Resource exclusion

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention relates to a resource exclusion method, a resource exclusion device and a computer readable storage medium. In a method, an apparatus determines at least one set of resource blocks (RBs), where a consistent listen before talk (LBT) failure is detected for the at least one set of RBs. The apparatus then determines a number of available candidate resources within the time window, where the available candidate resources exclude candidate resources on the at least one RB set within the time window.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications, and in particular, to methods, apparatus, and computer-readable storage media for resource exclusion. Background Art

[0002] For the New Radio (NR) sidelink evolution in Release 18 (Rel-18), sidelink in unlicensed spectrum (SL-U) is supported. In the sub-7 GHz unlicensed band, the coexistence of the NR system with other systems (such as the Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 system) is ensured via a listen-before-talk (LBT) channel access mechanism. With this mechanism, a user equipment (UE) that wants to perform a sidelink (SL) transmission first needs to successfully complete the LBT check before being able to initiate the transmission. LBT may also be referred to as a clear channel assessment (CCA) or a channel access procedure. The UE may attempt to transmit multiple times, but the LBT for transmission on the associated (multiple) RB sets may fail consistently, for example, when the channel is very busy. Such a consistent failure may be referred to as a consistent LBT (C-LBT or CLBT) failure. Summary of the invention

[0003] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor causes the apparatus to at least: determine at least one resource block (RB) set, for which a consistent listen-before-talk (LBT) failure is detected; and determine the number of available candidate resources within a time window, the available candidate resources excluding candidate resources on at least one RB set within the time window.

[0004] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes: determining at least one resource block (RB) set, for which a consistent listen-before-talk (LBT) failure is detected; and determining a number of available candidate resources within a time window, the available candidate resources excluding candidate resources on at least one RB set within the time window.

[0005] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes: a component for determining at least one resource block (RB) set, for which a consistent listen-before-talk (LBT) failure is detected; and a component for determining a number of available candidate resources within a time window, the available candidate resources excluding candidate resources on at least one RB set within the time window.

[0006] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable medium includes instructions stored thereon, and the instructions are used to cause an apparatus to at least execute the method according to the second aspect.

[0007] It should be understood that the invention summary is not intended to identify the key features or essential features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become readily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0009] Figure 1 An example communication environment is shown in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

[0010] Figure 2 A flowchart illustrating an example method of resource exclusion according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0011] Figure 3 shows a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0012] Figure 4 A block diagram of an example computer-readable medium is shown according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0013] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration, and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without implying any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. In addition to the methods described below, the embodiments described herein can be implemented in various ways.

[0015] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0016] References in this disclosure to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Furthermore, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in conjunction with an embodiment, it is considered to be within the knowledge of those skilled in the art to implement such feature, structure, or characteristic in conjunction with other embodiments (whether or not explicitly described).

[0017] It should be understood that, although the terms "first", "second", etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For example, without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiment, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0018] As used herein, “at least one of: ” and “at least one of ” and similar expressions (wherein a list of two or more elements is connected by “and” or “or”) refer to at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all of the elements.

[0019] As used herein, unless explicitly stated, performing a step “in response to A” does not mean performing the step immediately after “A” occurs, but may include one or more intermediate steps.

[0020] The terms used herein are only used for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that when used herein, the terms "include", "comprise", "have", "have", "include" and / or "include" specify the presence of features, elements and / or parts, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, parts and / or combinations thereof.

[0021] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware circuit implementation only (e.g., implementation only in analog and / or digital circuits), and (b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software such as (where applicable): (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry and software / firmware, and (ii) any portion of a hardware processor (including a digital signal processor) with software, software and memory that work together to enable a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions; and (c) A hardware circuit and / or processor that requires software (eg, firmware) for operation, such as a microprocessor or portion of a microprocessor, but the software may not be present when not required for operation.

[0022] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of only a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to a particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0023] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that complies with any suitable communication standard, for example, New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced LTE (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. In addition, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network can be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including but not limited to the first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G) communication protocol and / or any other protocol currently known or developed in the future. The embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communication, there are of course future types of communication technologies and systems that can implement the present disclosure. It should not be considered that the scope of the present disclosure is limited to the above-mentioned system.

[0024] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services from it. A network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), such as a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), a NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a repeater, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a low-power node (e.g., a femto, a micro), a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or a non-terrestrial network device (such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, etc.), depending on the terminology and technology applied. In some example embodiments, a radio access network (RAN) split architecture includes a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node includes a mobile terminal (IAB-MT) portion that behaves like a UE toward a parent node, and a DU portion of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward a next-hop IAB node.

[0025] The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. As an example and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, a user equipment (UE), a subscriber station (SS), a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS) or an access terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a tablet computer, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable computer, a desktop computer, an image capture terminal device such as a digital camera, a game terminal device, a music storage and playback facility, a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted device (LME), a USB dongle, a smart device, a wireless user equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable device, a head mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, medical equipment and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial equipment and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in industrial and / or automatic processing chain environments), consumer electronic devices, equipment operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. The terminal device may also correspond to the mobile terminal (MT) part of an IAB node (eg, a relay node).In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0026] As used herein, the term "resource", "transmission resource", "resource block", "physical resource block" (PRB), "uplink resource" or "downlink resource" may refer to any resource used to perform communication (e.g., communication between a terminal device and a network device), such as a resource in the time domain, a resource in the frequency domain, a resource in the spatial domain, a resource in the code domain, or any other resource for enabling communication. In the following, unless explicitly stated, resources in the frequency domain and the time domain will be used as examples of transmission resources for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be noted that the example embodiments of the present disclosure are also applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0027] As described above, in the sub-7 GHz unlicensed band, coexistence of the NR system with other systems (e.g., IEEE802.11 systems) is ensured via the LBT channel access mechanism. With this mechanism, if the UE passes the LBT check, its observed channel is available for multiple consecutive CCA slots. In sub-7 GHz, the duration of these slots is 9 microseconds. If the measured power (i.e., the energy collected during the CCA slot) is lower than a specified energy detection threshold (EDT) that may depend on the transmit power, operating band, and geographic region, the UE considers the channel to be available in the CCA slot.

[0028] When a UE initiates communication (i.e., the UE acts as an initiating device), the UE needs to obtain "permission" to access the channel for a specific period of time - expressed in the rules as the channel occupation time (COT). The COT can be obtained by applying an "extended" LBT procedure, which is generally referred to as LBT Type 1 as specified in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards (e.g., 3GPP TS 37.213). The "extended" LBT procedure can be performed in a contention window (CW), and the channel is considered to be idle for the entire duration of the CW.

[0029] The duration of both COT and CW depends on the channel access priority class (CAPC) associated with the traffic of the UE. Table 1 below shows the CAPC for uplink (UL). Table 1

[0030] As an example, control plane traffic (e.g., physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) traffic) may be transmitted with p=1, while user plane traffic may have p>1, where p represents the CAPC. As shown in Table 1, the length of the contention window in the CCA slot associated with each CAPC has a minimum value (CW min,p ) and maximum value (CW max,p ). The duration of COT is determined by T ulm cot,p It should be noted that although the LBT Type 1 details for the Uu UL case are shown in Table 1, the LBT Type 1 parameters for the downlink (DL) case can in principle also be adopted in the SL.

[0031] During the countdown process of the contention window, if the LBT check fails in any CCA time slot, the countdown of the contention window will stop and will only resume if the channel is deemed idle during the delay time (i.e., the LBT check is successful). The countdown process of the contention window can be interrupted if the following conditions are met: (a) neither the delay time nor the countdown is interrupted (i.e., the channel is not detected as busy during the sensing time slot); (b) the delay time is interrupted (i.e., the channel is detected as busy during the sensing time slot of the delay time); and (c) the countdown of the contention window is interrupted (i.e., the channel is detected as busy during the sensing time slot of the countdown).

[0032] When LBT Type 1 is successfully completed and a transmission is performed, the UE (e.g., the initiating device) that initiated the transmission obtains a COT with a duration associated with the corresponding CAPC. The obtained COT is valid even if the initiating device stops its transmission. In this case, if the initiating device wants to perform a new transmission (within the COT), it still needs to perform a "simplified" LBT process, which is generally referred to as LBT Type 2, for example, as specified in 3GPP TS 37.213.

[0033] LBT Type 2 has the following variants: Type 2A (25μs LBT) - used for SL transmission within the COT acquired by the initiating device (when the gap between two SL transmissions is ≥25μs, and for SL transmission after another SL transmission from another device (such as a responding device)); Type 2B (16μs LBT) - used for SL transmission within the SOT acquired by the initiating device (it can also be used for SL transmission after another SL with a gap equal to 16μs); Type 2C (no LBT) - Type 2C can be used for SL transmission within the SOT acquired by the initiating device and for SL transmission after another SL transmission from another device (such as a responding device), where the gap is <16μs and the allowed duration of SL transmission is ≤584μs.

[0034] The initiating device may share its acquired COT with its intended receiver (e.g., a responding device). To this end, the initiating device may inform (e.g., via control signaling) the responding device of the duration of the COT. The responding device then uses this information to decide which type of LBT it will apply when performing a transmission where the intended receiver is the initiating device. In the event that a responding device transmission falls outside the COT, the responding device will acquire a new COT using LBT Type 1 with an appropriate CAPC.

[0035] In NR in unlicensed spectrum (NR-U), multi-channel access procedures are supported to allow wider transmission bandwidth and increase data rates, also known as transmission in multiple resource block (RB) sets, where each RB set contains RBs corresponding to channels for which the UE may need to perform LBT for transmission. In NR-U, the multi-channel access procedures include Type A and Type B procedures for dynamic channel access. In the Type A procedure, the gNB performs the backoff procedure on each channel in parallel. When the backoff counter on a given channel reaches zero, the gNB starts transmission on the channel. Transmission can start on multiple channels if the corresponding backoff counters reach zero simultaneously. In the Type B procedure, the gNB selects a single primary channel on which to perform the backoff procedure. When the backoff procedure is completed, the gNB starts transmission on the primary channel and other channels that have been sensed to be idle for a period of time before the backoff is completed. SL-U operation using one or more RB sets is considered, and the multi-channel access procedure is discussed.

[0036] It is agreed to support SL-specific consistent LBT (C-LBT) failure detection and recovery procedures in the media access control (MAC) layer (also referred to as the MAC entity) for SL-U. The UE may attempt to transmit multiple times, but the LBT for sending on the associated (multiple) RB sets may fail consistently, for example, when the channel is very busy. This consistent failure may be referred to as C-LBT failure. In Rel-18 SL-U, it has been agreed that the physical (PHY) layer (i.e., L1) (also referred to as the PHY entity or L1 entity) measures and reports LBT failures to the MAC layer. After a (pre)configured set of detected LBT failures, the MAC layer declares a consistent LBT failure on a given RB set and indicates this to the PHY layer (i.e., at the time of resource selection). The SL L BT failure indication granularity may be per SL RB set. If the MAC entity notifies the L1 entity of the RB set information where the SL C-LBT failure was detected, the L1 entity performs resource exclusion for the RB set where the SL C-LBT failure was detected.

[0037] It is left to consider how the PHY layer will perform this exclusion in the resource (re)selection process. If the exclusion behavior in the PHY layer is completed in the step (or operation) of excluding candidate resources in non-monitored time slots (e.g., step 5 in Section 8.1.4 of 3GPP TS 38.214), then in the event that too many resources are excluded, all candidate resources will be reinitialized (e.g., step 5a in Section 8.1.4 of 3GPP TS 38.214), which means that the rules for excluding candidate resources in non-monitored time slots may be useless (if always bypassed by the (re)initialization operation in step 5a). Step 5 and step 5a in Section 8.1.4 of 3GPP TS 38.214 are described as follows.

[0038] In addition, in the step of excluding candidate resources in the non-monitoring time slot (eg, step 5), M is not updated. total , M total Represents the total amount of candidate resources available in the selection window for candidate resources. total (or M total A weighted version of the ...

[0039] The example embodiments of the present disclosure propose a resource exclusion scheme. Using this scheme, the number of available candidate resources within a time window (such as a selection window for candidate resources) is determined by excluding candidate resources on at least one RB set for which C-LBT failure is detected within the time window. In the context of the present disclosure, the RB set for which C-LBT failure is detected will also be referred to as the RB set that suffers from or has C-LBT failure. In addition, the initial feasible set and the resource exclusion threshold can be determined based on the number of available candidate resources that exclude candidate resources on at least one RB set that suffers from C-LBT failure. In this way, the LBT process can be more effective and efficient.

[0040] Figure 1 An example communication environment 100 is shown in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0041] The communication environment 100, which may be part of a communication network, includes a first terminal device 110, a second terminal device 120, and a network device 130 that can communicate with each other. The link from the network device 130 to the terminal device 110 or 120 is called a downlink (DL), and the link from the terminal device 110 or 120 to the network device 130 is called an uplink (UL). In DL, the network device 130 is a transmitting (TX) device (or transmitter), and the terminal device 110 or 120 is a receiving (RX) device (or receiver). In UL, the terminal device 110 or 120 is a TX device (or transmitter), and the network device 130 is an RX device (or receiver). In addition, the link between the two terminal devices 110 and 120 is called a side link (SL). In SL, one of the terminal devices 110 and 120 is a TX device (or transmitter) or an initiating device, and the other of the terminal devices 110 and 120 is an RX device (or receiver) or a responding device.

[0042] The communication in the communication environment 100 can be implemented according to any suitable communication protocol, including but not limited to cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G), etc., wireless local area network communication protocols such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, and / or any other protocol currently known or developed in the future. In addition, the communication can utilize any appropriate wireless communication technology, including but not limited to: code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technology currently known or developed in the future.

[0043] It should be understood that in Figure 1 The number of devices is shown for illustration purposes only and does not represent any limitation. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of terminal devices and network devices configured to implement the example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0044] In some example embodiments, the first terminal device 110 and the second terminal device 120 may communicate in SL-U. For example, in an embodiment in which the first terminal device 110 operates as an initiating device and the second device 120 operates as a responding device, the first terminal device 110 (e.g., at the PHY layer) may perform LBT detection before transmission. If the PHY layer detects an LBT failure, the PHY layer may report the failure to the MAC layer of the first terminal device 110. The PHY layer may indicate to the MAC layer which RB sets suffer from LBT failures, and thus the MAC layer may track which RB sets suffer from consistent LBT failures. The MAC layer may report to the PHY layer the RB sets that are excluded because the RB sets suffer from consistent LBT failures. The PHY layer may then exclude candidate resources from the RB sets marked as suffering from consistent LBT failures.

[0045] In the following, some example embodiments will be described with reference to the interaction between the PHY layer and the MAC layer (or other higher layers) at the device as an example. It should be understood that the example implementations herein can generally be applied by the device as a whole. Herein, higher layers and MAC layers can be used interchangeably, and L1, physical layer, and lower layers can also be used interchangeably.

[0046] In various embodiments, candidate resources in the excluded RB set are not counted in the total number of available candidate resources (eg, M total ). In other words, the total number of candidate resources becomes equal to all available candidate resources in the selection window for the candidate resources after excluding all resources in the selection window that belong to the RB set in which consistent LBT failures are declared. Figure 2 Some example implementations are discussed.

[0047] Figure 2 1 is a flowchart showing an example method 200 for resource exclusion according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 200 may be implemented at a device, which may be a Figure 1 The first terminal device 110, the second terminal device 120 or the network device 130 is shown.

[0048] like Figure 2 As shown, at block 210, the device determines at least one RB set in which a C-LBT failure for the at least one RB set is detected. In an example, if the LBT process for the at least one RB set fails consistently for some time, the at least one RB set can be determined to suffer from a C-LBT failure. The determination of at least one RB set suffering from a C-LBT failure can be implemented by the PHY layer of the device based on an LBT check or based on a statement or report from a higher layer (such as a MAC layer).

[0049] In an example embodiment in which the PHY layer obtains an indication from a higher layer that certain RB sets are suffering from consistent LBT failures, parameters may be introduced to let the PHY layer know which RB sets are suffering from consistent LBT failures. This may be done, for example, each time a higher layer triggers L1 resource selection for a transport block (TB) using a set of parameters, which may include a parameter for indicating the exclusion of RB sets suffering from consistent LBT failures (e.g., ConsistentLBTFailureRBSets).

[0050] Taking the specification in Section 8.1.4 of 3GPP TS 38.214 as an example, the parameter ConsistentLBTFailureRBSets may be defined as follows.

[0051] Using such parameters, the PHY layer may be informed of the RB set(s) that are excluded due to C-LBT failure.

[0052] At block 220, the apparatus determines the number of available candidate resources within a time window (such as a selection window), wherein the available candidate resources exclude candidate resources on at least one RB set within the time window. By excluding candidate resources on the at least one RB set that suffer from C-LBT failure from counting the total number of available candidate resources, the LBT process can be implemented by the apparatus in a more effective and efficient manner.

[0053] In some example embodiments, an RB set may be declared to experience consistent LBT failures within a limited time period, which may have a lower duration than the selection window. In this case, candidate resources on at least one RB set in a time period (e.g., one or more time slots) within the time window may be excluded from the available candidate resources within the time window. Thus, resources in an RB set for a particular time slot are excluded only when that RB set is detected or marked as experiencing consistent LBT failures at that SL time slot.

[0054] In order to exclude candidate resources with C-LBT failure on at least one RB set from the total number of available candidate resources, these candidate resources may be determined to be unavailable within the time window.Alternatively or additionally, these candidate resources may be excluded from the set of available candidate resources within the time window.

[0055] Taking the specification of 3GPP TS 38.214 Section 8.1.4 as an example, the following implementation can be used to exclude candidate resources from RBs with C-LBT failures. One implementation is to exclude candidate resources from RBs with C-LBT failures in step 1. total(denoting the total number of available candidate resources) does not include candidates from the RB set indicated as suffering from consistent LBT failure. In this way, candidate resources from the RB set suffering from consistent LBT failure can be determined to be unavailable at the beginning.

[0056] Another implementation is to initialize S with candidate single-slot resources A (denoting a set of available candidate resources), excluding candidate resources in the RB set that are indicated as having consistent LBT failures. Therefore, candidate resources from the RB set that suffer from C-LBT failures may be excluded from the initialized set of available candidate resources.

[0057] In yet another implementation, as discussed above, the exclusion of candidate resources in the RB set that are marked as suffering from consistent LBT failures is completed in the framework of step 5. For example, in step 5, it can be defined that candidate resources in the RB set that are indicated to have consistent LBT failures are excluded. It should be understood that various implementations for excluding candidate resources with consistent LBT failures in the RB set can be performed individually or in combination depending on network deployment and implementation.

[0058] In some example embodiments, in order to exclude candidate resources that suffer from C-LBT failure on at least one RB set, the threshold strength for excluding candidate resources on the RB set from available candidate resources can be set to be lower than the reference threshold strength. In an example, the reference threshold strength can be a resource exclusion threshold (e.g., based on RSRP, also referred to as an RSRP threshold) for excluding candidates from available candidate resources. In this way, even if the candidate resources that suffer from C-LBT failure on at least one RB set have a lower RSRP, these candidate resources will be excluded from the available candidate resources.

[0059] In an example, the threshold strength for excluding candidate resources belonging to the RB set in which a consistent LBT failure is declared can have an offset relative to the reference threshold strength. In this way, all resources belonging to the RB set suffering from a consistent LBT failure can have their measured RSRP increased by the RSRP offset. In this way, candidate resources from the RB set with consistent LBT failure are excluded if their associated RSRP measurement plus the offset is above the RSRP threshold.

[0060] It should be understood that the threshold strength based on RSRP is only an example and not a limitation. In some example embodiments, the threshold strength may be based on other types of measured strengths or powers that may be used to assess whether a channel is idle. The measured strength may include reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), etc.

[0061] In some example embodiments, the offset of the threshold intensity for excluding candidate resources belonging to RB sets with consistent LBT failures relative to the reference threshold intensity may be (pre-)configured by a higher layer or network or defined in the 3GPP standard. In an example, the offset may be set to be the same for all RB sets for which consistent LBT failures have been declared.

[0062] In another example, the offset of the threshold strength for excluding a candidate resource (referred to as a second candidate resource for the purpose of discussion) from at least one RB set that suffers from a C-LBT failure can be related to a channel busy ratio (CBR) associated with the second candidate resource (e.g., associated with the RB set to which the second candidate resource belongs). For example, the offset can be proportional to the CBR measured in the RB set to which the second candidate resource belongs. That is, the higher the CBR, the higher the offset. In this way, RB sets with higher CBRs can be excluded from higher priorities to further improve the efficiency of the LBT process.

[0063] In some example embodiments, in order to handle the situation where too many resources have been excluded due to the RB set marked as suffering from LBT failure, such as Figure 2 As shown in , at block 230, the apparatus may determine a candidate resource (referred to as a first candidate resource for discussion purposes) from the candidate resources on the at least one RB set as an available candidate resource within the time window. For example, an RB set marked as suffering from a consistent LBT failure may be reinitialized despite being marked. Such reintroduction or reinitialization of a consistent RB set suffering from an LBT failure may be triggered based on at least one condition (referred to as a first condition) being satisfied.

[0064] In some example embodiments, the at least one first condition may include the following condition: the number of available candidate resources is equal to or less than a threshold number, which means that there are not enough resources to use. If the condition is met or satisfied, the candidate resources from the RB set that is subject to C-LBT may be reintroduced into the available candidate resources. For example, if the number of identified candidate resources (e.g., M total ) is below the configured threshold, the PHY layer may reintroduce candidate resources from the set of RBs marked as suffering from consistent LBT failures.

[0065] Alternatively or additionally, the at least one first condition may include the following condition: a reference threshold strength (or resource exclusion threshold) for excluding a candidate from the available candidate resources is equal to or higher than a threshold strength. For example, if the number of candidate resources in the selection window is small, for example, less than the total number M total %, where x = {20, 35, 50}, the reference threshold strength (e.g., RSRP threshold) may be increased by 3 dB. This increase may be repeated to obtain more available candidate resources. If the reference threshold strength has been increased above a certain level, such as equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold strength or more than X times (where X represents any positive integer), candidate resources from the RB set that suffered a consistent LBT failure may be reintroduced into the available candidate resources. As an example, resources belonging to an RB set for which a consistent LBT failure has been declared may be included in the set of available candidate resources only when the iterative process of increasing the RSRP threshold has occurred more than a configured number of times.

[0066] The first condition as described above may be considered or used alone or in combination, which may depend on the network and terminal implementation. Still taking the specification of Section 8.1.4 in 3GPP TS 38.214 as an example, if the resource exclusion threshold has been increased above a certain level (or increased more than X times) and the PHY layer still has not found enough resources from the available RB set, candidate resources from the RB set that suffered consistent LBT failures may be reintroduced. The following implementation is used to set a threshold number for triggering the reintroduction of candidate resources from the RB set that suffered consistent LBT failures. One implementation method is to add a comment in step 1 described below.

[0067] In this example, if there are fewer than ymin*M total The candidate single-slot resources in the RB set that suffers consistent LBT failure can be included in the available candidate single-slot resources. Here, the relative threshold ymin*M total This is merely an example and not a limitation. The threshold may also be an absolute threshold, such as the threshold represented by ymin.

[0068] Another implementation is to add a comment in step 7, as in 7b) below.

[0069] Alternatively, step 7b can be formulated as: "If there is less than zmin*M totalIf the resource exclusion threshold has increased to a level above a certain level (or increased more than X times), it is up to the UE to find additional resources, including candidate single-slot resources in the RB set indicated by sl-ConsistentLBTFailureRBSet. "Similar to the number of thresholds added in step 1, the number of thresholds added in step 7 can be an absolute or relative threshold (zminor zmin*M total ). ymin and zmin may or may not be the same, depending on the network deployment and implementation.

[0070] The above implementations of reintroduction of candidate resources with C-LBT failure from the RB set are performed individually or in combination, depending on the network deployment and implementation.

[0071] In some example embodiments, after the apparatus determines to re-include the candidate resource that suffered the consistent LBT failure from the at least one RB set, the apparatus may select at least one RB set from the at least one RB set. The apparatus may then determine the first candidate resource on the selected RB set as an available candidate resource within the time window.

[0072] Selecting at least one RB set from at least one RB set that suffers consistent LBT failures may be performed based on at least one condition (referred to as a second condition) being satisfied. In some example embodiments, the at least one second condition may include a condition that the CBR of the selected RB set is equal to or lower than a threshold CBR. For example, the device may select an RB with a lower CBR that is lower than the CBR of other RB sets that do not suffer consistent LBT failures (which are considered to be the threshold CBR) or lower than another threshold CBR. The CBR may be measured on the RB set.

[0073] Alternatively or additionally, at least one second condition may include a condition that the amount of resource reservation on the selected RB set is equal to or lower than a threshold amount. For example, the device may select an RB with a lower reservation amount, which may be lower than the reservation amount of other RB sets that do not suffer consistent LBT failures (which are considered to be the threshold amount) or lower than another threshold amount.

[0074] Alternatively or additionally, at least one second condition may include a condition that the LBT process for the selected RB set is successful. For example, if there is no recent CCA failure, for example, if the PHY layer performs a fast CCA process, for example, by sensing the channel for one or several CCA time slots, then on the channels of the RB set indicated by the MAC layer as suffering from consistent LBT failures, and if the PHY layer determines that certain channels are idle at this moment, the corresponding candidate resources can be reintroduced into the available candidate resources.

[0075] As an example, this condition based on successful LBT can be used in the framework of step 5 of section 8.1.4 of 3GPP TS 38.214. For example, it can be specified in step 5a that if the remaining resources are less than X·M total , then the candidate resources in the RB set that are considered to be less susceptible to C-LBT failure are reintroduced, and how to select the RB set is left to the UE implementation. Since the PHY layer can make measurements used by the MAC layer to trigger the RB set to be indicated as suffering from consistent LBT failure, the PHY layer can judge or determine which RB set (or part of the RB set) is less likely to suffer another LBT failure (if included in the candidate resource set).

[0076] These second conditions for selecting a RB set from a RB set that suffers from C-LBT failure may be used individually or in combination. It may depend on the network and terminal implementation to select a candidate resource from a RB set for which the measurement indicates that one or more favorable conditions are met.

[0077] In some example embodiments, before triggering the inclusion of candidate resources on at least one RB set suffering from a C-LBT failure, the apparatus may determine whether candidate resources belonging to the RB set with the C-LBT failure are allowed to be included in the available candidate resources within the time window. In an example, the apparatus may also be (pre)configured for whether to allow the reintroduction of candidate resources from the RB set that has been declared to suffer a consistent LBT failure.

[0078] In some example embodiments, whenever a higher layer such as a MAC layer may trigger L1 resource selection for a TB, the higher layer may inform L1 whether it is allowed to reintroduce candidate resources from some RB sets that declare consistent LBT failures. In some example embodiments, the higher layer may also inform L1 of the conditions that need to be considered for reintroducing resources from such RB sets. In some example embodiments, L1 may request from the higher layer whether it can reintroduce candidate resources from certain RB sets (e.g., from RB sets for which measurements indicate favorable conditions, as described above), or directly inform the higher layer that the candidate resource sets include resources from those reintroduced RB sets.

[0079] In some other example embodiments, this parameter regarding whether L1 is allowed to reintroduce candidate resources from some RB sets declared with consistent LBT failures may be configured by the network or pre-configured. This (pre-)configuration may be associated with the resource pool configuration.

[0080] It should be understood that the names of parameters such as ConsistentLBTFailureRBSets, ymin and zmin and the forms or definitions as modified or added to the 3GPP standard are only illustrative and not restrictive. Other names or definitions (or forms) are also possible. Example devices, apparatus, and media

[0081] In some example embodiments, a device capable of performing method 200 (e.g., Figure 1 The first terminal device 110 in the embodiment may include a component for performing the corresponding operation of the method 200. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the component may be implemented in a circuit or a software module. The device may be implemented as or included in Figure 1 In the first terminal device 110.

[0082] In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes: means for determining at least one resource block (RB) set, for which a consistent listen-before-talk (LBT) failure is detected; and means for determining a number of available candidate resources within a time window, the available candidate resources excluding candidate resources on at least one RB set within the time window.

[0083] In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: means for determining, based on at least one first condition being satisfied, a first candidate resource from candidate resources on at least one RB set as an available candidate resource within the time window.

[0084] In some example embodiments, the at least one first condition includes at least one of: a condition that the number of available candidate resources is equal to or less than a threshold number, and a condition that a reference threshold strength for excluding candidates from the available candidate resources is equal to or higher than a threshold strength.

[0085] In some example embodiments, an apparatus for determining a first candidate resource as an available candidate resource within a time window includes: an apparatus for selecting at least one RB set from at least one RB set based on at least one second condition being satisfied; and an apparatus for determining the first candidate resource on the selected at least one RB set as an available candidate resource within the time window, wherein the at least one second condition includes at least one of the following conditions: a condition that a channel busy ratio (CBR) of the selected at least one RB set is equal to or lower than a threshold CBR, a condition that an amount of resources reserved on the selected at least one RB set is equal to or lower than a threshold amount, and a condition that an LBT process for the selected at least one RB set is successful.

[0086] In some example embodiments, an apparatus for determining a first candidate resource as an available candidate resource within a time window includes: an apparatus for determining, in response to determining that candidate resources on at least one RB set are allowed to be included in the available candidate resources within the time window, a first candidate resource from candidate resources on at least one RB set as an available candidate resource within the time window based on at least one first condition being satisfied.

[0087] In some example embodiments, candidate resources on at least one RB set in a time period within the time window are excluded from available candidate resources within the time window.

[0088] In some example embodiments, candidate resources on at least one RB set are determined to be unavailable within the time window.

[0089] In some example embodiments, candidate resources on at least one RB set are excluded from the set of available candidate resources within the time window.

[0090] In some example embodiments, a threshold strength for excluding candidate resources on at least one RB set from available candidate resources is lower than a reference threshold strength.

[0091] In some example embodiments, an offset of a threshold strength for excluding a second candidate resource from among the candidate resources on the at least one RB set relative to a reference threshold strength is related to a channel busy ratio (CBR) associated with the second candidate resource.

[0092] In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of method 200. In some example embodiments, the means comprises: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

[0093] Figure 3 300 is a simplified block diagram of a device 300 suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure. The device 300 may be provided for implementing a communication device, such as Figure 1 The first terminal device 110, the second terminal device 120 or the network device 130 is shown. As shown in the figure, the device 300 includes one or more processors 310, one or more memories 320 coupled to the processor 310, and one or more communication modules 340 coupled to the processor 310.

[0094] The communication module 340 is used for two-way communication. The communication module 340 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interface may represent any interface necessary to communicate with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 340 may include at least one antenna.

[0095] Processor 310 may be of any type suitable for the local technology network, and may include one or more of the following: a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. Device 300 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are time slaved to a clock synchronized with a main processor.

[0096] The memory 320 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 324, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disk, compact disk (CD), digital video disk (DVD), optical disk, laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 322 and other volatile memories that will not persist until power is removed.

[0097] The computer program 330 includes computer executable instructions executed by the associated processor 310. The instructions of the program 330 may include instructions for performing the operations / actions of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 330 may be stored in a memory, such as ROM 324. The processor 310 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading the program 330 into the RAM 322.

[0098] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by a program 330 so that the device 300 may execute the Figures 1 to 4 Any process of the present disclosure discussed. The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

[0099] In some example embodiments, program 330 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium that may be included in device 300 (such as in memory 320) or in other storage devices accessible by device 300. Device 300 may load program 330 from the computer-readable medium to RAM 322 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer-readable medium may include any type of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. The term "non-transitory" as used herein is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal), not a limitation on data storage persistence (e.g., RAM versus ROM).

[0100] Figure 4An example of a computer readable medium 400 is shown, which may be in the form of a CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 400 has a program 330 stored thereon.

[0101] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other graphical representations, it should be understood that, as non-limiting examples, the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuits or logic, general hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0102] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium (such as, non-volatile computer-readable medium). The computer program product includes computer executable instructions, such as those computer executable instructions executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor included in a program module to perform any method as described above. Typically, a program module includes routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules can be combined or split between program modules as needed in various embodiments. The machine executable instructions for the program modules can be executed in local or distributed devices. In distributed devices, program modules can be located in local and remote storage media.

[0103] The program code for executing the method of the present disclosure can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code can be provided to a processor or controller in a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other programmable data processing device, so that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, causes the realization of the function / operation specified in the flow chart and / or block diagram. The program code can be executed completely on the machine, partially on the machine, as an independent software package, partially on the machine and partially on a remote machine, or completely on a remote machine or server.

[0104] In the context of the present disclosure, computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, etc.

[0105] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, devices, or equipment, or any suitable combination thereof. A more specific example of a computer readable storage medium may include an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage component, a magnetic storage component, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0106] In addition, although the operations are depicted in a specific order, this should not be understood as requiring the specific order shown or in a sequential order to perform these operations, or to perform all described operations, to achieve the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing can be advantageous. Similarly, although several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be interpreted as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but should be interpreted as descriptions of features that may be specific to a specific embodiment. Unless explicitly stated, certain features described in the context of a separate embodiment may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. On the contrary, unless explicitly stated, the various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments individually or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0107] Although the present disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological actions, it should be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or actions described above. Rather, the specific features and actions described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A device for communication, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: determining at least one resource block (RB) set for which a consistent listen-before-talk (LBT) failure is detected; as well as The number of available candidate resources within a time window is determined, the available candidate resources excluding candidate resources on the at least one RB set within the time window.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the at least one processor further cause the apparatus to: Based on at least one first condition being satisfied, a first candidate resource is determined from the candidate resources on the at least one RB set as an available candidate resource within the time window.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the at least one first condition comprises at least one of the following: a condition that the number of available candidate resources is equal to or less than a threshold number, and A condition that a reference threshold strength for excluding candidates from the available candidate resources is equal to or higher than a threshold strength.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 or 3, wherein the at least one memory and the at least one processor cause the apparatus to: selecting at least one RB set from the at least one RB set based on at least one second condition being satisfied; and determining the first candidate resource on the selected at least one RB set as the available candidate resource within the time window, The at least one second condition comprises at least one of the following: The condition that a channel busy ratio (CBR) of the selected at least one RB set is equal to or lower than a threshold CBR, a condition that the amount of resources reserved on the selected at least one RB set is equal to or lower than a threshold amount, and Conditions for success of the LBT process for the at least one selected RB set.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 or 3, wherein the at least one memory and the at least one processor cause the apparatus to: In response to determining that the candidate resources on the at least one RB set are allowed to be included in the available candidate resources within the time window, based on the at least one first condition being satisfied, the first candidate resource is determined from the candidate resources on the at least one RB set as the available candidate resource within the time window. 6 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the candidate resources on the at least one RB set in a time period within the time window are excluded from the available candidate resources within the time window. 7 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the candidate resources on the at least one RB set are determined to be unavailable within the time window.

8. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the candidate resources on the at least one RB set are excluded from a set of available candidate resources within the time window.

9. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a threshold strength for excluding the candidate resources on the at least one RB set from the available candidate resources is lower than a reference threshold strength.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein an offset of a threshold strength for excluding a second candidate resource from among the candidate resources on the at least one RB set relative to the reference threshold strength is related to a channel busy ratio (CBR) associated with the second candidate resource.

11. A method for communication, comprising: determining at least one resource block (RB) set for which a consistent listen-before-talk (LBT) failure is detected; as well as The number of available candidate resources within a time window is determined, the available candidate resources excluding candidate resources on the at least one RB set within the time window.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: Based on at least one first condition being satisfied, a first candidate resource is determined from the candidate resources on the at least one RB set as an available candidate resource within the time window.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one first condition comprises at least one of the following: a condition that the number of available candidate resources is equal to or less than a threshold number, and A condition that a reference threshold strength for excluding candidates from the available candidate resources is equal to or higher than a threshold strength.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein determining the first candidate resource as the available candidate resource within the time window comprises: selecting at least one RB set from the at least one RB set based on at least one second condition being satisfied; as well as determining the first candidate resource on the selected at least one RB set as the available candidate resource within the time window, The at least one second condition comprises at least one of the following: The condition that a channel busy ratio (CBR) of the selected at least one RB set is equal to or lower than a threshold CBR, a condition that the amount of resources reserved on the selected at least one RB set is equal to or lower than a threshold amount, and Conditions for success of the LBT process for the at least one selected RB set.

15. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein determining the first candidate resource as the available candidate resource within the time window comprises: In response to determining that the candidate resources on the at least one RB set are allowed to be included in the available candidate resources within the time window, based on the at least one first condition being satisfied, the first candidate resource is determined from the candidate resources on the at least one RB set as the available candidate resource within the time window.

16. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the candidate resources on the at least one RB set in a time period within the time window are excluded from the available candidate resources within the time window.

17. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the candidate resources on the at least one RB set are determined to be unavailable within the time window.

18. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the candidate resources on the at least one RB set are excluded from a set of available candidate resources within the time window.

19. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein a threshold strength for excluding the candidate resources on the at least one RB set from the available candidate resources is lower than a reference threshold strength.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein an offset of a threshold strength for excluding a second candidate resource from among the candidate resources on the at least one RB set relative to the reference threshold strength is related to a channel busy ratio (CBR) associated with the second candidate resource.

21. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, the instructions being configured to cause an apparatus to at least perform the method according to any one of claims 11 to 20.

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