Terminal, system and method for indexing resources in sidelink communication procedures

Abstract

A terminal may include a receiver configured to receive one or more SL transmissions. The terminal may include a processor configured to obtain a parameter of a sidelink (SL) communication procedure, the sidelink communication procedure including a resource selected from a portion of an unlicensed spectrum. The processor may be configured to determine resource index information based on the parameter. The processor may be configured to perform an SL communication process including a resource selected from the portion of the unlicensed spectrum according to the resource index information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to wireless devices and wireless networks, including devices, circuits and methods for performing sidelink communication procedures. Background Art

[0002] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting phone calls, many mobile devices now also provide access to the Internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the Global Positioning System (GPS), and are capable of operating complex applications that utilize these functions. In addition, there are many different wireless communication technologies and wireless communication standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS (e.g., associated with WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE 802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), and Bluetooth. TM etc.

[0003] The introduction of an ever-increasing number of features and functionalities in wireless communication devices has also created a continuing need for improved wireless communications and improved wireless communication devices. In order to increase coverage and better serve the increased demand and scope of intended uses of wireless communications, in addition to the above-mentioned communication standards, there are also wireless communication technologies under development, including the fifth generation (5G) standard and the new radio (NR) communication technology. Therefore, there is a need to improve the field of supporting such development and design. Summary of the invention

[0004] According to one or more embodiments, a terminal includes a receiver configured to receive one or more SL transmissions. The terminal includes a processor configured to obtain parameters of a sidelink (SL) communication process, the sidelink communication process including resources selected from a portion of an unlicensed spectrum. The processor is configured to determine resource index information based on the parameters. The processor is configured to perform the SL communication process, the SL communication process including resources selected from a portion of the unlicensed spectrum according to the resource index information.

[0005] The techniques described herein may be implemented in and / or used with a plurality of different types of devices, including, but not limited to, any of cellular telephones, wireless devices, tablet computers, wearable computing devices, portable media players, and a variety of other computing devices.

[0006] This summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the topics described in this document. Therefore, it should be understood that the above features are only examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or essence of the topics described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the topics described herein will become apparent through the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] A better understanding of the present subject matter may be gained when the following detailed description of the various aspects is considered in conjunction with the following drawings:

[0008] Figure 1

[0013] An example wireless communication system in accordance with some aspects is illustrated.

[0009] Figure 2 An example block diagram of a UE according to some aspects is illustrated.

[0010] Figure 3 An exemplary block diagram of a BS in accordance with some aspects is illustrated.

[0011] Figure 4 An example block diagram of wireless communication circuitry in accordance with some aspects is illustrated.

[0012] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating one example of an intra-cell radio frame configuration according to some aspects.

[0013] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a radio frame configuration according to some aspects.

[0014] Fig. 7A and Figure 7B is a flow chart detailing a method of selecting resources during sidelink (SL) communications according to some aspects.

[0015] Fig. 8A and Figure 8B is a diagram illustrating an example of a radio frame configuration according to some aspects.

[0016] Fig. 9A and Fig. 9B is a diagram illustrating an example of a radio frame configuration according to some aspects.

[0017] Fig.10 Exemplary SL communication signaling according to some aspects is illustrated.

[0018] Fig.11A and Fig. 11B is a flow chart detailing a method for selecting resources during SL communication according to some aspects.

[0019] Although the features described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific aspects thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereof are not intended to be limited to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] There is a need to study and evaluate the sidelink (SL) communication process, signaling, and resource selection for enabling portions of unlicensed spectrum in a 5G / New Radio (NR) environment. Therefore, various solutions for performing and improving SL transmission on portions of unlicensed spectrum are disclosed herein, including: 1) intra-cell guard band resource selection; 2) sub-channel resource indexing; 3) resource mapping for specific SL signals (e.g., DMRS, S-SSB, PSCCH, and PSSCH); and 4) multiple start symbols within a time slot for specific SL signals.

[0021] According to one or more embodiments, a user equipment (UE) device or terminal communicating with other terminals (other wireless communication devices, network devices, UE devices and / or base station (BS) devices) may perform radio transmissions including SL communication processes on portions of unlicensed spectrum. The SL communication process may be configured to include one or more resource allocation processes supported by the radio interface operation between the UE and the BS (Uu). The Uu interface or link refers to the air interface between the UE and the radio access network (RAN), while the sidelink interface refers to the interface between the UEs. SL communication may include unicast communication from the UE device to the BS device or another UE device, and unicast or multicast communication from the BS device or the other UE device to the UE device. The first communication mode may include receiving a resource allocation configuration indicating a resource allocation mode from the core network via a Uu link. The second communication mode may include receiving a resource allocation configuration from the other UE device in one or more resource pools via a sidelink. The first communication mode and the second communication mode may be further defined in the same manner as resource allocation mode 1 and resource allocation mode 2 described in TS 38.300 of the 3GPP standard, respectively.

[0022] In some embodiments, the unlicensed spectrum is a separate unlicensed band in a bandwidth ranging between 4.1 gigahertz (GHz) and 7.125 GHz. For example, the unlicensed band may be in the range between 5.150 GHz and 5.925 GHz and between 5.925 GHz and 7.125 GHz, which correspond to NR bands n46 and n96 / n102 of the frequency range (FR1) defined in TS 38.101 of the 3GPP standard, respectively.

[0023] In one or more embodiments, a separate bandwidth part (BWP) may be configured to perform SL transmission. In some embodiments, a SL BWP is a set of contiguous physical resource blocks (PRBs) in a SL transmission, selected from a contiguous subset of common resource blocks (RBs) of a given parameter set (μ) on a given carrier configured for a SL communication process. Each SL BWP may be defined for a given parameter set (μ) with respect to subcarrier spacing, symbol duration, and / or cyclic prefix (CP) length. A UE device may be configured with four SL BWPs for downlink and uplink. At any point in time, one SL BWP in the SL BWP may be effectively used for downlink or uplink. The SL BWP may be pre-configured (e.g., configured from factory settings) or dynamically configured (e.g., configured from a core network via a BS device or a UE device) to include multiple SL resource pools. At least one SL resource pool may be pre-configured based on an integer number of RB sets. The SL resource pool may be a predefined resource pool configured to include a PRB subset of an RB set. Furthermore, if the SL resource pool includes at least two adjacent RB sets, the SL resource pool may be configured with respect to a subchannel size and a number of subchannels in the SL resource pool.

[0024] In some embodiments, the SL resource pool may be configured to include two adjacent RB sets and some PRBs within a cell guard band located between the two adjacent RB sets. In order to select resources in the PRBs within the cell guard band, a specific resource channel mapping (i.e., PSCCH or PSSCH) mapped with the SL resource pool configuration of the frequency resources or a specific resource sub-channel mapping in the SL transmission supporting the sub-channel may be used to implement a predetermined configuration process. The specific resource channel mapping and / or the specific resource sub-channel mapping may include an index of a frequency resource selected in a separate interlace or a separate RB set of a time slot.

[0025] Interleaving may use non-contiguous PRBs to meet occupied channel bandwidth requirements (OCBs), which may be driven by the requirement to use licensed and / or unlicensed bands. Two adjacent PRBs in an interleaving may be separated by a predetermined number of PRBs. The resource selection mode may be configured to provide an indication for selecting the PRBs in an interleaving. In some embodiments, up to 10 different interleavings within a set of RBs may be used.

[0026] The UE device may be configured to perform one or more SL transmissions as part of a SL communication process. The one or more SL transmissions may be transmissions (or reception of transmissions) that follow a protocol in which the UE device selects resources based on indexed frequency resources.

[0027] The UE device may implement the SL communication process when receiving an instruction from one of its neighboring terminals, or when receiving approval from one of its neighboring terminals after requesting initialization of the SL communication process. The UE device may coordinate SL transmissions with terminals connected via multiple radio access technologies (RATs), i.e., LTE-A, 5G NR, and the upcoming 6G.

[0028] In some embodiments, the UE device is configured to perform SL transmission without negatively impacting the user's experience. To achieve this, the UE device selects resources in the unlicensed spectrum without compromising data integrity from communication resources selected in the unlicensed spectrum for the same SL transmission. Successful selection of frequency resources in the unlicensed spectrum and the licensed spectrum in the same SL transmission can prevent data rate reduction, increased latency, or jitter. In this regard, the UE device obtains communication parameters that define reference information indicating resource selection for the SL communication process. The UE device may use the communication parameters to determine a resource selection mode to be used in the SL transmission process.

[0029] The resource selection mode may be determined based on parameters obtained for the SL transmission process. In one or more embodiments, the UE device identifies a SL resource pool that includes a set of SL resources for directly communicating with one or more additional terminals during the SL transmission process. The resource selection mode may be determined based on the identified SL resource pool and / or may include resources selected for at least a portion of the set of SL resources in the SL resource pool. The SL resource pool may be an existing SL resource pool previously configured for the SL communication process and / or may be an independent SL resource pool selected specifically for the SL communication process.

[0030] The UE device may initiate the SL communication process by transmitting a broadcast signal to a neighboring terminal, the broadcast signal may include terminal capabilities and at least one communication request. The terminal capabilities may be communication information about one or more transmission and reception capabilities of the UE device, and the communication request may include a request to the neighboring terminal to start the communication process.

[0031] As described above, the parameters may be received by the UE device from the neighboring terminal via the SL communication link. If the neighboring terminal is another UE device, the parameters may be obtained from the other UE device via an additional communication link established with the core network. If the neighboring terminal is a base station, the parameters may be obtained from the base station via higher layer signaling (e.g., signaling received from an upper layer using a radio resource control (RRC) message or a medium access control (MAC) message in a device connected to the core network).

[0032] The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure:

[0033] Memory medium – Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices or storage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include installation media (e.g., CD-ROM, floppy disk, or tape device; computer system memory or random access memory, such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM), non-volatile memory such as Flash, magnetic media (e.g., hard drive or optical storage device; register or other similar type of memory element). Memory media may also include other types of non-transitory memory or a combination thereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a first computer system executing a program, or may be located in a different second computer system connected to the first computer system via a network (such as the Internet). In the latter example, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer for execution. The term “memory medium” may include two or more memory media that may reside in different locations (e.g., in different computer systems connected via a network). The memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., expressed as a computer program) that may be executed by one or more processors.

[0034] Carrier Medium—storage media as described above and physical transmission media such as a bus, network, and / or other physical transmission media that convey signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals.

[0035] Programmable hardware element - includes various hardware devices that include multiple programmable function blocks connected via programmable interconnects. Examples include FPGA (field programmable gate array), PLD (programmable logic device), FPOA (field programmable object array), and CPLD (complex PLD). Programmable function blocks can range from fine-grained (combinatorial logic or lookup table) to coarse-grained (arithmetic logic unit or processor core). Programmable hardware elements may also be referred to as "configurable logic units".

[0036] User Equipment (UE) (also referred to as "user device", "UE device" or "terminal") - any of various types of computer systems or devices that are mobile or portable and that perform wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone TM , based on Android TM phones), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo Switch TM 、Nintendo DS TM , PlayStation Vita TM , PlayStation Portable TM 、Gameboy AdvanceTM , iPhone TM ), laptops, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart glasses), PDAs, portable internet devices, music players, data storage devices, other handheld devices, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument clusters, heads-up display (HUD) devices, on-board diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashboard mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDT), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine control units (ECU), electronic / engine control modules (ECM), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or "smart" appliances, machine type communication (MTC) devices, machine interaction (M2M), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, etc. In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" or "terminal" or "user equipment" can be broadly defined to cover any electronic, computing and / or telecommunication device (or combination of devices) that is easily transportable by a user (or vehicle) and capable of wireless communication.

[0037] Wireless Device—Any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform wireless communications. A wireless device may be portable (or mobile), or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A UE is an example of a wireless device.

[0038] Communication device – Any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform communication, where the communication may be wired or wireless. A communication device may be portable (or mobile), or may be stationary or fixed at a location. A wireless device is an example of a communication device. A UE is another example of a communication device.

[0039] Base Station – The term “base station”, “wireless base station” or “wireless station” has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station that is installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system. For example, if a base station is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternatively be referred to as an “eNodeB” or “eNB”. If a base station is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternatively be referred to as a “gNodeB” or “gNB”. Although certain aspects are described in the context of LTE or 5G NR, references to “eNB”, “gNB”, “nodeB”, “base station”, “NB”, etc. may also refer to one or more wireless nodes that serve a cell to provide wireless connectivity between a user device and a generally wider network, and the concepts discussed are not limited to any particular wireless technology. Although certain aspects are described in the context of LTE or 5G NR, references to “eNB”, “gNB”, “nodeB”, “base station”, “NB”, etc. are not intended to limit the concepts discussed herein to any particular wireless technology, and the concepts discussed may be applied to any wireless system.

[0040] Node - The term "node" or "wireless node" as used herein may refer to one or more devices associated with a cell that provides wireless connectivity between user equipment and a typically wired network.

[0041] Processing element (or processor) – refers to various elements or combinations of elements that are capable of performing functions in a device, such as user equipment or a cellular network device. A processing element may include, for example, a processor and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, separate processors, processor arrays, circuits such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable hardware elements such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and any of the above combinations.

[0042] Channel - a medium used to transmit information from a sender (transmitter) to a receiver. It should be noted that since the characteristics of the term "channel" may vary according to different wireless protocols, the term "channel" as used herein may be considered to be used in a manner that conforms to the standards of the type of device to which the term is used. In some standards, the channel width may be variable (e.g., depending on device capabilities, frequency band conditions, etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths of 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz. A WLAN channel may be 22 MHz wide, while a Bluetooth channel may be 1 MHz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions of channels. In addition, some standards may define and use multiple types of channels (e.g., different channels for uplink or downlink and / or different channels for different purposes such as data, control information, etc.).

[0043] Frequency band - The term "frequency band" has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a segment of the spectrum (eg, radio frequency spectrum) in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose.

[0044] Configured to - Various components may be described as being "configured to" perform one or more tasks. In such contexts, "configured to" is a broad statement that generally means "having a structure" that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently performing the task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors can be configured to electrically connect a module to another module even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, "configured to" can be a broad statement that generally means "having a structure" that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, the component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently turned on. Typically, the circuitry that forms the structure corresponding to "configured to" may include hardware circuitry.

[0045] For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to". Representing a component configured to perform one or more tasks expressly intends that the component does not invoke the interpretation of 35 U.S.C. §112(f).

[0046] Exemplary Wireless Communication System

[0047] Now go to Figure 1 , illustrates a simplified example of a wireless communication system according to some aspects. Note that Figure 1 The system is only one non-limiting example of possible systems, and features of the present disclosure may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired.

[0048] As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a base station 102A, which communicates with one or more user equipment 106A and user equipment 106B to user equipment 106Z via a transmission medium. Each user equipment in the user equipment may be referred to as a "user equipment" (UE) herein. Therefore, user equipment 106 is referred to as a UE or UE device.

[0049] The base station (BS) 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or a cell site (eg, a "cellular base station") and may include hardware that enables wireless communications with the UEs 106A-106Z.

[0050] The communication area (or coverage area) of a base station may be referred to as a "cell". The base station 102A and the UE 106 may be configured to communicate over a transmission medium using any of a variety of radio access technologies (RATs), which are also referred to as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5GNR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000. Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of LTE, the base station may alternatively be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB". Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of 5G NR, the base station may alternatively be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB".

[0051] In some aspects, UE 106 may be an IoT UE that may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), a short-range service (ProSe), or a device-to-device (D2D) communication, a sensor network, or an IoT network. M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs that may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. As an example, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) may utilize ProSe features using an SL interface to communicate directly between devices. The IoT UE may also execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0052] As shown, UE 106 (such as UE 106A and UE 106B) can directly exchange communication data via SL interface 108. SL interface 108 can be a PC5 interface, which includes one or more physical channels, including but not limited to a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), and a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH).

[0053] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the base stations 102 may be a roadside unit (RSU) or act as an RSU. The term RSU may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable wireless node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, wherein an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU", and so on. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled to a radio frequency circuit located on the roadside that provides connectivity support to a passing vehicle UE (vUE). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high-speed events, such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Some or all of the computing device and the RF circuitry of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherpr23 package suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or a backhaul network.

[0054] As shown, the base station 102A may also be configured to communicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunications network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and / or the Internet, among other possibilities). Thus, the base station 102A may facilitate communications between user devices and / or between user devices and the network 100. Specifically, the cellular base station 102A may provide the UE 106 with various communication capabilities such as voice, SMS, and / or data services.

[0055] Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base stations 102B to 102N) operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards can therefore be provided as a network of cells that can provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs 106A to 106Z and similar devices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0056] Thus, although base station 102A may function as Figure 1106A to 106Z, each UE 106 may also be able to receive signals from (and possibly be within communication range of) one or more other cells (which may be provided by base stations 102B to 102Z and / or any other base stations), which may be referred to as "neighboring cells." Such cells may also be able to facilitate communications between user devices and / or between user devices and network 100. Such cells may include "macro" cells, "micro" cells, "pico" cells, and / or any other variety of other granularity of cell sizes that provide a service area. For example, in Figure 1 The base stations 102A and 102B illustrated in FIG. 1 may be macro cells, while the base station 102Z may be a micro cell. Other configurations are also possible.

[0057] In some aspects, base station 102A may be a next generation base station (e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station or "gNB"). In some aspects, the gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to an NR core (NRC) / 5G core (5GC) network. In addition, a gNB cell may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). In addition, a UE capable of operating in accordance with 5GNR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs. For example, base station 102A and one or more other base stations 102 may support joint transmissions such that UE 106 may be able to receive transmissions from multiple base stations (and / or multiple TRPs provided by the same base station). For example, as Figure 1 As illustrated, base station 102A and base station 102C are both shown serving UE 106A.

[0058] It should be noted that UE 106 is capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, in addition to at least one of the cellular communication protocols discussed in the above definition, UE 106 can also be configured to communicate using wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi) and / or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocols (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.). If desired, UE 106 may additionally or alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) (e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one or more mobile television broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H), and / or any other wireless communication protocol. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

[0059] In one or more embodiments, UE 106 may be a device with cellular communication capabilities, such as a mobile phone, handheld device, computer, laptop, tablet, smart watch or other wearable device, or virtually any type of wireless device.

[0060] UE 106 may include a processor (processing element) configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. UE 106 may perform any of the method aspects described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or in addition, UE 106 may include a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), an integrated circuit, and / or any of a variety of other possible hardware components configured to perform (e.g., individually or in combination) any of the method aspects described herein or any portion of any of the method aspects described herein.

[0061] UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In some aspects, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, for example, NR or LTE using at least some shared radio components. As an additional possibility, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using CDMA2000 (1xRTT / 1xEV-DO / HRPD / eHRPD) or LTE using a single shared radio component and / or GSM or LTE using a single shared radio component. The shared radio component may be coupled to a single antenna, or may be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., for a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) configuration) for performing wireless communications. Typically, the radio component may include any combination of a baseband processor, an analog RF signal processing circuit (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or a digital processing circuit (e.g., for digital modulation and other digital processing). Similarly, the radio component may use the aforementioned hardware to implement one or more receive chains and transmit chains. For example, the UE 106 may share one or more portions of the receive chain and / or transmit chain between multiple wireless communication technologies such as those discussed above.

[0062] In some aspects, the UE 106 may include a separate transmit chain and / or receive chain (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another possibility, the UE 106 may include one or more radio components shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radio components used uniquely by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE 106 may include a shared radio component for communicating using either LTE or 5G NR (or, in various possibilities, either LTE or 1xRTT, or either LTE or GSM), and an independent radio component for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible.

[0063] In some aspects, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the base stations 102 to the UE 106, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, such time-frequency plane representation is a conventional practice, which makes radio resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid may include multiple resource blocks, which describe the mapping of specific physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements. Such resource blocks are used to convey several different physical downlink channels.

[0064] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 106. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about, among other things, transport formats and resource allocations associated with the PDSCH channel. It may also inform the UE 106 of transport formats, resource allocations, and HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information associated with uplink shared channels. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to UEs 102 within a cell) may be performed at any of the base stations 102 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 106. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UEs.

[0065] PDCCH can use control channel elements (CCE) to convey control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to send each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to four sets of nine physical resource elements, called resource element groups (REGs). Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0066] Description of the Sidelink (SL) communication link

[0067] In one or more embodiments, the SL communication link is a communication link established between terminals acting as UE devices. In the SL communication link, each of the aforementioned physical channels corresponds to a set of resource elements that carry information originating from a higher layer. These physical signals may include indexing information signaling and synchronization information signaling. The indexing information signaling may include indexing information that uses a reference signal (e.g., a demodulation reference signal) to identify at least one terminal positioning reference. The positioning reference may be a terminal configured to obtain its absolute position on the earth or its position within a specific area. The synchronization information signaling may include synchronization information related to the allocation of resources for at least one synchronization signal.

[0068] In one or more embodiments, two UE devices communicating with each other may use a SL communication link to exchange SL transmissions. The SL communication link may be defined for 5G NR in TS 38.331 of the 3GPP standard.

[0069] Reference signals are used to provide baseline transmission information to multiple terminals, which can be identified on SL transmissions exchanged with each other. As described above, reference signals are predefined signals that occupy specific resource elements within the communication time-frequency grid. In the NR specification, multiple types of reference signals can be transmitted in different ways and are intended to be used by receiving devices for different purposes. In the present disclosure, reference signals are modified for specific implementations in SL transmissions.

[0070] Examples of synchronization information may include communication information related to the selection of resources for at least one synchronization signal. The first option for the synchronization signal may be a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for PSCCH. In an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol for PSSCH, the synchronization signal may be an associated DMRS. The second option for the synchronization signal may be a DMRS for a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for PSSCH. The third option for the synchronization signal may be a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) configured to track phase changes and compensate for phase noise during SL transmission, which may be used for higher carrier frequencies. The time density and frequency of the PTRS may be configured by an upper layer and may be configured according to a resource pool. The fourth option for the synchronization signal may be a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). CSI-RS may be used for channel sounding. The receiving device may measure the received CSI-RS and may then report the CSI back to the transmitter via PSSCH. CSI-RS may be configurable in both the time domain and the frequency domain. CSI-RS may be used to provide fine channel state information. The fifth option for the synchronization signal may be a synchronization signal (SS) / PSBCH block. The time slot in which the SS / PSBCH block is transmitted may be referred to as a sidelink synchronization signal block (S-SSB). The SS / PSBCH block may include PSBCH, a sidelink primary synchronization signal (SPSS), and a sidelink secondary synchronization signal (SSSS) symbol. The period of S-SSB transmission may be 16 frames, and within each period, the number N of S-SSB blocks in the S-SSB period is configured at the RRC. The selection range for N may vary based on the parameter set and the frequency range.

[0071] In one or more embodiments, the UE device is configured to handle concurrent sidelink and uplink / downlink transmissions. If any of the UE devices includes limited reception capabilities compared to the rest of the UE devices, the UE device may prioritize sidelink communication reception, sidelink discovery reception on carriers configured by the eNodeB, and last sidelink discovery reception on carriers not configured by the gNB.

[0072] The sidelink transmission may be organized into segments with a duration T f radio frames, each of which consists of 20 radio frames of duration T 时隙 The sidelink subframe consists of two consecutive time slots starting from an even time slot. The physical channel or signaling transmitted in the time slot can be described by a resource grid corresponding to a first number of subcarriers and a second number of single carrier (SC)-frequency division multiple access (FDMA) symbols.

[0073] In some embodiments, SL transmissions may be configured according to a resource allocation pattern provided by the gNB. The resource allocation pattern may provide dynamic grants for sidelink resources, as well as grants for periodic sidelink resources that are semi-statically configured via sidelink configured grants. In order to improve the reliability of SL transmissions, a dynamic sidelink grant DCI may provide resources for one or more transmissions of a transport block. Grants configured via the sidelink may be SL transmissions that are configured to be used immediately by the UE device before these grants are released via RRC signaling. Before the radio link failure (RLF) detection timer expires, when a beam failure or physical layer problem occurs in the NR access link (Uu), the UE device may be allowed to continue using this type of grant configured via the sidelink, and then fall back to the abnormal resource pool. Another type of grant configured via the sidelink may be a grant that is configured once and cannot be used until the gNB sends a DCI to the UE device indicating that the grant is now valid and until another DCI indicates deactivation.

[0074] In a sidelink configured grant, the resources are a periodically recurring set of sidelink resources with the gNB matching the resources to those characteristics for V2X communications. Multiple configured grants may be configured to allow different services, communication types, etc. Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) information for dynamic and configured grants may optionally be provided or constrained by RRC signaling rather than DCI. The RRC may configure the exact MCS used or a range of MCSs. The MCS may also be left unconfigured. For situations where the RRC does not provide the exact MCS, the UE device may be left to select an appropriate MCS on its own based on any knowledge it may have about the transport blocks to be transmitted and the sidelink radio conditions. The gNB scheduling activity may be driven by reports in which the UE device shares its sidelink communication characteristics with the gNB, or by requesting sidelink resource allocations from the gNB through a sidelink buffer status report (BSR) process similar to Uu.

[0075] In some embodiments, SL transmission of a UE device may be configured according to a self-selected resource allocation mode (i.e., referred to as a resource selection mode hereinafter). SL transmission may be transmitted by the UE device a certain number of times after the resource selection mode is selected or before a reason for resource reselection is triggered. SL transmission may be performed to support unicast and multicast communications in the physical layer. SL transmission may be configured to reserve resources to be used for multiple blind transmissions of a transport block or transmissions based on HARQ feedback. SL transmission may be performed to select resources to be used for the initial transmission of a subsequent transport block.

[0076] In one or more embodiments, a resource selection mode selected for SL transmission may be implemented in a SL bandwidth part (BWP). A SL BWP may be a plurality of groups of contiguous resource blocks configured for SL transmission within a predetermined channel bandwidth. The configuration of the SL BWP and the SL resource pool is established by the RRC layer and provided to lower layers when activated. In a given frequency band, there may be at least one valid SL BWP for a UE device at a time. The SL BWP may be defined by its frequency, bandwidth, subcarrier spacing (SCS), and cyclic prefix (CP). The SL BWP may define parameters common to all SL resource pools contained therein, namely, the number of symbols and start symbols used for SL in all time slots (except those with synchronization signal blocks (SSBs)), power control of the PSBCH, and the position of the direct current (DC) subcarrier.

[0077] The SL BWP may have different lists of SL resource pools for transmission and reception to allow UE devices to transmit in a pool and receive in another pool. For transmission, there may be one pool for selected mode, one pool for scheduled mode (e.g., when the gNodeB assists with resource selection), and one pool for exception cases. These SL resource pools may be expected to be used for transmission or reception only, except when the SL feedback mechanism is activated, in which case the UE device may transmit an acknowledgement (ACK) message in the receive pool and receive an ACK message in the transmit pool.

[0078] In 5G NR technology, the SL resource pool may be located inside the SL BWP, which is defined by a set of consecutive resource blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain defined by an information element labeled sl-Rb-Number, which starts at a RB defined by an information element labeled sl-StartRBsubchannel. In addition, the SL resource pool may be divided into subchannels of a size defined by an information element labeled sl-SubchannelSize, which may take one of a plurality of values ​​(i.e., 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, and 100). Depending on the values ​​of sl-RB-Number and sl-SubchannelSize, some RBs inside the SL resource pool may not be used by the UE.

[0079] In the time domain, the SL resource pool has a number of available time slots that are configured by various parameters. In order to determine which time slots belong to the pool, a series of criteria can be applied. Time slots in which SSBs are transmitted cannot be used. The number and position of these time slots can be based on a predefined configuration. Time slots that are not allocated for UL (for example, in the case of time division duplexing (TDD)) or not all symbols are available (according to the SL BWP configuration) can also be excluded from the SL resource pool. Some time slots can be reserved so that the number of remaining time slots is a multiple of the bitmap length defined by the tag sl-TimeResource-r16 or Lbitmap, which can range from 10 bits to 160 bits. The reserved time slots can be distributed throughout a variable number of time slots. The bitmap sl-TimeResource-r16 can be applied to the remaining time slots to calculate the final set of identified / marked time slots belonging to the pool.

[0080] In some embodiments, the duration of each SL frame and SL subframe is 10 milliseconds (ms) and 1 ms, respectively. The SL frame and SL subframe may include a parameter set μ that may define the SCS, the number of time slots in a subframe, and a cyclic prefix option. In NR SL, the value of μ ranges from 0 to 3. In addition, the supported μ values ​​differ in different frequency bands. In the frequency domain, the SCS may be defined by a parameter set. In this regard, the SCS may be proportional to the parameter set. Within a SL subframe, the time slots may be numbered from 0 to N subframes. In NR, assuming that different UE devices may operate in different BWPs and using different parameter sets, common resource blocks may be used for devices to locate frequency resources within the carrier bandwidth.

[0081] In some embodiments, the UE device may map resources during a SL communication process with one or more BS devices and / or other UE devices. In one example, the UE device may obtain parameters of a SL communication process that includes resources selected from a portion of an unlicensed spectrum. The UE device may determine resource index information based on the parameters. The resource index information may include an index of resources associated with a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) and a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH). Based on the resource index information, the UE device may perform a resource allocation process that includes resources selected from a portion of an unlicensed spectrum.

[0082] In another example, the UE device may obtain parameters of a SL communication process that includes resources selected from a portion of an unlicensed spectrum. The terminal may determine a decoding operation for a time slot that includes resources selected from a portion of the unlicensed spectrum based on the parameters. In this case, the terminal may decode the time slot according to the decoding operation.

[0083] Exemplary Communication Devices

[0084] Figure 2 An example simplified block diagram of a communication device 106 according to some aspects is illustrated. Note that Figure 2 The block diagram of the communication device is only one example of a possible communication device. According to various aspects, in addition to other devices, the communication device 106 can be a UE device or terminal, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, a notebook or a portable computing device), a tablet computer and / or a combination of devices. As shown, the communication device 106 may include a group of components 200 configured to perform core functions. For example, the group of components may be implemented as a system on a chip (SOC), which may include parts for various purposes. Alternatively, the group of components 200 may be implemented as a separate component or group of components for various purposes. The group of components 200 may be coupled to various other circuits of the communication device 106 (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly).

[0085] For example, the communication device 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 210), input / output interfaces such as connector I / F 220 (e.g., for connecting to a computer system; a docking station; a charging station; input devices such as microphones, cameras, keyboards; output devices such as speakers; etc.), a display 260 that may be integrated with the communication device 106 or external to it, and wireless communication circuitry 230 (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, UMTS, GSM, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, etc.). In some aspects, the communication device 106 may include wired communication circuitry (not shown), such as a network interface card (e.g., for Ethernet connection).

[0086] Wireless communication circuitry 230 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antenna 235 as shown. Wireless communication circuitry 230 may include cellular communication circuitry and / or short- to medium-range wireless communication circuitry, and may include multiple receive chains and / or multiple transmit chains for receiving and / or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a MIMO configuration.

[0087] In some aspects, as further described below, the cellular communication circuitry 230 may include one or more receive chains (including and / or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and / or radio components) for multiple radio access technologies (RATs) (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). In addition, in some aspects, the cellular communication circuitry 230 may include a single transmit chain that can switch between radios dedicated to specific RATs. For example, a first radio component may be dedicated to a first RAT (e.g., LTE) and may communicate with a dedicated receive chain and a transmit chain shared with a second radio component. A second radio component may be dedicated to a second RAT (e.g., 5G NR) and may communicate with a dedicated receive chain and a shared transmit chain. In some aspects, the second RAT is capable of operating at millimeter wave frequencies. Because the operating frequency of millimeter wave systems is higher than the typical frequency in LTE systems, signals in the millimeter wave frequency range are severely attenuated due to environmental factors. To help address this attenuation problem, millimeter wave systems typically utilize beamforming and include more antennas than LTE systems. These antennas can be organized into antenna arrays or panels consisting of individual antenna elements. These antenna arrays can be coupled to a radio link.

[0088] The communication device 106 may also include and / or be configured for use with one or more user interface elements.

[0089] The communication device 106 may also include one or more smart cards 245 that include subscriber identity module (SIM) functionality, such as one or more universal integrated circuit cards (UICC) 245 .

[0090] As shown, SOC 200 may include processor 202, which may execute program instructions for communication device 106, and display circuit 204, which may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to display 260. Processor 202 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 240, which may be configured to receive addresses from processor 202 and translate these addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 206, read-only memory (ROM) 250, NAND flash memory 210); and / or coupled to other circuits or devices, such as display circuit 204, wireless communication circuit 230, connector I / F 220, and / or display 260. MMU 240 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some aspects, MMU 240 may be included as part of processor 202.

[0091] As described above, the communication device 106 may be configured to communicate using wireless and / or wired communication circuits. As described herein, the communication device 106 may include hardware and software components for implementing any of the various features and techniques described herein. The processor 202 of the communication device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein (e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), the processor 202 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Alternatively (or in addition), in combination with one or more of the other components 200, 204, 206, 210, 220, 230, 240, 245, 250, 260, the processor 202 of the communication device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

[0092] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 202 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processor 202 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 202. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuits (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 202.

[0093] In addition, as described herein, wireless communication circuitry 230 may include one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in wireless communication circuitry 230. Thus, wireless communication circuitry 230 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of wireless communication circuitry 230. In addition, each integrated circuit may include a circuit (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of wireless communication circuitry 230.

[0094] Exemplary Base Station

[0095] Figure 3 An example block diagram of a base station 102 according to some aspects is illustrated. Note that Figure 3 Base stations are non-limiting examples of possible base stations. As shown, base station 102 may include processor 304, which may execute program instructions for base station 102. Processor 304 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receive addresses from processor 304 and convert these addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 360 and read-only memory (ROM) 350); or to other circuits or devices.

[0096] Base station 102 may include at least one network port 370. Network port 370 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide access to the telephone network described above. Figure 1 Multiple devices of the telephone network described in, such as UE device 106.

[0097] The network port 370 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to multiple devices, such as the UE devices 106. In some cases, the network port 370 may be coupled to a telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide the telephone network (e.g., in addition to other UE devices served by the cellular service provider).

[0098] In some aspects, base station 102 may be a next generation base station (e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station or "gNB"). In such aspects, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to an NR core (NRC) / 5G core (5GC) network. Furthermore, base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). Furthermore, a UE capable of operating in accordance with 5G NR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0099] The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 334, and may include multiple antennas. At least one antenna 334 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver, and may also be configured to communicate with the UE device 106 via the radio component 330. The antenna 334 communicates with the radio component 330 via a communication chain 332. The communication chain 332 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain, or both. The radio 330 may be configured to communicate via various wireless communication standards, including 5G NR, LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

[0100] The base station 102 may be configured to perform wireless communications using multiple wireless communication standards. In some cases, the base station 102 may include multiple radio components that enable the base station 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, as one possibility, the base station 102 may include an LTE radio component for performing communications according to LTE and a 5G NR radio component for performing communications according to 5G NR. In this case, the base station 102 may be able to operate as both an LTE base station and a 5GNR base station. When the base station 102 supports millimeter waves, the 5G NR radio component may be coupled to one or more millimeter wave antenna arrays or panels. As another possibility, the base station 102 may include a multimode radio component that can perform communications according to any one of a plurality of wireless communication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and LTE, 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

[0101] In addition, BS102 may include hardware and software components for implementing or supporting the specific implementation of the features described herein. The processor 304 of the base station 102 may be configured to implement or support a specific implementation of part or all of the methods described herein (e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium). Alternatively, the processor 304 may be configured as a programmable hardware element (such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA)), or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a combination thereof. Optionally (or additionally), the processor 304 of the BS102 together with one or more other components 330, 332, 334, 340, 350, 360, 370 may be configured to implement or support the implementation of some or all of the features described herein.

[0102] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 304 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processor 304 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 304. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuits (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 304.

[0103] Additionally, as described herein, radio 330 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, radio 330 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of radio 330. Additionally, each integrated circuit may include circuits (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of radio 330.

[0104] Exemplary Cellular Communications Circuitry

[0105] Figure 4 An example simplified block diagram of a cellular communication circuit according to some aspects is illustrated. Note that Figure 4 The block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry of is only one example of possible cellular communication circuitry; other circuitry, such as circuitry that includes or is coupled to enough antennas for different RATs to perform uplink activities using separate antennas, or circuitry that includes or is coupled to fewer antennas (e.g., that can be shared between multiple RATs) is also possible. According to some aspects, the cellular communication circuitry 230 may be included in a communication device such as the communication device 106 described above. As described above, the communication device 106 may be a UE device, a mobile device or station, a wireless device or station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet, and / or a combination of devices, among other devices.

[0106] The cellular communication circuitry 230 may be (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to one or more antennas, such as antennas 235a, 235b, and 236 as shown. In some aspects, the cellular communication circuitry 230 may include dedicated receive chains (including and / or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and / or radio components) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). For example, Figure 4 As shown, the cellular communication circuit 230 may include a first modem 410 and a second modem 420. The first modem 410 may be configured to communicate according to a first RAT (e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A), and the second modem 420 may be configured to communicate according to a second RAT (e.g., such as 5G NR).

[0107] As shown, the first modem 410 may include one or more processors 412 and a memory 416 in communication with the processor 412. The modem 410 may communicate with a radio frequency (RF) front end 430. The RF front end 430 may include circuits for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 430 may include a receiving circuit (RX) 432 and a transmitting circuit (TX) 434. In some aspects, the receiving circuit 432 may communicate with a downlink (DL) front end 450, which may include circuits for receiving radio signals via the antenna 235a.

[0108] Similarly, the second modem 420 may include one or more processors 422 and a memory 426 in communication with the processor 422. The modem 420 may communicate with the RF front end 440. The RF front end 440 may include circuits for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 440 may include a receiving circuit 442 and a transmitting circuit 444. In some aspects, the receiving circuit 442 may communicate with the DL front end 460, which may include circuits for receiving radio signals via the antenna 235b.

[0109] In some aspects, the switch 470 may couple the transmit circuit 434 to an uplink (UL) front end 472. In addition, the switch 470 may couple the transmit circuit 444 to the UL front end 472. The UL front end 472 may include circuitry for transmitting radio signals via the antenna 236. Thus, when the cellular communication circuit 230 receives an instruction to transmit in accordance with a first RAT (e.g., as supported via the first modem 410), the switch 470 may be switched to a first state that allows the first modem 410 to transmit signals in accordance with the first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuit 434 and the UL front end 472). Similarly, when the cellular communication circuit 230 receives an instruction to transmit in accordance with a second RAT (e.g., as supported via the second modem 420), the switch 470 may be switched to a second state that allows the second modem 420 to transmit signals in accordance with the second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuit 444 and the UL front end 472).

[0110] As described herein, the first modem 410 and / or the second modem 420 may include hardware and software components for implementing any of the various features and techniques described herein. For example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium), the processors 412, 422 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein. Alternatively (or in addition), the processors 412, 422 may be configured as programmable hardware elements, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or in addition), in combination with one or more of the other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 442, 444, 450, 470, 472, 235, and 236, the processors 412, 422 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

[0111] In addition, as described herein, processors 412 and 422 may include one or more processing elements. Therefore, processors 412 and 422 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processors 412 and 422. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuits (e.g., first circuits, second circuits, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processors 412 and 422.

[0112] In some aspects, the cellular communication circuit 230 may include only one transmit / receive chain. For example, the cellular communication circuit 230 may not include the modem 420, the RF front end 440, the DL front end 460, and / or the antenna 235b. As another example, the cellular communication circuit 230 may not include the modem 410, the RF front end 430, the DL front end 450, and / or the antenna 235a. In some aspects, the cellular communication circuit 230 may also not include the switch 470, and the RF front end 430 or the RF front end 440 may communicate with the UL front end 472, such as directly.

[0113] Example SL Communication Link Management

[0114] SL communication links may be used to help reduce interference and help support a large number of wireless devices in proximity to each other. The SL communication links effectively allow for the transmission and reception of SL transmissions. In some embodiments, a beam is a representation of a communication shared between two wireless devices. These SL transmissions may be directed by each wireless device. In some embodiments, a SL transmission with a predetermined direction may be referred to as a beam. When a beam is directed toward an area that is relatively small compared to a cell wide signal, the wireless node needs to know where the wireless device is located relative to the wireless node to allow the wireless node to direct the beam toward the wireless device.

[0115] Example of a time slot structure

[0116] The time slot structure of the radio frame in SL transmission may include multiple different types of resources. In some embodiments, resources are selected in a predetermined pattern including 10 PRBs / subchannels. The predetermined pattern may be a configuration for implementing SL transmission in 5G NR. The predetermined pattern may include resources selected for PSCCH, PSSCH, automatic gain control (AGC) symbols, GAP symbols, and PSFCH symbols including AGC training. In a time slot, the AGC symbol may be a copy of the next symbol. The AGC symbol may be used in a time slot to automatically control the increase in the amplitude of the radio frame.

[0117] In a time slot, the AGC symbol may be the first symbol in a time slot for AGC training, and the first sidelink symbol may be a copy of a second sidelink symbol. PSCCH may be a channel configured for sidelink control information. PSCCH may include SL control information (SCI) level 1, which has information related to resource selection in the first level SCI A type as defined in TS 38.214 of the 3GPP standard. PSCCH may start from the second symbol in the time slot and may last for 2 or 3 symbols in the time domain. PSCCH may be pre-configured or dynamically assigned. PSCCH may occupy several consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain. PSCCH may be configured with candidate numbers including 10, 12, 15, 20 or 25 PRBs. The lowest PRB of PSCCH is the same as the lowest PRB of the corresponding PSSCH. PSSCH may be configured for sidelink data. The PSSCH may be configured to include second level SCI information regarding data transmission and feedback in SCI 2-A (e.g., unicast, multicast, broadcast) and SCI 2-B (e.g., multicast) as defined in TS 38.214 of the 3GPP standard. A GAP symbol may be a symbol for a GAP (i.e., Tx / Rx switch) immediately following a PSSCH transmission. A PSFCH symbol may be configured for sidelink HARQ feedback. A timeslot may include a PSBCH that may be configured for sidelink broadcast information and an S-SSB for synchronization.

[0118] In some embodiments, a time slot is included in a SL BWP. A time slot may be part of a SL resource pool that includes a set of time-frequency resources for SL transmission and / or reception. A time slot may be used in SL transmissions involving unicast, multicast, and broadcast for a given UE device.

[0119] In 5G NR, the PSCCH and PSBCH may include DMRS reused for resource mapping and sequencing. The sidelink CSI-RS may be refined in the PSSCH. The sidelink CSI-RS configuration may be given from the UE device sending the sidelink CSI-RS via the PC5 interface. The sidelink PTRS may be refined in the PSSCH. In addition, in 5G NR, the UE device may be configured with one or more reference signal information elements, such as those described in TS 38.211, TS 38.214, and TS 38.331 of the 3GPP standard.

[0120] In one or more embodiments, the terminal may receive configuration parameters from a core network (e.g., a gNB), or may receive pre-configured parameters. The parameters may be definitions of one or more communication processes. The parameters may include configuration information for implementing a SL communication process that includes resources selected from a portion of an unlicensed spectrum. The terminal may be configured to determine a resource selection mode for the SL communication process based on the parameters. The terminal may identify a SL resource pool in the parameters. The parameters may be information for selecting resources to one or more PRBs, or information for indexing resources to one or more PRBs of a predetermined channel / subchannel. The resource pool may be a reference Figure 5 , Figure 6 and FIG. 8A to FIG. 10 The resource pools may include PRBs that may be used to select and / or index in one or more portions of the unlicensed spectrum according to a resource selection mode.

[0121] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an SL resource pool 500 according to one or more embodiments. Figure 5 In this example, the SL resource pool 500 includes at least two adjacent RB sets 510 and 530 separated by a guard band 520. The guard band 520 can be an intra-cell guard band configured with PRBs in a portion of an unlicensed spectrum. As described above, the unlicensed spectrum can be a frequency in at least one separate unlicensed band in a bandwidth ranging between 4.1 gigahertz (GHz) and 7.125 GHz.

[0122] exist Figure 5 In the example of , the SL resource pool 500 includes PRBs extending horizontally in the time domain (in seconds (s)) and vertically in the frequency range (in Hertz (Hz)). In the vertical direction, the adjacent RB sets 510 and 530 are separated only by the guard band 520. The adjacent RB sets 510 and 530 can be indexed one by one. For example, the first RB set 510 can be an RB set identified by a value "i", and the second RB set 530 can be an RB set identified by a value "i+1".

[0123] like Figure 5 As shown, two adjacent and subsequent RB sets 510 and 530 are separated by a guard band 520. In this case, the PRBs within the guard band 520 can be defined as belonging to the SL resource pool 500 because the resource pool 500 includes two adjacent RB sets and an intra-cell guard band. In some embodiments, the resources selected in the guard band 520 can belong to the RB set 510 or the RB set 530.

[0124] As described above, the resource selection mode may include instructions for selecting resources in the SL source pool 500. Figure 5 In the example, the resource selection mode allows the terminal to perform a resource selection process that includes selecting resources from two sets of adjacent SL resources (e.g., RB sets 510 and 530) and multiple resources in a bandwidth including a portion of the unlicensed spectrum (e.g., guard band 520).

[0125] In some embodiments, the PRBs in the guard band 520 belong to one of the two adjacent RB sets 510 and 530. In this case, the resources selected for the guard band 520 may be of the same type as the resources selected for the RB set 510 or the RB set 530. For example, the guard band 520 and at least one of the two adjacent RB sets 510 and 530 may include resources selected for the same communication channel, so that the subset of resources selected for the guard band 520 may be associated with the resources selected for the RB set 510 or the RB set 530. In this case, the resources selected for the portion of the unlicensed spectrum in the guard band 520 may belong to a lower-indexed RB set between the RB set 510 and the RB set 530, or to a higher-indexed RB set between the RB set 510 and the RB set 530.

[0126] In some embodiments, the PRBs in the guard band 520 belong to both the neighboring RB sets 510 and 530. In this case, the resources selected for the guard band 520 may be of the same type as the resources selected for the RB set 510 and the RB set 530. For example, the guard band 520 and the RB set 510 may include resources selected for the same communication channel, so that the first resource subset selected for the guard band 520 may be associated with the resources selected for the RB set 510. In addition, the guard band 520 and the RB set 530 may include resources selected for the same communication channel, so that the second resource subset selected for the guard band 520 may be associated with the resources selected for the RB set 530. The guard band 520 may include a first subset, a second subset, and one or more additional subsets. In this case, a portion of the PRBs may belong to a specific RB set. According to the resource selection mode, the guard band 520 may be associated with one of the RB sets 510 and 530 via a corresponding index. For example, the resource selection mode may indicate that the PRBs in the guard band 520 are associated with a RB set with a low or high index.

[0127] In some embodiments, the PRBs in the guard band 520 do not belong to either of the two adjacent RB sets 510 and 530. In this case, the resources selected for the guard band 520 may not be of the same type as the resources selected for the RB set 510 or the RB set 530. For example, the guard band 520 and the two adjacent RB sets 510 and 530 may include resources selected for different communication channels, such that the resources selected for the guard band 520 are not associated with the resources selected for the RB set 510 or the RB set 530.

[0128] Depending on the resource selection mode, the PRBs in the guard band 520 may be reserved for other purposes. For example, these PRBs may be reserved for SL positioning, additional PSFCH transmissions, etc. In some embodiments, the resource pool 500 may be configured according to the resource selection mode. If the resource pool 500 includes only two adjacent RB sets, the PRBs in the guard band 520 may not be considered to belong to the resource pool 500. In this case, the SL transmission may include a bitmap configured to associate the resources selected for the guard band 520 with a specific SL resource pool. In the bitmap, each bit may indicate a PRB selection. In addition, the SL transmission may include a bit configured to indicate whether the resources selected for the guard band are associated with a specific SL resource pool. The specific SL resource pool may be a resource pool adjacent to the SL resource pool 500.

[0129] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating examples of two different indexing schemes applied to the same resource pool 600 according to one or more embodiments. Figure 6 In the example of , the SL resource pool 600 includes at least two adjacent RB sets 610 and 620. Different subchannels are shown to be indexed at different rates in the first RB set 610 and the second RB set 620. According to the indexing operation, the subchannel can be configured with a specific channel signal (e.g., a PSCCH or a PSSCH). The indexed subchannel may include PRBs selected for a portion of an unlicensed spectrum. The PRBs are shown as separate rectangles in the RB sets 610 and 620. As described above, the unlicensed spectrum can be a frequency in at least one separate unlicensed band in a bandwidth ranging between 4.1 gigahertz (GHz) and 7.125 GHz.

[0130] exist Figure 6, the index resources are shown with numbers located on the left side size (e.g., from top to bottom: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9) and the right side size (e.g., from top to bottom: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 ... 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9) of the first RB set 610 and the second RB set 620. The indexing scheme of the left side size may include sequentially indexing multiple interlaces on a set of adjacent resources. In this example, from top to bottom, the PRBs are indexed in sequence and incremented by one unit. The indexing scheme on the right side may include interleaving the indexes of multiple interlaces on a set of adjacent resources. In this example, from top to bottom, the PRBs are indexed by alternating between the RB set 610 and the RB set 620 and incremented by one unit.

[0131] exist Figure 6 In the example of , the SL resource pool 600 includes PRBs extending horizontally in the time domain (in seconds (s)) and vertically in the frequency range (in Hertz (Hz)). In the vertical direction, adjacent RB sets 610 and 620 may be indexed one after another. For example, the first RB set 610 may be an RB set identified by a value "i", and the second RB set 620 may be an RB set identified by a value "i+1".

[0132] As described above, the resource selection mode may include instructions for selecting resources in the SL source pool 600. Figure 6 In an example of , a resource selection mode may allow a terminal to perform a resource indexing process, wherein resources are indexed into a set of SL resources in a subchannel (e.g., one of RB sets 610 and 620) that includes multiple resources in a bandwidth that includes a portion of an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., an indexed interlace on either side of resource pool 600). The resource selection mode may include a subchannel index indicated in an SCI (e.g., level 1) as a predetermined decode. The subchannels of each RB set may include at least one interlace.

[0133] In some embodiments, the resource selection mode indicates interleaving first and then the index of the corresponding RB set. Figure 6 As shown on the left side of , the interleaving is prioritized by the index in the resource selection pattern. Assuming the interleaving index is value A, the sub-channel index of the rest of one of the RB sets 610 and 620 can be defined as Sub-Channel Index = A + (B·C). In this equation, B is the RB set index, and C is the total number of RB sets in the SL resource pool 600.

[0134] In some embodiments, the resource selection mode indicates the index of the corresponding RB set first and then the interleaving. Figure 6As shown on the right side of , RB set resources are prioritized by index in resource selection mode. Assuming the interleaving index is value A, the sub-channel index of the rest of one of RB sets 610 and 620 can be defined as Sub-Channel Index = (A·D) + B. In this equation, B is the RB set index, and D is the total number of interleavings in a given RB set in SL resource pool 600.

[0135] In some embodiments, the resource selection mode indicates independent indexes corresponding to RB sets and interleavings. In this case, the SCI may include two fields. The first field may include an RB set index A, and the second field may include an interleaving index B within the RB set. The resource selection mode may provide a resource pool configuration to select between resource indexing processes. In addition, the resource pool configuration may be used in two or more interleaved subchannels within a single RB set. In this example, assuming that the same number of subchannels are used for initial transmission and retransmission, the level 1 SCI may indicate the starting subchannel index and the total number of subchannels used for PSSCH transmission.

[0136] Go to Fig. 7A , a flow chart is shown, which details a method for selecting resources in a SL radio frame for a SL communication process according to one or more embodiments. In this example, the method is performed by a terminal that exchanges information via a SL communication link established with a base station and / or one or more neighboring terminals.

[0137] At 710, the flow chart begins with a terminal being configured to obtain parameters of a SL communication process, the SL communication process including resources selected from a portion of an unlicensed spectrum. The terminal may be a UE device configured to perform SL transmissions. The parameters may include information for implementing transmission of one or more SL processes.

[0138] At 720, the flowchart continues, the terminal is configured to determine a resource selection mode for SL transmission based on the parameters. The resource selection mode may provide a plurality of mapping instructions to the terminal to select resources for RBs in the unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, the terminal may identify in the parameters a SL resource pool comprising two sets of adjacent SL resources and a guard band. The two sets of adjacent SL resources are separated by the guard band. The guard band may include a bandwidth that includes a portion of the unlicensed spectrum.

[0139] The flowchart ends at 730, where the terminal is configured to perform a resource selection process that includes selecting resources from a portion of the unlicensed spectrum according to the resource selection pattern. In some embodiments, the subset of resources selected for the guard band may be associated with resources selected for one set of SL resources in the two sets of adjacent SL resources.

[0140] Go to Figure 7B, a flow chart is shown, which details a method for determining an index operation in a SL communication process according to one or more embodiments. In this example, the method is performed by a terminal, which exchanges information via a SL communication link established with a base station and / or one or more neighboring terminals. In some cases, the resources selected for the protection band include a first SL resource subset and a second SL resource subset. The first SL resource subset may be associated with resources selected for a first group of SL resources in two groups of adjacent SL resources. The second SL resource subset is associated with resources selected for a second group of SL resources in two groups of adjacent SL resources.

[0141] At 750, the flowchart begins with a terminal being configured to obtain parameters for a SL communication process that includes resources selected from a portion of an unlicensed spectrum. The terminal may be a UE device configured to perform SL transmissions. The parameters may include information for implementing transmission of one or more SL processes. In some embodiments, the resources selected for the guard band may not be associated with the resources selected for either of the two adjacent sets of SL resources.

[0142] The flow chart continues with the terminal being configured to determine an indexing operation for SL transmission based on the parameter at 760. The indexing operation may provide a plurality of mapping instructions to the terminal to map resources to RBs in the unlicensed spectrum.

[0143] The flowchart ends at 770, where the terminal is configured to perform an indexing operation according to the indexing scheme, the indexing operation including resources selected from the portion of the unlicensed spectrum as references. Figure 6 The described approach performs indexing operations based on an indexing scheme. The indexing scheme may include instructions for mapping index resources in the entire resource pool.

[0144] Fig. 8A and Figure 8B Examples of two frame configurations according to one or more embodiments are illustrated. Fig. 8A and Figure 8B In the example of , RB sets 800A and 800B include RBs extending horizontally in the time domain (in seconds (s), time slots) and vertically in the frequency range (in Hertz (Hz)). In RB sets 800A and 800B, the PSCCH can be mapped to the first two or three symbols (after the AGC symbol) in a single subchannel. Fig. 8A and Figure 8BIn the embodiment, a frame may be configured for the PSCCH according to pre-configured (e.g., configured from factory settings) or dynamically configured (e.g., configured from the core network via a BS device or a UE device) parameters. In the case where the SL resource pool is pre-configured, the PSCCH may occupy one or more consecutive interlaces within one or more RB sets and / or a portion of an interlace within a single RB set. In some embodiments, when a single subchannel occupies one or more consecutive interlaces, the PSCCH may be mapped to occupy one or more consecutive interlaces within an RB set.

[0145] Fig. 8A Three separate interlace sets 810A-830A in RB set 800A are shown. Each interlace in each interlace set includes an AGC symbol, which may be a copy of the next symbol. The AGC symbol may be used in a time slot to automatically control the increase in amplitude of each radio frame. Fig. 8A In the example of , frequency resources are first mapped in a single subchannel before time resources. Each interleaving set includes indexed resources of interleavings 1 and 2. In interleaving set 810A, interleaving 1 includes resources indexed by numbers 1, 11, and 21, and interleaving 2 includes resources indexed by numbers 2, 12, and 22. In interleaving set 820A, interleaving 1 includes resources indexed by numbers 3, 13, and 23, and interleaving 2 includes resources indexed by numbers 4, 14, and 24. In interleaving set 830A, interleaving 1 includes resources indexed by numbers 9, 19, and 29, and interleaving 2 includes resources indexed by numbers 10, 20, and 30. When the frequency value increases at a given time, the interleaving sets 810A-830A in RB set 800A increase the index by one unit, combining two interleavings.

[0146] In some embodiments, if the PSCCH is mapped as part of an interlace occupying within a single set of RBs and the subchannel includes one interlace, the PSCCH may be mapped to the lowest RB in the interlace of the subchannel. If the PSCCH is mapped as part of an interlace occupying within a single set of RBs and the subchannel includes multiple interlaces, the PSCCH may be mapped to the lowest RB in a given interlace of the subchannel. In this case, the mapping information may indicate mapping of the PSCCH in the lowest resource in at least one interlace after the additional frequency resources in the subchannel. Alternatively, the mapping information may indicate mapping of the PSCCH in the lowest resource in at least one interlace before the additional frequency resources in the subchannel.

[0147] Figure 8B Three separate interleaving sets 810B-830B in RB set 800B are shown. Each interleaving in each interleaving set includes an AGC symbol that may be a copy of the next symbol. Figure 8BIn the example of , individual interlaces are first mapped in a single subchannel before time resources. Each interlace set includes indexed resources of interlaces 1 and 2. In interlace set 810B, interlace 1 includes resources indexed by numbers 1, 11, and 21, and interlace 2 includes resources indexed by numbers 6, 16, and 26. In interlace set 820B, interlace 1 includes resources indexed by numbers 2, 12, and 22, and interlace 2 includes resources indexed by numbers 7, 17, and 27. In interlace set 830B, interlace 1 includes resources indexed by numbers 5, 15, and 25, and interlace 2 includes resources indexed by numbers 10, 20, and 30. When the frequency value increases at a given time, interlace sets 810B-830B in RB set 800B increase the index by one unit for each individual interlace.

[0148] Fig. 9A and Fig. 9B Examples of two frame configurations according to one or more embodiments are illustrated. Fig. 9A and Fig. 9B In the example of , RB sets 900A and 900B include RBs that extend horizontally in the time domain (in seconds (s)) and vertically in the frequency range (in Hertz (Hz)). In RB sets 900A and 900B, PSCCH may be mapped to the first two or three symbols (after the AGC symbol), while PSSCH is mapped to one or more remaining symbols in a single subchannel. The first subchannel may be used to at least partially map PSCCH (e.g., subchannel 1 (PSCCH / PSSCH)), while subsequent subchannels may be used to map PSSCH (e.g., subchannel 2 (PSSCH) and subchannel 3 (PSSCH)). Fig. 9A and Fig. 9B In SL transmission, frames can be configured for PSSCH according to pre-configured (e.g., configured from factory settings) or dynamically configured (e.g., configured from the core network via a BS device or a UE device) parameters. In SL transmission, continuous interleaving can be mapped on a single RB set or two adjacent (e.g., adjacent) RB sets.

[0149] Fig. 9A Three separate interleaving sets 910A-930A in RB set 900A are shown. Each interleaving in each interleaving set includes AGC symbols. Fig. 9AIn the example of , frequency resources are first mapped on the subchannels before time resources. Each interleaving set includes indexed resources of subchannels 1-3. In interleaving set 910A, subchannel 1 includes resources indexed by number 31, subchannel 2 includes resources indexed by numbers 1, 11, 21 and 32, and subchannel 3 includes resources indexed by numbers 2, 12, 22 and 33. In interleaving set 920A, subchannel 1 includes resources indexed by number 34, subchannel 2 includes resources indexed by numbers 3, 13, 23 and 35, and subchannel 3 includes resources indexed by numbers 4, 14, 24 and 36. In interleaving set 930A, subchannel 1 includes resources indexed by number 43, subchannel 2 includes resources indexed by numbers 9, 19, 29 and 44, and subchannel 3 includes resources indexed by numbers 10, 20, 30 and 45. When the frequency value increases at a given time, the interlace sets 910A-930A in the RB set 900A increase the index by one unit, combining all interlaces.

[0150] Fig. 9B Three separate interleaving sets 910B-930B in RB set 900B are shown. Each interleaving in each interleaving set includes AGC symbols. Fig. 9B In the example of , before the time resources, the individual interlaces are first mapped in a single subchannel and then in the next subchannel. Each interlace set includes indexed resources of subchannels 1-3. In interlace set 910B, subchannel 1 includes resources indexed by number 31, subchannel 2 includes resources indexed by numbers 1, 11, 21 and 36, and subchannel 3 includes resources indexed by numbers 6, 16, 26 and 41. In interlace set 920B, subchannel 1 includes resources indexed by number 32, subchannel 2 includes resources indexed by numbers 2, 12, 22 and 37, and subchannel 3 includes resources indexed by numbers 7, 17, 27 and 42. In interlace set 930B, subchannel 1 includes resources indexed by number 35, subchannel 2 includes resources indexed by numbers 5, 15, 25 and 40, and subchannel 3 includes resources indexed by numbers 10, 20, 30 and 45. As the frequency value increases at a given time, interlace sets 910B-930B in RB set 900B increase the index by one unit for each individual interlace.

[0151] Fig.10An example of an SL transmission 1000 according to one or more embodiments is illustrated. The SL transmission 1000 includes a plurality of start symbols within the start time of a single time slot. The SL transmission 1000 includes PRBs extending horizontally in the time domain (in seconds (s)) and vertically in the frequency range (in Hertz (Hz)). The SL transmission 1000 includes a time slot 1010 having a first start symbol 1020 and a second start symbol 1030. In the figure, the first start symbol 1020 and the second start symbol 1030 start within the duration of the time slot 1010.

[0152] In one or more embodiments, if the time slot 1010 includes more than one start symbol for PSCCH / PSSCH, the PSCCH is expected to have two symbols. If the PSCCH occupies 3 symbols in the mapping index, only one symbol is expected to be located in the time slot 1010 of the PSCCH / PSSCH. In some embodiments, the gap between two potential start symbols in a time slot may be greater than or equal to the number of symbols X. For a given SL transmission, the number of symbols X may be preconfigured or dynamically configured. In other embodiments, if the time slot includes more than one start symbol for PSCCH / PSSCH, the total number of symbols in the time slot of the SL transmission may be greater than or equal to the number of symbols Y. If the SL time slot includes less than Y symbols, only one start symbol may be configured for PSCCH / PSSCH in the time slot.

[0153] In some embodiments, if more than one start symbol is configured in a slot for PSCCH / PSSCH, the 0th and 7th symbols may be considered as the start symbols in the slot. If more than one start symbol is configured for PSCCH / PSSCH in a slot, continuous transmission across slots may be applied when the start symbol is not at the beginning of the slot. In this case, SL transmission 1000 may be configured to keep the total number of PSCCH decodings unchanged.

[0154] The terminal may perform multiple SL operations to decode a SL transmission 1000, which includes multiple starting symbols having resources selected in an unlicensed spectrum. For example, the terminal may attempt to decode the PSCCH at the beginning of the first time slot. If the terminal decodes a PCCH at the beginning of the first time slot (i.e., at the 0th symbol in the first time slot), the terminal may continue to decode the PSCCH at the beginning of the next time slot (e.g., the second time slot). Otherwise, the terminal may attempt to decode the PSCCH in the middle of the time slot (i.e., at the 7th symbol of the first time slot). If the terminal decodes a PSCCH in the middle of the time slot, the terminal may continue to decode the PSCCH at the beginning of the third time slot. Otherwise, the terminal may decode the PSCCH at the beginning of the next time slot (e.g., the second time slot).

[0155] A terminal that receives multiple symbols in a SL transmission can skip decoding of the PSCCH at the start of the second time slot. In some embodiments, the SCI decoded in the middle of the first time slot can indicate to the terminal the reservation of frequency resources on the first and second time slots. In this case, the time gap between the two reserved resources can be based on the second time slot in the cross-slot continuous transmission. The SL transport block size (TBS) calculation can be based on the resources on the two time slots. Under these conditions, the retransmission process may only occur at the start of the time slot. In some embodiments, the PSSCH DMRS time domain position can be extended to accommodate the terminal sending / receiving SL transmissions with multiple start symbols. These decoding positions are extendable, as shown in TS 38.211 of the 3GPP standard, where Table 8.4.1.1.2-1 shows that the symbol can be extended beyond the 13th symbol.

[0156] Go to Fig.11A , a flow chart is shown, which details a method for indexing resources in a SL radio frame for a SL communication process according to one or more embodiments. In this example, the method is performed by a terminal that exchanges information via a SL communication link established with a base station and / or one or more neighboring terminals.

[0157] The flow chart begins with the terminal being configured to obtain parameters of a SL communication process that includes resources selected from a portion of an unlicensed spectrum, at 1110. As described above, the resource pool may include resources selected for the unlicensed spectrum.

[0158] At 1120, the flow chart continues with the terminal determining resource index information based on the parameter. FIG. 8A to FIG. 10 The channel configuration information may provide a plurality of selection instructions to the terminal to map the frequency resources to the sub-channels in the unlicensed spectrum.

[0159] In some embodiments, the resource index information includes an index of resources associated with a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). In other embodiments, the resource index information includes an index of resources associated with a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH). In these cases, the resource index information includes an index of resources on an interlaced interlace on the same symbol, such that the index increases as the frequency range on multiple interlaces increases. In addition, the resource index information may include an index of resources on a first interlace, followed by an index of resources on a second interlace on the same symbol, such that the index increases on the same interlace in the frequency range before switching to another interlace on the same frequency range. In other embodiments, the resource index information includes an index of the lowest available number of resources when the number of indexed resources is less than the number of resources available in a given symbol.

[0160] The flowchart ends at 1130, where the terminal is configured to perform a SL communication process including resources selected from a portion of the unlicensed spectrum based on the resource index information.

[0161] Go to Fig. 11B , a flow chart is shown, which details a method for decoding a portion of a SL radio frame for a SL communication process according to one or more embodiments. In this example, the method is performed by a terminal that exchanges information via a SL communication link established with a base station and / or one or more neighboring terminals.

[0162] At 1150, the flow chart begins with the terminal being configured to obtain parameters of a SL communication process that includes resources selected from a portion of an unlicensed spectrum.

[0163] At 1160, the flow chart continues with the terminal determining, based on the parameter, a decoding operation for a time slot including resources selected from a bandwidth including a portion of an unlicensed spectrum. The time slot may include a plurality of start symbols within the time slot. The time slot may be a first time slot of a plurality of time slots including a plurality of start symbols.

[0164] The flow chart ends at 1170, where the terminal decodes the time slot according to the decoding operation. In some embodiments, the terminal attempts to decode the resources selected for the physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) at the beginning of the time slot. In some embodiments, when a certain PSCCH is decoded at the beginning of the first time slot, the terminal may continue to decode the PSCCH at the beginning of the second time slot. In other embodiments, when the PSCCH is not decoded at the beginning of the first time slot, the terminal may decode the PSCCH in the middle of the first time slot. In addition, the terminal may be configured to continue decoding the PSCCH at the beginning of the third time slot when a certain PSCCH is decoded in the middle of the first time slot. When the PSCCH is not decoded in the middle of the first time slot, the terminal may decode the PSCCH at the beginning of the second time slot.

[0165] The use of the conjunction term "and / or" is intended to represent all possible alternative forms of the conjunction "and" and the conjunction "or." For example, the sentence "the configuration of A and / or B" includes the meaning of the sentence "the configuration of A and B" and "the configuration of A or B."

[0166] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0167] Aspects of the present disclosure can be implemented in any of a variety of forms. For example, some aspects can be implemented as computer-implemented methods, computer-readable storage media, or computer systems. Other aspects can be implemented using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Other aspects can be implemented using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0168] In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be configured such that it stores program instructions and / or data, where the program instructions, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method (e.g., any of the method aspects described herein, or any combination of the method aspects described herein, or any subset of any of the method aspects described herein, or any combination of such subsets).

[0169] In some aspects, a device (e.g., UE 106, BS 102, network element 600) may be configured to include a processor (or a group of processors) and a memory medium, wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method aspects described herein (or any combination of the method aspects described herein, or any subset of any method aspect of the method aspects described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of a variety of forms.

[0170] Although the above aspects have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to include all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A terminal, comprising: a receiver configured to receive one or more SL transmissions; as well as A processor, the processor being configured to: obtaining parameters of a sidelink (SL) communication process comprising resources selected from a portion of an unlicensed spectrum, determining resource index information based on the parameter, the resource index information comprising an index of a resource associated with a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and The SL communication process is performed, and the SL communication process includes resources selected from the portion of the unlicensed spectrum according to the resource index information.

2. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein: The resource index information includes indexes of resources on the interleaving on the same symbol.

3. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein: The resource index information includes an index of a resource on a first interlace followed by an index of a resource on a second interlace on the same symbol.

4. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein: The resource index information includes an index of a lowest available number of resources when the number of indexed resources is less than the number of resources available in a given symbol.

5. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein: The resource index information includes an index of a resource associated with the PSCCH.

6. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein: The resource index information includes an index of a resource associated with the PSSCH.

7. The terminal according to claim 6, wherein: The subchannel index information includes an index of a resource on an interlace on the same symbol.

8. The terminal according to claim 6, wherein: The subchannel index information includes an index of a resource on a first interlace followed by an index of a resource on a second interlace on the same symbol.

9. A terminal, comprising: a receiver configured to receive one or more SL transmissions; as well as A processor, the processor being configured to: obtaining parameters of a sidelink (SL) communication process comprising resources selected from a portion of an unlicensed spectrum, determining a decoding operation for a time slot including resources selected from the portion of the unlicensed spectrum based on the parameter, and The time slot is decoded according to the decoding operation.

10. The terminal according to claim 9, wherein during the decoding operation, the processor is further configured to: Resources allocated for a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) are decoded at the start of the time slot.

11. The terminal according to claim 10, wherein during the decoding operation, the processor is further configured to: When a certain PSCCH is decoded at the starting point of the first time slot, the PSCCH is continued to be decoded at the starting point of the second time slot, or When the PSCCH is not decoded at the start point of the first time slot, the PSCCH is decoded in the middle of the first time slot.

12. The terminal according to claim 11, wherein during the decoding operation, the processor is further configured to: When a certain PSCCH is decoded at the middle of the first time slot, continue decoding the PSCCH at the start point of a third time slot, or When the PSCCH is not decoded at the middle of the first slot, the PSCCH is decoded at the start point of a second slot.

13. A method comprising any action or combination of actions substantially as described herein in the detailed description.

14. A method substantially as described herein with reference to each or any combination of the drawings included herein or with reference to each or any combination of the paragraphs in the detailed description.

15. A wireless device configured to perform any action or combination of actions as substantially described herein in the detailed description as included in the wireless device.

16. A wireless station configured to perform any action or combination of actions as substantially described herein in the detailed description as included in the wireless station.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause performance of any action or combination of actions as substantially described herein in the detailed description.

18. An integrated circuit configured to perform any action or combination of actions as substantially described herein in the detailed description.

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