Collaboration techniques for low power devices

Abstract

Certain aspects provide a method of wireless communication by a user equipment, such as a low-power user equipment. The method comprises: receiving, from a grouped user equipment in a first group of user equipment, an indication that the user equipment is a current group leader of the first group of user equipment; receiving, via the first wireless transceiver system, one or more data requests from one or more grouped user equipments in the first group of user equipments; and transmitting one or more data payloads associated with the one or more data requests to the network entity via the second wireless transceiver system.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. patent application No. 17 / 664,395, filed on May 20, 2022, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is hereby expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety, as if fully set forth below and for all applicable purposes. background Technical Field

[0003] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly to techniques for low power devices to cooperate in wireless communications.

[0004] Related technologies

[0005] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, or other similar types of services. These wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available wireless communication system resources with the multiple users.

[0006] Although wireless communication systems have made tremendous technical progress over the years, challenges still exist. For example, complex and dynamic environments can still attenuate or block signals between wireless transmitters and wireless receivers. Therefore, there is a continuous desire to improve the technical performance of wireless communication systems, including, for example: improving the speed and data carrying capacity of communications, improving the efficiency of using shared communication media, reducing the power used by transmitters and receivers when performing communications, improving the reliability of wireless communications, avoiding redundant transmission and / or reception and related processing, improving the coverage area of ​​wireless communications, increasing the number and types of devices that can access wireless communication systems, increasing the ability of different types of devices to communicate with each other, increasing the number and types of wireless communication media available for use, etc. Therefore, there is a need to further improve wireless communication systems to overcome the above-mentioned technical challenges and other challenges. Summary of the invention

[0007] One aspect provides a method of wireless communication by a user equipment. The method includes: receiving an indication from a grouped user equipment in a first group of user equipment that the user equipment is a current group leader of the first group of user equipment; receiving one or more data requests from one or more grouped user equipment in the first group of the user equipment via a first wireless transceiver system; and transmitting one or more data payloads associated with the one or more data requests to a network entity via a second wireless transceiver system.

[0008] Other aspects provide: an apparatus operable to, configured to, or otherwise adapted to perform any one or more of the foregoing methods and / or those described elsewhere herein; a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the foregoing methods and those described elsewhere herein; a computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium comprising code for performing the foregoing methods and those described elsewhere herein; and / or an apparatus comprising components for performing the foregoing methods and those described elsewhere herein. By way of example, an apparatus may include a processing system, a device having a processing system, or a processing system in conjunction with one or more networks.

[0009] For purposes of illustration, the following description and drawings set forth certain features. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The accompanying drawings depict certain features of the various aspects described herein and should not be considered to limit the scope of the disclosure.

[0011] Figure 1 An example wireless communication network is depicted.

[0012] Figure 2 An example disaggregated base station architecture is depicted.

[0013] Figure 3 Aspects of an example base station and example user equipment are depicted.

[0014] Figure 4A , Figure 4B , Figure 4C and Figure 4D Various example aspects of data structures for a wireless communication network are described.

[0015] Figure 5A Depicted are examples of multiple user equipment independently acting with respect to communications with a network entity.

[0016] Figure 5B Depicted are examples of multiple user equipment cooperating actions regarding communications with a network entity.

[0017] Figure 5C Another example of a plurality of user equipment cooperating in action regarding communications with a network entity is depicted.

[0018] Figure 6 An example process for selecting a group leader and then utilizing the group leader for group operations is depicted.

[0019] Figure 7 An example of an operational state transition diagram for user equipment is depicted.

[0020] Figure 8 An example of a state transition diagram for group initialization of user equipment is depicted.

[0021] Fig. 9A An example of a state transition diagram for collaboration among multiple groups of user equipment is depicted.

[0022] Fig. 9B An example of user equipment transitioning between groups is depicted.

[0023] Fig.10 Depicted is an example process for a user equipment to join a group.

[0024] Fig.11 Depicted is an example of a first-order radio model for determining the expected power cost of sending and receiving data.

[0025] Fig.12 A method for wireless communication is described.

[0026] Fig.13 Aspects of an example communications device are depicted. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for collaboration in wireless communications between low-power devices.

[0028] In general, wireless communications have revolutionized device capabilities in many areas of technology. Recently, low-power wireless devices such as the Internet of Things (IoT), always-on devices, sensors, edge processing devices, etc. have become increasingly common in many business areas, including manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, etc. It is estimated that low-power devices such as IoT devices will soon account for 50% of all networked devices, and a large portion will be wireless. And billions of such devices have already been deployed.

[0029] Low power wireless devices are typically battery powered and may typically have one or more wireless transceiver systems. For example, a low power wireless device may include a low power short range transceiver system (e.g., a wireless personal area network (PAN) or wireless personal area network (WPAN) (generally referred to herein as a PAN)) for participating in a relatively short range wireless network. The range of a PAN typically ranges from a few centimeters to several meters. PANs specifically tailored for low-power operation of sensors are sometimes referred to as low-power personal area networks (LPPANs).

[0030] Low-power wireless devices may also have high-power and long-range transceiver systems (e.g., Wi-Fi, cellular (e.g., narrowband IoT), etc.) for participating in relatively long-range wireless networks such as wide area networks (WANs). The reach of a WAN can typically be up to several kilometers. It is worth noting that such high-power transceiver systems typically consume significantly more energy in any given transmission than low-power transceiver systems, typically several orders of magnitude more.

[0031] While there is the ability and need for low-power wireless devices to communicate using a variety of different wireless technologies (e.g., low-power and high-power transceiver systems), an existing technical problem is that the use of high-power transceiver systems may significantly reduce the useful life of the device (e.g., by quickly depleting onboard energy storage devices (such as batteries)). Therefore, it is desirable to manage the communications of low-power wireless devices to extend useful life, especially in situations where the low-power wireless devices are designed for long deployments and may not have easily serviceable components (such as replaceable batteries).

[0032] Notably, low-power wireless devices are often deployed in relatively close proximity, such as devices within smart homes, smart offices, manufacturing plants, medical facilities, transportation vehicles, etc. The proximity of such devices creates an opportunity to organize such devices (e.g., into groups) and intelligently share the burden of longer range, higher power communications such that performance of the group (e.g., battery life of the devices in the group) is improved.

[0033] Therefore, the various aspects described herein relate to techniques for low-power devices to collaborate in wireless communications. For example, low-power devices can utilize a low-power transceiver system to communicate over short distances between groups, and a single device in the group can be selected to perform long-distance communications using a high-power transceiver system. The device selected to perform long-distance communications can be advantageously changed during a defined interval so that the load is shared between the group of low-power wireless devices, and the overall performance of the group of low-power wireless devices (e.g., in terms of service life based on energy reserves) is maximized.

[0034] Additionally, the leader of a group of low-power wireless devices may perform other power-intensive operations on behalf of the remaining members of the group, such as high-power sensing operations (eg, sensing location using a satellite-based positioning system).

[0035] Collaboration between low-power wireless devices beneficially improves the overall power efficiency of each of the cooperating devices, such as by reducing the power (and network) overhead of enabling a transceiver system (e.g., a modem), establishing a connection with a network entity associated with a WAN, and sending and / or receiving data from the network entity. For example, a group of low-power wireless devices may aggregate packets for transmission using a low-power transceiver system for PAN communications, and then elect a group "leader" to send the aggregated packets to the WAN using a high-power transceiver system.

[0036] Thus, various aspects described herein provide technical solutions to the aforementioned problems associated with the need for low-power wireless devices to utilize both low-power and high-power transceiver systems for their given applications (eg, IoT sensors deployed in a facility).

[0037] Introduction to wireless communication networks

[0038] The techniques and methods described herein can be used in various wireless communication networks. Although various aspects may be described herein using terms commonly associated with 3G, 4G and / or 5G wireless technologies, various aspects of the present disclosure may also be applicable to other communication systems and standards not explicitly mentioned herein.

[0039] Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication network 100 is depicted in which various aspects described herein may be implemented.

[0040] In general, the wireless communication network 100 includes various network entities (alternatively, network elements or network nodes). A network entity is typically a communication device and / or a communication function performed by a communication device (e.g., user equipment (UE), base station (BS), component of a BS, server, etc.). For example, various functions of a network and various devices associated with and interacting with the network may be considered network entities. In addition, the wireless communication network 100 includes ground aspects, such as ground-based network entities (e.g., BS 102), and non-ground aspects, such as satellites 140 and aircraft 145, which may include airborne network entities (e.g., one or more BSs) capable of communicating with other network elements (e.g., ground BSs) and user equipment.

[0041] In the depicted example, the wireless communication network 100 includes a BS 102, a UE 104, and one or more core networks (such as an evolved packet core (EPC) 160 and a 5G core (5GC) network 190) that interoperate to provide communication services over various communication links (including wired and wireless links).

[0042] Figure 1Various example UEs 104 are depicted, which may more generally include: a cellular phone, a smart phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player, a camera, a game console, a tablet computer, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor / actuator, a display, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Always-On (AON) device, an edge processing device, or other similar devices. UE 104 may also be more generally referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a remote device, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, etc.

[0043] BS 102 wirelessly communicates with (e.g., transmits signals to or receives signals from) UE 104 via communication link 120. Communication link 120 between BS 102 and UE 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as a reverse link) transmissions from UE 104 to BS 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmissions from BS 102 to UE 104. In various aspects, communication link 120 may employ multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity.

[0044] BS 102 may generally include: a Node B, an enhanced Node B (eNB), a next generation enhanced Node B (ng-eNB), a next generation Node B (gNB or gNodeB), an access point, a base transceiver, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a transmission and reception point, and / or the like. Each of BS 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110, which may sometimes be referred to as a cell, and may overlap in some cases (e.g., a small cell 102' may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with a coverage area 110 of a macro cell). For example, a BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell (covering a relatively large geographic area), a pico cell (covering a relatively small geographic area, such as a stadium), a femto cell (a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home)), and / or other types of cells.

[0045] Although BS102 is depicted as a single communication device in various aspects, BS102 can be implemented in various configurations. For example, one or more components of the base station may be decomposed, including a central unit (CU), one or more distributed units (DU), one or more radio units (RU), a near real-time (near RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC), or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC, to name a few examples. In another example, various aspects of the base station may be virtualized. More generally, a base station (e.g., BS102) may include components located at a single physical location or components located at various physical locations. In an example in which the base station includes components located at various physical locations, the various components may each perform a function so that the various components together implement functionality similar to that of a base station located at a single physical location. In some aspects, a base station including components located at various physical locations may be referred to as a decomposed radio access network architecture (such as an open RAN (O-RAN) or virtualized RAN (VRAN) architecture). Figure 2 An example decomposed base station architecture is depicted and described.

[0046] Different BSs 102 within the wireless communication network 100 may also be configured to support different radio access technologies (such as 3G, 4G, and / or 5G). For example, a BS 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with the EPC 160 via a first backhaul link 132 (e.g., an S1 interface). A BS 102 configured for 5G (e.g., 5G NR or Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) may interface with the 5GC 190 via a second backhaul link 184. The BSs 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via the EPC 160 or the 5GC 190) over a third backhaul link 134 (e.g., an X2 interface), which may be wired or wireless.

[0047] The wireless communication network 100 may subdivide the electromagnetic spectrum into various categories, frequency bands, channels, or other characteristics. In some aspects, the subdivision is provided based on wavelength and frequency, where frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, subcarrier, channel, tone, or subband. For example, 3GPP currently defines frequency range 1 (FR1) as including 410 MHz-7125 MHz, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as "below 6 GHz". Similarly, 3GPP currently defines frequency range 2 (FR2) as including 24,250 MHz-52,600 MHz, which is sometimes (interchangeably) referred to as "millimeter wave" ("mmW" or "mmWave"). A base station (e.g., a mmWave base station such as BS180) configured to communicate using mmWave / near mmWave radio bands may utilize beamforming (e.g., 182) with a UE (e.g., 104) to improve path loss and range.

[0048] The communication link 120 between the BS 102 and, for example, the UE 104 may be through one or more carriers, which may have different bandwidths (e.g., 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, 20 MHz, 100 MHz, 400 MHz, and / or other MHz) and may be aggregated in various aspects. The carriers may be adjacent to each other or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL ​​compared to UL).

[0049] Communications using higher frequency bands may have higher path loss and shorter range than communications at lower frequencies. Figure 1 180) can utilize beamforming 182 with UE 104 to improve path loss and range. For example, BS 180 and UE 104 may each include multiple antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels and / or antenna arrays, to facilitate beamforming. In some cases, BS 180 may send beamformed signals to UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 182'. UE 104 may receive beamformed signals from BS 180 in one or more receive directions 182". UE 104 may also send beamformed signals to BS 180 in one or more transmit directions 182". BS 180 may also receive beamformed signals from UE 104 in one or more receive directions 182'. BS 180 and UE 104 may then perform beam training to determine the best receive direction and transmit direction for each of BS 180 and UE 104. It is worth noting that the transmit direction and receive direction of BS 180 may be the same or different. Similarly, the transmit direction and receive direction of UE 104 may be the same or different.

[0050] Wireless communication network 100 also includes Wi-Fi AP 150 that communicates with Wi-Fi stations (STAs) 152 via communication links 154 in, for example, the 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum.

[0051] Certain UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), and / or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH).

[0052] The EPC 160 may include various functional components, including: a mobility management entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a serving gateway 166, a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) gateway 168, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) 170, and / or a packet data network (PDN) gateway 172, such as in the depicted example. The MME 162 may communicate with a home subscriber server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the EPC 160. In general, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management.

[0053] Generally speaking, user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are delivered through the Serving Gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN Gateway 172. The PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. The PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to the IP Services 176, which may include, for example, the Internet, an Intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a Packet Switched (PS) streaming media service, and / or other IP services.

[0054] The BM-SC 170 may provide functionality for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS delivery, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services within a public land mobile network (PLMN), and / or may be used to schedule MBMS delivery. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS services to BSs 102 belonging to a multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a specific service, and / or may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.

[0055] 5GC 190 may include various functional components, including: access and mobility management function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, session management function (SMF) 194, and user plane function (UPF) 195. AMF 192 may communicate with unified data management (UDM) 196.

[0056] AMF 192 is a control node that handles signaling between UE 104 and 5GC 190. AMF 192 provides, for example, Quality of Service (QoS) flow and session management.

[0057] Internet Protocol (IP) packets are delivered through UPF 195, which is connected to IP Services 197 and provides IP address allocation for UEs and other functions for 5GC 190. IP Services 197 may include, for example, the Internet, Intranet, IMS, PS streaming services, and / or other IP services.

[0058] In various aspects, a network entity or network node may be implemented as a converged base station, a decomposed base station, a component of a base station, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a relay node, a sidelink node, to name a few examples.

[0059] Figure 2 An example disaggregated base station 200 architecture is depicted. The disaggregated base station 200 architecture may include one or more central units (CUs) 210 that may communicate directly with a core network 220 via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 220 through one or more disaggregated base station units, such as a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 225 via an E2 link, or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 215 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 205, or both. The CU 210 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 230 via respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DU 230 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 240 via respective fronthaul links. The RU 240 may communicate with respective UEs 104 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, a UE 104 may be served simultaneously by multiple RUs 240.

[0060] Each of the units (e.g., CU 210, DU 230, RU 240, and near-RT RIC 225, non-RT RIC 215, and SMO framework 205) may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or send signals, data, or information (collectively referred to as signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units or an associated processor or controller that provides instructions to the communication interface of the unit may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via a transmission medium. For example, the units may include a wired interface configured to receive or send signals to one or more of the other units via a wired transmission medium. Additionally or alternatively, the unit may include a wireless interface that may include a receiver, transmitter, or transceiver (such as a radio frequency (RF) transceiver) configured to receive or send signals, or both, to one or more of the other units on a wireless transmission medium.

[0061] In some aspects, CU 210 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by CU 210. CU 210 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (e.g., central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (e.g., central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some specific implementations, CU 210 may be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP unit may communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface (such as an E1 interface). As needed, CU 210 may be implemented to communicate with DU 230 for network control and signaling.

[0062] DU 230 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 240. In some aspects, DU 230 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, etc.) at least in part according to a functional split such as those defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In some aspects, DU 230 may further host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by DU 230 or with control functions hosted by CU 210.

[0063] The lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 240. In some deployments, the RU 240 controlled by the DU 230 may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions or low PHY layer functions (such as performing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc.), or both, based at least in part on a functional split (such as a lower layer functional split). In such an architecture, the RU 240 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 104. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control plane and user plane communications with the RU 240 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 230. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the implementation of the DU 230 and the CU 210 in a cloud-based RAN architecture (such as a vRAN architecture).

[0064] The SMO framework 205 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized network elements and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 205 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, which may be managed via an operation and maintenance interface (such as an O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 205 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 290) to perform network element lifecycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements may include, but are not limited to, CU 210, DU 230, RU 240, and near-RT RIC 225. In some specific implementations, the SMO framework 205 may communicate with hardware aspects of the 4G RAN (such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 211) via the O1 interface. Additionally, in some specific implementations, the SMO framework 205 may communicate directly with one or more RUs 240 via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 205 may also include a non-RT RIC 215 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 205 .

[0065] The non-RT RIC 215 may be configured to include logic functions that enable non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updating, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the near-RT RIC 225. The non-RT RIC 215 may be coupled to or in communication with the near-RT RIC 225 (such as via an A1 interface). The near-RT RIC 225 may be configured to include logic functions that enable near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions through an interface (such as via an E2 interface) that connects one or more CUs 210, one or more DUs 230, or both, and the O-eNB with the near-RT RIC 225.

[0066] In some implementations, in order to generate an AI / ML model to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 225, the non-RT RIC 215 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server. Such information may be utilized by the near-RT RIC 225 and may be received from a non-network data source or from a network function at the SMO framework 205 or the non-RT RIC 215. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 215 or the near-RT RIC 225 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 215 may monitor long-term trends and patterns of performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO framework 205 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or via the creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0067] Figure 3 Aspects of an example BS 102 and UE 104 are depicted.

[0068] In general, BS 102 includes various processors (e.g., 320, 330, 338, and 340), antennas 334a-334t (collectively 334), transceivers 332a-332t (collectively 332) including modulators and demodulators, and other aspects that enable wireless transmission of data (e.g., data source 312) and wireless reception of data (e.g., data sink 339). For example, BS 102 can transmit and receive data between BS 102 and UE 104. BS 102 includes controller / processor 340 that can be configured to implement various functions described herein related to wireless communications.

[0069] In general, the UE 104 includes various processors (e.g., 358, 364, 366, and 380), antennas 352a-352r (collectively 352), transceivers 354a-354r (collectively 354) including modulators and demodulators, and other aspects that enable wireless transmission of data (e.g., retrieved from a data source 362) and wireless reception of data (e.g., provided to a data sink 360). The UE 104 includes a controller / processor 380 that can be configured to implement various functions described herein related to wireless communications.

[0070] Regarding example downlink transmissions, BS 102 includes a transmit processor 320 that can receive data from a data source 312 and control information from a controller / processor 340. The control information can be for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), and / or others. In some examples, the data can be for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0071] The transmit processor 320 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor 320 may also generate reference symbols, such as for a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0072] The transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 330 may perform spatial processing (e.g., pre-decoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols, where applicable, and may provide an output symbol stream to a modulator (MOD) in a transceiver 332a-332t. Each modulator in the transceiver 332a-332t may process a corresponding output symbol stream to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and up-convert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from the modulators in the transceivers 332a-332t may be transmitted via antennas 334a-334t, respectively.

[0073] To receive downlink transmissions, UE 104 includes antennas 352a-352r that can receive downlink signals from BS 102 and can provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) in transceivers 354a-354r, respectively. Each demodulator in transceivers 354a-354r can condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a corresponding received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator can further process the input samples to obtain received symbols.

[0074] A MIMO detector 356 may obtain received symbols from all demodulators in transceivers 354a-354r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 358 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 104 to a data sink 360, and provide decoded control information to a controller / processor 380.

[0075] With respect to example uplink transmissions, the UE 104 also includes a transmit processor 364 that may receive and process data from a data source 362 (e.g., for a PUSCH) and control information from a controller / processor 380 (e.g., for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). The transmit processor 364 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 364 may be pre-decoded by a TX MIMO processor 366, if applicable, further processed by a modulator in the transceivers 354a-354r (e.g., for SC-FDM), and transmitted to the BS 102.

[0076] At BS 102, uplink signals from UE 104 may be received by antennas 334 a-334 t, processed by demodulators in transceivers 332 a-332 t, detected by MIMO detector 336 if applicable, and further processed by receive processor 338 to obtain decoded data and control information transmitted by UE 104. Receive processor 338 may provide decoded data to data sink 339 and decoded control information to controller / processor 340.

[0077] Memories 342 and 382 may store data and program codes for BS 102 and UE 104, respectively.

[0078] Scheduler 344 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0079] In various aspects, BS 102 may be described as sending and receiving various types of data associated with the methods described herein. In these contexts, "sending" may refer to various mechanisms for outputting data, such as outputting data from a data source 312, a scheduler 344, a memory 342, a transmit processor 320, a controller / processor 340, a TX MIMO processor 330, a transceiver 332a-332t, an antenna 334a-334t, and / or other aspects described herein. Similarly, "receiving" may refer to various mechanisms for obtaining data, such as obtaining data from an antenna 334a-334t, a transceiver 332a-332t, a RX MIMO detector 336, a controller / processor 340, a receive processor 338, a scheduler 344, a memory 342, and / or other aspects described herein.

[0080] In various aspects, the UE 104 may also be described as sending and receiving various types of data associated with the methods described herein. In these contexts, "sending" may refer to various mechanisms for outputting data, such as outputting data from a data source 362, a memory 382, ​​a transmit processor 364, a controller / processor 380, a TX MIMO processor 366, a transceiver 354a-354t, an antenna 352a-352t, and / or other aspects described herein. Similarly, "receiving" may refer to various mechanisms for obtaining data, such as obtaining data from an antenna 352a-352t, a transceiver 354a-354t, a RX MIMO detector 356, a controller / processor 380, a receive processor 358, a memory 382, ​​and / or other aspects described herein.

[0081] In some aspects, the processor may be configured to perform various operations (such as those associated with the methods described herein) and send (output) data to or receive (obtain) data from another interface configured to send or receive data, respectively.

[0082] Figure 4A , Figure 4B , Figure 4C and Figure 4D Describes a method for use in a wireless communication network such as Figure 1 Various aspects of the data structure of the wireless communication network 100).

[0083] Specifically, Figure 4A is a diagram 400 illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G (e.g., 5G NR) frame structure, Figure 4B is a diagram 430 illustrating an example of a DL channel within a 5G subframe, Figure 4C is a diagram 450 illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G frame structure, and Figure 4D FIG480 is a diagram illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G subframe.

[0084] Wireless communication networks can utilize Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with a Cyclic Prefix (CP) on both the uplink and downlink. Such systems can also support half-duplex operation using Time Division Duplex (TDD). OFDM and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing (SC-FDM) can be used to maximize the system bandwidth (e.g., Figure 4B and Figure 4D The RF (depicted) is divided into multiple orthogonal subcarriers. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. Modulation symbols can be transmitted in the frequency domain using OFDM and / or in the time domain using SC-FDM.

[0085] The wireless communication frame structure may be frequency division duplex (FDD), where for a particular set of subcarriers, subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated to either DL or UL. The wireless communication frame structure may also be time division duplex (TDD), where for a particular set of subcarriers, subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated to both DL and UL.

[0086] exist Figure 4A and Figure 4C In the wireless communication frame structure, TDD is used, where D is DL, U is UL, and X is used flexibly between DL / UL. The UE can be configured with a time slot format (dynamically configured by DL control information (DCI) or semi-statically / statically configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling) through the received time slot format indicator (SFI). In the depicted example, the 10ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized 1ms subframes. Each subframe may include one or more time slots. In some examples, each time slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the time slot format. The subframe may also include a micro-time slot, which generally has fewer symbols than the entire time slot. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0087] In certain aspects, the number of time slots within a subframe is based on the time slot configuration and the parameter set. For example, for time slot configuration 0, different parameter sets (μ) 0 to 5 allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 time slots per subframe, respectively. For time slot configuration 1, different parameter sets 0 to 2 allow for 2, 4, and 8 time slots per subframe, respectively. Thus, for time slot configuration 0 and parameter set μ, there are 14 symbols / time slot and 2μ time slots / subframe. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length / duration are a function of the parameter set. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2 μ × 15kHz, where μ is parameter set 0 to 5. Thus, parameter set μ=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, and parameter set μ=5 has a subcarrier spacing of 480kHz. The symbol length / duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. Figure 4A , Figure 4B , Figure 4C and Figure 4D An example is provided for slot configuration 0 with 14 symbols per slot and parameter set μ=2 with 4 slots per subframe. The slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is approximately 16.67 μs.

[0088] like Figure 4A , Figure 4B , Figure 4C and Figure 4DAs depicted, a resource grid may be used to represent a frame structure. Each slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as a physical RB (PRB)) extending, for example, over 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into a plurality of resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0089] like Figure 4A As illustrated, some REs carry data for UEs (e.g. Figure 1 and Figure 3 The RS may include a demodulation RS (DMRS) and / or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include a beam measurement RS (BRS), a beam refinement RS (BRRS), and / or a phase tracking RS (PT-RS).

[0090] Figure 4B Examples of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame are illustrated.The Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more Control Channel Elements (CCEs), each CCE comprising, for example, nine RE Groups (REGs), each REG comprising, for example, four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol.

[0091] The primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be in symbol 2 of a particular subframe of a frame. The PSS is transmitted by a UE (e.g., Figure 1 and Figure 3 104) is used to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identification.

[0092] A Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of a particular subframe of a frame. The SSS is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing.

[0093] Based on the physical layer identifier and the physical layer cell identifier group number, the UE can determine the physical cell identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the aforementioned DMRS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the master information block (MIB) can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block. The MIB provides the system frame number (SFN) and the number of RBs in the system bandwidth. The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information (such as system information blocks (SIBs)) that is not sent via the PBCH, and / or paging messages.

[0094] like Figure 4CAs illustrated in , some REs carry DMRS for channel estimation at the base station (indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DMRS configurations are possible). The UE may send DMRS for PUCCH and DMRS for PUSCH. The PUSCH DMRS may be sent, for example, in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DMRS may be sent in different configurations depending on whether a short PUCCH or a long PUCCH is sent and depending on the specific PUCCH format used. UE 104 may send a sounding reference signal (SRS). The SRS may be sent, for example, in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may send the SRS on one of the teeth of the comb. The SRS may be used by the base station for channel quality estimation to achieve frequency-dependent scheduling of the UL.

[0095] Figure 4D Examples of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame are illustrated. The PUCCH may be located at a position as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, channel quality indicator (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), rank indicator (RI), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and / or UCI.

[0096] Aspects related to cooperative technology for low-power devices

[0097] Various aspects described herein relate to techniques for user equipment (e.g., low-power user equipment, such as IoT devices) to collaborate in wireless communications. As described in further detail below, in various aspects, multiple user equipment can form a group and then select the leader of the group to perform grouping (or common) operations, such as using the high-power communication capabilities of a single device to convey data of multiple user equipment and / or perform another high-power operation related to multiple devices (e.g., using a satellite-based positioning system for location positioning). At defined intervals, the leader of the group can be changed based on the current status of the user equipment in the group so as to distribute the load of the grouping operation between the user equipment in the group. In addition, the user equipment can join the group or be selected to lead the group based on various factors (such as proximity, charging state, channel characteristics between the user equipment and the network entity, channel characteristics between the user equipment in the group, etc.). As described above, these aspects allow the performance of the user equipment to be improved, such as extending the service life (e.g., longer battery life) and reducing network overhead on the high-power communication link, just to name a few technical benefits.

[0098] Figure 5A Depicted are multiple user equipment (eg, 504) communicating with a network entity 502 (eg, such as described above with respect to Figures 1 to 3 The user equipment (such as 504) can generally be as described above with respect to Figure 1 and Figure 3 Examples of user equipment described, and more specifically, may be low power user equipment such as IoT devices.

[0099] As can be seen in example 500, each user equipment performs high power communications (e.g., 506) (e.g., uplink communications) between itself and network entity 502, albeit in close proximity with other user equipment performing the same or similar operations, but without coordination. In this example, high power communications 506 are examples of wide area network (WAN) communications that may be performed by a high power transceiver system, such as a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) transceiver system; a new radio (NR) reduced capability (RedCap) transceiver system; an NR ultra-light transceiver system; an NR ultra-light sidelink transceiver system; an eMTC transceiver system; a 2G transceiver system (e.g., GPRS or EDGE), an unlicensed transceiver system (e.g., WiMAX), etc.

[0100] on the other hand, Figure 5B An example 550 of a plurality of user equipments formed into a group and cooperating in uplink communications with a network entity 502 is depicted. Specifically, each of the user equipments (e.g., 504A) transmits a data request to a leader of the group (in this example, user equipment 504B) via a PAN, for example, using a low power transceiver system, and the group leader 504B then makes a single high power transmission 506 to the network entity 502 based on the data request. For example, the data request may include a data packet to be transmitted to the network entity 502 via a relay by the group leader 504B, a request for the group leader 504B to retrieve data from the network entity 502, or a request for the group leader 504B to perform a local operation (such as a local sensing operation) on behalf of one or more of the grouped user equipments to generate data. Thus, the high power communication 506 may include a payload based on the data request. The low power transceiver system may be, for example, Transceiver system, Transceiver system, transceiver systems, other 802.15.4 and 802.15.5 systems, etc.

[0101] As described above, in addition to performing communications with the network entity 502, the group leader 504B may also perform non-communication operations on behalf of other group user equipment (e.g., 504A), such as local sensing operations (e.g., using sensors), location detection (e.g., using satellite-based positioning systems such as GPS or GLONAS), image, sound or video capture, etc. In some cases, data generated by the non-communication operations may be shared between the group user equipment via low-power communications (e.g., 508) and / or included in data transmitted to the network entity 502 via high-power communications 506. For example, a location sensed by the GPS system of the group leader 504B may be provided to the network entity 502 and to other members of the group, who may use the location data for local purposes.

[0102] It is worth noting that Figure 5A Compared with the example 500, Figure 5B In example 550 of example 550, only one user equipment (group leader 504B) transmits high power communication 506 to network entity 502, rather than each of the user equipment in example 500. Because the cost of low power communication (e.g., 508) in terms of power usage can be significantly lower, such as by several orders of magnitude, the net power usage of the group of user equipment in example 550 is typically significantly lower than the net power usage of example 500 when accomplishing the same task. For example, each grouped user equipment (e.g., 504A) transmitting data to group leader 504B to send to network entity 502 (as in example 550) requires much less power than each user equipment transmitting the same data directly to network entity 502 (as in example 500).

[0103] Figure 5C Another example 560 of multiple user equipment formed into a group and cooperating in downlink communications with a network entity 502 is depicted. Specifically, in this example, the group leader 504B receives a single high power transmission 510 from the network entity 502, which may be a Figure 5B The high power transmission may include, for example, one or more downlink data payloads, which may include data for one or more of the grouped user equipments (including or excluding the group leader 504B). In some cases, the downlink data payloads may include identifiers that the group leader 504B may use to determine to which grouped user equipment to forward one or more of the downlink data payloads.

[0104] After receiving the transmission 510, the group leader 504B then transmits the relevant data to each of the other grouped user equipments (e.g., 504A) via the PAN, for example, using the low power transceiver system to perform a low power transmission (e.g., 508). Note that while this example shows the group leader 504B transmitting to all other grouped low power user equipments, in other examples, the group leader 504B may transmit to only a subset of the grouped user equipments (e.g., 504A) based on the content of the data received from the network entity 502.

[0105] Figure 6 An example process 600 for selecting a group leader and then utilizing the group leader for group operations is depicted.

[0106] To select a group leader, various factors may be considered. In general, within any group, load balancing and channel conditions are examples of group leader selection considerations. Thus, factors used to determine the group leader selection score may include: the current charge state of the energy storage device (e.g., battery) of each user equipment; channel state metrics (e.g., received signal strength indicator (RSSI), downlink received signal received power (RSRP), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), etc.) of each user equipment; remaining target service life; expected energy cost of performing group operations (such as high-power communications or other non-communication operations); etc. In some aspects, these and other factors may be weighted (e.g., using weight parameters) to generate a group leader selection score (e.g., the group leader selection score may be generated as a composite of multiple weighted factors).

[0107] In an example where the highest group leader selection score in a group of user equipment becomes the next leader of the group, a higher state of charge may generally increase the group leader selection score because more stored power means more ability to communicate at high power or perform other high power operations (e.g., location sensing). Similarly, a better channel state metric may generally increase the group leader selection score because better channel state means a better probability of successful transmission and avoiding retransmissions. As another example, a shorter remaining target useful life may generally increase the group leader selection score as long as it still has enough energy remaining because the device has little time to participate in load balancing to benefit the group. For example, a package tracking device that still has a large amount of energy stored (e.g., battery charge) in a package close to its destination (or its estimated arrival time) may help other package tracking devices that are in proximity (e.g., all in the same transport vehicle) before it is delivered and disconnected from the group due to lack of continued proximity.

[0108] Thus, at time 600, each of the user equipment (e.g., 604A) determines its own group leader selection score (e.g., 612A) and transmits it to the current group leader 604A via low power communication 608 (e.g., using a low power transceiver system such as described above). In some aspects, non-group leader user equipment in a group may be referred to as "follower devices" or "follower user equipment."

[0109] Then at time 620, the current group leader 604A determines the highest score in the group and notifies the user equipment with the highest score (604B in this example) that the user equipment will be the next group leader. The current group leader 604A also notifies all other user equipment in the group via low power communication (e.g., 608) who is the next (new) group leader. For example, the next group leader may be identified by an identification number, index, or other indication.

[0110] In some cases, more than one user equipment in a group may have the same high group leader selection score. In such cases, the next group leader may be selected randomly or by some other heuristic from those low-power devices with the same high group leader selection score.

[0111] Then at time 640, one or more of the follower user equipments in the group transmits a data request to the now current group leader 604B via low power communication (e.g., 608). In the depicted example, all follower user equipments transmit requests to the current group leader 604B, but this is not necessarily the case, and requests may be transmitted on an on-demand basis. In some cases, data requests may be transmitted during preconfigured opportunities (such as given time slots), or based on a synchronized countdown timer, etc.

[0112] Despite Figure 6 Not depicted, but in some aspects, follower user equipments may transmit their data requests (eg, packets to be transmitted by the leader user equipment to the network entity 602) and the group leader selection score of the next leader in a single transmission.

[0113] At time 660, current group leader 604B performs a group operation (or multiple group operations) based on the received data request. In this example, group leader 604B performs a sensing operation to generate GPS data indicating the location of a group of user equipment (e.g., a group of packages in a delivery vehicle), and transmits the data to network entity 602 via high power communication 606. For example, the data transmitted to network entity 602 can be used by downstream processes to track a group of objects (e.g., packages) associated with the user equipment in the group.

[0114] exist Figure 6During the various steps depicted in , each of the user equipment may maintain various state data, such as an operational state of the user equipment; a group identifier; a group leader identifier; a list of all grouped user equipment in the group associated with the group identifier; a charge state of a power storage device (or multiple power storage devices) in the user equipment; a channel state metric associated with a channel between the user equipment and a network entity (e.g., 602); a channel state metric associated with a channel between the user equipment and another user equipment in the group, and a remaining target useful life of the user equipment (e.g., based on location or time). These are just some examples, and other examples are possible.

[0115] Despite Figure 6 Not depicted in , but after the operation depicted at time 660, each of the user equipment in the group may update its operating state. The operating state may be based on various state information, such as the charge state of a power storage device (e.g., a battery) in the user equipment.

[0116] Figure 7 An example 700 of an operational state transition diagram of user equipment, such as low power user equipment, is depicted.

[0117] In this example, the user equipment may initially be in an "on" state 702 where the user equipment is capable of performing both high power communications (e.g., using a high power transceiver system) and low power communications (e.g., using a low power transceiver system). Thus, the user equipment in the on state 702 may generally be a group leader or a follower in the group. In this example, narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) is used as an example of a high power transceiver system, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is used as an example of a low power transceiver system; however, other types of transceiver systems may be used in other examples.

[0118] To determine whether to move from the on state 702 to the "free rider" state 704 after a certain interval, the user equipment may test whether its current state of charge (e.g., in an onboard battery) is greater than the expected energy budget (or cost) for high power communications (e.g., NB-IoT communications in this example). If the current state of charge is greater than the expected energy budget for high power communications (e.g., Figure 7 If the current battery charge state is less than or equal to the expected energy budget for high-power communication (e.g., Figure 7 If “curr_battery≤E(NB-IoT)” in the state 702, the user equipment transitions to the free riding state 704.

[0119] In the free riding state 704, the user equipment may generally be only a follower in the group. Thus, for example, a user equipment in the free riding state 704 may transmit a data request to the leader of its group, but may not itself become the leader of the group because the user equipment cannot perform high power communications on behalf of itself and other group members based on its charge state.

[0120] To determine whether to move from free-ride state 704 to "off" state 706 after a certain interval, the user equipment may test whether its current charge state is greater than the expected energy budget for low-power communication (e.g., BLE communication in this example). Figure 7 If the current state of charge is less than or equal to the expected energy budget for low-power communication (e.g., Figure 7 ” in “curr_battery≤E(BLE)”), the user equipment transitions to the off state 706.

[0121] In some cases, the interval between state transition considerations can be defined based on: the amount of time that has passed; the amount of communications that the user equipment has performed; after the user equipment has acted as a group leader; after the user equipment has sent a certain amount of data; after multiple group leader operation cycles (e.g., group leader high power communications); and other factors.

[0122] Note that while NB-IoT and BLE are used as examples of high power and low power transceiver systems / communications in this example, other types of relatively high power and relatively low power transceiver systems / communications may also be used to implement state transition rules based on the expected energy budget for transmission using those systems. Fig.11 One example of a method for determining an expected energy budget for transmitting and receiving using a given type of transceiver system is depicted.

[0123] Figure 8 An example 800 of a state transition diagram for group initialization of user equipment, such as low power user equipment, is depicted.

[0124] The user equipment may start up in an independent state 802 where it is not part of a group. While in the independent state, the user equipment may be in a low power state and periodically "wake up" (e.g., at set time intervals) to check for broadcasts by a nearby group of user equipment (e.g., low power user equipment). If the user equipment detects a nearby group broadcast message, the user equipment may attempt to join the group by connecting with the leader and entering state 806. In some aspects, a "nearby" group may be determined based on signal strength, but not necessarily physical proximity. For example, if two devices approximately 10 m apart are in direct line of sight, the two devices are likely to be in close proximity. Although the two devices may be nearby in terms of signal strength, they may be too far away in terms of signal strength if they are on opposite sides of a dense structure (e.g., a concrete wall) while still being physically close to each other.

[0125] If the user equipment does not detect a nearby group broadcast, the user equipment may check whether the group initialization timer has expired. If the group initialization timer has expired, the user equipment may transition to the group initialization state 804 and broadcast a group initialization message to find nearby user equipment.

[0126] If a device is found, the user equipment may transmit data for forming a group, such as a group ID, a list of detected nearby user equipment, etc. The user equipment then transitions to the group state 806. Once in the group state 806, the user equipment may be configured as described above (e.g., with respect to Figure 6 ) to select a leader.

[0127] If no device is found, the user equipment may return from the group initialization state 804 to the standalone state 802 and reset the group initialization timer.

[0128] While in group state 806, if the other group members all leave the group (e.g., due to loss of proximity or change of operating state), or if the user equipment changes operating state (such as to Figure 7 If the user equipment is in the "off" state as described above, such that it cannot stay in the group, the user equipment returns from the group state 806 to the independent state 802 and resets the group initialization timer if it is not in the "off" state.

[0129] Fig. 9A An example 900 of a state transition diagram for cooperation among a plurality of groups of user equipment, such as low power user equipment, is depicted.

[0130] As described above, various user equipment deployments may include mobile user equipment, such as those used as tracking devices. Figure 8 As described, user equipment in one group may move from time to time to another group, and more generally, as now described with respect to Fig. 9A and Fig. 9B As described, groups can be refined at the system level.

[0131] like Fig. 9A As depicted in FIG. 1 , a set of user equipment (eg, low-power user equipment) may initially participate in a clustering process at state 902 to form one or more initial groups, such as Fig. 9B Group 952 depicted in .

[0132] Thereafter, at state 904, a group leader may be selected for one or more initial groups, such as described above with respect to Figure 6 For example, in Fig. 9B 952, user equipment 954 may be selected as a leader of group 952, and all other user equipment in group 952 may be designated as followers in group 952. In this example, initial group set 951 includes only group 952.

[0133] Once the initial group is formed at state 902 and a group leader is selected at state 904, the groups may transition to state 906 to perform group operations, such as described above with respect to FIGS. 5 and Figure 6 The high power communication described. In this example, data transmission can be initiated based on an interval T1 (e.g., measured by a timer) (such as a set number of seconds, minutes, etc.). Note that although data transmission is used in this example, as described above, the group leader can also perform other operations on behalf of the group, such as sensing operations.

[0134] In general, the group of user equipment may alternate between state 904 and state 906 during a second interval T2 (e.g., measured by another timer) (e.g., a set number of hours, days, etc.). In some aspects, based on factors such as deployment, mobility, etc., T2 may generally be longer than T1. In addition, in the case where the individual user equipment is highly mobile, the second interval T2 may be shortened, and conversely, in the case where the individual user equipment is deployed in a generally static location, T2 may be extended. Note that even in the case of a static deployment, channel conditions and other environmental factors (such as other moving objects or new objects in the environment) may result in the need to continue to re-cluster the user equipment from time to time.

[0135] After the second interval T2, the user equipment may transition to the clustering state 902 to form a new group. Fig. 9B As depicted in FIG. 1 , assuming that the user equipment has moved around, two new groups 956 and 960 may be formed using two new group leaders 958 and 962, respectively. This new group set 953 may then persist for another interval T2, and the process may generally be performed iteratively, as described with respect to FIG. Fig. 9A as described.

[0136] In general, there is a trade-off between the number of user equipment in a group and the amount of energy saved in the group. For example, more user equipment in a group (e.g., group 952 compared to group 956) can generally reduce the energy cost of high-power operations (such as high-power communications and sensing). However, more user equipment in a group may also increase the total latency of the cluster, the power burden on the leader, and the group. Therefore, the number of user equipment in a group can be subject to a limit or target number, which can generally be configured as a part of the cluster state 902.

[0137] In some aspects, clustering may be performed using methods such as K-means, and the distances between user equipments may be measured by a channel metric (eg, channel state information) between each user equipment. The following steps give an example of the K-means technique.

[0138] Step 0: Initiate clustering (eg, at clustering state 902) by having all user equipment broadcast their user equipment IDs to other user equipment in the area so that all user equipment in the area can measure channel conditions (eg, RSSI) relative to each other.

[0139] Step 1: Randomly select K user devices as initial cluster centers.

[0140] Step 2: Broadcast a group ID from each of the K initial cluster center user equipments. Upon receiving one or more (up to K) broadcast group IDs, each user equipment except the K initial group center user equipments selects the cluster center user equipment with the highest RSSI (in this example) and replies with its node ID, which forms the initial cluster. Each cluster center user equipment can then broadcast a group member list to all members of its cluster.

[0141] Step 3: Within each of the K clusters, select the UE with the highest RSSI sum as the new cluster center UE based on its connectivity to other nodes in the group. Note that this step differs from the standard K-means in that the nearest mean is based on channel quality measurements rather than distances between nodes.

[0142] Step 4: Iterate between step 2 and step 3 until the group center user equipment does not change.

[0143] Note that the above example is a method of clustering user equipment using K-means, but other clustering methods may also be used.

[0144] Fig.10 An example process 1000 is depicted for user equipment (eg, low power user equipment) to join a group.

[0145] In some aspects, the user equipment may monitor multiple resource allocations over a period of time (eg, 3 consecutive frames), and if the user equipment does not receive any resource allocations during that time, the user equipment determines to join a new group and identifies itself as away.

[0146] In example 1000, mobile user equipment 1004 broadcasts a join group request message at step 1006. When doing so, in order to maximize the chances of the mobile user equipment finding a nearby user equipment group to join, the mobile user equipment may set its transmit power to a maximum level for a given transceiver system (e.g., a low power transceiver system) used to transmit the message.

[0147] Then, group leaders 1002A-1002N receive the join group message and each respective group leader responds at steps 1008A-1008N with a respective group ID message including the group ID value. For example, the group ID message may be message 1 for a random access procedure, which may include the group ID value.

[0148] Then, at step 1010, the mobile user equipment 1004 measures the channel between itself and all group leaders 1002-1002N (e.g., measures RSSI) from which it receives group ID messages (1008A-1008N). Based on the channel measurements, the mobile user equipment 1004 determines the group to join (e.g., based on the group leader with the highest RSSI) and transmits a join group message (e.g., message 2 for the random access procedure) at step 1012, which includes the group ID it is joining. In example 1000, the mobile user equipment 1004 has decided to join group 1 based on the channel status between group leader 1 (1002A) and the mobile user equipment 1004, and therefore transmits a join group message to group leader 1 (1002A) at step 1012.

[0149] In response to receiving the join group message from the mobile user equipment 1004, the group leader 1 (1002A) transmits a group 1 status message to the mobile user equipment 1004 at step 1014, which may include information necessary for the mobile user equipment 1004 to join the group 1, such as the current group leader ID, a list of other user equipments in the group 1 (e.g., IDs of follower user equipments), etc. In some aspects, the group 1 status message may be message 3 for a random access procedure.

[0150] Finally, at step 1016, the mobile user equipment 1004 transmits a measurement message to the group leader 1002A and other group 1 members 1018 so that all group 1 members can measure the channel (e.g., measure RSSI) between themselves and the mobile user equipment 1004. In some aspects, the measurement message can be message 4 of the random access procedure.

[0151] Notice, Fig.10 One process for moving user equipment between groups (or to a new group) is depicted, but other processes are possible.

[0152] Fig.11 An example 1100 of a first order radio model for determining the expected power cost of sending and receiving data (e.g., bits in a packet) is depicted. For example, when determining a group leader, a user equipment may use such a model to determine the expected power for high power communications (e.g., for NB-IoT communications), as described above with respect to Figure 6 discussed.

[0153] For example, for a given number x of data bits (e.g., in a packet), the power budget (or cost) for performing a transmission may include a processing power budget and a transmission power budget. tx_elec *x to determine (or estimate) the processing power budget, where E tx_elec is the expected energy cost per bit of the transmitting electronics, and x is the total number of data bits. In one aspect, by (E tx_amp *(x+P)) to determine (or estimate) the transmit power budget, where E tx_amp is the expected energy cost per bit of the transmit amplifier, x is the total number of data bits, and P is the number of protocol bits.

[0154] Similarly, (E rx_elec *(x+P)) to determine (or estimate) the receive power budget (or cost), where E rx_elec is the expected energy cost per bit of the receiving electronics, x is the total number of data bits, and P is the number of protocol bits.

[0155] Example Operation of User Equipment

[0156] Fig.12 A method for performing a Figure 1 and Figure 3 An example of a method 1200 for performing wireless communications with a UE 104).

[0157] Method 1200 begins at step 1205 by receiving an indication from a group of user equipment in a first group of user equipment that the user equipment is a current group leader of the first group of user equipment. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13 Circuits for receiving and / or code for receiving are described, or may be performed by circuits for receiving and / or code for receiving.

[0158] Method 1200 then proceeds to step 1210, where one or more data requests are received from one or more grouped user equipment in the first group of user equipment via the first wireless transceiver system. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13 Circuits for receiving and / or code for receiving are described, or may be performed by circuits for receiving and / or code for receiving.

[0159] Method 1200 then proceeds to step 1215, transmitting one or more data payloads associated with the one or more data requests to the network entity via the second wireless transceiver system. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13 The described circuits for transmitting and / or codes for transmitting, or may be performed by the circuits for transmitting and / or codes for transmitting.

[0160] In some aspects, the method 1200 further includes using the electronic system to perform a data task associated with at least one of the one or more data requests. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13 Circuits for execution and / or code for execution are described, or may be executed by circuits for execution and / or code for execution.

[0161] In some aspects, the electronic system includes a satellite positioning system and the data task includes determining a location of the user equipment using the satellite positioning system.

[0162] In some aspects, the electronic system includes a sensor system, and the data task includes determining a sensor value using the sensor system.

[0163] In some aspects, the first wireless transceiver system comprises a short-range wireless transceiver system and the second wireless transceiver system comprises a long-range wireless transceiver system.

[0164] In some aspects, the first wireless transceiver system includes The second wireless transceiver system includes a cellular transceiver system (e.g., a 3GPP cellular system, such as a 5G cellular system). In some aspects, the cellular transceiver system includes one of the following: a NB-IoT transceiver system; a NR reduced capability transceiver system; a NR ultra-light transceiver system; or a NR ultra-light sidelink transceiver system.

[0165] In some aspects, at least one of the one or more data requests includes a data payload to be transmitted by the user equipment to the network entity.

[0166] In some aspects, the method 1200 further includes receiving, via the first wireless transceiver system, a plurality of leader selection scores from a first group of user equipment. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to referring to Fig.13 Circuits for receiving and / or code for receiving are described, or may be performed by circuits for receiving and / or code for receiving.

[0167] In some aspects, method 1200 also includes determining a leader selection score for the user equipment. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to referring to Fig.13 The described circuits for determining and / or codes for determining may be performed by, or may be executed by, the circuits for determining and / or codes for determining.

[0168] In some aspects, method 1200 also includes determining a new group leader based on the leader selection score of the user equipment and the received plurality of leader selection scores. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13 The described circuits for determining and / or codes for determining may be performed by, or may be executed by, the circuits for determining and / or codes for determining.

[0169] In some aspects, the method 1200 further includes transmitting, via the first wireless transceiver system, to the new group leader an indication that the new group leader is the new group leader. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13 The described circuits for transmitting and / or codes for transmitting, or may be performed by the circuits for transmitting and / or codes for transmitting.

[0170] In some aspects, the leader selection score of the user equipment is based on one or more of: a charge state of a power storage device (e.g., a battery) in the user equipment; a channel state metric associated with a channel between the user equipment and a network entity; and a remaining target useful life of the user equipment.

[0171] In some aspects, method 1200 further includes determining that the two highest leader selection scores of the leader selection scores from the user equipment and the received plurality of leader selection scores are the same value. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to referring to Fig.13 The described circuits for determining and / or codes for determining may be performed by, or may be executed by, the circuits for determining and / or codes for determining.

[0172] In some aspects, method 1200 also includes determining a new group leader based on a random selection between two user equipments associated with the two highest leader selection scores. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13 The described circuits for determining and / or codes for determining may be performed by, or may be executed by, the circuits for determining and / or codes for determining.

[0173] In some aspects, method 1200 also includes updating the operating state of the user equipment. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to referring to Fig.13 The described circuit for updating and / or code for updating may be or may be executed by the circuit for updating and / or code for updating.

[0174] In some aspects, updating the operational state of the user equipment includes: determining a charge state of a power storage device in the user equipment; and comparing the charge state of the power storage device to one or more thresholds to determine the operational state.

[0175] In some aspects, the method 1200 also includes disabling one or more of the first wireless transceiver system or the second wireless transceiver system based on the operating state, such as with respect to Figure 7 In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13 The described circuit for disabling and / or code for disabling, or may be performed by the circuit for disabling and / or code for disabling.

[0176] In some aspects, at least one of the one or more thresholds is based on an estimated amount of energy required to transmit using one of the first wireless transceiver system or the second wireless transceiver system.

[0177] In some aspects, the method 1200 further includes storing one or more of the following in a memory of the user equipment: an operational state of the user equipment; a group identifier; a group leader identifier; a list of all grouped user equipment in the group associated with the group identifier; a charge state of a power storage device in the user equipment; a channel state metric associated with a channel between the user equipment and the network entity; and a remaining target useful life of the user equipment. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13The described circuits for storing and / or codes for storing may be, or may be executed by, the circuits for storing and / or codes for storing.

[0178] In some aspects, method 1200 further includes adding a second group of user equipment. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13 The described circuits for joining and / or codes for joining, or may be performed by the circuits for joining and / or codes for joining.

[0179] In some aspects, the method 1200 further includes determining, based on the clustering procedure, to join a second group of user equipment. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to referring to Fig.13 The described circuits for determining and / or codes for determining may be performed by, or may be executed by, the circuits for determining and / or codes for determining.

[0180] In some aspects, the method 1200 further includes determining a group leader for a second group of user equipment based on the centroid of the clusters generated by the clustering procedure. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to referring to Fig.13 The described circuits for determining and / or codes for determining may be performed by, or may be executed by, the circuits for determining and / or codes for determining.

[0181] In some aspects, the method 1200 further includes periodically monitoring the broadcast group messages. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13 The circuits for monitoring and / or the codes for monitoring are described, or can be performed by the circuits for monitoring and / or the codes for monitoring.

[0182] In some aspects, the method 1200 further includes joining the first group of user equipment based at least in part on receiving the broadcast group message. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13 The described circuits for joining and / or codes for joining, or may be performed by the circuits for joining and / or codes for joining.

[0183] In some aspects, the broadcast group message includes one or more of: a group identifier; a group leader identifier; and a list of all grouped user equipment in the group associated with the group identifier.

[0184] In some aspects, the user equipment comprises one of an IoT device, an always-on device, a sensor device, an edge processing device, or a tracking device.

[0185] In some aspects, the method 1200 further includes receiving one or more downlink data payloads from the network entity via the second wireless transceiver system. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13The circuits for joining and / or the code for receiving are described, or may be performed by the circuits for joining and / or the code for receiving.

[0186] In some aspects, the method 1200 further comprises transmitting, via the first wireless transceiver system, one or more data responses to one or more grouped user equipment in the first group of user equipment based on the one or more downlink data payloads received from the network entity. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.13 The circuits for joining and / or the codes for transmitting are described, or may be performed by the circuits for joining and / or the codes for transmitting.

[0187] In some aspects, at least one of the one or more downlink data payloads includes an identifier configured to identify an intended receiving packet user equipment in the first group of user equipment.

[0188] In one aspect, method 1200 or any aspect related thereto may be performed by an apparatus such as Fig.13 The method 1200 is performed by a communication device 1300 that includes various components operable, configured, or adapted to perform the method 1200. The communication device 1300 is described in more detail below.

[0189] Notice, Fig.12 This is merely one example of a method, and other methods including fewer, additional, or alternative steps may also be consistent with the present disclosure.

[0190] Example Communication Device

[0191] Fig.13 Depicted are aspects of an example communications device 1300. In some aspects, communications device 1300 is user equipment, such as described above with respect to Figure 1 and Figure 3 Described UE 104. In some aspects, example communications device 1300 is a low power device, such as an IoT device.

[0192] The communication device 1300 includes a processing system 1305 coupled to a transceiver 1394 (e.g., a transmitter and / or a receiver). The transceiver 1394 is configured to transmit and receive signals, such as the various signals described herein, for the communication device 1300 via an antenna 1396. The processing system 1305 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 1300, including processing signals received by the communication device 1300 and / or signals to be transmitted by the communication device.

[0193] The processing system 1305 includes one or more processors 1310. In various aspects, such as with respect to Figure 3As depicted, the one or more processors 1310 may represent one or more of the receive processor 358, the transmit processor 364, the TX MIMO processor 366, and / or the controller / processor 380. The one or more processors 1310 are coupled to the computer-readable medium / memory 1360 via the bus 1392. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 1360 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by the one or more processors 1310, cause the one or more processors 1310 to perform operations related to the processing of the data transmission. Fig.12 The described method 1200 or any aspect related thereto. Note that references to a processor performing a function of the communication device 1300 may include one or more processors 1310 performing that function of the communication device 1300 .

[0194] In the depicted example, computer readable medium / memory 1360 stores code (e.g., executable instructions), such as code for receiving 1365, code for transmitting 1370, code for executing 1375, code for determining 1380, code for updating 1382, code for disabling 1384, code for storing 1386, code for joining 1388, and code for monitoring 1390. Processing of code for receiving 1365, code for transmitting 1370, code for executing 1375, code for determining 1380, code for updating 1382, code for disabling 1384, code for storing 1386, code for joining 1388, and code for monitoring 1390 may cause the communication device 1300 to perform operations related to the communication device 1300. Fig.12 The described method 1200 or any aspect related thereto.

[0195] The one or more processors 1310 include circuits configured to implement (e.g., execute) code stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1360, including circuits such as circuits for receiving 1315, circuits for transmitting 1320, circuits for executing 1325, circuits for determining 1330, circuits for updating 1335, circuits for disabling 1340, circuits for storing 1345, circuits for joining 1350, and circuits for monitoring 1355. Processing using the circuits for receiving 1315, circuits for transmitting 1320, circuits for executing 1325, circuits for determining 1330, circuits for updating 1335, circuits for disabling 1340, circuits for storing 1345, circuits for joining 1350, and circuits for monitoring 1355 may cause the communication device 1300 to perform operations related to Fig.12 The described method 1200 or any aspect related thereto.

[0196] The various components of the communication device 1300 may provide for performing Fig.12 The components of the described method 1200 or any aspect related thereto. For example, the components for sending, transmitting, or outputting for sending may include Figure 3 The transceiver 354 and / or antenna 352 of the UE 104 illustrated in FIG. 1 , and / or Fig.13 The transceiver 1394 and antenna 1396 of the communication device 1300 in FIG. 1394 may include a Figure 3 The transceiver 354 and / or antenna 352 of the UE 104 illustrated in FIG. 1 , and / or Fig.13 The transceiver 1394 and antenna 1396 of the communication device 1300.

[0197] Sample Clauses

[0198] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0199] Clause 1: A method for wireless communication by a user equipment, comprising: receiving an indication from one grouped user equipment in a first group of user equipment that the user equipment is a current group leader of the first group of user equipment; receiving one or more data requests from one or more grouped user equipment in the first group of user equipment via a first wireless transceiver system; and transmitting one or more data payloads associated with the one or more data requests to a network entity via a second wireless transceiver system.

[0200] Clause 2: The method of clause 1, further comprising using an electronic system to perform a data task associated with at least one of the one or more data requests.

[0201] Clause 3: The method of clause 2, wherein: the electronic system includes a satellite positioning system, and the data task includes determining the location of the user equipment using the satellite positioning system.

[0202] Clause 4: The method of clause 2, wherein: the electronic system comprises a sensor system, and the data task comprises determining a sensor value using the sensor system.

[0203] Clause 5: The method of any of clauses 1 to 4, wherein: the first wireless transceiver system comprises a short-range wireless transceiver system and the second wireless transceiver system comprises a long-range wireless transceiver system.

[0204] Clause 6: A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 5, wherein: the first wireless transceiver system comprises transceiver system, and the second wireless transceiver system comprises a cellular transceiver system.

[0205] Clause 7: A method according to clause 6, wherein the cellular transceiver system comprises one of the following: a NB-IoT transceiver system; a NR reduced capability transceiver system; a NR ultra-light transceiver system; or a NR ultra-light sidelink transceiver system.

[0206] Clause 8: A method as recited in any one of clauses 1 to 7, wherein at least one of the one or more data requests comprises a data payload to be transmitted by the user equipment to the network entity.

[0207] Clause 9: The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 8 further includes: receiving multiple leader selection scores from the first group of user equipment via the first wireless transceiver system; determining the leader selection score of the user equipment; determining a new group leader based on the leader selection score of the user equipment and the received multiple leader selection scores; and transmitting an indication to the new group leader that the new group leader is the new group leader via the first wireless transceiver system.

[0208] Clause 10: A method according to clause 9, wherein the leader selection score of the user equipment is based on one or more of: a charge state of a power storage device in the user equipment; a channel state metric associated with a channel between the user equipment and the network entity; and a remaining target useful life of the user equipment.

[0209] Clause 11: The method according to Clause 9 further includes: determining that the two highest leader selection scores of the leader selection scores from the user equipment and the received multiple leader selection scores are the same value; and determining the new group leader based on a random selection between two user equipment associated with the two highest leader selection scores.

[0210] Clause 12: A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 11, further comprising updating an operational state of the user equipment.

[0211] Clause 13: A method according to clause 12, wherein updating the operating state of the user equipment includes: determining a charging state of a power storage device in the user equipment; and comparing the charging state of the power storage device with one or more thresholds to determine the operating state.

[0212] Clause 14: The method of clause 13, further comprising disabling one or more of the first wireless transceiver system or the second wireless transceiver system based on the operational status.

[0213] Clause 15: The method of clause 13, wherein at least one of the one or more thresholds is based on an estimated amount of energy required to transmit using one of the first wireless transceiver system or the second wireless transceiver system.

[0214] Clause 16: The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 15 further includes: storing one or more of the following items in a memory of the user equipment: an operating state of the user equipment; a group identifier; a group leader identifier; a list of all grouped user equipment in a group associated with the group identifier; a charging state of a power storage device in the user equipment; a channel state metric associated with a channel between the user equipment and the network entity; and a remaining target useful life of the user equipment.

[0215] Clause 17: A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 16, further comprising joining a second group of user equipment.

[0216] Clause 18: The method of clause 17, further comprising determining to join the second group of user equipment based on a clustering procedure.

[0217] Clause 19: The method of clause 18, further comprising determining a group leader for the second group of user equipment based on centroids of clusters generated by the clustering procedure.

[0218] Clause 20: The method of any of clauses 1 to 19, further comprising: periodically monitoring a broadcast group message; and joining the first group of user equipment based at least in part on receiving the broadcast group message.

[0219] Clause 21: The method of clause 20, wherein the broadcast group message comprises one or more of: a group identifier; a group leader identifier; and a list of all grouped user equipment in the group associated with the group identifier.

[0220] Clause 22: A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 21, wherein the user equipment comprises an IoT device.

[0221] Clause 23: The method of any of clauses 1 to 22, further comprising receiving one or more downlink data payloads from the network entity via a second wireless transceiver system.

[0222] Clause 24: The method of clause 23, further comprising transmitting, via the first wireless transceiver system, one or more data responses to one or more grouped user equipment in the first group of user equipment based on the one or more downlink data payloads received from the network entity.

[0223] Clause 25: A method according to any of clauses 23 to 24, wherein at least one of the one or more downlink data payloads comprises an identifier configured to identify an intended receiving packet user equipment in the first group of user equipment.

[0224] Clause 26: An apparatus comprising: a memory including executable instructions; and a processor configured to execute the executable instructions and cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of clauses 1 to 25.

[0225] Clause 27: An apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 25.

[0226] Clause 28: A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions which, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of clauses 1 to 25.

[0227] Clause 29: A computer program product embodied on a computer readable storage medium, the computer readable storage medium comprising code for performing the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 25.

[0228] Additional considerations

[0229] The foregoing description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. The examples discussed herein are not limited to the scope, applicability or aspects set forth in the claims. Various modifications to these aspects will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. For example, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, the functions and arrangements of the elements discussed may be changed. Each example may ignore, replace or add each process or component as appropriate. For example, the described method may be performed in an order different from the described order, and various actions may be added, omitted or combined. In addition, the features described for some examples may be combined in some other examples. For example, any number of aspects set forth herein may be used to implement a device or practice method. In addition, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover such devices or methods practiced using other structures, functions, or structures and functions that are supplemented or substituted for the various aspects of the present disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of the present invention.

[0230] The various illustrative logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the present disclosure may be implemented or performed using a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in an alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, a system on a chip (SoC), or any other such configuration.

[0231] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items (including single members). As an example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as any combination with multiple identical elements (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc, or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

[0232] As used herein, the term "determining" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determining" may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, searching (e.g., searching in a table, a database, or another data structure), ascertaining, and the like. Moreover, "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), and the like. In addition, "determining" may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

[0233] The method disclosed herein includes one or more actions for implementing the method. The method actions can be interchangeable with each other without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific actions can be modified without departing from the scope of the claims. In addition, the various operations of the method described above can be performed by any appropriate component that can perform the corresponding function. The component may include various hardware and / or software components and / or modules, including but not limited to circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or processors.

[0234] The following claims are not intended to be limited to the various aspects shown herein, but should be granted the full scope consistent with the language of the claims. Within the claims, unless otherwise specified, reference to an element in the singular form is not intended to mean "one and only one", but "one or more". Unless otherwise specified, the term "some" refers to one or more. Any claim element is not interpreted according to the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112 (f) unless the element is explicitly stated using the phrase "parts for...". All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various aspects described throughout the present disclosure that are known or will be known later to a person of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be covered by the claims. In addition, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly stated in the claims.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication by a user equipment, comprising: receiving, from a grouped user equipment in a first group of user equipment, an indication that the user equipment is a current group leader of the first group of user equipment; receiving, via a first wireless transceiver system, one or more data requests from one or more grouped user equipment in a first group of user equipment; as well as One or more data payloads associated with the one or more data requests are transmitted to a network entity via the second wireless transceiver system. 2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising using an electronic system to perform a data task associated with at least one of the one or more data requests.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The electronic system includes a satellite positioning system, and The data task includes determining a location of the user equipment using the satellite positioning system.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The electronic system includes a sensor system, and The data task includes determining a sensor value using the sensor system.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first wireless transceiver system comprises a short-range wireless transceiver system and the second wireless transceiver system comprises a long-range wireless transceiver system.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first wireless transceiver system includes transceiver system, and The second wireless transceiver system comprises a cellular transceiver system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the cellular transceiver system comprises one of the following: Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) transceiver systems; New Radio (NR) capabilities reduce transceiver systems; NR Ultra-Lightweight Transceiver System; or NR ultra-light sidelink transceiver system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more data requests comprises a data payload to be transmitted by the user equipment to the network entity.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving, via the first wireless transceiver system, a plurality of leader selection scores from the first group of user equipment; determining a leader selection score for the user equipment; determining a new group leader based on the leader selection score of the user equipment and the received plurality of leader selection scores; as well as An indication that the new group leader is the new group leader is transmitted to the new group leader via the first wireless transceiver system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the leader selection score of the user equipment is based on one or more of: a charging status of a power storage device in the user equipment; a channel state metric associated with a channel between the user equipment and the network entity; and The remaining target useful life of the user equipment.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: determining that two highest leader selection scores of the leader selection scores from the user equipment and the received plurality of leader selection scores are the same value; as well as The new group leader is determined based on a random selection between two user equipments associated with the two highest leader selection scores.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating an operational status of the user equipment.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein updating the operational state of the user equipment comprises: determining a charge status of a power storage device in the user equipment; as well as The state of charge of the power storage device is compared to one or more thresholds to determine the operating state.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising disabling one or more of the first wireless transceiver system or the second wireless transceiver system based on the operational status.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein at least one of the one or more thresholds is based on an estimated amount of energy required to transmit using one of the first wireless transceiver system or the second wireless transceiver system.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Storing one or more of the following in a memory of the user equipment: an operational status of the user equipment; Group identifier; group leader identifier; a list of all grouped user equipment in the group associated with the group identifier; a charging status of a power storage device in the user equipment; a channel state metric associated with a channel between the user equipment and the network entity; and The remaining target useful life of the user equipment.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding a second group of user equipment.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining to join the second group of user equipment based on a clustering procedure.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining a group leader for the second group of user equipment based on a centroid of the clusters generated by the clustering procedure.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Periodically monitor broadcast group messages; as well as The first group of user equipment is joined based at least in part on receiving the broadcast group message.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the broadcast group message comprises one or more of the following: Group identifier; The group leader identifier; and A list of all grouped user equipment in the group associated with the group identifier.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the user equipment comprises an Internet of Things (IoT) device.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving one or more downlink data payloads from the network entity via a second wireless transceiver system.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising transmitting, via the first wireless transceiver system, one or more data responses to one or more grouped user equipment in the first group of user equipment based on the one or more downlink data payloads received from the network entity.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein at least one of the one or more downlink data payloads comprises an identifier configured to identify an intended receiving packet user equipment in the first group of user equipment.

26. A user equipment configured for wireless communication, comprising: a memory including computer executable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the user equipment to: receiving, from a grouped user equipment in a first group of user equipment, an indication that the user equipment is a current group leader of the first group of user equipment; receiving, via a first wireless transceiver system, one or more data requests from one or more grouped user equipment in a first group of user equipment; as well as One or more data payloads associated with the one or more data requests are transmitted to a network entity via the second wireless transceiver system.

27. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions which, when executed by a processor of user equipment, cause the user equipment to perform a method of wireless communication, the method comprising: receiving, from a grouped user equipment in a first group of user equipment, an indication that the user equipment is a current group leader of the first group of user equipment; receiving, via a first wireless transceiver system, one or more data requests from one or more grouped user equipment in a first group of user equipment; as well as One or more data payloads associated with the one or more data requests are transmitted to a network entity via the second wireless transceiver system.

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