[0124] The UE may be configured by higher layers to have one or more sidelink resource pools. A sidelink resource pool may be used for transmission of PSSCH, as described in clause 8.1, or for reception of PSSCH, as described in clause 8.3, and may be associated with sidelink resource allocation mode 1 or sidelink resource allocation mode 2.

[0125] In the frequency domain, the sidelink resource pool consists of sl-NumSubchannel contiguous subchannels. A subchannel consists of sl-SubchannelSize consecutive PRBs, where sl-NumSubchannel and sl-SubchannelSize are higher layer parameters.

[0126] The set of time slots that can belong to the sidelink resource pool is given by Indicates that

[0127] - 0≤i <T max ,

[0128] - the slot index is relative to slot#0 of the radio frame corresponding to SFN 0 or DFN 0 of the serving cell,

[0129] - The set contains all time slots except the following time slots,

[0130] -N of which S-SS / PSBCH blocks (S-SSB) are configured S-SSB time slots,

[0131] -N nonSL time slots, in each of which at least one of the Yth, (Y+1th), ..., (Y+X-1)th OFDM symbols is not semi-statically configured as UL according to the higher layer parameters tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon (if provided) or sl-TDD-Configuration (if provided) of the serving cell or sl-TDD-Configuration (if provided) of the received PSBCH, where Y and X are set by the higher layer parameters sl-StartSymbol and sl-LengthSymbols, respectively.

[0132] - Reserved time slots, which are determined by the following steps.

[0133] 1) Exclude N from the set of all time slots S-SSB time slots and N nonSL The remaining time slots are arranged in ascending order of time slot index. express.

[0134] 2) If Then time slot l r(0≤r<10240×2 μ -N S-SSB -N nonSL ) belongs to the reserved time slot, where m = 0, 1, ..., N 预留 -1 and N 预留 =(10240×2 μ -N S-SSB -N nonSL )modL 位图 , where L 位图 Indicates the length of the bitmap configured by higher layers.

[0135] - The slots in a set are arranged in increasing order of slot index.

[0136] The UE determines the set of time slots assigned to the sidelink resource pool as follows:

[0137] -Use the bitmap associated with the resource pool The length of the bitmap is L 位图 Configured by higher layers.

[0138] - If b k′ =1, then the time slot belongs to the set, where k′=kmodL 位图 .

[0139] - The slots in the set are re-indexed so that the remaining slots The subscript i is continuous {0, 1, ..., T′ max -1}, where T′ max is the number of time slots remaining in the set.

[0140] The UE determines the set of resource blocks allocated to the sidelink resource pool as follows:

[0141] -The resource block pool consists of N PRB PRBs.

[0142] - Subchannel m (m=0, 1, ..., numSubchannel-1) consists of a physical resource block number n PRB =n subCHRBstart +m·n subCHsize +j(j=0,1,…,n subCHsize -1) subCHsize It is composed of a set of adjacent resource blocks, where n subCHRBstart 、n subCHsize and numSubchannel are given by the higher layer parameters sl-StartRB-Subchannel, sl-SubchannelSize, and sl-NumSubchannel respectively.

[0143] The UE is not expected to use the last N PRB modn subCHsize PRBs.

[0144] 8.1 UE procedures for transmitting the physical sidelink shared channel

[0145] Each PSSCH transmission is associated with a PSCCH transmission.

[0146] The PSCCH transmission carries the level 1 SCI associated with the PSSCH transmission; the level 2 associated SCI is carried within the resources of the PSSCH.

[0147] If the UE transmits SCI format 1-A on the PSCCH according to the PSCCH resource configuration in slot n and PSCCH resource m, then for the associated PSSCH transmission in the same slot

[0148] - A transport block is transmitted in at most two layers;

[0149] -…

[0150] 8.1.1 Transmission scheme

[0151] Only one transmission scheme is defined for PSSCH and is used for all PSSCH transmissions.

[0152] PSSCH transmission is performed through at most two antenna ports, where antenna ports 1000-1001 are defined in clause 8.2.4 of [4, TS38.211].

[0153] 8.1.2 Resource Allocation

[0154] In sidelink resource allocation mode 1:

[0155] - For PSSCH and PSCCH transmissions, dynamic grants, configured grant type 1 and configured grant type 2 are supported. Configured grant type 2 sidelink transmissions are semi-statically scheduled by SL grants according to clause 10.2A of [6, TS 38.213] in the valid activation DCI.

[0156] 8.1.2.1 Resource Allocation in the Time Domain

[0157] The UE shall transmit the PSSCH in the same time slot as the associated PSCCH.

[0158] The smallest resource allocation unit in the time domain is a time slot.

[0159] The UE shall transmit PSSCH in consecutive symbols within a slot, subject to the following constraints:

[0160] - The UE shall not transmit PSSCH in symbols not configured for the sidelink.Symbols for the sidelink are configured according to higher layer parameters sl-StartSymbol and sl-LengthSymbols, where sl-StartSymbol is the symbol index of the first symbol of sl-LengthSymbols consecutive symbols configured for the sidelink.

[0161] - Within a time slot, PSSCH resource allocation starts at symbol sl-StartSymbol+1.

[0162] - If PSFCH is configured in this slot, the UE shall not transmit PSSCH in symbols configured for use by PSFCH.

[0163] - The UE shall not transmit PSSCH in the last symbol configured for the sidelink.

[0164] - If PSFCH is configured in this time slot, the UE shall not transmit PSSCH in the symbol immediately preceding the symbol configured for use by PSFCH.

[0165] In sidelink resource allocation mode 1:

[0166] -For sidelink dynamic grant, PSSCH transmission is scheduled by DCI format 3_0.

[0167] - For sidelink configured grant type 2, the configured grant is activated by DCI format 3_0.

[0168] - For Sidelink Dynamic Grant and Sidelink Configured Grant Type 2:

[0169] - The "Time Slot" field value m of DCI format 3_0 provides an index m+1 into the slot offset table. The table is given by the higher layer parameter sl-DCI-ToSL-Trans, and the table value at index m+1 will be referred to as the slot offset K SL .

[0170] - The time slot of the first sidelink transmission scheduled by DCI is no earlier than The first SL time slot starts with T DL is the start time of the downlink time slot carrying the corresponding DCI, T TA is the timing advance value corresponding to the TAG of the serving cell on which the DCI is received, and K SL is the time slot offset between the time slot of the DCI and the first sidelink transmission scheduled by the DCI, and T 时隙 is the SL slot duration.

[0171] - The "Configuration Index" field of DCI format 3_0 (if provided and non-reserved) indicates the index of the sidelink configured type 2.

[0172] - For sidelink configured grant type 1:

[0173] - The time slots of the first sidelink transmission follow the higher layer configuration according to [10, TS 38.321].

[0174] 8.1.2.2 Resource Allocation in the Frequency Domain

[0175] The resource allocation unit in the frequency domain is a subchannel.

[0176] The subchannel assignment for sidelink transmissions is determined using the "Frequency Resource Assignment" field in the associated SCI.

[0177] The lowest subchannel used for sidelink transmissions is the subchannel of the lowest PRB on which the associated PSCCH is transmitted.

[0178] If a PSSCH scheduled by a PSCCH would overlap with resources containing the PSCCH, then resources corresponding to the union of the PSCCH and the associated PSCCH DM-RS for the scheduled PSSCH are not available for the PSSCH.

[0179] …

[0180] 8.1.4 UE procedure for determining the resource subset to be reported to higher layers in PSSCH resource selection in sidelink resource allocation mode 2

[0181] In resource allocation mode 2, higher layers may request the UE to determine the resource subset from which the higher layers will select resources for PSSCH / PSCCH transmission. To trigger this procedure, in time slot n, higher layers provide the following parameters for this PSSCH / PSCCH transmission:

[0182] - the resource pool from which the resource will be reported;

[0183] -L1 priority, prio TX ;

[0184] - Remaining packet delay budget;

[0185] - The number of subchannels L to be used for PSSCH / PSCCH transmission in a time slot subCH ;

[0186] - Optionally, the resource reservation interval P rsvp_TX , in milliseconds.

[0187] -If higher layers request the UE to determine a subset of resources from which the higher layers will select resources for PSSCH / PSCCH transmission as part of a re-evaluation or pre-emption procedure, the higher layers provide a set of resources that may be subject to re-evaluation (r0, r1, r2, ...) and a set of resources that may be subject to pre-emption (r0′, r1′, r2′, ...).

[0188] - Determined by the UE implementation in time slot r i ″ - a subset of resources requested by a higher layer before or after T3, where r i ″ is the time slot with the smallest time slot index among (r0, r1, r2, ...) and (r0′, r1′, r2′, ...), and T3 is equal to in The time slots are defined in Table 8.1.4-2, where μ SL It is the SCS configuration of SL BWP.

[0189] - Optionally, an indication of a resource selection mechanism.

[0190] The following higher-level parameters affect this procedure:

[0191] -sl-SelectionWindowList: internal parameter T 2min Targeting priO TX The given value of is set to the corresponding value from the higher-level parameter sl-SelectionWindowList.

[0192] -sl-Thres-RSRP-List: This higher layer parameter provides the parameters for each combination (p i , p j ) RSRP threshold, where p i is the value of the priority field in the received SCI format 1-A, and p j is the priority with which the UE selects resources for transmission; for a given invocation of this procedure, p j =prio TX .

[0193] -sl-RS-ForSensing selects whether the UE uses PSSCH-RSRP or PSCCH-RSRP measurement as defined in clause 8.4.2.1.

[0194] -sl-ResourceReservePeriodList

[0195] -sl-SensingWindow: The internal parameter T0 is defined as the number of time slots corresponding to sl-SensingWindow milliseconds

[0196] -sl-TxPercentageList: for a given prio TX The internal parameter X is defined as sl-TxPercentageList(prio) which converts from percentage to ratio. TX )

[0197] -sl-PreemptionEnable: If sl-PreemptionEnable is provided and if it is not equal to 'enabled', the internal parameter prio pre Set to the parameter sl-PreemptionEnable provided by higher layers.

[0198] -…

[0199] - Optionally, an indication of whether the UE needs to perform SL reception of PSCCH and RSRP measurements for partial sensing on slots in the SL DRX inactive time as sl-PartialSensingInactiveTime.

[0200] Resource reservation interval P rsvp_TX (if provided) Convert from milliseconds to logical slots, thereby obtaining P according to clause 8.1.7 r ' svp_TX .

[0201] When the resource pool is (pre-)configured with sl-AllowedResourceSelectionConfig including full sensing and full sensing is configured in the UE by higher layers, the UE performs full sensing.

[0202] When periodic reservation for another TB (sl-MultiReserveResource) is enabled for a resource pool, the resource pool is (pre-)configured with sl-AllowedResourceSelectionConfig including partial sensing, and partial sensing is configured by higher layers, the UE performs periodic based partial sensing, unless other conditions state otherwise in the specification.

[0203] When the UE is triggered by higher layers to report resources for resource (re)selection in a Mode 2 Tx pool, the resource pool is (pre-)configured with an sl-AllowedResourceSelectionConfig including partial sensing, and partial sensing is configured by higher layers, the UE performs contiguous partial sensing unless otherwise stated in the specification.

[0204] annotation:

[0205] Represents the set of time slots belonging to the sidelink resource pool and is defined in clause 8.

[0206] Use the following steps:

[0207] 1) Candidate single-slot resource R for transmission x，y is defined as the time slot L with subchannel x+j in subCH A set of adjacent subchannels, where j = 0, ..., L subCH -1. The UE shall assume that the L contained in the corresponding resource pool within the time interval [n+T1, n+T2] subCH Any set of Y adjacent subchannels corresponds to a candidate single-slot resource for the UE to perform full sensing, and any set of Y candidate time slots in the time interval [n+T1, n+T2] corresponds to a candidate single-slot resource for the UE to perform periodic partial sensing and adjacent partial sensing and resource (re)selection triggered by periodic transmission (P rsvp_TX ≠0), or corresponds to a candidate single slot resource (P) in the set of Y' candidate slots in the time interval [n+T1, n+T2] for the UE to perform at least adjacent partial sensing and resource (re)selection triggered by aperiodic transmission. rsvp_TX =0), where

[0208] -T1 selection in The following depends on the UE implementation, where In Table 8.1.4-2, it is defined in time slots, where μ SL SCS configuration for SL BWP;

[0209] -If T 2min shorter than the remaining packet delay budget (in time slots), then T2 depends on the UE implementation, where T 2min ≤ T2 ≤ the remaining packet delay budget (in time slots); otherwise T2 is set to the remaining packet delay budget (in time slots).

[0210] -Y is selected by UE, where Y ≥ Y min .

[0211] -Y′ is selected by UE, where Y′≥Y m ' min When the UE performs at least neighbor partial sensing and if P rsvp_TX = 0, the UE selects a set of Y′ candidate time slots with corresponding PBPS and / or CPS results (if available). If the number of candidate time slots Y′ is less than Y m ' min , then including other candidate time slots depends on the UE implementation.

[0212] The total number of candidate single-slot resources is given by M 总数 express.

[0213] 2) When the UE performs full sensing, the sensing window is composed of the time slot range Definition, where T0 is defined above and In Table 8.1.4-1, it is defined in time slots, where μ SL SCS configuration for SL BWP. The UE shall monitor the slots belonging to the sidelink resource pool within the sensing window, except for the slots in which its own transmission occurs. The UE shall perform the actions in the subsequent steps based on the decoded PSCCH and the measured RSRP in these slots.

[0214] …

[0215] 3) Internal parameter Th(p i , p j ) is set to the corresponding value of the RSRP threshold indicated by the i-th field in sl-Thres-RSRP-List, where i=p i +(p j -1)*8.

[0216] 4) Set S A is initialized to the set of all candidate single-slot resources.

[0217] 5) The UE shall select A Exclude any candidate single-slot resource R x，y , provided that it satisfies all of the following conditions:

[0218] - The UE does not monitor the time slot in step 2

[0219] - for any periodicity value followed by the higher layer parameter sl-ResourceReservePeriodList and in a slot with the 'Resource Reservation Period' field set to that periodicity value The assumed SCI format 1-A received in and indicating all sub-channels of the resource pool in this time slot will satisfy condition c in step 6.

[0220] 5a) If the set S A The remaining candidate single-slot resources R x，y The number is less than X·M 总数 , then as in step 4, the set S A Initialized to the set of all candidate single-slot resources.

[0221] 6) The UE shall select A Exclude any candidate single-slot resource R x，y , provided that it satisfies all of the following conditions:

[0222] a)UE in time slot The SCI format 1-A is received in the received SCI format 1-A, and the 'resource reservation period' field (if present) and the 'priority' field in the received SCI format 1-A indicate the value P respectively according to clause 16.4 in [6, TS 38.213]. rsvp_RX and prio RX ;

[0223] b) RSRP measurements performed according to clause 8.4.2.1 for received SCI format 1-A are above Th(prio RX , prio TX );

[0224] c) In time slot or if and only if the 'Resource Reservation Period' field is present in the received SCI format 1-A, it is assumed that the resource reservation period is in the time slot The same SCI format received in Overlapping resource blocks and time slots, where q = 1, 2, ..., Q and j = 0, 1, ..., C resel -1. Here, P r ' svp_RX is P converted to logical time slot units according to clause 8.1.7 rsvp_RX , if P rsvp_RX <T scal And n′-m≤P r ' svp_RX ,but Where if the UE is configured with full sensing by its higher layers, if time slot n belongs to the set but Otherwise the time slot Belongs to the set The first time slot after time slot n; if the UE is configured with partial sensing by its higher layers, if the time slot Belongs to the collection but Otherwise the time slot Belongs to the set In the time slot Otherwise Q = 1. If the UE is configured with full sensing by its higher layers, then T scal Set to convert to the selection window size T2 in milliseconds. If the UE is configured with partial sensing by its higher layers, then Should be converted to milliseconds, where the time slot is the last slot among Y or Y′ candidate slots. is the first time slot of the selected / remaining set of Y or Y′ candidate time slots.

[0225] 6a) This step is only performed if the procedure in clause 8.1.4A is triggered.

[0226] 6b) This step is only performed if the procedure in clause 8.1.4C is triggered.

[0227] 7) If the set S A The number of candidate single-slot resources remaining in 总数 , then for each priority value Th(p i , p j )Th(p i , p j ) is increased by 3dB, and the procedure continues with step 4.

[0228] 7a) If the sidelink DRX action time of the RX UE is provided by a higher layer and the set S A If the candidate single time slot resource is not reserved during the side link DRX action time in the UE, the UE selects another resource based on its implementation plan and includes the set S A At least one candidate single time slot resource within the side link DRX action time.

[0229] The UE shall report the set S to higher layers A .

[0230] …

[0231] 8.1.5 UE procedure for determining time slots and resource blocks for PSSCH transmissions associated with SCI format 1-A

[0232] The set of time slots and resource blocks used for PSSCH transmission is determined by the resources for PSCCH transmission containing the associated SCI format 1-A and the fields 'Frequency resource assignment', 'Time resource assignment' of the associated SCI format 1-A, as described below.

[0233] The 'Time Resource Assignment' carries a logical slot offset indication of N=1 or 2 actual resources when sl-MaxNumPerReserve is 2, and carries a logical slot offset indication of N=1 or 2 or 3 actual resources when sl-MaxNumPerReserve is 3, in the form of a Time RIV (TRIV) field, determined as follows:

[0234]

[0235]

[0236] where the first resource is in the time slot receiving SCI format 1-A, and t i represents the i-th resource time offset relative to the first resource in the logical time slot of the resource pool, where for N = 2, 1 ≤ t1 ≤ 31, and for N = 3, 1 ≤ t1 ≤ 30, t1 < t2 ≤ 31.

[0237] The start subchannel of the first resource is determined according to Clause 8.1.2.2. The number L of subchannels for adjacent allocation for each of the N resources subCH ≥ 1, and except for the resources in the time slot receiving SCI format 1-A, the start subchannel index of the resources indicated by the received SCI format 1-A is determined from the "Frequency Resource Assignment" equal to the frequency RIV (FRIV), where

[0238] If sl-MaxNumPerReserve is 2, then

[0239]

[0240] If sl-MaxNumPerReserve is 3, then

[0241]

[0242] where

[0243] - represents the start subchannel index of the second resource

[0244] - represents the start subchannel index of the third resource

[0245] - is the number of subchannels in the resource pool provided by the higher layer parameter sl-NumSubchannel

[0246] If TRIV indicates N < sl-MaxNumPerReserve, the start subchannel indices corresponding to the last sl-MaxNumPerReserve minus N resources are not used.

[0247] The number of time slots in a set of time and frequency resources for the transmission opportunity of PSSCH is given by C resel where C resel = 10 * SL_RESOURCE_RESELECTION_COUNTER[10, TS 38.321] (if configured), otherwise C resel is set to 1.

[0248] If the time slot The set of subchannels in is determined as the time and frequency resources for PSSCH transmission corresponding to the selected sidelink grant (described in [10, TS38.321]), then the time slot The same set of subchannels in is also determined for PSSCH transmissions corresponding to the same sidelink grant, where j=1, 2, ..., C resel -1,P rsvp_TX (if provided) Convert from units of milliseconds to units of logical time slots, thereby obtaining P according to clause 8.1.7 r ' svp_TX ,and Determined by clause 8. Here, P rsvp_TX is the resource reservation interval indicated by higher layers.

[0249] …

[0250] 8.1.7 UE procedure for determining the number of logical slots used for a reservation period

[0251] The given resource reservation period P in milliseconds rsvp Converted to period P in logical time slots r ' svp ,for:

[0252]

[0253] Where T′ max is the number of time slots belonging to the resource pool as defined in clause 8.

[0254] 8.2 UE procedures for transmitting sidelink reference signals

[0255] 8.2.1CSI-RS Transmission Procedure

[0256] The UE transmits sidelink CSI-RS within a unicast PSSCH transmission if the following conditions hold:

[0257] - CSI reporting is enabled by the higher layer parameter sl-CSI-Acquisition; and

[0258] - The 'CSI Request' field in the corresponding SCI format 2-A or 2-C is set to 1.

[0259] The following parameters for CSI-RS transmission are configured for each CSI-RS configuration:

[0260] -sl-CSI-RS-FirstSymbol indicates the first OFDM symbol in the PRB used for SL CSI-RS

[0261] -sl-CSI-RS-FreqAllocation indicates the number of antenna ports and frequency domain allocation for SL CSI-RS.

[0262] When the UE is configured with Q p = {1, 2} CSI-RS ports and the number of scheduled layers is hour,

[0263] - CSI-RS scaling factor β specified in clause 8.4.1.5.3 of [4, TS 38.211] CSIRS Given as in is the scaling factor specified in clause 8.3.1.5 of [4, TS 38.211] for the corresponding PSSCH.

[0264] …

[0265] 8.3 UE Procedure for Receiving Physical Sidelink Shared Channel

[0266] For sidelink resource allocation mode 1, after detecting SCI format 1-A on PSCCH, the UE can decode PSSCH according to the detected SCI formats 2-A, 2-B and 2-C and the associated PSSCH resource configuration configured by higher layers. The UE does not need to decode more than one PSCCH at each PSCCH resource candidate.

[0267] For sidelink resource allocation mode 2, after detecting SCI format 1-A on PSCCH, the UE can decode PSSCH according to the detected SCI formats 2-A, 2-B and 2-C and the associated PSSCH resource configuration configured by higher layers. The UE does not need to decode more than one PSCCH at each PSCCH resource candidate.

[0268] If SCI format 1-A indicates an MCS table that is not supported by the UE, the UE is required to decode neither the corresponding SCI formats 2-A, 2-B, and 2-C nor the PSSCH associated with SCI format 1-A.

[0269] 8.4 UE procedures for receiving reference signals

[0270] 8.4.1 CSI-RS Reception Procedure

[0271] The CSI-RS defined in clause 8.4.1.5 of [4, TS 38.211] may be used for CSI calculation.

[0272] …

[0273] 8.5 UE Procedure for Reporting Channel State Information (CSI)

[0274] 8.5.1 Channel State Information Framework

[0275] CSI consists of a channel quality indicator (CQI) and a rank indicator (RI). CQI and RI are always reported together.

[0276] 8.5.1.1 Report Configuration

[0277] The UE shall calculate the CSI parameters (if reported) assuming the following dependencies between them:

[0278] - The CQI should be calculated conditional on the reported RI

[0279] CSI reporting may be aperiodic (using [10, TS 38.321]). Table 8.5.1.1-1 shows supported combinations of CSI reporting configuration and CSI-RS configuration and how CSI reporting is triggered for CSI-RS configuration. Aperiodic CSI-RS is configured and triggered / activated as described in clause 8.5.1.2.

[0280] Table 8.5.1.1-1: Triggering / activation of CSI reporting for possible CSI-RS configurations

[0281] CSI-RS Configuration Non-periodic CSI reports Aperiodic CSI-RS Triggered by SCI.

[0282] For CSI reporting, wideband CQI reporting is supported. For the entire CSI reporting band, wideband CQI is reported for a single codeword.

[0283] 8.5.1.2 Triggering of Sidelink CSI Reporting

[0284] A CSI-triggering UE is not allowed to trigger another aperiodic CSI report for the same UE before the last time slot of expected reception or completion of an ongoing aperiodic CSI report associated with SCI format 2-A or 2-C with the 'CSI request' field set to 1, where the last time slot of expected reception of the ongoing aperiodic CSI report is given by [10, TS38.321].

[0285] Aperiodic CSI reporting is triggered by SCI format 2-A or 2-C with the 'CSI request' field set to 1.

[0286] The UE is not expected to transmit overlapping sidelink CSI-RS and sidelink PT-RS.

[0287] 8.5.2 Channel State Information

[0288] 8.5.2.1 CSI reporting volume

[0289] 8.5.2.1.1 Channel Quality Indicator (CQI)

[0290] The UE shall derive the CQI as specified in clause 5.2.2.1 with the following changes

[0291] -PDSCH replaced by PSSCH

[0292] - Uplink timeslots are replaced by sidelink timeslots

[0293] - Downlink physical resource blocks are replaced with sidelink physical resource blocks

[0294] - Determined according to the transport block size of clause 8.1.3.2

[0295] - CSI reference resources according to clause 8.5.2.3

[0296] -Does not support interference measurement

[0297] - Sub-band CQI is not supported

[0298] - Determine cqi-Table as follows

[0299] - if Table 5.1.3.1-1 is identified as the MCS table according to clause 8.1.3.1 of [6, 38.214], then cqi-Table = 'table1',

[0300] - if Table 5.1.3.1-2 is determined as the MCS table according to clause 8.1.3.1 of [6, 38.214], then cqi-Table = 'table2',

[0301] - If Table 5.1.3.1-3 is identified as the MCS table according to clause 8.1.3.1 of [6, 38.214], then cqi-Table = 'table3'

[0302] 8.5.2.2 Reference Signal (CSI-RS)

[0303] The UE may be configured with one CSI-RS pattern as indicated by higher layer parameters sl-CSI-RS-FreqAllocation, sl-CSI-RS-FirstSymbol in SL-CSI-RS-Config.

[0304] Configure the parameters that the UE should assume non-zero transmit power for CSI-RS according to clause 8.2.1.

[0305] The UE is not expected to be configured such that the CSI-RS and the corresponding PSCCH may be mapped to the same resource element. The UE is not expected to receive the sidelink CSI-RS and PSSCH DM-RS on the same symbol, nor the CSI-RS and level 2 SCI.

[0306] The sidelink CSI-RS shall be transmitted according to [4, TS 38.211] in the resource blocks used for the PSSCH associated with SCI format 2-A or 2-C that triggers the report.

[0307] 8.5.2.3 CSI reference resource definition

[0308] The CSI reference resource in the side link is defined as follows:

[0309] - In the frequency domain, the CSI reference resources are defined by the sidelink physical resource block groups containing the sidelink CSI-RS to which the derived CSI is associated.

[0310] - In the time domain, via a single sidelink time slot n CSI_ref Defines the CSI reference resource for CSI reporting in sidelink time slot n, where n CSI_ref It is the same sidelink time slot as the corresponding CSI request.

[0311] If configured to report CQI index and RI index, in the CSI reference resource, the UE shall assume the following for deriving the CQI index and RI index:

[0312] - The reference resource uses the CP length and subcarrier spacing configured for the SL BWP.

[0313] - Redundancy version 0.

[0314] -PSCCH occupies 2 OFDM symbols.

[0315] -The number of PSSCH and DM-RS symbols is equal to sl-LenghSymbols-2.

[0316] - It is assumed that no REs are allocated for sidelink CSI-RS.

[0317] -SCI format 2-A, SCI format 2-B or SCI format 2-C assuming no RE allocation.

[0318] - The same number of DM-RS symbols is assumed as the minimum number configured by the higher layer parameter sl-PSSCH-DMRS-TimePatternList.

[0319] - It is assumed that no REs are allocated for the sidelink PT-RS.

[0320] - Assume that the sidelink CSI-RS RE power is the same as the PSSCH RE power.

[0321] -PSSCH transmission scheme, where the UE may assume that PSSCH transmission will be performed with at most 2 transmission layers, as defined in clause 8.3.1.4 of [4, TS38.211]. For CQI calculation, the UE shall assume that the PSSCH signals on antenna ports in the set [1000, ..., 1000+ν-1] for v layers will result in signals equivalent to the corresponding symbols transmitted on antenna ports [3000, ..., 3000+P-1], given by

[0322]

[0323] where x(i) = [x (0) (i)..x (v - 1) (i)] T is a vector of layer-mapped PSSCH symbols defined in clause 8.3.1.4 from [4, TS 38.211], P∈[1,2] is the number of CSI-RS ports. If only one CSI-RS port is configured, W(i) is 1. Otherwise, W(i) is the identity matrix.

[0324] 8.5.3 CSI Report

[0325] The UE may be configured with a CSI reporting latency bound as indicated by the higher layer parameter sl-LatencyBoundCSI-Report. CSI reporting is aperiodic and described in [10, TS 38.321].

[0326] **********************End of Quote [2]***********************

[0327] In TS 38.212 ([3] 3GPP TS 38.212 V17.5.0 (2023-03) 3GPP), the DCI format / SL grant and SCI format for the side link are specified.

[0328] **********************Quote [3] starts***********************

[0329] 7.3.1.4.1 Format 3_0

[0330] DCI format 3_0 is used for scheduling NR PSCCH and NR PSSCH in one cell.

[0331] The following information is transmitted by means of DCI format 3_0 with CRC scrambled by SL-RNTI or SL-CS-RNTI:

[0332] - Resource pool index bits, where I is the total number of resource pools used for transmission as configured by higher layer parameters sl-TxPoolScheduling (if configured) and sl-DiscTxPoolScheduling (if configured).

[0333] - Time gap - 3 bits determined by the higher layer parameter sl-DCI-ToSL-Trans, as defined in clause 8.1.2.1 of [6, TS 38.214]

[0334] -HARQ process number - 4 bits.

[0335] - New data indicator - 1 bit.

[0336] - The lowest index of the subchannel assigned for the initial transmission bits, as defined in clause 8.1.2.2 of [6, TS 38.214]

[0337] - SCI Format 1-A field according to clause 8.3.1.1:

[0338] - Frequency resource assignment.

[0339] -Time resource allocation.

[0340] -PSFCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator bits, where N fb_timing is the number of entries in the higher layer parameter sl-PSFCH-ToPUCCH as defined in clause 16.5 of [5, TS 38.213]

[0341] - PUCCH resource indicator - 3 bits, as defined in clause 16.5 of [5, TS 38.213].

[0342] - Configuration Index - 0 bit if the UE is not configured to listen to DCI format 3_0 with CRC scrambled by SL-CS-RNTI, otherwise 3 bits as defined in clause 8.1.2 of [6, TS 38.214]. If the UE is configured to listen to DCI format 3_0 with CRC scrambled by SL-CS-RNTI, this field is reserved for DCI format 3_0 with CRC scrambled by SL-RNTI.

[0343] - Reverse Side Link Assignment Index - 2 bits

[0344] - 2 bits if the UE is configured with pdsch-HARQ-ACK-Codebook = dynamic, as defined in clause 16.5.2 of [5, TS 38.213]

[0345] - 2 bits if the UE is configured with pdsch-HARQ-ACK-Codebook = semi-static, as defined in clause 16.5.1 of [5, TS38.213]

[0346] - Filling positions (if necessary)

[0347] If the total number of transmit resource pools provided in sl-TxPoolScheduling (if configured) and sl-DiscTxPoolScheduling (if configured) is greater than one, zeros should be appended to DCI format 3_0 until the payload size is equal to the size of DCI format 3_0 given by the configuration of the transmit resource pools that results in the maximum number of information bits for DCI format 3_0.

[0348] If the UE is configured to listen to DCI format 3_1 and the number of information bits in DCI format 3_0 is smaller than the payload of DCI format 3_1, zeros should be appended to DCI format 3_0 until the payload size is equal to the payload of DCI format 3_1.

[0349] …

[0350] 8.3 Sidelink Control Information on PSCCH

[0351] The SCI carried on the PSCCH is the first-level SCI, which transmits sidelink scheduling information.

[0352] 8.3.1 Level 1 SCI Format

[0353] The fields defined below in each of the Level 1 SCI formats are mapped to information bits a0 to a A-1 ,as follows:

[0354] Each field is mapped in the order in which it appears in the description, with the first field mapped to the lowest order information bit a0 and each subsequent field mapped to a higher order information bit. The most significant bit of each field is mapped to the lowest order information bit for that field, e.g., the most significant bit of the first field is mapped to a0.

[0355] 8.3.1.1 SCI Format 1-A

[0356] SCI format 1-A is used for scheduling PSSCH and level 2 SCI on PSSCH

[0357] The following information is transmitted with the help of SCI Format 1-A:

[0358] - Priority - 3 bits, as specified in clause 5.4.3.3 of [12, TS 23.287] and clause 5.22.1.3.1 of [8, TS 38.321]. A value of '000' in the priority field corresponds to a priority value of '1', a value of '001' in the priority field corresponds to a priority value of '2', and so on.

[0359] - Frequency resource assignment bit, then the value of the higher layer parameter sl-MaxNumPerReserve is configured to 2; otherwise bit, in which case the value of the higher layer parameter sl-MaxNumPerReserve is configured to 3, as defined in clause 8.1.5 of [6, TS 38.214].

[0360] - Time Resource Assignment - 5 bits, when the value of the higher layer parameter sl-MaxNumPerReserve is configured to 2; otherwise 9 bits, when the value of the higher layer parameter sl-MaxNumPerReserve is configured to 3, as defined in clause 8.1.5 of [6, TS 38.214].

[0361] -Resource reservation period bits, as defined in clause 16.4 of [5, TS 38.213], where N rsv_period Is the number of entries in the higher layer parameter sl-ResourceReservePeriodList if the higher layer parameter sl-MultiReserveResource is configured; otherwise it is 0 bits.

[0362] -DMRS mode bits, as defined in clause 8.4.1.1.2 of [4, TS 38.211], where N 模式 It is the number of DMRS patterns configured by the higher layer parameter sl-PSSCH-DMRS-TimePatternList.

[0363] - Level 2 SCI format - 2 bits, as defined in Table 8.3.1.1-1.

[0364] - Beta_offset indicator - 2 bits, as provided by higher layer parameter sl-BetaOffsets2ndSCI and Table 8.3.1.1-2.

[0365] - Number of DMRS ports - 1 bit, as defined in Table 8.3.1.1-3.

[0366] - Modulation and coding scheme - 5 bits, as defined in clause 8.1.3 of [6, TS 38.214].

[0367] - Additional MCS table indicator - as defined in clause 8.1.3.1 of [6, TS 38.214]: 1 bit, if one MCS table is configured by the higher layer parameter sl-Additional-MCS-Table; 2 bit, if two MCS tables are configured by the higher layer parameter sl-Additional-MCS-Table; otherwise 0 bit.

[0368] -PSFCH Overhead Indication - 1 bit, as defined in clause 8.1.3.2 of [6, TS 38.214], provided that higher layer parameter sl-PSFCH-Period = 2 or 4; otherwise 0 bit.

[0369] - Reserved - The number of bits determined by:

[0370] -N 预留 bits, as configured by the higher layer parameter sl-NumReservedBits, where the value is set to zero if the higher layer parameter sl-IndicationUE-B is not configured, or if the higher layer parameter sl-IndicationUE-B is configured to 'disabled';

[0371] -Otherwise (N 预留 -1) bit, has a value set to zero.

[0372] -Conflict message receiver flag - 0 or 1 bit

[0373] - 1 bit if the higher layer parameter sl-IndicationUE-B is configured to 'enabled', where a bit value of 0 indicates that the UE cannot be a UE that receives conflicting information and a bit value of 1 indicates that the UE can be a UE that receives conflicting information, as defined in clause 16.3.0 of [5, TS 38.213];

[0374] -Otherwise 0 bit.

[0375] Table 8.3.1.1-1: Level 2 SCI format

[0376]

[0377] …

[0378] 8.4 Sidelink Control Information on PSSCH

[0379] The SCI carried on the PSSCH is a level 2 SCI, which conveys sidelink scheduling information and / or inter-UE coordination related information.

[0380] 8.4.1 Level 2 SCI Format

[0381] The fields defined in each of the Level 2 SCI formats are mapped to information bits a0 to a A-1 ,as follows:

[0382] Each field is mapped in the order in which it appears in the description, with the first field mapped to the lowest order information bit a0 and each subsequent field mapped to a higher order information bit. The most significant bit of each field is mapped to the lowest order information bit for that field, e.g., the most significant bit of the first field is mapped to a0.

[0383] 8.4.1.1 SCI Format 2-A

[0384] SCI format 2-A is used to decode the PSSCH through the HARQ operation when the HARQ-ACK information includes ACK or NACK, when the HARQ-ACK information includes only NACK, or when there is no feedback of the HARQ-ACK information.

[0385] The following information is transmitted with the help of SCI Format 2-A:

[0386] -HARQ process number - 4 bits.

[0387] - New data indicator - 1 bit.

[0388] - Redundancy version - 2 bits, as defined in Table 7.3.1.1.1-2.

[0389] - Source ID - 8 bits, as defined in clause 8.1 of [6, TS 38.214].

[0390] - Destination ID - 16 bits, as defined in clause 8.1 of [6, TS 38.214].

[0391] - HARQ feedback enable / disable indicator - 1 bit, as defined in clause 16.3 of [5, TS 38.213].

[0392] - Broadcast type indicator - 2 bits, as defined in Table 8.4.1.1-1 and in clause 8.1 of [6, TS 38.214].

[0393] - CSI Request - 1 bit, as defined in clause 8.2.1 of [6, TS 38.214] and clause 8.1 of [6, TS 38.214].

[0394] Table 8.4.1.1-1: Broadcast type indicator

[0395]

[0396]

[0397] 8.4.1.2 SCI Format 2-B

[0398] SCI format 2-B is used to decode the PSSCH through the HARQ operation when the HARQ-ACK information includes only NACK or when there is no feedback of the HARQ-ACK information.

[0399] The following information is transmitted with the help of SCI Format 2-B:

[0400] -HARQ process number - 4 bits.

[0401] - New data indicator - 1 bit.

[0402] - Redundancy version - 2 bits, as defined in Table 7.3.1.1.1-2.

[0403] - Source ID - 8 bits, as defined in clause 8.1 of [6, TS 38.214].

[0404] - Destination ID - 16 bits, as defined in clause 8.1 of [6, TS 38.214].

[0405] - HARQ feedback enable / disable indicator - 1 bit, as defined in clause 16.3 of [5, TS 38.213].

[0406] - Zone ID - 12 bits, as defined in clause 5.8.11 of [9, TS 38.331].

[0407] -Communication Range Requirement - 4 bits, determined by the higher layer parameter sl-ZoneConfigMCR-Index.

[0408] 8.4.1.3 SCI Format 2-C

[0409] SCI format 2-C is used for decoding of PSSCH and providing or requesting inter-UE coordination information. SCI format 2-C may be used only for unicast.

[0410] The following information is transmitted with the help of SCI Format 2-C:

[0411] -HARQ process number - 4 bits

[0412] - New data indicator - 1 bit

[0413] - Redundancy version - 2 bits, as defined in Table 7.3.1.1.1-2

[0414] - Source ID - 8 bits, as defined in clause 8.1 of [6, TS 38.214]

[0415] - Destination ID - 16 bits, as defined in clause 8.1 of [6, TS 38.214]

[0416] -HARQ feedback enable / disable indicator - 1 bit, as defined in clause 16.3 of [5, TS 38.213]

[0417] - CSI request - 1 bit, as defined in clause 8.2.1 of [6, TS 38.214] and clause 8.1 of [6, TS 38.214]

[0418] - Provide / Request Indicator - 1 bit, where a value of 0 indicates that SCI format 2-C is used to provide inter-UE coordination information, and a value of 1 indicates that SCI format 2-C is used to request inter-UE coordination information

[0419] …

[0420] For operations in the same resource pool, zeros are appended to the SCI format 2-C whose "Offer / Request Indicator" field is set to 1 until the payload size is equal to the payload size of the SCI format 2-C whose "Offer / Request Indicator" field is set to 0.

[0421] 8.4.2 CRC Append

[0422] CRC appending is performed according to clause 7.3.2, except that scrambling is not performed.

[0423] 8.4.3 Channel Coding

[0424] Channel coding is performed according to clause 7.3.3.

[0425] 8.4.4 Rate Matching

[0426] For a level 2 SCI transmission on PSSCH with SL-SCH, the number of coded modulation symbols generated for the level 2 SCI transmission before repetition for layer 2 (if present) is denoted as Q S ' CI2 , which is determined as follows:

[0427] …

[0428] 8.4.5 Multiplexing of Coded Level 2 SCI Bits onto PSSCH

[0429] The coded level 2 SCI bits are multiplexed onto the PSSCH according to the procedure in clause 8.2.1.

[0430] **********************End of Quote [3]***********************

[0431] In TS 38.321 for NR ([4] 3GPP TS 38.321 V17.5.0 (2023-06) 3GPP), sidelink reference signals, scheduling requests and sidelink channels are specified.

[0432] **********************Quote [4] starts***********************

[0433] 5.22.1.7 CSI Report

[0434] The Sidelink Channel State Information (SL-CSI) reporting procedure is used to provide a peer UE with sidelink channel state information as specified in clause 8.5 of TS 38.214 [7].

[0435] The RRC configures the following parameters to control the SL-CSI reporting procedure:

[0436] -sl-LatencyBoundCSI-Report maintained for each PC5-RRC connection.

[0437] The MAC entity maintains a sl-CSI-ReportTimer for each pair of source layer 2 ID and destination layer 2 ID corresponding to a PC5-RRC connection. The sl-CSI-ReportTimer is used for the SL-CSI reporting UE to comply with the latency requirement of the transmission from the CSI triggering UE. The value of sl-CSI-ReportTimer is the same as the latency requirement of the SL-CSI report in the sl-LatencyBoundCSI-Report configured by RRC.

[0438] The MAC entity, for each pair of source Layer 2 ID and destination Layer 2 ID corresponding to a PC5-RRC connection that has been established by upper layers:

[0439] 1> If the SL-CSI report has been triggered by the SCI and has not been cancelled:

[0440] 2> If the sl-CSI-ReportTimer used to trigger the SL-CSI report is not running, then:

[0441] 3>Start sl-CSI-ReportTimer.

[0442] 2> If the sl-CSI-ReportTimer for the triggered SL-CSI report expires, then:

[0443] 3>Cancel the triggered SL-CSI report.

[0444] 2> Else if the MAC entity has SL resources allocated for new transmissions and the SL-SCH resources can accommodate the SL-CSI reporting MAC CE and its subheaders due to logical channel prioritization:

[0445] 3> Instruct the multiplexing and aggregation procedure to generate the sidelink CSI report MACCE as defined in clause 6.1.3.35;

[0446] 3> Stop the sl-CSI-ReportTimer used for triggered SL-CSI reporting;

[0447] 3>Cancel the triggered SL-CSI report.

[0448] 2> Otherwise if the MAC entity has been configured with sidelink resource allocation mode 1:

[0449] 3>Trigger scheduling request.

[0450] NOTE: A MAC entity configured with sidelink resource allocation mode 1 may trigger a scheduling request if the transmission of a pending SL-CSI report using a sidelink grant cannot meet the latency requirements associated with the SL-CSI report.

[0451] …

[0452] 5.22.1.5 Scheduling Request

[0453] In addition to clause 5.4.4, a Scheduling Request (SR) is used to request SL-SCH resources for new transmissions when triggered by a sidelink BSR (clause 5.22.1.6) or SL-CSI report (clause 5.22.1.7) or SL-DRX command indication. If configured, the MAC entity performs the SR procedure as specified in this clause, unless otherwise specified in clause 5.4.4. For a sidelink logical channel or for a SL-CSI report or for a SL-DRX command indication, at most one PUCCH resource for SR is configured per UL BWP.

[0454] The SR configuration of the logical channel that triggered the sidelink BSR (clause 5.22.1.6) is also considered as the corresponding SR configuration for the triggered SR (clause 5.4.4).The priority value of the triggered SR corresponds to the priority value of the logical channel that triggered the SR.

[0455] Each sidelink logical channel can be mapped to zero or one SR configuration, which is configured by RRC. If the SL-CSI reporting procedure is enabled by RRC, the SL-CSI report is mapped to one SR configuration for all PC5-RRC connections. The SR configuration of the SL-CSI report triggered according to 5.22.1.7 is regarded as the corresponding SR configuration for the triggered SR (clause 5.4.4). The value of the priority of the triggered SR triggered by the SL-CSI report corresponds to the value of the priority of the sidelink CSI report MAC CE. The SR configuration of the SL-CSI report is regarded as the corresponding SR configuration for the triggered SR indicated by the SL-DRX command triggered according to 5.28.3. The value of the priority of the triggered SR triggered by the SL-DRX command indication corresponds to the value of the priority of the sidelink DRX command MAC CE.

[0456] All pending SRs triggered according to the Sidelink BSR procedure (clause 5.22.1.6) before MAC PDU assembly shall be canceled and each corresponding sr-ProhibitTimer shall be stopped when a MAC PDU is transmitted and this PDU includes a SL-BSR MAC CE containing the buffer status up to and including the last event that triggered a Sidelink BSR (see clause 5.22.1.4) before MAC PDU assembly.

[0457] When the SL grants all pending data available for transmission in the adaptable sidelink, all pending SRs triggered according to the sidelink BSR procedure (clause 5.22.1.6) shall be canceled and each corresponding sr-ProhibitTimer shall be stopped.

[0458] When the SL grants an adaptive sidelink CSI report MAC CE, when the SL-CSI report has been triggered and not cancelled, or when the triggered SL-CSI report is cancelled due to the delay specified in 5.22.1.7 not being achieved, the pending SR triggered by the SL-CSI report for the destination will be cancelled and each corresponding sr-ProhibitTimer will be stopped. When the SL grants an adaptive sidelink DRX command MAC CE, when the SL-DRX command indication has been triggered but not cancelled, the pending SR triggered by the SL-DRX command for the destination will be cancelled and each corresponding sr-ProhibitTimer will be stopped. When the RRC configures sidelink resource allocation mode 2, all pending SRs triggered by sidelink BSR or sidelink CSI report or sidelink DRX command indication will be cancelled.

[0459] …

[0460] 6.1.3.35 Sidelink CSI Report MAC CE

[0461] The Sidelink CSI Report MAC CE is identified by a MAC subheader with an LCID as specified in Table 6.2.4-1. The priority of the Sidelink CSI Report MAC CE is fixed to '1'. The Sidelink CSI Report MAC CE is defined as follows: Figure 6 .1.3.35-1):

[0462] -RI: This field indicates the derived value of the rank indicator for sidelink CSI reporting as specified in clause 8.5 of TS 38.214 [7]. The length of the field is 1 bit;

[0463] -CQI: This field indicates the derived value of the channel quality indicator for sidelink CSI reporting as specified in clause 8.5 of TS 38.214 [7]. The length of the field is 4 bits;

[0464] -R: Reserved bit, set to 0.

[0465] Figure 5 It is from 3GPP TS 38.321V17.5.0(2023-06)3GPP Figure 6 .1.3.35-1: Reproduction of the sidelink CSI reporting MAC CE.

[0466] **********************End of Quote [4]**************************

[0467] In [5] RP-230077, WID on NR sidelink evolution is specified.

[0468] **********************Quote [5] starts *************************

[0469] 3 reasons

[0470] …

[0471] While NR sidelink was initially developed for V2X applications, there is growing interest in the industry to extend the applicability of NR sidelink to commercial use cases. For commercial sidelink applications, two key requirements have been identified:

[0472] -Increased sidelink data rate

[0473] - Support for new carrier frequencies for sidelink

[0474] The increased sidelink data rate is driven by applications such as sensor information (video) sharing between vehicles with a high degree of driving automation. Commercial use cases may require data rates that exceed those possible in Rel-17. The increased data rate can be achieved through support for sidelink carrier aggregation and sidelinks on unlicensed spectrum. In addition, by enhancing FR2 sidelink operation, the increased data rate can be supported more efficiently on FR2. Although support for new carrier frequencies and larger bandwidths will also allow improvements to its data rate, the main benefit will come from making the sidelink more suitable for a wider range of applications. More specifically, through support for unlicensed spectrum and enhancements in FR2, the sidelink will be in a better position to be implemented in commercial devices because the utilization of the ITS band is limited by ITS safety-related applications.

[0475] …

[0476] 4. Goals

[0477] 4.1 Objectives of SI or core WI or test WI

[0478] -…

[0479] 3. Study enhanced sidelink operation on FR2 licensed spectrum [RAN1, RAN2] (determine in RAN#98-e whether to continue FR2 study or study + specification work until the end of R18)

[0480] -Focus only on updating the evaluation methodology for commercial deployment scenarios in 4Q 2022. [RAN1]

[0481] - The study is limited to supporting sidelink beam management (including initial beam pairing, beam maintenance and beam failure recovery, etc.) by reusing the existing sidelink CSI framework where possible and reusing the Uu beam management concept. [RAN1, RAN2]

[0482] o Beam management in FR2 licensed spectrum only considers sidelink unicast communications.

[0483] **********************End of Quote [5]**************************

[0484] In RAN1#112bis ([6] RAN1 Chairman's Notes of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1#112bis), there are some agreements on enhanced sidelink operation over FR2.

[0485] **********************Quote [6]Start *************************

[0486] protocol

[0487] Consider one or more of the following items as sidelink beam report content for beam maintenance:

[0488] Beam indication (e.g., CRI)

[0489] L1-RSRP

[0490] ●For further study: L1-SINR or other reporting content when necessary enhancements are identified.

[0491] Note: This does not preclude beam keeping from being performed without any beam reporting.

[0492] protocol

[0493] The container for the sidelink beam report used for beam maintaining is selected from at least the following options:

[0494] ● Option 1: SL PHY layer signal (e.g., PSFCH, SCI)

[0495] Option 2: SL MAC CE

[0496] ●For further study: PC5-RRC, signaling on Uu link (e.g., UCI)

[0497] in conclusion

[0498] RAN1 prioritizes the case in Rel-18 where the UE cannot transmit or receive PSCCH / PSSCH / PSFCH simultaneously using different beams.

[0499] protocol

[0500] For UE1 and UE2 in a unicast link, RAN1 studies the selection of both the transmit beam of UE1 and the corresponding receive beam of UE2.

[0501] ● NOTE: This applies to both PSCCH / PSSCH transmission / reception and PSFCH transmission / reception.

[0502] protocol

[0503] Consider using the sidelink CSI-RS as a starting point for beam maintaining.

[0504] ●For further study: whether / how to enhance the existing non-periodic and non-independent SL CSI-RS

[0505] ●For further study: Periodic and / or semi-persistent SL CSI-RS transmission

[0506] ●For further study: Independent SL CSI-RS transmission

[0507] ○ NOTE: Standalone SL CSI-RS transmission means at least no accompanying sidelink data (SL MACSDU) transmission in the same slot. FFS: Accompanying SCI or SL MAC CE transmission or PSFCH.

[0508] ●For further study: One or more SL CSI-RS transmissions in one slot

[0509] ● For further study: SL CSI-RS transmission with or without repetition on transmit beam

[0510] protocol

[0511] To study the feasibility of reusing SL CSI-RS for initial beam pairing, at least the following enhancements may be considered.

[0512] ● SL CSI-RS transmission with or without sidelink data transmission in the same slot

[0513] ○For further study: time slot structure

[0514] ●Mapping between SL CSI-RS transmission / resource and beam related information

[0515] ● Periodic SL CSI-RS transmission, semi-persistent SL CSI-RS transmission or aperiodic SL CSI-RS transmission, with or without SCI indication

[0516] ● Allocation of SL CSI-RS beam sweeping resources and, if applicable, its associated beam reporting resources

[0517] ● Study the possibility of applying SL CSI-RS for initial beam pairing before, during or after unicast link establishment

[0518] ○For further study: How to provide SL CSI-RS resource configuration

[0519] ● Whether or how to mitigate / avoid interference between overlapping SL CSI-RS transmissions from different UEs

[0520] ● SL CSI-RS transmission with or without repetition on the transmit beam

[0521] protocol

[0522] Consider the following two options for determining the PSFCH transmit / receive beam for a single PSFCH transmission / reception in a time slot.

[0523] ●Option 1: The PSFCH transmit beam is derived from the corresponding PSCCH / PSSCH receive beam; the PSFCH receive beam is derived from the corresponding PSCCH / PSSCH transmit beam.

[0524] ○ Note that this is based on the sidelink beam correspondence

[0525] ●Option 2: The PSFCH transmit beam is derived from the PSCCH / PSSCH transmit beam used for reverse data transmission; the PSFCH receive beam is derived from the PSCCH / PSSCH receive beam used for reverse data transmission.

[0526] ○ Note that this is based on beam training for reverse data transmission

[0527] ○ Note: The PSFCH transmit / receive beam can be the same as the PSCCH / PSSCH transmit / receive beam used for reverse data transmission.

[0528] ●For further study: Support two options or select one option down.

[0529] **********************End of Quote [6]***********************

[0530] In RAN1#113 ([7] RAN1 Chairman's Notes of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1#113), there are some agreements on enhanced sidelink operation over FR2.

[0531] **********************Quote [7]Start***********************

[0532] protocol

[0533] In a candidate procedure where initial beam pairing is performed before the sidelink unicast link is established,

[0534] ●In step 1,

[0535] ○The applicable reference signal is selected based on the following

[0536] ■Alternative 1-1: S-SSB or its modified format

[0537] ■Alternative 1-2: Standalone SL CSI-RS or its modified format

[0538] ■Alternative 1-3: Non-independent SL CSI-RS

[0539] ● NOTE: Standalone SL CSI-RS transmission means at least no accompanying sidelink data (SL MACSDU) transmission in the same slot. For further study: Accompanying SCI or SL MAC CE transmission or PSFCH.

[0540] ■Alternatives 1-4: PSCCH / PSSCH DMRS

[0541] ○The reference signal is sent as follows

[0542] ■Alternative 2-0: Aperiodically

[0543] ■Alternative 2-1: Periodically

[0544] ■Alternative 2-2: Semi-persistent, with activation and deactivation

[0545] ● Activation / deactivation details are for further study

[0546] ○The resources and resource allocation of reference signals need further study

[0547] ○ For further study: If CSI-RS is used, whether UE1 transmits other information associated with CSI-RS

[0548] ●In step 2,

[0549] ○ UE1's transmit beam and UE2's receive beam are determined by UE2 as pairs with RSRP measurements that satisfy certain conditions.

[0550] ■ Details of the conditions are subject to further study

[0551] ■ Explicit or implicit determination of UE2's transmit beam to UE1 is for further study

[0552] o At least if beam correspondence is assumed, the transmit beam of UE2 is at least determined to correspond to one of the determined receive beams of UE2

[0553] ■Other options need further study

[0554] ●In step 3,

[0555] ○UE2's beam report is associated with the determined transmit beam of UE1.

[0556] ■The details of the association need further study

[0557] ■ Details of beam reporting are for further study

[0558] ■ NOTE: This does not exclude beam reporting in link establishment messages.

[0559] ○ For further study: How UE1 determines its transmit beam when it receives different beam reports from different UEs

[0560] ●For further study: whether / how to avoid unnecessary beam measurements and reporting from multiple UEs;

[0561] protocol

[0562] In a candidate procedure in which initial beam pairing is performed during sidelink unicast link establishment,

[0563] ● In step 1, a candidate reference signal is selected to be transmitted with the unicast link setup message based on one of the following alternatives:

[0564] ○Alternative 1-1: SL CSI-RS

[0565] ○Alternative 1-2: PSCCH / PSSCH DMRS

[0566] • In step 2, UE2 determines the transmit beam of UE1 and the receive beam of UE2 as a pair with RSRP measurement satisfying certain conditions.

[0567] o At least if beam correspondence is assumed, the transmit beam of UE2 is at least determined to correspond to one of the determined receive beams of UE2

[0568] ○ The format of UE1's transmit beam determined by UE2 is for further study, e.g. implicit or explicit

[0569] ○ Details of the conditions need further study

[0570] ● In step 2, UE2 indicates the transmit beam of UE1.

[0571] ○ Details of beam indication are for further study, including content (e.g., ACK / NACK, beam ID, RSRP measurement), container (e.g., PSCCH / PSSCH, PSFCH), and association (e.g., resources)

[0572] ● In step 3, UE1 determines the transmit beam of UE1 based on one or more of the following alternatives:

[0573] ○Alternative 2-1: Latest beam indication

[0574] ○Alternative 2-2: Beam indication content (e.g., RSRP measurement)

[0575] ○Alternative 2-3: Measurement / detection of beam pointing signals

[0576] protocol

[0577] In an alternative procedure where initial beam pairing begins after sidelink unicast link establishment (if feasible), initial beam pairing follows a similar procedure as beam maintenance.

[0578] protocol

[0579] For beam maintenance, dependent sidelink CSI-RS transmission is considered.

[0580] ● The physical layer structure needs further study, including the enhancement of the existing non-independent side link CSI-RS

[0581] ●Signaling details need further study

[0582] ●Timing details to be further studied

[0583] ● Whether the dependent sidelink CSI-RS transmission uses the same or different transmission beam as the accompanying data is for further study

[0584] ● Whether / how to support multiple transmit beams of non-independent sidelink CSI-RS in the same slot is for further study

[0585] protocol

[0586] For beam maintenance, independent sidelink CSI-RS transmission is considered.

[0587] ●The physical layer structure needs further study

[0588] ●Timing details to be further studied

[0589] • Whether / how to use the same or different transmit beams in the same time slot for independent sidelink CSI-RS transmission is for further study.

[0590] ●Resources, resource allocation and resource indication are for further study

[0591] ●Signaling details need further study

[0592] ● NOTE: Standalone SL CSI-RS transmission means at least no accompanying sidelink data (SL MACSDU) transmission in the same slot. For further study: Accompanying SCI or SL MAC CE transmission or PSFCH.

[0593] protocol

[0594] For beam maintaining, the design details of sidelink CSI-RS transmission with or without repetition on the transmit beam are considered.

[0595] protocol

[0596] For beam reporting using PSFCH (if supported) during beam maintenance, study

[0597] ● Whether / how there is an association rule between the PSFCH for beam reporting and the sidelink CSI-RS (independent or independent)

[0598] The content of the beam report needs further study.

[0599] ●Whether / how PSFCH carries multiple beam report bits

[0600] ○Alternative 1: New PSFCH format

[0601] ○Alternative 2: PSFCH format 0 by exploring the relationship with frequency and / or code domain resources

[0602] ○ Other alternatives are not excluded

[0603] ●For further study: PSFCH carries a beam report bit

[0604] ● For further study: whether beam reporting and sidelink HARQ ACK can be reported together, e.g., same or different PSFCH

[0605] protocol

[0606] For beam reporting using sidelink MAC CE (if supported) during beam maintenance, study

[0607] ●Beam report content

[0608] ●Timeline, e.g.

[0609] o Whether / how to reuse the Rel-16 sidelink CSI reporting window as a baseline for the association between sidelink beam reports and sidelink CSI-RS resources.

[0610] ○ Periodic, aperiodic and / or semi-persistent reporting timelines

[0611] protocol

[0612] For the beam indication in the side link beam maintenance, the side link TCI state mechanism is studied:

[0613] ● Details of the sidelink TCI state at least include / indicate sidelink TCI state ID, sidelink CSI-RS resources, and Tx / Rx spatial filter related information

[0614] ○For further study: QCL type for sidelink

[0615] ○ For further study: whether PSCCH and associated PSSCH always have the same TCI state

[0616] ○ For further study: whether beam indication is via sidelink CSI-RS resources

[0617] ● Study the following optional beam indication candidate containers

[0618] ○SCI

[0619] ○Sidelink MAC CE

[0620] ○PC5-RRC

[0621] ○For further study: Activation time of the indicated beam

[0622] ● To be further studied: whether to use Rel-17 to unify the TCI framework

[0623] ●Study whether / how the beam indication is sent by the transmitter UE or the receiver UE.

[0624] ●Study on beam indication in Mode 1 on Uu interface For further study

[0625] protocol

[0626] In the candidate procedure where initial beam pairing is performed before the sidelink unicast link is established, consider at least the following for SL CSI-RS (or its modified format) if applicable

[0627] ● Aperiodic, periodic and / or semi-persistent SL CSI-RS

[0628] ○For further study: Details

[0629] ● In case of independent SL CSI-RS (if supported), candidate resources for SL CSI-RS beam sweeping are (pre-)configured

[0630] ○ For further study: whether / how to avoid resource conflicts of SL CSI-RS transmissions from different UEs

[0631] ●For further study: Association between SL CSI-RS and beam reporting and / or initial link establishment

[0632] ○For further study: details of the association

[0633] ●SL CSI-RS identification and beam-related information used for initial beam pairing

[0634] ○For further study: Details

[0635] **********************End of Quote [7]***********************

[0636] In RAN1#113, some contributions are cited regarding enhanced sidelink operation on FR2 (e.g., [8] R1-2304344, [9] R1-2304483,

[10] R1-2305424 and

[11] R1-2305633).

[0637] **********************Quote [8]Start***********************

[0638] 2.2SL beam maintenance

[0639] 2.2.1 Beam Refinement

[0640] After initial beam pairing, SL beam refinement (eg, switching to a narrower beam) may be required to adapt to changed conditions or data rate requirements. Figure 3 It shows how SL UE (A, B) can perform SL beam refinement within its selected panel.

[0641] Figure 6 It is from R1-2304344 Figure 3 : Reproduction of a pair of SL UEs (A, B) performing SL beam refinement for unicast communication.

[0642] exist Figure 3 In the example, UE A has M narrow beams (a1, a2, ..., a3) available for transmission within its selected panel. M )(exist Figure 3 , M=9), and UE B has N narrow beams (b1, b2, ..., b3) available for reception in its selected panel. N )(exist Figure 3 It should be noted that only one dimension (eg, azimuth) is shown for simplicity, but in general beams can be formed in two dimensions (ie, azimuth and elevation).

[0643] To determine the best narrow beam combination (a', b') out of the M x N possible combinations, the UE may perform measurements on the reference signals (RS) transmitted / received using each of the available narrow beam pairs. For example, UE A may select the best narrow beam combination (a', b') among its M narrow beams (a1, a2, ..., a M ), and UE B transmits SL CSI-RS in sequence on its N narrow beams (b1, b2, ..., b N ) is measured on each of the SL CSI-RS. This beam refinement may require transmitting / measuring up to M×N SL CSI-RS.

[0644] 2.2.1.1 Exhaustive Beam Search

[0645] Figure 4 A possible SL beam refinement procedure based on exhaustive beam search is shown.

[0646] Figure 7 It is from R1-2304344 Figure 4 : Reproduction of SL beam refinement based on exhaustive beam search (slot-by-slot TX beam sweeping at UE A, symbol-by-symbol RX beam sweeping at UE B).

[0647] To obtain a measurement for each possible SL beam pair, UE A may transmit SLCSI-RS across M (not necessarily consecutive) time slots, i.e., for each TX beam (a1, a2, ..., a M ) a time slot. During each time slot, UE A can transmit a SL CSI-RS burst (r1, r2, ..., r N ), while UE B uses different RX beams (b1, b2, …, b N ) performs RX beam sweeping to measure on each SL CSI-RS. This is equivalent to performing P-3 M times in sequence, i.e., for each possible TX beam (a1, a2, ..., a M ) once. After M×N measurements have been obtained at UE B, a beam report may be sent to UE A, for example, indicating the TX beam with the highest RSRP.

[0648] This exhaustive beam searching procedure may be necessary in some cases, for example, in the case of long-range SL relay for public safety (e.g., if UE A and UE B are 1 km away from each other). In these cases, using the maximum achievable TX and RX gains simultaneously (i.e., the narrowest achievable TX and RX beams) may be the only way to obtain reliable measurements (due to extremely high path loss).

[0649] On the other hand, the latency associated with this exhaustive beam searching procedure may be very high, especially when the number of beams (M, N) is large and non-contiguous time slots are used.

[0650] Observation 15: In certain situations (e.g., long-range SL), sweeping the narrowest achievable TX beam simultaneously with the narrowest achievable RX beam may be necessary to obtain reliable beam measurements, potentially leading to an extremely long (multi-slot) search for the best beam pair.

[0651] Proposal 15: Study mechanisms to reduce the beam search space for SL beam refinement, especially for long-range SL using the narrowest achievable beam at each UE.

[0652] 2.2.1.2 SL beam refinement based on Uu procedures [P-2, P-3]

[0653] Figure 5 An alternative method of SL beam refinement based on Uu procedures P-2 and P-3 (corresponding to Uu beam refinement at TX and RX, respectively) is shown. In this case, UE A can configure SL CSI-RS resources for, for example, the first burst (r1, r2, ..., r M During the time slot, similar to P-2, UE A (playing the role of gNB) can perform TX beam sweeping, that is, use different TX beams (a1, a2, ..., a M ) transmits each SL CSI-RS, while UE B measures on each SL CSI-RS using a fixed wide RX beam (e.g., the widest achievable beam on an appropriate panel). UE B may then send a beam report to UE A, e.g., indicating the TX beam with the highest RSRP.

[0654] Figure 8 It is from R1-2304344 Figure 5 : Reproduction of SL beam refinement (UE A plays the role of gNB) based on Uu procedure [P-2, P-3] (symbol-by-symbol TX beam sweeping at UE A, symbol-by-symbol RX beam sweeping at UE B).

[0655] In a subsequent step (equivalent to P-3), UE A may select a preferred TX beam (a') (e.g., among those indicated in the report of UE B) and transmit a second (single-slot) SL CSI-RS burst (s1, s2, ..., s N ), while UE B uses different RX beams (b1, b2, …, b N ) performs RX beam sweeping to measure on each SL CSI-RS. Based on its measurements, UE B can then select a preferred RX beam (b').

[0656] Compared to an exhaustive beam search, this two-step beam refinement procedure can be performed much faster (e.g., within a few time slots), especially when intra-slot (i.e., symbol-by-symbol) beam sweeping is used at both UE A and UE B, such as Figure 5 shown.

[0657] However, the TX beam sweeping within the time slot at UE A may cause AGC problems at nearby RX UEs. For example, a third UE (C) (not shown) near UE A may experience a sudden unexpected increase in its instantaneous total received power in the middle of the time slot because UE A sweeps its TX beam across the direction pointing to UE C, resulting in ADC saturation at UE C and thus signal clipping.

[0658] An alternative solution to avoid the AGC problem caused by intra-slot TX beam sweeping would be for UE A to perform slot-by-slot TX beam sweeping, i.e., maintain a fixed TX beam (e.g. Figure 4 However, this results in an increased delay for beam refinement.

[0659] Furthermore, the wide RX beam used by UE B to measure on the first SL CSI-RS burst may result in a shorter range due to lower RX gain, and lower beam measurement quality due to higher interference from nearby UEs. Additionally, since UE B receives the SL CSI-RS with a wide RX beam, a larger portion of the received signal at UE B may be the result of reflections from a larger volume of reflectors. In NLOS conditions, when UE A uses a TX beam directed toward the LOS, UE B can therefore measure the highest RSRP (the sum from all reflectors), even though the LOS path itself is blocked. Therefore, in NLOS conditions, this procedure does not guarantee that the optimal beam pair (e.g., directed toward the strongest reflector) is found.

[0660] Observation 16: Intra-slot TX beam sweeping may cause AGC problems at nearby RX UEs due to the sudden unexpected increase in instantaneous total received power in the middle of the slot.

[0661] Proposal 16: Study how to solve the AGC problem caused by TX beam sweeping within a time slot.

[0662] 2.2.1.3 Utilizing TX / RX beam correspondence [P-3, P-3]

[0663] Figure 6 Another alternative method for SL beam refinement using TX / RX beam correspondence is shown. Based on the definition provided for NR Uu in section 6.1.6.1 of [2], the TX / RX beam correspondence at UE (A, B) holds if "the UE is able to determine the TX beam to use for [SL] transmission based on the UE's [SL] measurements of one or more RX beams".

[0664] In this case, UE A may configure the SL CSI-RS resources using a fixed-width TX beam (e.g., the widest achievable beam on an appropriate panel) for the first burst (r1, r2, ..., rN ) is transmitted (e.g., within a single time slot). This first SL CSI-RS burst (r1, r2, ..., r N ) is used for RX beam sweeping at UE B to determine the RX beams (b1, b2, ..., b N ). In subsequent steps, UE B may use the preferred RX beam (b') as the preferred TX beam (i.e., utilizing the TX / RX beam correspondence) to transmit the second (single-slot) SL CSI-RS burst (s1, s2, ..., s M ) is transmitted back to UE A. This second SL CSI-RS burst (s1, s2, ..., s M ) is used for RX beam sweeping at UE A to determine the RX beams (a1, a2, ..., a M ) which is then used by UE A as the preferred TX beam (again utilizing TX / RX beam correspondence).

[0665] Fig. 9 It is from R1-2304344 Figure 6 : Reproduction of SL beam refinement (symbol-by-symbol RX beam sweeping at UE B, symbol-by-symbol RX beam sweeping at UE A) based on TX / RX beam correspondence [P-3, P-3].

[0666] The key advantage of this approach is that it circumvents the AGC problem caused by intra-slot TX beam sweeping in the Uu-based SL beam refinement procedure described above. Here, each UE (A, B) maintains a fixed TX beam during the corresponding time slot (while other UEs perform RX beam sweeping), so there is no sudden unexpected increase in instantaneous total received power at a nearby UE (e.g., UE C) in the middle of a time slot.

[0667] Another advantage is the possibility of extremely low latency, since this two-step procedure can be performed very quickly (e.g., within 2 consecutive time slots) and no beam reporting is required between UEs (A, B).

[0668] One disadvantage of this approach is that the TX / RX beam correspondence may not always hold. For example, in an NLOS channel, reflectors may not always behave reciprocally or symmetrically (i.e., reflecting incident radio waves equally in both directions), so a preferred RX beam (e.g., pointing toward a non-reciprocating reflector) may not always be a preferred TX beam.

[0669] Furthermore, the wide TX beam used by UE A to transmit the first SL CSI-RS burst may result in a shorter range due to lower TX gain, as well as higher interference to nearby UEs. Additionally, since UE A transmits the SL CSI-RS with a wide TX beam, a larger portion of the received signal at UE B may be the result of reflections from a larger volume of reflectors. In NLOS conditions, UE B may therefore measure the highest RSRP (sum from all reflectors) on the RX beam pointing toward the LOS, even though the LOS path itself is blocked. Therefore, in NLOS conditions, this procedure does not guarantee that the optimal beam pair (e.g., pointing toward the strongest reflector) is found.

[0670] Another aspect to consider relates to the power consumption associated with the (possibly periodic) SL CSI-RS transmissions. If UE B is a power-constrained (e.g., battery-driven) device and UE A is not, it may be better to have UE A perform all SL CSI-RS transmissions (as in the Uu-based procedure described above) while UE B performs RX beam sweeping, which may consume less battery power.

[0671] Observation 17: TX / RX beam correspondence can be exploited to circumvent the AGC problem caused by intra-slot TX beam sweeping and significantly reduce the time required for SL beam refinement.

[0672] Proposal 17: Study how TX / RX beam correspondence can be exploited for SL beam refinement, for example, by performing P-3 in both link directions.

[0673] 2.2.1.4 Comparison of SL beam refinement methods

[0674] Table 1 summarizes the pros and cons of each of the SL beam refinement methods discussed above.

[0675] Table 1. Comparison of different SL beam refinement methods

[0676]

[0677]

[0678] Each of the described SL beam refinement methods may be preferred in a given setup. For long-range SL, it may be necessary to perform an exhaustive beam search while using the narrowest achievable TX and RX beams. If range and latency are not an issue, a Uu-based beam refinement procedure can be used, with slot-by-slot TX beam sweeping to avoid AGC issues. If extremely low latency is required and channel reciprocity can be assumed, a beam refinement procedure based on TX / RX beam correspondence may be the only option available. Therefore, it may be optimal for the specification to support not one but multiple SL beam refinement methods in order to adequately cover different conditions and requirements.

[0679] Observation 18: Different SL beam refinement methods may be preferred in different settings.

[0680] Proposal 18: Study how the specification can support different SL beam refinement methods depending on different conditions (e.g., range, channel reciprocity) and requirements (e.g., latency) including:

[0681] ● Exhaustive beam search

[0682] P-2, P-3

[0683] P-3, P-3

[0684] …

[0685] 2.2.3 SL CSI-RS Enhancement for SL Beam Maintaining

[0686] …

[0687] A key reason for introducing independent SL CSI-RS is to allow symbol-by-symbol TX / RX beam sweeping within a slot for fast measurement of multiple beams, such as Figure 4 , Figure 5 and Figure 6 As shown in . If multiple TX beams are swept across different symbols within a time slot, symbols corresponding to TX beams that are pointed away from the intended RX UE may be received with extremely low SNR or may not be detected at all. Similarly, if multiple RX beams are swept across different symbols within a time slot, symbols corresponding to RX beams that are pointed away from the intended TX UE may be received with extremely low SNR or may not be detected at all. If the fraction of symbols received at extremely low SNR in a time slot is large, any SL-SCH data transmitted with the SL CSI-RS is unlikely to be successfully decoded. Therefore, it may be invalid to include SL-SCH data in such a time slot.

[0688] Observation 22: If multiple TX / RX beams are swept within a slot, many symbols may be received with very low SNR, so it may be pointless to include SL-SCH data since it is unlikely to be successfully received.

[0689] Proposal 22: Study independent SL CSI-RS transmission for intra-slot TX / RX beam sweeping.

[0690] A more obvious reason to introduce a separate SL CSI-RS is that a UE may not have data to transmit at a given time, but may wish to transmit a SL CSI-RS to maintain the beam for future data transmissions.

[0691] Similar to conventional PSCCH / PSSCH, independent SL CSI-RS transmissions may rely on resource reservation and sensing, e.g., via SCI, and IUC. In this way, interference between independent SL CSI-RS transmissions from different UEs and interference between independent SL CSI-RS transmissions and PSCCH / PSSCH transmissions may be reduced.

[0692] Observation 23: Similar to the legacy PSCCH / PSSCH, independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be accompanied by SCI for resource reservation.

[0693] Proposal 23: Study the resource selection for independent SL CSI-RS transmission, again using Mode 2 as the baseline.

[0694] Using SL CSI-RS repetition on each TX beam and using a denser SL CSI-RS comb in frequency can be used to improve beam measurement quality, for example, when the peer UE is far away.

[0695] **********************End of Quote [8]************************

[0696] **********************Quote [9]Start***********************

[0697] In NR Uu, beam training can be performed via CSI reporting procedure. The gNB configures CSI-RS resource sets with 'repeat on / off' property, where 'repeat on / off' means that CSI-RS is transmitted in the same / different beams. The gNB also configures CSI reporting with the amount CRI / RSRP, and the UE feeds back the selected CRI and associated RSRP to the gNB after measurement on CSI-RS linked to the CSI reporting.

[0698] In Rel-16 NR SL, CSI feedback procedure is also supported, but only for CQI / RI feedback. SL CSI-RS configuration is exchanged between the pair of UEs after PC5-RRC connection establishment. The UE then sends CSI-RS along with CSI request indicator, and its paired UE feeds back CSI containing CQI / RI within the delay bound after CSI-RS reception via MAC CE.

[0699] To enhance the SL CSI reporting procedure for beam training purposes, both CSI-RS resource configuration and CSI reporting volume should be enhanced. CSI-RS resource configuration should be able to configure CSI-RS resource sets and the repetitive on / off properties associated with CSI-RS resource sets. CSI reporting volume should contain information reflecting the reported beam and beam quality. To align with Uu CSI design, it is preferred to use beam index or resource index for beam reporting and use L1-RSRP to reflect beam quality.

[0700] Proposal 16: Study the SL CSI-RS resource set configuration for beam training purpose, and the repetitive on / off property should be configured in association with the CSI-RS resource set configuration.

[0701] Proposal 17: Enhance SL CSI reporting to include beam index / resource index and / or L1-RSRP as reporting quantities.

[0702] Another issue is how to set the CSI-RS transmission indicator (or CSI request indication). In Rel-16, a 1-bit flag is used for indication, however, a 1-bit flag may not be sufficient to consider multiple different CSI-RS resource configurations and multiple CSI report amounts. Therefore, the flag should at least be able to distinguish different CSI-RS resource configurations and CSI report amounts.

[0703] Proposal 18: The SL CSI-RS transmission indicator (or CSI report request indicator) should be enhanced to distinguish different CSI-RS resource configurations and / or CSI reporting amounts.

[0704] Regarding the container for SL CSI report transmission, both MAC CE and SL PHY signals can be further studied. The advantage of MAC CE is higher capacity, so MAC CE can be used to report detailed channel quality; while the advantage of PHY signal is low reporting latency, so PHY signaling (e.g., PSFCH) can be used in the case of emergency beam reporting, for example, to trigger beam switching.

[0705] If MAC CE is used for beam reporting, the timing relationship between CSI-RS transmission and CSI reporting should be revisited. In Rel-16 NR SL, to avoid mismatch between CSI-RS transmission and CSI reporting, CSI reporting UE should transmit CSI report within the configured delay bound after CSI-RS resource, and CSI-RS transmitting UE cannot transmit new CSI-RS before the delay bound. If the set of CSI-RS spans multiple slots for beam training purposes, whether / how to apply this rule should be further clarified.

[0706] In the case where PSFCH is considered as a CSI reporting container, the association between CSI-RS transmission resources and PSFCH resources can be defined, and the UE can feedback the beam associated with the CSI-RS transmission on the corresponding PSFCH resources. To determine the CSI reporting resources, the PSSCH-PSFCH mapping in Rel-16 NR SL can be reused as a baseline, for example, the UE can determine the number of PSFCH resources associated with the CSI-RS transmission, and then the UE determines the PSFCH resources for CSI report transmission from these PSFCH resources based on the reported beams. It should be noted that the existing PSFCH format is only 1 bit, if this PSFCH format is reused, the UE can feedback whether the beam associated with the CSI-RS transmission performed through the corresponding PSFCH resource is recommended. However, if the UE expects to feedback the RSRP measurement of the corresponding CSI-RS, the new PSFCH format should be considered, for example, more than 1 bit for beam reporting.

[0707] Proposal 19: Both MAC CE and PSFCH can be used for CSI reporting.

[0708] Proposal 20: If CSI reports are delivered in MAC CE, the rules for linking CSI-RS transmission with associated CSI reports should be revisited.

[0709] Proposal 21: If PSFCH is used for CSI reporting, rules should be defined to associate CSI-RS transmission resources with PSFCH resources.

[0710] - Support for new PSFCH formats for beam reporting is for further study.

[0711] **********************End of Quote [9]**************************

[0712] **********************Quote

[10] Start *************************

[0713] 2.2.1 Reference Signals for Beam Maintaining

[0714] During the beam keeping procedure, both periodic and aperiodic reference signals should be supported. Due to resource inefficiency, both S-SSB and PSCCH DMRS / PSSCH DMRS are no longer suitable. SL CSI-RS may be supported for beam keeping procedure. The following enhancements to SL CSI-RS need to be studied.

[0715] …

[0716] One potential enhancement is to support multiple CSI-RS in one slot. And transmit SL CSI-RS with or without SL data. In conventional NR SL, only one SL CSI-RS can be transmitted in one slot. If it is applied to initial beam pairing or beam management, such as for TX beam selection, multiple SL CSI-RS should be transmitted using multiple slots, which will lead to resource inefficiency and large transmission delay. If multiple SL CSI-RS can be transmitted in one slot, this will improve resource efficiency. Figure 4 A diagram is shown in FIG. If it is applied to TX beam selection, different TX beams will be used to transmit different SL CSI-RS, which will cause AGC problems at the receiver side. In this case, one AGC symbol is required per CSI-RS resource. If it is applied to RX beam selection, the same TX beam is used for multiple CSI-RS transmissions, there is no AGC problem at the receiver side and only one symbol per CSI-RS resource is sufficient.

[0717] Fig.10 It is from R1-2305424 Figure 4 : Reproduction of multiple CSI-RS in one time slot.

[0718] Proposal 9: It is possible to support the transmission of multiple SL CSI-RS in one time slot for initial beam pairing or beam maintenance. Each SL CSI-RS resource includes N OFDM symbols, and the value of N is for further study.

[0719] Second, periodic or semi-persistent SL CSI-RS resources can be supported. Periodic SL CSI-RS is beneficial to TX beam selection, RX beam selection, beam failure detection, and new beam selection during the beam failure recovery procedure. For example, for RX beam selection in mode 2, the RX UE needs to apply different RX beams for buffering and reception of the SL CSI-RS, so that the RX UE needs to know the time slot of the SL CSI-RS in advance. If the SL CSI-RS is not periodic, the resources of the SL CSI-RS can be preempted by the transmission of other UEs, even if it is reserved by the TX UE. In this case, the RX UE cannot accurately know the time slot of the SL CSI-RS, making it difficult for the RX UE to apply the corresponding RX beam for reception. If the SL CSI-RS is periodic, the RX UE can know the exact time slot of the SL CSI-RS in advance, which is beneficial to the RX beam selection procedure.

[0720] Proposal 10: Periodic or semi-persistent SL CSI-RS transmission may be supported for initial beam pairing or beam maintenance.

[0721] Third, it is preferred to support separate SL CSI-RS transmission. If SL CSI-RS is transmitted with PSSCH, it is difficult to transmit valid SL data during the beam selection procedure. This will cause resource inefficiency. If separate SL CSI-RS is supported, there is no associated PSSCH transmission, which can improve resource efficiency. In addition, the frequency resources of SL CSI-RS are more flexible. The separate SL CSI-RS structure can follow a similar design to PSFCH. Two symbols are used for SL CSI-RS: one for AGC and the other for CSI-RS. These two symbols are the second to last and third to last SL symbols of the time slot. Figure 5 A diagram of the SL CSI-RS structure within a time slot is shown in FIG. The resources of the SL CSI-RS and PSFCH can be configured in FDM or TDM, such as Figure 6 as shown in .

[0722] Fig.11 It is from R1-2305424 Figure 5 : Reproduction of a single SL CSI-RS structure.

[0723] Fig.12 It is from R1-2305424 Figure 6 : Reproduction of resource configuration between CSI-RS and PSFCH.

[0724] Proposal 11: A separate SL CSI-RS can be supported for initial beam pairing or beam maintenance. The design of the separate SL CSI-RS structure can take the PSFCH structure as a baseline. …

[0725] **********************End of Quote

[10] ***********************

[0726] **********************Quote

[11] Start**********************

[0727] 2.2 Sidelink Beam Maintenance

[0728] According to the existing SL CSI measurement and reporting, once the TX UE indicates the SL CSI report to the RX UE, the TX UE cannot indicate the SL CSI report additionally until the TX UE receives the associated SL CSI report or until the end of the SL CSI reporting window. For beam management, it can be considered that the TX UE uses different TX spatial settings across different SL CSI reporting triggers, and the TX UE decides which TX spatial setting will be appropriate based on the received RI and CQI values, such as Figure 3 However, due to the limitation of trigger conditions, the existing SL CSI measurement and reporting procedures may cause huge delays for beam management, and the selected beam or TX spatial setting will be old-fashioned.

[0729] Observation 7: Reusing Rel-16 / 17NR SL CSI reporting / triggering for the purpose of sidelink beam keeping will cause huge latency.

[0730] Fig.13 It is from R1-2305633 Figure 3 : Reproduction of an example of SL beam maintenance based on existing SL CSI reporting.

[0731] To mitigate this inefficiency, it may be considered to allow the TX UE to trigger a SL CSI report before the TX UE receives a SL CSI report for a past trigger. In this case, in order to distinguish the SL CSI reports associated with different TX spatial settings, it will be possible for the RX UE to report beam related information together with the RI and CQI. In order to reduce the CSI reporting overhead, it is also possible for the RX UE to report a single CSI report for multiple SL CSI report triggers. In this case, the SL CSI report may contain all or a subset of the CSI reports associated with the received CSI report trigger. When the RX UE reports a subset of CSI reports, the beam quality or spectral efficiency derived by RI and CQI may be used to select the CSI to be reported.

[0732] For fast beam management, a single time slot can be considered to contain multiple SL CSI-RS resources with different TX spatial settings, such as Figure 4 As shown in . In this case, the RX UE can measure the different beam qualities within the time slot, and then the RX UE can report the CSI associated with the best TX spatial setting. On the other hand, in order to switch the TX spatial setting, a certain time gap may be required. In this case, there may be gaps between SL CSI-RS transmissions with different TX spatial settings. In addition, when the TX UE switches the TX spatial setting, phase discontinuity may occur, and then channel estimation will need to be performed separately for each TX spatial setting. Due to the lack of PSSCH DMRS symbols, it is possible to consider transmitting multiple SL CSI-RS resources from the end of the data transmission. In other words, PSSCH and CSI-RS can be TDMed in the time slot.

[0733] Fig.14 It is from R1-2305633 Figure 4 : Reproduction of an example of SL beam maintenance based on SL CSI reporting.

[0734] In a time slot, the TX UE may transmit multiple SL CSI-RS across different symbols with the same TX spatial setting. In this case, the RX UE may switch the RX spatial setting to receive the SL CSI-RS to improve the RX beam gain. The RX UE may measure the SL CSI for each pair of TX spatial setting and RX spatial setting, and then the RX UE may determine the best selection of the TX spatial setting of the TX UE and the RX spatial setting of the RX UE by itself.

[0735] On SL CSI-RS transmission, only non-periodic CSI-RS transmission is supported in Rel-16 / 17 NR SL. In this case, if beam management is based on quality or SL CSI-RS, the TX UE may need to trigger SL CSI reports frequently, and this will cause high congestion due to the increased number of CSI reports. In order to alleviate this problem, the introduction of periodic or semi-persistent SL CSI-RS transmission as in NR Uu link can be considered. However, considering that UEs with beam management can share the same resource pool with Rel-16 / 17 UEs without beam management, it will be necessary to discuss whether or how to avoid resource conflicts between periodic / semi-persistent SL CSI-RS and SL channels.

[0736] One simple solution is to use a dedicated resource pool for periodic / semi-persistent SL CSI-RS transmission that is not shared by Rel-16 / 17 UEs.

[0737] However, considering that there are many unicast links between different UE pairs, PC5-RRC signaling itself cannot resolve all SLCSI-RS resource conflicts, even if beam management is performed after PC5-RRC connection. Specifically, a certain UE pair may not know the PC5-RRC configuration of another UE pair. In this view, it may be necessary to broadcast the SL CSI-RS resource information or reserve the PSSCH containing SL CSI-RS through SCI transmitted in a broadcast manner as in Rel-16 / 17NR SL.

[0738] Observation 8: In a shared resource pool, if the periodic SL CSI-RS resource is PC5-RRC without SCI indication configured, the Rel-16 / 17 UE cannot avoid resource conflict with the periodic SL CSI-RS resource.

[0739] Observation 9: Since there may be many unicast links between different UE pairs, PC5-RRC signaling cannot resolve all SL CSI-RS resource conflicts between UEs.

[0740] Proposal 6: To study enhancements to CSI measurements for beam keeping,

[0741] -SL CSI-RS resources are configured by PC5-RRC.

[0742] - SL CSI-RS transmission is triggered or indicated by SCI for periodic, semi-persistent and aperiodic transmission.

[0743] -The transmission beam for SL CSI-RS transmission is indicated by SCI.

[0744] - For SL CSI-RS transmission with different transmission beams in a slot, consider one or more of the following to alleviate the additional AGC issue:

[0745] ○ Option 1: SL CSI-RS transmission in a slot always uses the same transmit beam.

[0746] ○ Option 2: SL CSI-RS transmission with different transmission beams in a time slot occupies all frequency resources within the resource pool.

[0747] >The occupancy of SL CSI-RS transmission is indicated by SCI.

[0748] ○ Option 3: Limit the set of time slots that allow SL CSI-RS transmission with different transmission beams in the time slot.

[0749] Regarding the container of SL beam reports for beam maintaining, the RAN2 impact will have to be considered. Specifically, it is necessary to enhance the SL resource (re)selection procedure to select TX resources for SL beam reports without SL-SCH or data. In this view, for simplicity, the SL MAC CE is only used for the container of SL beam reports for beam maintaining. In this case, as in SLCSI reporting or IUC design, the existing SL resource (re)selection procedure can be used to select TX resources even for the MAC CE only case.

[0750] Proposal 7: For beam maintenance, prioritize only MAC CEs for containers reported by SL beams.

[0751] **********************End of quote

[11] **************************

[0752] For the new air interface (NR) version 16 / 17 sidelink design, the sidelink time slot can be used for physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) or physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) / physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) / physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission / reception. The PSBCH used for the sidelink (SL) synchronization signal block (SSB) is time-division multiplexed (TDM) from PSCCH / PSSCH / PSFCH in the time slot level. This means that the sidelink time slot other than the time slot used for PSBCH can be used for PSCCH / PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception. In addition, the concept of the sidelink resource pool for sidelink communication is used for PSCCH / PSSCH and / or / PSFCH transmission and reception. The sidelink (communication) resource pool will include a set of sidelink time slots (except at least the time slot used for PSBCH) and a set of frequency resources. Different sidelink (communication) resource pools can be time-division multiplexed (TDM) and / or frequency-division multiplexed (FDM). More specifically, the PSCCH in one side link (communication) resource pool can only schedule the PSSCH resources in the same side link (communication) resource pool. The PSCCH in one side link (communication) resource pool cannot schedule the PSSCH resources in other / another side link (communication) resource pool. For PSCCH / PSSCH, the associated PSFCH is in the same side link (communication) resource pool, not in different side link (communication) resource pools.

[0753] A side link (communication) resource pool will include multiple subchannels in the frequency domain, where the subchannel includes multiple adjacent physical resource blocks (PRBs) in the frequency domain. A PRB includes multiple resource elements (REs), for example, a PRB consists of 12 REs. The configuration of the side link resource pool will indicate the number of PRBs for each subchannel in the corresponding side link resource pool. Subchannel-based resource allocation in the frequency domain is supported for PSSCH. For PSSCH resources scheduled by PSCCH in the same side link time slot, a fixed relationship between PSCCH and PSSCH resources is specified, which means that PSCCH will be located in the lowest (indexed) subchannel of the scheduled PSSCH resources. For scheduled PSSCH resources in different time slots, the starting frequency position of the scheduled PSSCH resources will be scheduled / indicated by the side link control information instead of a fixed relationship.

[0754] In the current NR version 16 / 17 sidelink design, one sidelink control information (SCI) can indicate up to three PSSCH resources via frequency resource assignment and / or time resource assignment in the SCI. The SCI may include level 1 SCI and level 2 SCI. Level 1 SCI may be transmitted via PSCCH. Level 2 SCI may be transmitted via multiplexing with scheduled PSSCH resources in the same sidelink time slot, such as the first PSSCH resource. In other words, the SCI may schedule up to two PSSCH resources, such as the second PSSCH resource and / or the third PSSCH resource, in a later sidelink time slot. The up to three PSSCH resources are in different time slots in the sidelink (communication) resource pool. The up to three PSSCH resources are within 32 consecutive time slots in the sidelink resource pool. The up to three PSSCH resources are used / associated with the same data packet, such as the same TB or the same media access control (MAC) packet data unit (PDU). It should be noted that independent PSCCH / SCI is not supported in the NR sidelink, which means that for every PSSCH transmission in a timeslot, there will be a corresponding PSCCH / SCI transmission in the same timeslot, and vice versa.

[0755] In addition, resource reservation for another / different transport block (TB) by SCI can be (pre) configured by enabling or not enabling or not configuring in the side link (communication) resource pool. When the side link (communication) resource pool is configured with such resource reservation enabled, the side link (communication) resource pool is configured with a set of reservation period values. Possible reservation periods can be 0, 1:99, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000ms. The resource reservation period field in the SCI in the side link (communication) resource pool can indicate which reservation period value is used for (future) resource reservation. The size / number of the reservation period value set can be from 1 to 16.

[0756] In the current NR Release 16 / 17 sidelink design, two sidelink resource allocation modes are defined for NR sidelink communications:

[0757] - Mode 1 is that the base station / network node can schedule sidelink resources to be used by the user equipment (UE) for sidelink transmission;

[0758] - Mode 2 is that the UE determines (ie, the base station / network node does not schedule) the sidelink transmission resources within the sidelink resources configured by the base station / network node or the pre-configured sidelink resources.

[0759] For a network scheduling mode, such as NR sidelink resource allocation mode 1, a network node may transmit an SL grant, such as downlink control information (DCI) format 3_0, on the Uu interface for scheduling up to three PSSCH resources (for the same data packet). The sidelink grant includes a "time slot" field and a "lowest index of subchannel allocation for initial transmission" field for indicating the first PSSCH resource and / or PSCCH resource in a particular time slot, and also includes a "frequency resource assignment" field and a "time resource assignment" field for indicating the second PSSCH resource and / or the third PSSCH resource (if present). The sidelink grant also includes a "resource pool index" for indicating a sidelink (communication) resource pool, wherein the scheduled up to three PSSCH resources are within the indicated sidelink (communication) resource pool. In response to the received sidelink grant, the transmitting (TX) UE may perform PSCCH and PSSCH transmissions on the PC5 interface for the data packet. The Uu interface refers to a wireless interface for communication between the network and the UE. The PC5 interface means a wireless interface for communication (directly) between UEs / devices.

[0760] For UE (autonomous) selection modes, such as NR sidelink resource allocation mode 2, since the transmission resources are not scheduled via a network node, the UE may need to perform sensing before selecting resources for transmission (e.g., sensing-based transmission) to avoid resource conflicts and interference from or with other UEs (particularly UEs using the NR sidelink). Full sensing is supported from the NR Rel-16 sidelink, while partial sensing is supported from the NR Rel-17 sidelink. Based on the results of the sensing procedure, the UE may determine a valid / identified resource set. The valid / identified resource set may be reported to higher layers (of the UE). The UE may (randomly) select one or more valid / identified resources from the valid / identified resource set to perform a sidelink transmission from the UE. The (multiple) sidelink transmissions from the UE may be PSCCH and / or PSSCH transmissions.

[0761] like Fig.16As shown in , when sensing-based resource selection is triggered / requested in time slot n, the UE (physical layer) will have an (initial) set of candidate single-slot resources including multiple candidate single-slot resources. The set of available (initial) candidate single-slot resources is limited by the time interval [n+T1, n+T2], which can be called the resource selection window. Preferably, in some embodiments, a candidate single-slot resource may include one or more frequency resource units within a time slot, wherein the frequency resource unit may be a subchannel. As specified in TS 38.214 ([2] 3GPP TS 38.214 V17.6.0 (2023-06) 3GPP), the candidate single-slot resource R for transmission is selected from the candidate single-slot resource R. x，y Defined as L subCH A collection of adjacent subchannels, where There are subchannels x+j in L, where j=0,...,L subCH -1. It should be noted that a transmission time interval (TTI) may be a time slot in NR.

[0762] If full sensing is performed (e.g., [2] 3GPP TS 38.214 V17.6.0 (2023-06) 3GPP), e.g., partial sensing is not configured, then the (initial) candidate single-slot resource set is in the (full) time interval [n+T1, n+T2]. The UE (its physical layer) shall monitor / sense the sensing window time slot within.

[0763] When partial sensing is performed / configured (e.g., [2] 3GPP TS 38.214 V17.6.0 (2023-06) 3GPP), the UE (the physical layer) determines through its implementation a set of candidate time slots consisting of at least Y candidate time slots within the time interval [n+T1, n+T2], where the (initial) candidate single-slot resource set is in the set of time slots. For periodicity-based partial sensing, if a time slot In the candidate time slot set, the UE (physical layer) should monitor / sens any time slot within the sensing window For adjacent partial sensing, the UE (physical layer) shall monitor / sensing the time slots [n+T A , n+T B ], where T A and T B are all selected so that (the physical layer of the UE) has sensing results starting at least M consecutive logical time slots before the first time slot of the selected Y candidate time slots.

[0764] Based on the sensing result, the (physical layer of the UE) may generate a valid / identified resource set, wherein the valid / identified resource set is a subset of the (initial) candidate single-slot resource set. The generation of the valid / identified resource set may be performed by excluding some candidate single-slot resources from the (initial) candidate single-slot resource set, e.g. Fig.16 If the remaining candidate single-slot resources after the elimination step are less than X times the number of the (initial) candidate single-slot resource set (e.g., depending on the prio TX If the power threshold is any one of 20%, 35%, or 50%, the association is configured in the sidelink resource pool configuration), the UE may re-perform the elimination step by increasing the power threshold by 3 dB. Subsequently, the UE (physical layer) may determine the valid / identified resource set. The resource selection for sidelink transmission performed by the higher layers (MAC layer) of the UE may be randomly selected from the valid / identified resource set, for example, Fig.16 as shown in step 3.

[0765] As specified in [2] 3GPP TS 38.214 V17.6.0 (2023-06) 3GPP, the first exclusion step is that if the UE (the physical layer) does not monitor / sense TTIz, then the UE (the physical layer) cannot expect TT"I z+P any "Whether the candidate single-slot resources in are occupied, where P any represents any possible periodicity configured in the sidelink (communication) resource pool. For example, the first elimination step is Fig.16 It is shown as step 1. UE (physical layer) excludes TTI “z+q·P any ", and excludes other UEs that may have a single slot resource in TT "I z+q·P any ", where q is 1 or 1, 2, ..., The parameter q means the UE's scal ] excludes the period P rsvp_RX Multiple candidate single time slot resources.

[0766] The second elimination step is that if the UE (physical layer) receives / detects sidelink control signaling (e.g., SCI format 1) in TTI m, the UE (physical layer) may exclude candidate single time slot resources according to the received sidelink control signaling. For example, the second elimination step is Fig.162. More specifically, if the UE (physical layer) receives / detects the sidelink control signaling of the scheduled transmission in TTI m, and the measurement result for the sidelink control signaling is higher than the power threshold, the UE (physical layer) may exclude the candidate single-slot resources according to the received sidelink control signaling. The measurement result may be the reference signal received power (RSRP). More specifically, the measurement result may be PSCCH-RSRP or PSSCH-RSRP. The sidelink control signaling may schedule / indicate the resources of the scheduled transmission and / or the periodicity of the scheduled transmission. rsvp_RX The candidate single-slot resources excluded according to the received sidelink control signaling are the resources of the next one or more scheduled transmissions based on the resources of the scheduled transmission and / or the periodicity of the scheduled transmission. The next multiple scheduled transmissions may be in the time interval [z, z+T scal ] has a period P rsvp_RX The power threshold is based on prio RX (priority value indicated by received sidelink control information / signaling) and prio TX The power threshold is determined by the priority value (provided by the UE's higher layer for the UE's data / PSSCH transmission). RX , prio TX ) is configured by a higher layer (e.g., configuration of the sidelink (communication) resource pool).

[0767] In the current NR Release-16 / 17 sidelink, it operates in the FR1 band / spectrum (e.g., 450-6000 MHz) where beam management is not applied. In addition, the SL channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) may be supported for sidelink channel measurement for sidelink unicast. The TX UE may transmit one SL CSI-RS multiplexed with one PSSCH, where the TX UE will also transmit the SCI for scheduling the PSSCH and set the "CSI Request" field in the SCI format 2-A or 2-C (which is the second level SCI) to 1. When the RX UE receives the SCI (including SCI 2-A or 2-C) and the PSSCH and also measures the SL CSI-RS, the RX UE may generate a corresponding SL CSI report (via the SL CSI report MAC control element (CE)) for transmission to the TX UE.

[0768] In addition, the SCI for the scheduled PSSCH transmission will indicate a priority value associated with the scheduled PSSCH transmission. The sidelink control information for the scheduled PSSCH transmission will also indicate the type of broadcast associated with the scheduled PSSCH transmission, for example, unicast, groupcast or broadcast. The sidelink control information (more specifically, the level 2 SCI) also indicates a (layer 1) source identification (ID) and a (layer 1) destination ID. Preferably in certain embodiments, the (layer 1) destination ID is used for the RX UE to know whether to receive and / or decode the scheduled PSSCH transmission. Preferably in certain embodiments, the (layer 1) source ID is used for the RX UE to know whether two scheduled PSSCH transmissions are from the same TX UE, and / or to know whether two scheduled PSSCH transmissions can be combined for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ).

[0769] As specified in the Work Item Description (WID) on NR Sidelink Evolution of the RAN1 Chairman's Notes of [6] 3GPP TSG RAN WG1#112bis, sidelink operation in FR2 (e.g., 24250-52600 MHz) is beneficial for increasing data rates with larger bandwidths. Currently, there are some studies on enhanced sidelink operation on the FR2 licensed band / spectrum (FR2 unlicensed spectrum is also possible in the future). However, the FR2 band / spectrum will experience significant atmospheric attenuation and path loss during propagation, so beam-based management is necessary for sidelink operation in FR2. Therefore, sidelink (initial) beam pairing, sidelink beam maintenance, and sidelink beam failure recovery require further study.

[0770] The RAN1 protocol and some contributions (e.g., [8] R1-2304344, [9] R1-2304483,

[10] R1-2305424, and

[11] R1-2305633) consider using SL CSI-RS as a starting point for beam maintenance and / or beam pairing. In the NR Release-16 / 17 sidelink, SL CSI-RS is mainly used for sidelink channel measurement, and SL CSI-RS is always multiplexed with PSSCH, which is called non-independent SL CSI-RS. However, when SL CSI-RS is used for beam management in FR2, the TX UE may need to perform multiple SL CSI-RS transmissions on multiple TX beams. In this case, non-independent SL CSI-RS does not seem to be efficient because the TX UE may not always have available sidelink data to generate multiple PSSCH transmissions for multiplexing multiple SL CSI-RS transmissions. Besides, multiple non-independent SL CSI-RS transmissions are performed in multiple sidelink slots, which incurs large delays for beam management. To address such drawbacks, it is agreed to consider independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, which means at least no accompanying PSSCH transmission in the same sidelink slot. Furthermore, it is possible to multiplex / include multiple independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in one sidelink slot (via TDM). For example, Fig.15A As shown, one sidelink time slot may include SL CSI-RS1-4 transmissions with corresponding SCI (PSCCH and level 2 SCI). Fig. 15B As shown, one side link timeslot may include SL CSI-RS1~9 transmissions with corresponding SCI (PSCCH and Level 2 SCI). In one embodiment, the TX UE may transmit multiple SL CSI-RS transmissions with the same TX beam, and the RX UE may receive / measure multiple SL CSI-RS transmissions with different RX beams. In one embodiment, the TX UE may transmit multiple SL CSI-RS transmissions with different TX beams, and the RX UE may receive / measure multiple SL CSI-RS transmissions with the same RX beam. It should be noted that the TX UE may perform one SL CSI-RS transmission via one TX beam. The TX UE may not perform one SL CSI-RS transmission via more than one TX beam. The SL CSI-RS used for beam management may be aperiodic, periodic and / or semi-persistent SL CSI-RS.

[0771] In the NR version-16 / 17 sidelink, there are some priority-based operations for PSSCH and / or PSFCH transmission and reception. For example, when PSSCH / PSFCH transmission conflicts with PSSCH / PSFCH reception (e.g., in the time domain in the sidelink carrier / cell / bandwidth part (BWP)), the UE will determine to perform PSSCH / PSFCH transmission or PSSCH / PSFCH reception based on the associated priority. For example, when PSSCH transmission conflicts with other PSSCH transmissions (e.g., in the time domain and / or frequency domain in the sidelink carrier / cell / BWP), the UE will determine which PSSCH transmission to perform based on the associated priority. For example, when PSFCH transmission conflicts with another / other PSFCH transmission (e.g., in the time domain in the sidelink carrier / cell / BWP), the UE will determine which N PSFCH transmissions to perform based on the associated priority. In sidelink resource allocation mode 2, the priority associated with PSSCH is used for resource sensing, reservation, reassessment and / or preemption operations / procedures. The SCI that schedules the PSSCH (e.g., SCI format 1-A or level 1 SCI on the PSCCH) will indicate the priority value associated with the scheduled PSSCH. It should be noted that for the sidelink, the priority value is any one of 1 to 8, and a lower priority value means a higher priority. For the SL CSI-RS in the NR Release-16 / 17 sidelink, since the SL CSI-RS is always multiplexed with the PSSCH and the SL CSI-RS is not associated with a specific service or a specific higher layer protocol, there is no need to assign / allocate a specific priority value to the SL CSI-RS. Regarding the sidelink positioning reference signal (SL PRS) introduced in SL positioning / ranging, since the SL PRS is performed for positioning / ranging services, a higher layer such as the sidelink LTE positioning protocol (SLPP) or the application layer can provide a priority value (to the physical layer or MAC layer) for corresponding SL PRS transmission / reception.

[0772] Considering independent SL CSI-RS for FR2 beam management, it may have some conflict issues, such as:

[0773] -TX / TX conflict: independent SL CSI-RS transmission and PSCCH / PSSCH / PSFCH transmission, in particular, the TX UE cannot simultaneously generate two TX beams for SL CSI-RS transmission and PSCCH / PSSCH / PSFCH transmission respectively;

[0774] -RX / RX conflict: independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement and PSCCH / PSSCH / PSFCH reception, in particular, the RX UE cannot simultaneously receive via two RX beams used for SL CSI-RS reception / measurement and PSSCH / PSFCH reception, respectively; or

[0775] -TX / RX conflict: For half-duplex UEs, independent SL CSI-RS transmission and PSCCH / PSSCH / PSFCH reception, or independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement and PSCCH / PSSCH / PSFCH transmission.

[0776] On the other hand, the TX UE may need to acquire sidelink resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission. However, such independent SL CSI-RS transmission does not include sidelink data (e.g., MAC service data unit (SDU) or sidelink data from SL logical channels). For both sidelink resource allocation mode 1 and mode 2, how to acquire sidelink resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission requires further study and design.

[0777] To address the problem, some concepts / mechanisms / methods / implementations are provided below:

[0778] The first UE may have a configuration of a side link resource pool set within a side link BWP or a side link carrier / cell. The side link BWP or a side link carrier / cell may be in the FR2 band / spectrum. The side link resource pool set may perform frequency division multiplexing (FDM) and / or time division multiplexing (TDM). The first UE may perform independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement in the first one or more side link resource pools of the side link resource pool set. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first one or more side link resource pools may include a first side link resource pool. The first (one or more) side link resource pools may be enabled or configured for independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement. The first UE may perform side link communication (e.g., PSCCH / PSSCH and / or PSFCH transmission / reception) in the second one or more side link resource pools of the side link resource pool set. Preferably, in some embodiments, the second one or more side link resource pools may include a second side link resource pool.

[0779] Preferably, in some embodiments, the second one or more side link resource pools may include the first one or more side link resource pools. Preferably, in some embodiments, the second one or more side link resource pools are the same as the first one or more side link resource pools. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may perform independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement and side link communication in the first side link resource pool.

[0780] Alternatively, the second one or more side link resource pools are different from / exclusive of the first one or more side link resource pools. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may perform independent SLCSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement in the first side link resource pool and perform side link communication in the second side link resource pool. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first (one or more) side link resource pools may be TDMed with the second (one or more) side link resource pools. Preferably and / or alternatively, the first side link resource pool may (partially) overlap with the second side link resource pool in the time domain.

[0781] Concept A

[0782] Concept A is to introduce parameters / characteristics of independent SL CSI-RS. SL CSI-RS is not associated with a specific service or a specific higher layer protocol (higher than the physical layer (PHY) / MAC / radio resource control (RRC) layer, for example, the application layer). For the time domain conflict situation between the independent SL CSI-RS and PSSCH / PSFCH (in one sidelink BWP or one sidelink carrier / cell), the first UE can determine to perform one of them based on at least the parameters / characteristics of the independent SL CSI-RS.

[0783] Preferably, in some embodiments, when the first UE is to transmit one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a sidelink TTI and is to transmit a PSSCH / PSFCH transmission in the sidelink TTI, the first UE determines to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions or PSSCH / PSFCH transmissions in the sidelink TTI based at least on the parameters / characteristics of the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions. The first UE may not perform other transmissions in the sidelink TTI.

[0784] Preferably, in some embodiments, when the first UE is to receive / measure one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a sidelink TTI and is to receive PSSCH / PSFCH transmissions in the sidelink TTI, the first UE determines to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement or PSSCH / PSFCH reception in the sidelink TTI based at least on the parameters / characteristics of the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions. The first UE may not perform other receptions in the sidelink TTI.

[0785] Preferably, in some embodiments, when the first UE is to receive / measure one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a sidelink TTI and is to transmit a PSSCH / PSFCH transmission in the sidelink TTI, the first UE determines to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement or PSSCH / PSFCH transmission in the sidelink TTI based at least on the parameters / characteristics of the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions. The first UE may not perform the other in the sidelink TTI.

[0786] Preferably, in certain embodiments, when the first UE is to transmit one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a sidelink TTI and is to receive PSSCH / PSFCH transmissions in the sidelink TTI, the first UE determines to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions or PSSCH / PSFCH receptions in the sidelink TTI based at least on the parameters / characteristics of the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions. The first UE may not perform the other in the sidelink TTI.

[0787] In method A1, the parameter / characteristic of the independent SL CSI-RS may be a first priority value provided by the configuration of the first side link resource pool, wherein the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement is performed in the first side link resource pool. The first UE may determine a second priority value for PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception. For PSSCH transmission / reception including side link data from one or more SL logical channels and / or SL MAC CE, the second priority value may be determined based on the one or more logical channels and / or SL MAC CE. For PSFCH transmission / reception, the second priority value may be determined based on the associated PSSCH reception / transmission. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may execute one of the smaller priority values ​​between the first priority value and the second priority value. Preferably, in some embodiments, when the first priority value is less than the second priority value, the first UE may perform the one or more independent SLCSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement in the side link TTI (without performing PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception). Preferably, in some embodiments, when the second priority value is less than the first priority value, the first UE may perform PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception in the sidelink TTI (without performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement).

[0788] In method A2, the parameter / characteristic of the independent SL CSI-RS may be a first priority value provided by a configuration associated with a second UE / destination, wherein the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions are performed for the second UE / destination or the one or more independent SL CSI-RS are transmitted from the second UE / destination. The first UE may determine a second priority value for PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception. For PSSCH transmission / reception including sidelink data from one or more SL logical channels and / or SL MAC CEs, the second priority value may be determined based on the one or more logical channels and / or SL MAC CEs. For PSFCH transmission / reception, the second priority value may be determined based on the associated PSSCH reception / transmission. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the first UE may perform one of the smaller priority values ​​of the first priority value and the second priority value. Preferably, in certain embodiments, when the first priority value is less than the second priority value, the first UE may perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement in the sidelink TTI (without performing PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception). Preferably, in some embodiments, when the second priority value is less than the first priority value, the first UE may perform PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception in the sidelink TTI (without performing the one or more independent SLCSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement).

[0789] In method A3, the parameter / characteristic of the independent SL CSI-RS may be a first priority value associated with a specific SL logical channel associated with a second UE / destination, wherein the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions are performed for the second UE / destination. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the first UE may have available sidelink data from a specific SL logical channel. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the specific SL logical channel may have the minimum priority value among the SL logical channels with available sidelink data associated with the second UE / destination. The first UE may determine a second priority value for PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception. For PSSCH transmission / reception including sidelink data from one or more SL logical channels and / or SL MAC CE, the second priority value may be determined based on the one or more logical channels and / or SL MAC CE. For PSFCH transmission / reception, the second priority value may be determined based on the associated PSSCH reception / transmission. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the first UE may execute one of the smaller priority values ​​between the first priority value and the second priority value. Preferably, in some embodiments, when the first priority value is less than the second priority value, the first UE may perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions (without performing PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception) in the sidelink TTI. Preferably, in some embodiments, when the second priority value is less than the first priority value, the first UE may perform PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception (without performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions) in the sidelink TTI.

[0790] In method A4, the parameter / characteristic of the independent SL CSI-RS may be a first priority value indicated by the first side link control information, wherein the one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement is scheduled / assigned / allocated / reserved by the first side link control information. The first UE may receive the first side link control information from the second UE. The first UE may determine a second priority value for PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception. For PSSCH transmission / reception including side link data from one or more SL logical channels and / or SLMAC CE, the second priority value may be determined based on the one or more logical channels and / or SL MACCE. For PSFCH transmission / reception, the second priority value may be determined based on the associated PSSCH reception / transmission. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may execute one of the smaller priority values ​​of the first priority value and the second priority value. Preferably, in some embodiments, when the first priority value is less than the second priority value, the first UE may perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement (without performing PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception) in the side link TTI. Preferably, in some embodiments, when the second priority value is less than the first priority value, the first UE may perform PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception in the sidelink TTI (without performing the one or more independent SLCSI-RS reception / measurement).

[0791] In method A5, the parameter / characteristic of the independent SL CSI-RS may be a first priority provided by the configuration of the first side link resource pool or the side link configuration of the first UE. The one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement is performed in the first side link resource pool. The first UE may determine a second priority value for PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception. For PSSCH transmission / reception including side link data from one or more SL logical channels and / or SL MAC CE, the second priority value may be determined based on the one or more logical channels and / or SL MAC CE. For PSFCH transmission / reception, the second priority value may be determined based on the associated PSSCH reception / transmission. Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE may perform at least one of the first priority threshold and the second priority value. Preferably in some embodiments, when the second priority value is greater than the first priority threshold, the first UE may perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement in the side link TTI (without performing PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception). Preferably, in some embodiments, when the second priority value is less than the first priority threshold, the first UE may perform PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception in the sidelink TTI (without performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement).

[0792] In method A6, the parameter / characteristic of the independent SL CSI-RS may be that the independent SL CSI-RS has a higher priority than the PSSCH / PSFCH. Preferably, in some embodiments, the independent SL CSI-RS may or may not be associated with the first priority value. The first UE may determine a second priority value for PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception. For PSSCH transmission / reception including side link data from one or more SL logical channels and / or SL MAC CE, the second priority value may be determined based on the one or more logical channels and / or SL MAC CE. For PSFCH transmission / reception, the second priority value may be determined based on the associated PSSCH reception / transmission. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may determine to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement in the side link TTI (without performing PSSCH / PSFCH transmission / reception). The first UE may not consider / compare the second priority value and / or the first priority value. In other words, the type of the independent SL CSI-RS has a higher priority than the type of the PSSCH / PSFCH.

[0793] In method A7, the parameters / characteristics of the independent SL CSI-RS may be the same or different based at least on the category / type of the independent SL CSI-RS. Preferably, in some embodiments, for each category / type of independent SL CSI-RS, the associated parameters / characteristics of the independent SL CSI-RS may be determined based on any one of methods A1 to A6. Preferably, in some embodiments, each category / type of independent SL CSI-RS may be associated with the same or different first priority values, respectively. Preferably, in some embodiments, the category / type of independent SL CSI-RS may include any one of the following: periodic independent SL CSI-RS, semi-persistent independent SL CSI-RS, non-periodic independent SL CSI-RS, beam failure-related independent SL CSI-RS, event / condition triggered independent SL CSI-RS (e.g., triggered by a first UE), and / or requested independent SL CSI-RS (e.g., requested by a second UE). Preferably, in some embodiments, a non-periodic independent SL CSI-RS may have a higher priority (e.g., have a smaller associated priority value) than a periodic independent SL CSI-RS and / or a semi-persistent independent SL CSI-RS. Preferably, in some embodiments, a beam failure-related independent SL CSI-RS may have a higher priority (e.g., have a smaller associated priority value) than a periodic independent SL CSI-RS and / or a semi-persistent independent SL CSI-RS. Preferably, in some embodiments, an event / condition-triggered independent SL CSI-RS may have a higher priority (e.g., have a smaller associated priority value) than a periodic independent SL CSI-RS and / or a semi-persistent independent SL CSI-RS. Preferably, in some embodiments, a requested independent SL CSI-RS may have a higher priority (e.g., have a smaller associated priority value) than a periodic independent SL CSI-RS and / or a semi-persistent independent SL CSI-RS.

[0794] Preferably, in certain embodiments, any one or any combination of the above methods may be generated as a new method. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the above different methods may be used in different scenarios. For example, for uplink (UL) / SL prioritization, SL CSI-RS transmission may require priority, while for SL / SL, TX / TX, TX / RX / RX / RX may not require SL CSI-RS. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the UE transmits a SLCSI-RS configured with a priority higher than a first priority threshold and / or a UL channel / signal with a priority less than a second threshold. Alternatively, when the SL is to transmit the SL CSI-RS, the transmission of the UL is always prioritized over the SL.

[0795] Preferably in certain embodiments, the overlapping TTIs for the first channel / signal and the second channel / signal are on the same carrier, the same sidelink resource pool, the same SL BWP and / or the same frequency band.

[0796] Preferably, in some embodiments, the first channel / signal may be PSCCH, PSFCH, PSSCH, SL CSI-RS or synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH.

[0797] Preferably, in some embodiments, the first channel / signal may be a PUCCH, a PUSCH or a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).

[0798] Preferably in some embodiments, the second channel / signal may be PSCCH, PSFCH, PSSCH, SL CSI-RS or SS / PBCH.

[0799] Preferably in some embodiments, the second channel / signal may be PUCCH, PUSCH or SRS.

[0800] Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE will utilize the second TX beam to perform PSSCH / PSFCH transmission. Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE will utilize the second RX beam to perform PSSCH / PSFCH reception.

[0801] Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE will utilize a first TX beam to perform the one or more independent SLCSI-RS transmissions.The first TX beam may be the same as or different from the second TX beam.

[0802] Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE will utilize a first RX beam to perform the one or more independent SLCSI-RS reception / measurements. The first RX beam may be the same as or different from the second RX beam.

[0803] Alternatively, the first UE will perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions using one or more first TX beams. The one or more first TX beams may or may not include a second TX beam.

[0804] Alternatively, the first UE will utilize one or more first RX beams to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurements. The one or more first RX beams may or may not include the second RX beam.

[0805] Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may perform one independent SL CSI-RS transmission of the one or more independent SL CSI-RS via one TX beam.

[0806] Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may perform an independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement of the one or more independent SL CSI-RS via an RX beam.

[0807] Preferably, in some embodiments, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement can be scheduled, assigned, allocated or reserved by the first side link control information. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first side link control information can include the first level SCI of the first side link control information and the second level SCI of the first side link control information. The first level SCI of the first side link control information is transmitted via PSCCH.

[0808] Preferably, in certain embodiments, the first UE may transmit the first side link control information and perform the one or more SL CSI-RS transmissions in the same side link TTI. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the first UE may transmit the first side link control information via the first TX beam. When the first side link control information indicates / sets repetition on or the same TX beam, the first UE will perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions using the first TX beam. Preferably and / or alternatively, the first UE may transmit the first side link control information via the first TX beam. When the first side link control information indicates / sets repetition off or different TX beams, the first UE will perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions using the one or more first TX beams (e.g., performing TX beam sweeping). The one or more first TX beams may include the first TX beam.

[0809] Preferably, in certain embodiments, the first UE may receive the first side link control information and perform the one or more SL CSI-RS reception / measurement in the same side link TTI. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the first UE may receive the first side link control information via a first RX beam. When the first side link control information (or configuration or signaling) indicates / sets repeated on or the same TX beam, the first UE will utilize the one or more first RX beams (e.g., perform RX beam sweeping) to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement. The one or more first RX beams may include a first RX beam. Preferably and / or alternatively, the first UE may receive the first side link control information via a first RX beam. When the first side link control information (or configuration or signaling) indicates / sets repeated off or different TX beams, the first UE will utilize the first RX beam to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement.

[0810] Preferably, in certain embodiments, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS are transmitted / multiplexed in non-overlapping symbols (in the time domain) in the sidelink TTI. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS are not transmitted / multiplexed in the frequency domain in the sidelink TTI. Preferably, in certain embodiments, in the sidelink TTI, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS are transmitted / multiplexed in non-overlapping symbols (in the time domain) from the transmission of the first sidelink control information. Preferably, in certain embodiments, in the sidelink TTI, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS are transmitted / multiplexed in non-overlapping symbols (in the time domain) from the transmission of the first sidelink control information (level 1 SCI). Preferably, in certain embodiments, in the sidelink TTI, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS are transmitted / multiplexed in non-overlapping symbols (in the time domain) from the transmission of the PSCCH.

[0811] Preferably, in certain embodiments, when the first UE is to transmit a first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a sidelink TTI and is to transmit a second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in the sidelink TTI, the first UE determines to perform the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions or the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in the sidelink TTI based at least on the parameters / characteristics of the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions and the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions. The first UE may not perform other transmissions in the sidelink TTI. Any one of methods A1 to A7 may be used to determine / derive the parameters / characteristics of the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions and the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions. Preferably, in certain embodiments, if / when the priority of the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions is the same as the priority of the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, which one to perform may be determined by the implementation scheme of the first UE.

[0812] Preferably, in certain embodiments, when the first UE is to receive / measure the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a sidelink TTI and is to receive the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in the sidelink TTI, the first UE determines to perform the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement or the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement in the sidelink TTI based at least on the parameters / characteristics of the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions and the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions. The first UE may not perform other receptions in the sidelink TTI. Any one of methods A1 to A7 may be used to determine / derive the parameters / characteristics of the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions and the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions. Preferably, in certain embodiments, if / when the priority of the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions is the same as the priority of the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, which one to perform may be determined by the implementation scheme of the first UE.

[0813] Preferably, in certain embodiments, when the first UE is to receive / measure a first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a sidelink TTI and is to transmit a second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in the sidelink TTI, the first UE determines to perform the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement or the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in the sidelink TTI based at least on the parameters / characteristics of the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions and the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions. The first UE may not perform the other in the sidelink TTI. Any one of methods A1 to A7 may be used to determine / derive the parameters / characteristics of the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions and the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions. Preferably, in certain embodiments, if / when the priority of the first one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions is the same as the priority of the second one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, which one to perform may be determined by the implementation scheme of the first UE.

[0814] Concept B

[0815] The first UE may have / receive a configuration of a network scheduling mode (e.g., mode 1) for acquiring / obtaining sidelink resources. The first UE may acquire / obtain from the network node the sidelink resources scheduled / allocated via the SL grant. The sidelink resources are used for sidelink communications in a second one or more sidelink resource pools in one sidelink BWP or one sidelink carrier / cell.

[0816] The first UE may trigger or request to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a sidelink TTI. The one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions are performed in a first sidelink resource pool. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the triggered / requested independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be performed for / to a second UE / destination (e.g., for unicast or multicast). Preferably and / or alternatively, the triggered / requested independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be performed for / to a nearby UE (e.g., for broadcast).

[0817] In order to acquire / obtain one or more side link resources for performing one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, there are some methods:

[0818] In method B1, the triggering / requesting / needing for independent SL CSI-RS transmission may trigger a buffer status report to the network node. More specifically, the triggering / requesting / needing for independent SL CSI-RS transmission may trigger a sidelink buffer status report to the network node. In other words, a (conventional) sidelink buffer status report may be triggered in response to the triggering / requesting for independent SL CSI-RS transmission. Preferably in certain embodiments, when the first UE needs to transmit an independent SL CSI-RS transmission, and when the first UE does not have available sidelink resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission, the first UE may trigger a sidelink buffer status report to the network node. Preferably in certain embodiments, the sidelink buffer status report may indicate the triggering / requesting / needing for independent SL CSI-RS transmission. When the network node receives the sidelink buffer status report / after the network node receives the sidelink buffer status report, the network node may schedule one or more sidelink resources to the first UE via sidelink grant or configuration. The first UE may utilize the one or more sidelink resources for performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions.

[0819] In one embodiment, the independent SL CSI-RS transmission does not belong to the SL logical channel (e.g., in the MAC layer). Preferably, in certain embodiments, the independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be a sidelink reference signal (e.g., in the physical layer). Preferably, in certain embodiments, the sidelink buffer status report may indicate the trigger / request / need for the independent SL CSI-RS transmission.

[0820] In one embodiment, the independent SL CSI-RS transmission may belong to or be associated with a SL logical channel (e.g., in the MAC layer) associated with a second UE / destination. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the sidelink logical channel may be (pre-)configured / assigned / associated with a first priority value. More specifically, the sidelink logical channel may be able to trigger a sidelink buffer status report to the network node. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the triggered sidelink buffer status report may indicate / count the buffer size information of the sidelink logical channel. The buffer size information may include the buffer size for the independent SL CSI-RS transmission. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the buffer size for the independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be (pre-)configured or specified. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the buffer size for the independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be determined based on the (required / expected / established) bandwidth or frequency resources of the independent SL CSI-RS transmission.

[0821] In one embodiment, the independent SL CSI-RS transmission may belong to or be associated with a (virtual) SL logical channel (e.g., in the MAC layer). Preferably, in certain embodiments, the (virtual) sidelink logical channel may be (pre-)configured / assigned / associated with a first priority value. More specifically, the (virtual) sidelink logical channel may be able to trigger a sidelink buffer status report to the network node. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the triggered sidelink buffer status report may indicate / count the buffer size information of the (virtual) sidelink logical channel. The buffer size information may include the buffer size for the independent SL CSI-RS transmission. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the buffer size may be (pre-)configured or specified or fixed. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the buffer size may be determined based on the (required / expected / established) bandwidth or frequency resources of the independent SL CSI-RS transmission. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the triggered sidelink buffer status report may indicate / count the buffer size of the (virtual) sidelink logical channel to be zero.

[0822] Preferably, in certain embodiments, when the first UE does not have uplink resources for delivering / transmitting the sidelink buffer status report, the sidelink buffer status report may trigger a (sidelink) scheduling request (e.g., SR) from the first UE to the network node. When the network node receives / detects the (sidelink) scheduling request from the first UE, the network node may schedule uplink resources to the first UE, and the first UE may utilize the uplink resources for delivering / transmitting the sidelink buffer status report to the network.

[0823] Preferably in certain embodiments, when the first UE has available uplink resources for delivering / transmitting the sidelink buffer status report, the first UE delivers / transmits the sidelink buffer status report via the uplink resources.

[0824] Preferably, in some embodiments, when the first UE has available side link resources for performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, the first UE may not trigger a side link buffer status report to the network node. The first UE may utilize the available side link resources for performing independent SL CSI-RS transmissions.

[0825] In method B2, the triggering / requesting / needing for independent SL CSI-RS transmission may trigger a scheduling request to the network. More specifically, the triggering / requesting / needing for sidelink independent SL CSI-RS transmission may trigger a sidelink scheduling request to the network node. Preferably in certain embodiments, the triggering / requesting / needing for independent SL CSI-RS transmission may or may not trigger a sidelink buffer status report to the network node. Preferably in certain embodiments, when the first UE needs to transmit an independent SL CSI-RS transmission, and when the first UE does not have available sidelink resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission, the first UE may trigger a sidelink scheduling request to the network. When the network node receives / detects the sidelink scheduling request / after the network node receives / detects the sidelink scheduling request, the network node may grant or configure one or more sidelink resources to the first UE via the sidelink. The first UE may utilize the one or more sidelink resources for performing independent SL CSI-RS transmission.

[0826] Preferably, in certain embodiments, the independent SL CSI-RS transmission does not belong to the SL logical channel (e.g., in the MAC layer). Preferably, in certain embodiments, the independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be a sidelink reference signal (e.g., in the physical layer). Preferably, in certain embodiments, the sidelink scheduling request may indicate a trigger / request / need for an independent SL CSI-RS transmission. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the independent SL CSI-RS transmission does not correspond to sidelink report signaling (e.g., SL CSI report, SL inter-UE coordination (IUC) report, SL discontinuous reception (DRX) command, SL IUC request).

[0827] Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE has / receives from the network node a configuration of at least one SR (scheduling request) configuration for transmitting a sidelink scheduling request. Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE has / receives from the network node a configuration of at least one SR (scheduling request) configuration for an independent SL CSI-RS. Preferably in some embodiments, the SR configuration for the independent SL CSI-RS may be associated / configured / assigned with a SR configuration identity (index). Preferably in some embodiments, the sidelink scheduling request is transmitted via PUCCH.

[0828] Preferably in some embodiments, the SR configuration for the triggered / requested independent SL CSI-RS transmission can be associated with the second UE / destination. Preferably in some embodiments, for the triggered / requested independent SL CSI-RS transmission to / for the second UE / destination, the first UE can determine the uplink resources for transmitting the sidelink scheduling request via one SR configuration associated with the second UE / destination. The first UE can determine / derive the one SR configuration based at least on (the association with) the second UE / destination.

[0829] Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may (expect / trigger / request) perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions via one or more first TX beams in a sidelink TTI. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may transmit first sidelink control information via one first TX beam in the one sidelink TTI for scheduling / allocating / reserving the one or more SL CSI-RS transmissions. Preferably, in some embodiments, the SR configuration for the triggered / requested independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be associated with the one or more first TX beams. Preferably, in some embodiments, for the triggered / requested independent SL CSI-RS transmission to / for the second UE / destination, the first UE may determine the uplink resources for transmitting the sidelink scheduling request via one SR configuration associated with the one or more first TX beams. The first UE may determine / derive the one SR configuration based at least on (associated with) the one or more first TX beams. Preferably and / or alternatively, the SR configuration for the triggered / requested independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be associated with the one first TX beam. Preferably in some embodiments, for a triggered / requested independent SL CSI-RS transmission to / for a second UE / destination, the first UE may determine the uplink resources for transmitting the sidelink scheduling request via an SR configuration associated with the one first TX beam. The first UE may determine / derive the one SR configuration based at least on (and associated with) the one first TX beam.

[0830] The sidelink scheduling request can be shared by one or more signalings. The one or more signalings can be sidelink report signaling or independent SL CSI-RS. When a UE in a first timing triggers a sidelink CSI report, the UE transmits a sidelink scheduling request to a network node. When a UE in a second timing needs to transmit an independent SL CSI-RS, the UE transmits a sidelink scheduling request to a network node. Periodic PUCCH resources are associated with a sidelink scheduling request (associated with a sidelink scheduling request ID). Alternatively, the sidelink scheduling request corresponds to an independent SL CSI-RS, and another sidelink scheduling request (with a different scheduling request ID) corresponds to a sidelink report signaling.

[0831] Preferably, in certain embodiments, the SR configuration identity (index) may not be associated with the sidelink MAC CE. Additionally and / or alternatively, the SR configuration identity (index) associated with the independent SL CSI-RS may be associated with (or shared with) one or more sidelink logical channels. Additionally and / or alternatively, the SR configuration associated with the independent SL CSI-RS may be associated with the SR configuration for the SL MAC CE (e.g., Mutual Coordination MAC CE and / or CSI Report MAC CE and / or SL LBT Failure MAC CE and / or SL DRX Command MAC CE).

[0832] Additionally or alternatively, at least one SR configuration may be associated with sidelink report signaling (need for transmission). Preferably, in certain embodiments, the SR configuration identity (index) may be associated with (only) independent SL CSI-RS. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the SR configuration identity (index) may not be associated with a sidelink logical channel.

[0833] Preferably in some embodiments, the sidelink scheduling request may indicate a trigger / request / need for independent SL CSI-RS transmission. Preferably in some embodiments, the sidelink scheduling request may indicate a need for a specific size of sidelink resources. Preferably in some embodiments, the specific size includes at least the (required / expected / given) bandwidth or frequency resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission. The specific size may be a fixed / specified or (pre-)configured value.

[0834] Preferably in certain embodiments, if the first UE also has a (regular) sidelink buffer status report to the network, the sidelink scheduling request may indicate a need for a larger / normal size of the sidelink resources.

[0835] Preferably in some embodiments, when the first UE does not have available uplink resources for performing PUSCH transmission, the first UE transmits a sidelink scheduling request to the network node. Preferably and / or alternatively, even when the first UE has available uplink resources for performing PUSCH transmission, the first UE transmits a sidelink scheduling request to the network node.

[0836] Preferably in some embodiments, if / when the first UE has available side link resources for performing the one or more independent SLCSI-RS transmissions, the first UE may not trigger / transmit a side link scheduling request to the network node. The first UE may utilize the available side link resources for performing independent SL CSI-RS transmissions.

[0837] In method B3, if / when the first UE does not have available side link resources for performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, the first UE may select one or more side link resources in a special pool and perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions via the selected side link resources. More specifically, when the first UE has / receives a configuration of a network scheduling mode for acquiring / obtaining side link resources, the first UE may select the one or more side link resources in the special pool for performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions.

[0838] Preferably in some embodiments, the independent SL CSI-RS transmission does not belong to a SL logical channel (eg, in the MAC layer). Preferably in some embodiments, the independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be a sidelink reference signal (eg, in the physical layer).

[0839] Preferably, in some embodiments, the selected one or more side link resources may have a single subchannel (in the frequency domain). Preferably and / or alternatively, the selected one or more side link resources may have a specific size (in the frequency domain). Preferably, in some embodiments, the specific size includes at least the (required / expected / given) bandwidth or frequency resource for independent SL CSI-RS transmission. The specific size may be a fixed / specified or (pre-)configured value.

[0840] Preferably, in some embodiments, if / when the first UE has available side link resources for performing the one or more independent SLCSI-RS transmissions, the first UE may not select the one or more side link resources in the special pool for performing independent SL CSI-RS transmissions. The first UE may utilize the available side link resources for performing independent SL CSI-RS transmissions.

[0841] Preferably in certain embodiments, the first UE will randomly select the one or more sidelink resources in the special pool.

[0842] Preferably in certain embodiments, the first UE has / receives a configuration of a special pool.

[0843] Preferably, in some embodiments, the special pool may provide side link resources for the first UE to perform side link communication and / or independent SL CSI-RS transmission in special conditions. The special conditions may contain / include a situation where independent SL CSI-RS transmission is triggered / requested and the first UE does not have available side link resources (in the first (one or more) side link resource pools) for performing independent SL CSI-RS transmission. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first (one or more) side link resource pools do not include the special pool.

[0844] Concept C

[0845] The first UE may have / receive a configuration of a UE (autonomous) selection mode (eg, Mode 2) for acquiring / obtaining sidelink resources.

[0846] Preferably in some embodiments, in order to perform sidelink data transmission (e.g., PSSCH and corresponding PSCCH) via the second TX beam, the first UE may perform a second sensing-based resource selection for selecting one or more second sidelink resources in the second sidelink resource pool. Preferably in some embodiments, based on the sensing results in the second sidelink resource pool, the first UE may determine a second set of identified / valid candidate resources, and select the one or more second sidelink resources from the second set of identified / valid candidate resources. Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE may determine the second set of identified / valid candidate resources based at least on the sensing results via one (or more) second RX beams. Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE may determine the second set of identified / valid candidate resources based on or without the sensing results via RX beams other than one (or more) second RX beams. Preferably in some embodiments, the one (or more) second RX beams may be determined / derived from the second TX beam. Preferably in some embodiments, the one (or more) second RX beams may include / cover the second TX beam in the spatial domain. Preferably in some embodiments, the one (or more) second RX beams and the second TX beam may be associated / corresponding to the same side link reference signal or the same antenna port. Preferably in some embodiments, in order to determine the second set of identified / valid candidate resources, the first UE may exclude some candidate resources based on the SCI received via the one (or more) second RX beams. Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE may trigger a second procedure in a second trigger timing to determine / derive the second set of identified / valid candidate resources. The received SCI is received by the first UE within a second sensing window associated with the second trigger timing. The first UE may perform side link data transmission on selected one or more second side link resources.

[0847] Compared to the sidelink data transmission (e.g., PSSCH and corresponding PSCCH) in one sidelink TTI being transmitted / received via the second TX beam, the first UE may perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions via one or more first TX beams in one sidelink TTI. Preferably, in certain embodiments, in order to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions via one or more first TX beams, the first UE may perform a first sensing-based resource selection for selecting one or more first side link resources in a first side link resource pool. Preferably, in certain embodiments, based on the sensing results in the first side link resource pool, the first UE may determine a first set of identified / valid candidate resources, and select the one or more first side link resources from the first set of identified / valid candidate resources. The first UE may perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions on the selected one or more first side link resources.

[0848] In one embodiment C1, the one or more first TX beams may refer to one first TX beam. The first UE may perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions via the one first TX beam. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may transmit first side link control information via the one first TX beam in the same side link TTI for scheduling / allocating / reserving the one or more SL CSI-RS transmissions. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first side link control information may indicate / set repeated opening or the same TX beam.

[0849] Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may determine the first set of identified / valid candidate resources based on the sensing results via one (or more) first RX beams. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may determine the first set of identified / valid candidate resources based on or without sensing results via RX beams other than the one (or more) first RX beams. Preferably, in some embodiments, the one (or more) first RX beams may be determined / derived from the one first TX beam. Preferably, in some embodiments, the one (or more) first RX beams may include / cover the one first TX beam in the spatial domain. Preferably, in some embodiments, the one (or more) first RX beams and the one first TX beam may be associated / corresponding to the same side link reference signal or the same antenna port. Preferably, in some embodiments, in order to determine the first set of identified / valid candidate resources, the first UE may exclude some candidate resources based on the SCI received via the one (or more) first RX beams. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may trigger a first procedure in a first trigger timing to determine / derive the first set of identified / valid candidate resources. The received SCI is received by the first UE within a first sensing window associated with the first trigger timing.

[0850] As Fig.17A , the first UE may transmit sidelink control information (shown in the first grey bar) and perform 5 SL CSI-RS transmissions (shown in the subsequent 5 bars). The first UE may perform these transmissions via the same TX beam (shown as a grey TX beam). To select SL resources, the first UE may utilize sensing results or received SCI via the grey RX beam. The first UE may not utilize sensing results or received SCI via other RX beams.

[0851] exist Fig.17AIn the embodiment, the first UE determines the side link resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission based on the gray RX beam sensing result. In one embodiment, the receiving UE determines (or fine-tunes) its TX beam for a beam pair based on the SL CSI-RS transmission of the transmitter UE through the same beam. In this example, when the second UE receives the SCI from the first UE in a TTI and the SCI provides information of multiple independent SL CSI-RSs, the second UE receives the corresponding independent SL CSI-RSs at corresponding times via different RX beams. From the perspective of the receiving UE (e.g., the second UE), the second UE can determine the TX beam associated with the first UE based on the highest quality of using one RX beam for reception. The second UE has the capability of beam correspondence, or there is beam correspondence between a TX beam and the RX beam. In one example, the receiver UE can buffer or receive the duration via the same RX beam. The start timing of the duration can be the 1st symbol in a TTI or the 1st side link symbol in a TTI or the 1st symbol of the PSCCH in a TTI (in the side link resource pool). The length of the duration may correspond to the decoding time of the SCI or the information of the multiple SL CSI-RSs obtained by the receiving UE (in one TTI). At least one SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity is within the duration. At most one SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity is within the duration. The length of the duration may correspond to X symbols. Preferably, in some embodiments, X may be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. The second UE may have a beam listening mode for listening to the SCI in the side link resource pool. For example, when the second UE has RX beams {1 to 4}, the second UE will cyclically listen to the side link resource pool based on RX beams {1, 2, 3, 4}. For the TTI monitored by RX beam 1, the second UE receives or buffers the side link symbols based on RX beam 1 (at least within the duration). When the second UE determines that this TTI is associated with the multiple SL CSI-RSs, the second UE receives the remaining side link symbols via different RX beams. Based on the SCI with the source ID (which can be L1 or L2), the second UE can determine which TX beam and / or RX beam is paired to which UE.

[0852] In one embodiment C2, the one or more first TX beams may mean multiple first TX beams. The first UE may perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions via the multiple first TX beams. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may transmit the first side link control information via one first TX beam in the same side link TTI for scheduling / allocating / reserving the one or more SL CSI-RS transmissions. Preferably, in some embodiments, the multiple first TX beams may include the one first TX beam. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first side link control information may indicate / set repeated shutdown or different TX beams.

[0853] Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may determine the first set of identified / valid candidate resources based on the sensing results via one (or more) first RX beams. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may determine the first set of identified / valid candidate resources based on or without the sensing results via the RX beams other than the one (or more) first RX beams. Preferably, in some embodiments, the one (or more) first RX beams may be determined / derived from the one first TX beam. Preferably, in some embodiments, the one (or more) first RX beams may include / cover the one first TX beam in the spatial domain. Preferably, in some embodiments, the one (or more) first RX beams and the one first TX beam may be associated / corresponding to the same side link reference signal or the same antenna port. Preferably, in some embodiments, in order to determine the first set of identified / valid candidate resources, the first UE may exclude some candidate resources based on the SCI received via the one (or more) first RX beams. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may trigger a first procedure in a first trigger timing to determine / derive the first set of identified / valid candidate resources. The received SCI is received by the first UE within a first sensing window associated with the first trigger timing.

[0854] As Fig. 17B In the example shown in , the first UE may transmit side link control information (shown in the first grey bar) and perform 5 SL CSI-RS transmissions (shown in the subsequent 5 bars). The first UE may perform the 5 SL CSI-RS transmissions via different TX beams. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the first UE may transmit the first / initial SL CSI-RS transmission via the same TX beam as the transmission of the side link control information. In order to select the SL resource, the first UE may utilize the sensing results or received SCI via the grey RX beam (i.e., the TX beam corresponding to the side link control information). The first UE may not utilize the sensing results or received SCI via other RX beams.

[0855] In one embodiment C3, the one or more first TX beams may mean multiple first TX beams. The first UE may perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions via the multiple first TX beams. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may transmit the first side link control information via one first TX beam in the same side link TTI for scheduling / allocating / reserving the one or more SL CSI-RS transmissions. Preferably, in some embodiments, the multiple first TX beams may include the one first TX beam. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first side link control information may indicate / set repeated shutdown or different TX beams.

[0856] Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may determine the first set of identified / valid candidate resources based on sensing results via the plurality of first RX beams. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may determine the first set of identified / valid candidate resources based on or without sensing results via RX beams other than the plurality of first RX beams. Preferably, in some embodiments, the plurality of first RX beams may be determined / derived from the plurality of first TX beams. Preferably, in some embodiments, the plurality of first RX beams may include / cover the plurality of first TX beams in the spatial domain. Preferably, in some embodiments, each of the plurality of first RX beams may include / cover one of the plurality of first TX beams in the spatial domain. Preferably, in some embodiments, the plurality of first RX beams and the plurality of first TX beams may be associated / correspond to the same sidelink reference signal set or the same antenna port set. Preferably, in some embodiments, each of the plurality of first RX beams may be associated / correspond to the same sidelink reference signal or the same antenna port, respectively, with each of the plurality of first TX beams. Preferably in some embodiments, in order to determine the first set of identified / valid candidate resources, the first UE may exclude some candidate resources based on the SCI received via the plurality of first RX beams. Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE may trigger a first procedure in a first trigger timing to determine / derive the first set of identified / valid candidate resources. The received SCI is received by the first UE within a first sensing window associated with the first trigger timing.

[0857] As Fig. 17CIn the example shown in , the first UE may transmit side link control information (shown in the first grey bar) and perform 5 SL CSI-RS transmissions (shown in the subsequent 5 bars). The first UE may perform the 5 SL CSI-RS transmissions via different TX beams. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the first UE may transmit the first / initial SL CSI-RS transmission via the same TX beam as the transmission of the side link control information. In order to select SL resources, the first UE may utilize sensing results or received SCI via different RX beams (i.e., different TX beams corresponding to the transmission of the side link control information and the 5 SL CSI-RS). The first UE may not utilize sensing results or received SCI via other RX beams.

[0858] In one embodiment, the first UE determines which TX beam to use for beam sweeping based on a reference TX beam in the beam group. Preferably, in some embodiments, the beam group is determined or generated based on beamforming / antenna gain distortion within a threshold. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE uses the reference beam for determining the sidelink resource for sidelink transmission. In one example, Fig.17D As shown, the gray RX beam is determined as the reference beam for determining the side link resources. The beam group can be a gray RX beam, and an RX beam other than the RX beam (listened in the next TTI of the gray RX beam, which is only an example of generating / determining the beam group). Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may consider the sensing results associated with the RX beams in the beam group. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE only takes the sensing results associated with the reference beams in the beam group. Preferably, in some embodiments, for a TTI including multiple SL CSI-RS transmission opportunities, the TX UE uses the sensing results associated with one or more reference beams (for each beam group) to determine whether to transmit on the resources on the TTI.

[0859] In one embodiment, for a TTI in which the first UE uses more than one RX beam for monitoring, the sensing result of the TTI may be determined to be associated with which RX beam is used to monitor PSCCH / SCI. Preferably, in certain embodiments, for a TTI in which the first UE uses more than one RX beam for monitoring, the sensing result of the TTI may be determined to be associated with the more than one beams used for this TTI. Regardless of whether the first UE determines the side link resources for PSSCH transmission and / or independent SL CSI-RS transmission, the first UE determines that the sensing result of the TTI (including more than one TTI) is associated with one RX beam or more than one RX beam. For example, in Fig.17EIn some embodiments, for a TTI including more than one RX beam for monitoring (e.g., a second TTI in a first sensing window), the UE will consider the sensing result in the second TTI to be associated with a gray RX beam (e.g., one RX beam for monitoring SCI), or the sensing result is associated with more than one RX beam. Preferably, in some embodiments, based on the sensing result in the second TTI, the first UE may exclude the side link resources in the TTI associated with the sensing result in the second TTI.

[0860] Preferably in some embodiments, for Figures 17A to 17E , the gray beam may be determined based on the current paired beam with the target UE / destination. Preferably in some embodiments, for another instance, the gray TX beam may be determined based on the reference beam in the beam group. Preferably in some embodiments, the beam group includes the current paired beam with the target UE / destination. Preferably in some embodiments, based on whether the destination is the target UE / destination, the first UE determines the gray RX beam as the TX beam for determining the sidelink resources for transmission. Preferably in some embodiments, if at least one sensing result associated with the beam marked with a horizontal line (in the second TTI) is unqualified (e.g., greater than a threshold), the first UE excludes the sidelink resources in the TTI from being associated with (and / or reserved by) the second TTI. Alternatively, the first UE excludes the sidelink resources in the TTI from being associated with (and / or reserved by) the second TTI, where the symbol associated with the beam is marked with a horizontal line. For other TTIs in the sensing window, the complete TTI is associated with one sensing result associated with one RX beam. Alternatively and / or preferably, the first UE may Fig.17E The first UE may perform a weighting procedure for more than one sensing result in the second TTI in the first sensing window in the first sensing window. The weighting factor may be determined based on the beamforming / antenna gain of (at least) two beams (one RX beam is used for receiving SCI and the other is used for receiving independent CSI-RS). Alternatively, the second TTI does not have a periodic reservation. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE excludes sensing results in a TTI (e.g., the second TTI in the first sensing window) that includes using more than one RX beam for monitoring.

[0861] Alternatively, for Figures 17A to 17E, when the first UE performs sensing during the first sensing window and receives a TTI via a gray RX beam, and the TTI has an independent SL CSI-RS transmitted via other UEs (for example, it can be a unicast pair UE or a group UE or a broadcast UE). The first UE receives SCI via a gray RX beam and determines RSRP based on the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the PSCCH. The first UE does not determine RSRP based on the DMRS of the PSSCH. The first UE does not determine RSRP based on each SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity within the TTI monitored by the first UE using the gray RX beam. Instead, the first UE determines RSRP based on the DMRS of one or more SL CSI-RS transmission opportunities within the TTI monitored by the first UE using the gray RX beam. (When the first UE determines the RSRP of the TTI) the first UE can perform weighting for the RSRP measurement associated with each SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity in the TTI. The weighting factor for one or more SL CSI-RS transmission opportunities can be determined based on an indication of the transmitting UE (for example, from the second UE). The second UE may determine one or more weighting factors for one or more CSI-RS transmission opportunities based on the beamforming / antenna gain between the beam associated with the PSCCH in the TTI and the beam associated with the SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity in the TTI. Alternatively, the first UE will not consider the sensing results of this TTI.

[0862] Preferably, in certain embodiments, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions may be performed for / toward a second UE / destination (e.g., for unicast or multicast). Preferably, in certain embodiments or alternatively, the triggered / requested independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be performed for / toward a nearby UE (e.g., for broadcast).

[0863] Alternatively, one SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity may include PSCCH and SL CSI-RS. Fig.15AAs shown, symbols #5 and #6 correspond to one SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity, symbols #7 and #8 correspond to the second one SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity, and so on. The SL CSI-RS in one SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity may have a specific type of SCI transmitted in the one SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity. The specific type of SCI includes priority, frequency resource assignment, time resource assignment, resource reservation period, DMRS mode, number of SL-CSI RS ports, source ID (e.g., L1 or L2), or destination ID (e.g., L1 or L2). Preferably in some embodiments, the specific type of SCI is carried / delivered by PSCCH or PSSCH. Alternatively and / or preferably, for a TTI including multiple SL CSI-RS transmission opportunities, the TTI does not include resources for the second state SCI. In one example, the second level SCI can be repeatedly transmitted in each SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity.

[0864] Concept D: SL CSI-RS resources (pools) are configured separately from SL data / feedback resources in the time / frequency / spatial domains

[0865] Concept D is that the UE may be configured with a first one or more resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement. The first one or more resources may be (associated with or indicated in) a resource pool configuration (for transmission / reception, measurement of independent SL CSI-RS). The first one or more resources (each of which) may not overlap with (any) second one or more resources used for SL data and / or feedback and / or control transmission / reception. For example, the UE may be configured with a first resource pool (dedicated to) indicating first resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement. The UE may be configured with a second resource pool indicating second resources for SL data / feedback / control transmission. For any resource in / of the first resource, the resource may not overlap with any resource in / of the second resource.

[0866] The SL control transmission may contain a PSCCH transmission (eg, SCI) that indicates / schedules a PSSCH transmission (and may not be a separate SL CSI-RS).

[0867] Additionally and / or alternatively, when performing resource pool (re)selection, the UE may not select the resource pool for SL data transmission if or when the resource pool is associated with / contains resources that overlap with resources used for independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement (when the UE triggers SL CSI-RS transmission / measurement or is listening to an independent SL CSI-RS).

[0868] Additionally and / or alternatively, the network node may not configure / provide the UE with first resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission that overlap with (any) resources configured / provided to the UE for SL data and / or feedback and / or control transmission / reception.

[0869] When the first resource and the second resource overlap, the first resource and the second resource overlap in the time domain. Additionally and / or alternatively, when the first resource and the second resource overlap, the first resource and the second resource overlap in the frequency domain (e.g., the same BWP, resource block and / or the same SL carrier frequency). Additionally and / or alternatively, when the first resource and the second resource overlap, the first resource and the second resource overlap in the spatial domain. Additionally and / or alternatively, when the first resource and the second resource overlap, the UE may not be able to perform transmission via the first resource and the second resource at the same time.

[0870] Concept E: SL CSI-RS gap for measuring SL CSI-RS

[0871] Concept E is that the UE may be configured with gaps for measuring / receiving / transmitting SL CSI-RS. Alternatively and / or in addition, the UE may be configured with transmission gaps for (prioritized) transmission of independent SL CSI-RS and reception gaps for (prioritized) reception / measurement of independent SL CSI-RS. The gap may be a (recurring or periodic) time period. The gap may be derived based on the repetition period and / or offset. The gap may be configured by the network via an RRC message (e.g., SL measurement gap configuration). During the gap, the UE may not perform SL data transmission and / or SL feedback transmission and / or SL control transmission and / or SL data reception (except for independent SLCSI-RS). Additionally and / or alternatively, the UE may not perform PSSCH, PSCCH and / or PSFCH transmissions during the gap (except for independent SL CSI-RS transmissions). Additionally and / or alternatively, the UE may de-prioritize PSSCH, PSCCH, and / or PSFCH transmissions during the gaps (eg, perform independent SL CSI-RS transmissions and not perform overlapping PSSCH, PSCCH, and / or PSFCH transmissions).

[0872] Additionally and / or alternatively, when selecting a destination for PSSCH / PSCCH transmission at a certain timing (in a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure), the TX UE may consider whether the destination is in a gap at the timing. If the destination is in a gap at the timing, the TX UE may not select the destination for PSSCH / PSCCH transmission.

[0873] The gap may be a (standalone) SL CSI-RS gap. The gap may be a SL-FR2 configuration (per UE).

[0874] For all of the above-described concepts, methods, aspects, and alternatives above and herein, exemplary embodiments are described below.

[0875] It should be noted that any of the methods, alternatives, aspects, examples and embodiments above and herein may be combined in whole or in part, or applied simultaneously or separately.

[0876] Preferably, in some embodiments, the independent SL CSI-RS may be replaced by the SL CSI-RS (for beam management or for L1-RSRP measurement).

[0877] Preferably, in certain embodiments, throughout this disclosure, when one beam encompasses / includes another beam in the spatial domain, it may correspond to an antenna / beamforming gain using / via the other beam being within X dB distortion compared to the antenna / beamforming gain using / via the one beam. Preferably, in certain embodiments, when an antenna / beamforming gain using / via the other beam has a distortion greater than X dB compared to the antenna / beamforming gain using / via the one beam, the one beam does not encompass / include the other / another beam. Preferably, in certain embodiments, X may be 3.

[0878] Preferably, in certain embodiments, throughout the present disclosure, the SL CSI-RS in the frequency domain may be sparsely located. For example, for one SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity, the SL CSI-RS in the 1st symbol of the one SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity may be every Y resource elements (e.g., 0, Y-1, 2Y-1, ...). Preferably, in certain embodiments, Y may be 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, or 12. Alternatively, the SL CSI-RS in the frequency domain may occupy the same frequency resources (e.g., resource elements in a subchannel indicated by the PSCCH).

[0879] Preferably, in some embodiments, one SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity may include one symbol for automatic gain control (AGC).

[0880] Preferably, in some embodiments, the first symbol of an SL CSI-RS transmission opportunity is used for AGC.

[0881] Preferably, in certain embodiments, the maximum number of SL CSI-RS transmission opportunities in one TTI can be determined based on higher layer configuration (e.g., side link resource pool, carrier, SL BWP) and / or UE capabilities (e.g., the number of TX / RX beams, whether the UE requires beam change time).

[0882] Preferably, in some embodiments, when the first UE receives a signal indicating a trigger / request for independent SL CSI-RS transmission (e.g., from a second UE / destination), independent SL CSI-RS transmission can be triggered / requested. The signaling can be SCI, SL MAC CE or SL RRC configuration.

[0883] Preferably in certain embodiments, independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be triggered / requested when the first UE detects a beam failure or a certain number of beam failure instance indications (e.g., within a time interval). Preferably in certain embodiments, independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be triggered / requested when the first UE detects a beam failure or a certain number of beam failure instance indications (e.g., within a time interval) associated with a beam pair link between the first UE and the second UE / destination.

[0884] Preferably in certain embodiments, independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be triggered / requested when the first UE detects a certain number of SL HARQ negative acknowledgements (NACKs) / discontinuous transmissions (DTXs) ​​associated with or from the second UE / destination (eg, within a time interval).

[0885] Preferably in some embodiments, when the first UE detects that the channel quality associated with the beam pair link between the first UE and the second UE / destination is / becomes lower / worse, for example, RSRP or received signal strength indicator (RSSI) or RSRP or signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) is below a threshold, independent SL CSI-RS transmission can be triggered / requested. The first UE can measure RSRP or RSSI or RSRP or SINR via a received / detected channel or reference signal (e.g., PSCCH, PSSCH, PSFCH, SL CSI-RS, SL CSI-RS for beam management, SL CSI-RS for channel measurement) from the second UE / destination.

[0886] Preferably in some embodiments, independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be triggered / requested based on a timer, for example when or in response to expiration of a timer.

[0887] Preferably, in certain embodiments, independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be triggered / requested when or in response to the first UE enabling / configuring / activating procedures / functionality related to beam pairing, beam sweeping or beam maintaining.

[0888] Preferably in certain embodiments, independent SL CSI-RS transmission may be triggered / requested based on the first UE implementation.

[0889] Preferably in certain embodiments, when an independent SL CSI-RS transmission is triggered / requested, and when the first UE does not have available side link resources for the triggered / requested independent SL CSI-RS transmission, the first UE (e.g., in Mode 2 or in UE (autonomous) selection mode) may trigger a first procedure in a first trigger timing to determine / derive a first set of identified / valid candidate resources. Preferably in certain embodiments, when an independent SL CSI-RS transmission is triggered / requested, and when the first UE does not have available side link resources for the triggered / requested independent SL CSI-RS transmission, the first UE (e.g., in Mode 2 or in UE (autonomous) selection mode) may trigger performing a first sensing-based resource selection in a first trigger timing.

[0890] Preferably, in some embodiments, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement can be scheduled, assigned, allocated or reserved by the first side link control information in the same side link TTI. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first side link control information may include the first level SCI of the first side link control information and the second level SCI of the first side link control information. The first level SCI of the first side link control information is transmitted via PSCCH.

[0891] Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE may transmit the first side link control information and perform the one or more SL CSI-RS transmissions in the same side link TTI. Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE may transmit the first side link control information via the first TX beam. When the first side link control information indicates / sets repetition on or the same TX beam, the first UE will perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions using the first TX beam. Preferably in some embodiments and / or alternatively, the first UE may transmit the first side link control information via the first TX beam. When the first side link control information indicates / sets repetition off or different TX beams, the first UE will perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions using the one or more first TX beams (e.g., performing TX beam sweeping). The one or more first TX beams may include the first TX beam.

[0892] Preferably, in certain embodiments, the first UE may receive the first side link control information and perform the one or more SL CSI-RS reception / measurement in the same side link TTI. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the first UE may receive the first side link control information via a first RX beam. When the first side link control information (or configuration or signaling) indicates / sets repeated on or the same TX beam, the first UE will utilize the one or more first RX beams (e.g., perform RX beam sweeping) to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement. The one or more first RX beams may include a first RX beam. Preferably and / or alternatively, the first UE may receive the first side link control information via a first RX beam. When the first side link control information (or configuration or signaling) indicates / sets repeated off or different TX beams, the first UE will utilize the first RX beam to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS reception / measurement.

[0893] Preferably, in certain embodiments, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS are transmitted / multiplexed in non-overlapping symbols (in the time domain) in the sidelink TTI. Preferably, in certain embodiments, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS are not transmitted / multiplexed in the frequency domain in the sidelink TTI. Preferably, in certain embodiments, in the sidelink TTI, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS are transmitted / multiplexed in non-overlapping symbols (in the time domain) from the transmission of the first sidelink control information. Preferably, in certain embodiments, in the sidelink TTI, the one or more independent SLCSI-RS are transmitted / multiplexed in non-overlapping symbols (in the time domain) from the transmission of the first sidelink control information (level 1 SCI). Preferably, in certain embodiments, in the sidelink TTI, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS are transmitted / multiplexed in non-overlapping symbols (in the time domain) from the transmission of the PSCCH.

[0894] Preferably, in certain embodiments, the independent SL CSI-RS may be replaced / substituted / changed to multiple SL CSI-RS in the same sidelink TTI.

[0895] Preferably, in some embodiments, the SL CSI-RS may be replaced / substituted / changed to a side link reference signal for beam pairing, beam management, beam maintenance or beam sweeping.

[0896] Preferably, in some embodiments, the SL CSI-RS may be used in FR2 band / spectrum. Preferably, in some embodiments, the SL CSI-RS may be used in FR3 or FR4 band / spectrum. Preferably, in some embodiments, the SL CSI-RS may be used in carrier frequencies higher than 6000 MHz or 10000 MHz.

[0897] Preferably, in certain embodiments, any of the above-mentioned concepts, methods, alternatives and embodiments for SL CSI-RS may be applied to other sidelink reference signals (e.g., sidelink reference signals designed / introduced in future 5G, 6G, etc.).

[0898] Preferably in some embodiments, the sidelink TTI may mean a sidelink time slot. Preferably in some embodiments, the sidelink TTI may mean a time slot for the sidelink. Preferably in some embodiments, the TTI may be a subframe (for the sidelink) or a time slot (for the sidelink) or a sub-time slot (for the sidelink). Preferably in some embodiments, the TTI includes a plurality of symbols, such as 12 or 14 symbols. Preferably in some embodiments, the TTI may be a time slot (completely / partially) including sidelink symbols. Preferably in some embodiments, the TTI may mean a transmission time interval for sidelink (data) transmission. Preferably in some embodiments, the sidelink time slot or a time slot for the sidelink may contain all orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM) symbols that can be used for sidelink transmission. Preferably in some embodiments, the sidelink time slot or a time slot for the sidelink may contain a continuous number of symbols that can be used for sidelink transmission. Preferably in some embodiments, the sidelink time slot or a time slot for the sidelink means that the time slot is included / included in the sidelink resource pool.

[0899] Preferably in some embodiments, the symbol may mean a symbol indicated / configured to be used for a side link.

[0900] Preferably in some embodiments, a time slot may mean / include a sidelink time slot associated with a (sidelink) resource pool. Preferably in some embodiments, a time slot may not mean / include a sidelink time slot associated with another / other (sidelink) resource pool.

[0901] Preferably, in some embodiments, a subchannel is a unit for sidelink resource allocation / scheduling (for PSSCH). Preferably, in some embodiments, a subchannel may include multiple adjacent PRBs in the frequency domain. Preferably, in some embodiments, the number of PRBs used for each subchannel may be (pre)configured for the sidelink resource pool. Preferably, in some embodiments, the sidelink resource pool (pre)configuration may indicate / configure the number of PRBs used for each subchannel. Preferably, in some embodiments, the number of PRBs used for each subchannel may be any one of 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, 100. Preferably, in some embodiments, a subchannel may be represented as a unit for sidelink resource allocation / scheduling. Preferably, in some embodiments, a subchannel may mean a set of consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain. Preferably, in some embodiments, a subchannel may mean a set of consecutive resource elements in the frequency domain.

[0902] Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may have / maintain / establish multiple side link links / connections on the PC5 interface. For different side link links / connections, the first UE may perform side link transmission to / receive from side links of different paired UEs.

[0903] Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE may have / maintain / establish a first side link link / connection and a second side link link / connection. The paired UE of the first side link link / connection may be different from the paired UE of the second side link link / connection. Preferably in some embodiments, the side link logical channel associated with the first side link link / connection (paired UE) may be separated / independent from the side link logical channel associated with the second side link link / connection (paired UE).

[0904] Preferably, in some embodiments, UE may be / mean / include / replace a device.

[0905] Preferably, in some embodiments, the sidelink transmission / reception may be UE to UE transmission / reception. Preferably, in some embodiments, the sidelink transmission / reception may be device to device transmission / reception. Preferably, in some embodiments, the sidelink transmission / reception may be vehicle to vehicle (V2X) transmission / reception. Preferably, in some embodiments, the sidelink transmission / reception may be pedestrian to pedestrian (P2X) transmission / reception. Preferably, in some embodiments, the sidelink transmission / reception may be on a PC5 interface.

[0906] Preferably, in some embodiments, the PC5 interface may be a wireless interface for communication between devices. Preferably, in some embodiments, the PC5 interface may be a wireless interface for communication between devices. Preferably, in some embodiments, the PC5 interface may be a wireless interface for communication between UEs. Preferably, in some embodiments, the PC5 interface may be a wireless interface for V2X or P2X communication. Preferably, in some embodiments, the Uu interface may be a wireless interface for communication between a network node and a device. Preferably, in some embodiments, the Uu interface may be a wireless interface for communication between a network node and a UE.

[0907] Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may be a first device. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may be a vehicle UE. Preferably, in some embodiments, the first UE may be a V2X UE.

[0908] Preferably, in some embodiments, the second UE may be a second device. Preferably, in some embodiments, the second UE may be a vehicle UE. Preferably, in some embodiments, the second device may be a V2X UE.

[0909] Preferably in some embodiments, the first UE and the second device are different devices.

[0910] Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described below.

[0911] See also Fig.18 , with respect to such and other concepts, systems and methods of the present invention, method 1000 of a first device includes: having / receiving a configuration of a network scheduling mode for acquiring side link resources (step 1002), triggering or requesting to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a side link TTI (step 1004), not having side link resources for performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions (step 1006), triggering a side link buffer status report to a network node (step 1008), and transmitting the side link buffer status report to the network node (step 1010).

[0912] In various embodiments, the method further includes receiving a sidelink grant from the network node after transmitting the sidelink buffer status report, and performing the one or more independent SLCSI-RS transmissions utilizing sidelink resources based on the sidelink grant.

[0913] Reference now Figure 3 and 4In one or more embodiments from the perspective of the first device, the device 300 includes a program code 312 stored in a memory 310 of the transmitter. The CPU 308 can execute the program code 312 to: (i) have / receive a configuration of a network scheduling mode for acquiring side link resources; (ii) trigger or request to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a side link TTI; (iii) not have side link resources for performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions; (iv) trigger a side link buffer status report to a network node; and (v) transmit the side link buffer status report to the network node. In addition, the CPU 308 can execute the program code 312 to perform all described actions, steps, and methods described above, below, or otherwise described herein.

[0914] See also Fig.19 , with respect to such and other concepts, systems and methods of the present invention, method 1020 of a first device includes: having / receiving a configuration of a network scheduling mode for acquiring side link resources (step 1022), triggering or requesting to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a side link TTI (step 1024), not having side link resources for performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions (step 1026), triggering a side link scheduling request to a network node (step 1028), and transmitting the side link scheduling request to the network node (step 1030).

[0915] In various embodiments, the method further includes receiving a sidelink grant from the network node after transmitting the sidelink scheduling request, and performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions utilizing sidelink resources based on the sidelink grant.

[0916] Reference now Figure 3 and 4 In one or more embodiments from the perspective of the first device, the device 300 includes a program code 312 stored in a memory 310 of the transmitter. The CPU 308 can execute the program code 312 to: (i) have / receive a configuration of a network scheduling mode for acquiring side link resources; (ii) trigger or request to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a side link TTI; (iii) not have side link resources for performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions; (iv) trigger a side link scheduling request to a network node; and (v) transmit the side link scheduling request to the network node. In addition, the CPU 308 can execute the program code 312 to perform all described actions, steps, and methods described above, below, or otherwise herein.

[0917] See also Fig. 20, with respect to such and other concepts, systems and methods of the present invention, method 1040 of a first device includes: triggering or requesting one or more independent SLCSI-RS transmissions via one or more first TX beams in a side link TTI (step 1042), performing a first sensing-based resource selection for selecting one or more first side link resources in a first side link resource pool (step 1044), determining a first set of identified / valid candidate resources and selecting the one or more first side link resources from the first set of identified / valid candidate resources based on sensing results in the first side link resource pool (step 1046), and performing the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions on the selected one or more first side link resources (step 1048).

[0918] In various embodiments, the one or more first TX beams means one first TX beam, and / or the first UE transmits first side link control information via the one first TX beam in the same side link TTI for scheduling / allocating / reserving the one or more SL CSI-RS transmissions, and / or the first device determines a first set of identified / valid candidate resources based on sensing results via one (or more) first RX beams, wherein the one (or more) first RX beams are determined / derived from the one first TX beam.

[0919] In various embodiments, the one or more first TX beams mean multiple first TX beams, and / or the first UE transmits first side link control information via a first TX beam in the same side link TTI for scheduling / allocating / reserving the one or more SL CSI-RS transmissions, and / or the first device determines a first set of identified / valid candidate resources based on sensing results via one (or more) first RX beams, wherein the one (or more) first RX beams are determined / derived from the one first TX beam.

[0920] In various embodiments, the one or more first TX beams mean multiple first TX beams, and / or the first UE transmits first side link control information via a first TX beam in the same side link TTI for scheduling / allocating / reserving the one or more SL CSI-RS transmissions, and / or the first device determines a first set of identified / valid candidate resources based on sensing results via multiple first RX beams, wherein the multiple first RX beams are determined / derived from the multiple first TX beams.

[0921] Reference now Figure 3 and 4In one or more embodiments from the perspective of the first device, the device 300 includes a program code 312 stored in a memory 310 of the transmitter. The CPU 308 can execute the program code 312 to: (i) trigger or request to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions via one or more first TX beams in one side link TTI; (ii) perform a first sensing-based resource selection for selecting one or more first side link resources in a first side link resource pool; (iii) determine a first set of identified / valid candidate resources based on the sensing results in the first side link resource pool and select the one or more first side link resources from the first set of identified / valid candidate resources; (iv) and perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions on the selected one or more first side link resources. In addition, the CPU 308 can execute the program code 312 to perform all the described actions, steps and methods described above, below or otherwise described herein.

[0922] See also Fig.21 , with respect to such and other concepts, systems and methods of the present invention, method 1050 of a first device includes: having / receiving a configuration of a time slot set for independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement in a sidelink carrier / cell (step 1052), and the first device is (limited to) performing independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement within the time slot set (step 1054).

[0923] In various embodiments, the first device excludes / prevents performing sidelink data / feedback transmission / reception within the set of time slots.

[0924] Reference now Figure 3 and 4 In one or more embodiments from the perspective of the first device, the device 300 includes a program code 312 stored in a memory 310 of the transmitter. The CPU 308 can execute the program code 312 to: (i) have / receive a configuration of a time slot set for independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement in a sidelink carrier / cell; and (ii) the first device (limited to) performs independent SL CSI-RS transmission / reception / measurement within the time slot set. In addition, the CPU 308 can execute the program code 312 to perform all described actions, steps, and methods described above, below, or otherwise herein.

[0925] See also Fig. 22, with respect to such and other concepts, systems and methods of the present invention, method 1060 of a first device includes: scheduling or requesting (or being scheduled or requested) to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, receptions or measurements in a first side link TTI in a first side link resource pool in a side link carrier or cell (step 1062), scheduling or requesting (or being scheduled or requested) to perform first side link data and / or feedback transmission or reception in a first side link TTI in a side link carrier or cell (step 1064), and determining to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, receptions or measurements or first side link data or feedback transmission or reception in the first side link TTI based at least on parameters of the independent SL CSI-RS (step 1066).

[0926] In various embodiments, the parameters of the independent SL CSI-RS include any one of the following: a first priority threshold provided by the configuration of the first side link resource pool or the side link configuration of the first device; or a priority value provided by the configuration of the first side link resource pool; or a priority value provided by a configuration associated with a second device or a destination, wherein the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions are performed for the second device or the destination or the one or more independent SLCSI-RS are transmitted from the second device or the destination; or a priority value associated with a specific SL logical channel associated with the second device or the destination, wherein the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions are performed for the second device or the destination or the one or more independent SL CSI-RS are transmitted from the second device or the destination; or a priority value indicated by the first side link control information, wherein the one or more independent SL CSI-RS receptions or measurements are scheduled, assigned, allocated or reserved by the first side link control information, or the independent SL CSI-RS transmission or reception is regarded as having a higher priority than the side link data and / or feedback transmission or reception.

[0927] In various embodiments, the first side link data and / or feedback transmission or reception is associated with a second priority value. When the second priority value is less than the parameter, the first device performs the first side link data and / or feedback transmission or reception in the first side link TTI, and / or the first device does not perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission or reception or measurement in the first side link TTI. When the second priority value is greater than the parameter, the first device performs the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement in the first side link TTI, and / or the first device does not perform the first side link data and / or feedback transmission or reception in the first side link TTI.

[0928] In various embodiments, the one or more independent SL CSI-RS are not associated with a specific service or a specific higher layer protocol, and / or the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement are not multiplexed with any side link data transmission in the first side link TTI, and / or the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement are not accompanied by side link data transmission in the first side link TTI.

[0929] In various embodiments, a first device is scheduled or requested to perform one or more non-independent SL CSI-RS transmissions or receptions in a second side link TTI in a side link carrier or cell, wherein the one or more non-independent SL CSI-RS transmissions or receptions are multiplexed with a second side link data transmission in the second side link TTI, and / or the non-independent SL CSI-RS transmission or reception is not associated with parameters of an independent SL CSI-RS, and / or the non-independent SL CSI-RS transmission or reception is not associated with a priority value, and / or there is no priority value for the non-independent SL CSI-RS transmission or reception, and / or the non-independent SL CSI-RS transmission or reception is not associated with a priority threshold, and / or there is no priority threshold for the non-independent SL CSI-RS transmission or reception.

[0930] In various embodiments, the first device has or receives a configuration of a network scheduling mode for acquiring side link resources. When the first device triggers or requests (or is triggered or requested) to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, and / or when the first device does not have side link resources to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, the first device triggers a side link buffer status report or scheduling request to the network node, and / or the first device transmits the side link buffer status report or scheduling request to the network node.

[0931] In various embodiments, the first device triggers or requests (or is triggered or requested) to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions via one or more first TX beams, and / or one of the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions is (respectively) transmitted via one of the one or more first TX beams, and / or the first device performs a first sensing-based resource selection for selecting at least a first side link resource in a first side link resource pool, and / or the first device determines a first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on sensing results in the first side link resource pool, and / or the first device selects a first side link resource from the first set of identified or valid candidate resources, and / or the first device performs the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions on the selected first side link resource.

[0932] In various embodiments, the first device transmits first side link control information via a first TX beam, wherein the first side link control information schedules, allocates or indicates the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, and / or the one or more first TX beams include the first TX beam, and / or the first device transmits the first side link control information and the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a first side link TTI.

[0933] In various embodiments, the first device determines a first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on sensing results via a first RX beam, wherein the first RX beam is determined, derived or associated with a first TX beam, and / or the first device determines a first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on sensing results via one or more first RX beams, wherein the one or more first RX beams are determined, derived or associated with the first TX beam, and / or the first device determines a first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on sensing results via one or more first RX beams, wherein the one or more first RX beams are determined, derived or associated with the one or more first TX beams.

[0934] Reference now Figure 3 and 4 In one or more embodiments from the perspective of the first device, the device 300 includes a program code 312 stored in a memory 310 of the transmitter. The CPU 308 can execute the program code 312 to: (i) schedule or request (or be scheduled or requested) to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, receptions, or measurements in a first side link TTI in a first side link resource pool in a side link carrier or cell; (ii) schedule or request (or be scheduled or requested) to perform a first side link data and / or feedback transmission or reception in a first side link TTI in a side link carrier or cell; and (iii) determine to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, receptions, or measurements or first side link data and / or feedback transmission or reception in the first side link TTI based at least on the parameters of the independent SL CSI-RS. In addition, the CPU 308 can execute the program code 312 to perform all of the described actions, steps, and methods described above, below, or otherwise described herein.

[0935] See also Fig.23, with respect to such and other concepts, systems and methods of the present invention, method 1070 of a first device includes: obtaining or receiving a configuration of a first side link resource pool in a side link carrier or cell (step 1072), obtaining or receiving a configuration of a first one or more resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement in the side link carrier or cell (step 1074), obtaining or receiving a configuration of a second one or more resources for SL data and / or feedback transmission, reception or measurement in the side link carrier or cell (step 1076), and (limited to) performing one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement within the first one or more resources (step 1078).

[0936] In various embodiments, the first one or more resources are in a first side link resource pool dedicated for independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement, and / or the second one or more resources are in a second side link resource pool.

[0937] In various embodiments, the first one or more resources and the second one or more resources are in a first side link resource pool, and / or the first one or more resources and the second one or more resources are non-overlapping, and / or the first one or more resources are in a first TTI set in the first side link resource pool configured for independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement, and / or the second one or more resources are in a second TTI set in the first side link resource pool configured for SL data and / or feedback transmission, reception or measurement, and / or the first TTI set and the second TTI set are non-overlapping.

[0938] In various embodiments, the first one or more resources are in a first TTI set configured for independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement in a sidelink carrier or cell, and / or the second one or more resources are in a second TTI set configured for SL data and / or feedback transmission, reception or measurement in a sidelink carrier or cell, and / or the first TTI set and the second TTI set are non-overlapping.

[0939] In various embodiments, the method further includes: excluding or preventing sidelink data or feedback transmission or reception within the first one or more resources, and / or excluding or preventing independent SLCSI-RS transmission or reception within the second one or more resources.

[0940] In various embodiments, the first device has or receives a configuration of a network scheduling mode for acquiring side link resources. When the first device triggers or requests (is triggered or requested) to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, and / or when the first device does not have side link resources to perform the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, the first device triggers a side link buffer status report or scheduling request to the network node, and / or the first device transmits the side link buffer status report or scheduling request to the network node.

[0941] In various embodiments, the first device triggers or requests (is triggered or requested) to perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions via one or more first TX beams, and / or one of the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions is (respectively) transmitted via one of the one or more first TX beams, and / or the first device performs a first sensing-based resource selection for selecting at least a first side link resource in a first side link resource pool, and / or the first device determines a first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on sensing results in the first side link resource pool, and / or the first device selects a first side link resource from the first set of identified or valid candidate resources, and / or the first device performs the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions on the selected first side link resource.

[0942] In various embodiments, the first device transmits first side link control information via a first TX beam, wherein the first side link control information schedules, allocates or indicates the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, and / or the one or more first TX beams include the first TX beam, and / or the first device transmits the first side link control information and the one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions in a first side link TTI.

[0943] In various embodiments, the first device determines a first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on sensing results via a first RX beam, wherein the first RX beam is determined, derived or associated with a first TX beam, and / or the first device determines a first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on sensing results via one or more first RX beams, wherein the one or more first RX beams are determined, derived or associated with the first TX beam, and / or the first device determines a first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on sensing results via one or more first RX beams, wherein the one or more first RX beams are determined, derived or associated with the one or more first TX beams.

[0944] Reference now Figure 3 and 4In one or more embodiments from the perspective of the first device, the device 300 includes program code 312 stored in a memory 310 of the transmitter. The CPU 308 can execute the program code 312 to: (i) obtain or receive a configuration of a first side link resource pool in a side link carrier or cell; (ii) obtain or receive a configuration of a first one or more resources for independent SL CSI-RS transmission, reception or measurement in the side link carrier or cell; (iii) obtain or receive a configuration of a second one or more resources for SL data and / or feedback transmission, reception or measurement in the side link carrier or cell; and (iv) (limited to) perform one or more independent SL CSI-RS transmissions, receptions or measurements within the first one or more resources. In addition, the CPU 308 can execute the program code 312 to perform all described actions, steps and methods described above, below or otherwise described herein.

[0945] Any combination of the concepts or teachings above or herein may be fully or partially combined or formed into new embodiments. The disclosed details and embodiments may be used to at least (but not limited to) solve the problems mentioned above and herein.

[0946] It should be noted that any of the methods, alternatives, steps, examples and embodiments presented herein may be applied independently, individually and / or in combination with multiple methods, alternatives, steps, examples and embodiments.

[0947] Various aspects of the present disclosure have been described above. It should be clear that the teachings herein can be implemented in a wide variety of forms, and any specific structure, function, or both disclosed herein are only representative. Based on the teachings herein, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented independently of any other aspects, and two or more of these aspects can be combined in different ways. For example, any number of aspects set forth herein can be used to implement a device or practice method. In addition, by using other structures, functionality, or structures and functionality other than one or more aspects of the aspects set forth herein or different from one or more aspects of the aspects set forth herein, this device can be implemented or this method can be practiced. As an example of some of the above concepts, in some aspects, parallel channels can be established based on pulse repetition frequencies. In some aspects, parallel channels can be established based on pulse positions or offsets. In some aspects, parallel channels can be established based on time hopping sequences. In some aspects, parallel channels can be established based on pulse repetition frequencies, pulse positions or offsets, and time hopping sequences.

[0948] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0949] Those of ordinary skill in the art will further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, processors, components, circuits, and algorithm steps described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware (e.g., a digital implementation, an analog implementation, or a combination of the two, which may be designed using source decoding or some other technique), and various forms of programs or design code with instructions (which may be referred to herein as "software" or "software modules" for convenience), or a combination of the two. In order to clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in different ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0950] In addition, the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented within or performed by an integrated circuit ("IC"), an access terminal, or an access point. The IC may include a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, electrical components, optical components, mechanical components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein, and may execute code or instructions residing within the IC, outside the IC, or both. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0951] It should be understood that any specific order or hierarchy of steps in any disclosed process is an example of an exemplary method. It should be understood that based on design preferences, the specific order or hierarchy of steps in a process can be rearranged while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order and are not intended to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

[0952] The steps of the method or algorithm described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein can be implemented directly with hardware, with a software module executed by a processor, or with a combination of the two. Software modules (e.g., including executable instructions and related data) and other data can reside in a data memory, such as a RAM memory, a flash memory, a ROM memory, an EPROM memory, an EEPROM memory, a register, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of a computer-readable storage medium known in the art. A sample storage medium can be coupled to a machine such as a computer / processor (for convenience, the machine can be referred to as a "processor" in this article) so that the processor can read information (e.g., code) from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. A sample storage medium can be integrated with a processor. The processor and the storage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC can reside in a user device. In an alternative, the processor and the storage medium can reside in a user device as discrete components. In addition, in some aspects, any suitable computer program product may include a computer-readable medium, and the computer-readable medium includes a code related to one or more of the various aspects of the present disclosure. In some aspects, a computer program product may include packaging materials.

[0953] Although the present invention has been described in conjunction with various aspects and examples, it will be appreciated that the present invention is capable of further modifications. This application is intended to cover any changes, uses or adaptations of the present invention, which generally follow the principles of the present invention and include such deviations from the present disclosure, which are within the scope of known and customary practice in the technical field to which the present invention belongs.

Claims

1. A method of a first device, characterized in that, The method comprises: being scheduled or requested to perform one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions, receptions or measurements in a first sidelink transmit time interval in a first sidelink resource pool in a sidelink carrier or cell; is scheduled or requested to perform first sidelink data and / or feedback transmission or reception in said first sidelink transmit time interval in said sidelink carrier or cell; and Determining whether to perform the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions, receptions or measurements or the first sidelink data and / or feedback transmissions or receptions in the first sidelink transmission time interval is determined at least based on parameters of an independent sidelink channel state information reference signal.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The parameter of the independent sidelink channel state information reference signal includes any one of the following: a first priority threshold provided by a configuration of the first side link resource pool or a side link configuration of the first device, or a priority value provided by the configuration of the first side link resource pool, or a priority value provided by a configuration associated with a second device or destination for which the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions are performed or from which the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signals are transmitted, or and a priority value associated with a particular sidelink logical channel associated with a second device or destination for which the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions are performed or from which the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signals are transmitted, or a priority value indicated by first sidelink control information, wherein the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal receptions or measurements are scheduled, assigned, allocated or reserved by the first sidelink control information, or The independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmission or reception is considered to have a higher priority than the sidelink data and / or feedback transmission or reception.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first sidelink data and / or feedback transmission or reception is associated with a second priority value, and / or When the second priority value is less than the parameter, the first device performs the first sidelink data and / or feedback transmission or reception in the first sidelink transmission time interval and / or does not perform the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmission or reception or measurement in the first sidelink transmission time interval, and / or When the second priority value is greater than the parameter, the first device performs the one or more independent side link channel state information reference signal transmission, reception or measurement in the first side link transmission time interval and / or does not perform the first side link data and / or feedback transmission or reception in the first side link transmission time interval.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signals are not associated with a specific service or a specific higher layer protocol, and / or The one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions, receptions or measurements are not multiplexed with any sidelink data transmissions in the first sidelink transmission time interval, and / or The one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions, receptions or measurements are not accompanied by sidelink data transmissions in the first sidelink transmission time interval.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: the first device being scheduled or requested to perform one or more non-independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions or receptions in a second sidelink transmission time interval in the sidelink carrier or cell, wherein the one or more non-independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions or receptions are multiplexed with a second sidelink data transmission in the second sidelink transmission time interval, and / or The transmission or reception of the dependent sidelink channel state information reference signal is not associated with the parameter of the independent sidelink channel state information reference signal, and / or The dependent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmission or reception is not associated with a priority value, and / or There is no priority value for transmission or reception of the dependent sidelink channel state information reference signal, and / or The dependent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmission or reception is not associated with a priority threshold, and / or There is no priority threshold for the dependent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmission or reception.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first device has or receives a configuration of a network scheduling mode for acquiring side link resources, and / or When the first device is triggered or requested to perform the one or more independent side link channel state information reference signal transmissions, and when the first device does not have side link resources to perform the one or more independent side link channel state information reference signal transmissions, the first device triggers a side link buffer status report or a scheduling request to a network node, and / or the first device transmits the side link buffer status report or the scheduling request to the network node.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first device is triggered or requested to perform the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions via one or more first transmission beams, and / or One of the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions is transmitted via one of the one or more first transmit beams, and / or The first device performs a first sensing-based resource selection for selecting at least a first side link resource in the first side link resource pool, and / or The first device determines a first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on sensing results in the first side link resource pool, and / or The first device selects the first side link resource from the first set of identified or valid candidate resources, and / or The first device performs the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions on the selected first sidelink resource.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that: The first device transmits first sidelink control information via a first transmission beam, wherein the first sidelink control information schedules, allocates or indicates the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions, and / or The one or more first transmit beams include the first transmit beam, and / or The first device transmits the first sidelink control information and the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions in the first sidelink transmit time interval.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that: The first device determines the first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on sensing results via a first receive beam, wherein the first receive beam is determined from, derived from, or associated with the first transmit beam, and / or The first device determines the first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on the sensing results via one or more first receive beams, wherein the one or more first receive beams are determined from, derived from, or associated with the first transmit beam, and / or The first device determines the first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on the sensing results via one or more first receive beams, wherein the one or more first receive beams are determined from, derived from, or associated with the one or more first transmit beams.

10. A method of a first device, characterized in that, The method comprises: Obtaining or receiving a configuration of a first sidelink resource pool in a sidelink carrier or cell; Obtaining or receiving a configuration of first one or more resources for independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmission, reception or measurement in the sidelink carrier or cell; Obtaining or receiving a configuration of a second one or more resources for sidelink data and / or feedback transmission, reception or measurement in the sidelink carrier or cell; and One or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions, receptions, or measurements are performed within the first one or more resources.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that: The first one or more resources are in the first sidelink resource pool dedicated to independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmission, reception or measurement, and / or The second one or more resources are in a second sidelink resource pool.

12. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that: The first one or more resources and the second one or more resources are in the first side link resource pool, and / or The first one or more resources and the second one or more resources are non-overlapping, and / or The first one or more resources are in a first set of transmission time intervals in the first sidelink resource pool configured for independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmission, reception or measurement, and / or The second one or more resources are in a second set of transmission time intervals in the first sidelink resource pool configured for sidelink data and / or feedback transmission, reception or measurement, and / or The first set of transmit time intervals and the second set of transmit time intervals are non-overlapping.

13. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that: The first one or more resources are in a first set of transmission time intervals configured for independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmission, reception or measurement in the sidelink carrier or cell, and / or The second one or more resources are in a second set of transmission time intervals configured for sidelink data and / or feedback transmission, reception or measurement in the sidelink carrier or cell, and / or The first set of transmit time intervals and the second set of transmit time intervals are non-overlapping.

14. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The method further comprises: precluding or preventing sidelink data or feedback transmission or reception within the first one or more resources; and / or Independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmission or reception is excluded or prevented from being performed within the second one or more resources.

15. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that: The first device has or receives a configuration of a network scheduling mode for acquiring side link resources, and / or When the first device is triggered or requested to perform the one or more independent side link channel state information reference signal transmissions, and when the first device does not have side link resources to perform the one or more independent side link channel state information reference signal transmissions, the first device triggers a side link buffer status report or a scheduling request to a network node, and / or the first device transmits the side link buffer status report or the scheduling request to the network node.

16. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that: The first device is triggered or requested to perform the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions via one or more first transmission beams, and / or One of the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions is transmitted via one of the one or more first transmit beams, and / or The first device performs a first sensing-based resource selection for selecting at least a first side link resource in the first side link resource pool, and / or The first device determines a first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on sensing results in the first side link resource pool, and / or The first device selects the first side link resource from the first set of identified or valid candidate resources, and / or The first device performs the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions on the selected first sidelink resource.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that: The first device transmits first sidelink control information via a first transmission beam, wherein the first sidelink control information schedules, allocates or indicates the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions, and / or The one or more first transmit beams include the first transmit beam, and / or The first device transmits the first sidelink control information and the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions in the first sidelink transmit time interval.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that: The first device determines the first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on sensing results via a first receive beam, wherein the first receive beam is determined from, derived from, or associated with the first transmit beam, and / or The first device determines the first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on the sensing results via one or more first receive beams, wherein the one or more first receive beams are determined from, derived from, or associated with the first transmit beam, and / or The first device determines the first set of identified or valid candidate resources based on the sensing results via one or more first receive beams, wherein the one or more first receive beams are determined from, derived from, or associated with the one or more first transmit beams.

19. A first device, characterized in that: The first device comprises: Memory; and a processor operatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute program code to: being scheduled or requested to perform one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions, receptions or measurements in a first sidelink transmit time interval in a first sidelink resource pool in a sidelink carrier or cell; is scheduled or requested to perform first sidelink data and / or feedback transmission or reception in said first sidelink transmit time interval in said sidelink carrier or cell; and Determining whether to perform the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions, receptions or measurements or the first sidelink data and / or feedback transmissions or receptions in the first sidelink transmission time interval is determined at least based on parameters of an independent sidelink channel state information reference signal.

20. The first device according to claim 19, characterized in that The parameter of the independent sidelink channel state information reference signal includes any one of the following: a first priority threshold provided by a configuration of the first side link resource pool or a side link configuration of the first device, or a priority value provided by the configuration of the first side link resource pool, or a priority value provided by a configuration associated with a second device or destination for which the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions are performed or from which the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signals are transmitted, or and a priority value associated with a particular sidelink logical channel associated with a second device or destination for which the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmissions are performed or from which the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signals are transmitted, or a priority value indicated by first sidelink control information, wherein the one or more independent sidelink channel state information reference signal receptions or measurements are scheduled, assigned, allocated or reserved by the first sidelink control information, or The independent sidelink channel state information reference signal transmission or reception is considered to have a higher priority than the sidelink data and / or feedback transmission or reception.

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