Method and user equipment for sidelink communication using carrier aggregation

Abstract

The one or more processors are configured to execute instructions to cause a first user equipment (UE) to perform operations in a network supporting multicarrier carrier aggregation. These operations include configuring a plurality of candidate carriers for communication with a second UE; determining that the second UE has a capability to perform sidelink communication with the first UE; selecting one or more sidelink carriers from the plurality of candidate carriers; and communicating with the second UE using the one or more sidelink carriers.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 399,309, filed on August 19, 2022, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein. Background Art

[0003] Wireless communication networks provide integrated communication platforms and telecommunication services to wireless user devices. Example telecommunication services include telephone, data (e.g., voice, audio and / or video data), messaging and / or other services. Wireless communication networks have wireless access nodes that exchange wireless signals with wireless user devices using wireless network protocols (such as protocols described in various telecommunication standards promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)). Example wireless communication networks include time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) networks, long term evolution (LTE) and fifth generation new radio (5G NR). Wireless communication networks use technologies such as OFDM, multiple input multiple output (MIMO), advanced channel coding, massive MIMO, beamforming and / or other features to facilitate mobile broadband services.

[0004] Carrier aggregation (CA) is a technique widely used in LTE communications to increase data rates. With CA, multiple component carriers (CCs) are aggregated for communication between the network and user equipment (UE). Recently, there have been studies on using CA in sidelink communications directly between multiple UEs in NR networks. Sidelink communication is a communication technology that enables UEs that are in close proximity to communicate directly without routing traffic through the network. For the purposes of this disclosure, a UE that is initiating a sidelink communication with another UE is referred to as a transmitting (TX) UE, and a UE that is receiving a sidelink communication is referred to as an RX UE. Summary of the invention

[0005] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, one or more processors are configured to execute instructions for a first user equipment (UE) to perform operations in a network supporting multi-carrier carrier aggregation. The operations include configuring multiple candidate carriers for communication with a second UE. The operations also include determining the ability of the second UE to perform sidelink communication with the first UE. The operations include selecting one or more sidelink carriers from the multiple candidate carriers. The operations also include communicating with the second UE using one or more sidelink carriers.

[0006] In some implementations, the sidelink communication may include broadcast communication or multicast communication. Selecting one or more sidelink carriers may include: determining a TX profile from a list of TX profiles; determining, based on the TX profile, that the second UE does not support multi-carrier CA for sidelink communication; and selecting, based on the TX profile, a single carrier from a plurality of candidate carriers as the one or more sidelink carriers. The TX profiles in the list may correspond to different layer 2 (L2) addresses or different services.

[0007] In some implementations, the operations may also include receiving configuration information of an anchor channel from the network; and transmitting the one or more sidelink carriers to the second UE via a message in the anchor channel. Selecting the one or more sidelink carriers may also include receiving an indication of one or more RX carriers supported by the second UE from the second UE; and determining that the one or more RX carriers are supported by both the first UE and the second UE.

[0008] In some specific implementations, the sidelink communication may include unicast communication. Selecting one or more sidelink carriers may also include: sending a CA capability query message to the second UE; receiving a CA capability response message from the second UE; determining whether the second UE has or does not have the ability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication based on the CA capability response message; determining multiple sidelink carriers supported by both the first UE and the second UE based on the CA capability response message and the capabilities of the first UE (or determining a single carrier if the second UE does not have the ability to perform multi-carrier CA); and transmitting multiple sidelink carriers (or a single carrier) to the second UE via a message. Additionally or alternatively, selecting one or more sidelink carriers may also include: sending a TX CA capability message to the second UE; receiving an RX CA capability message from the second UE, wherein the RX CA capability message indicates that the second UE has the ability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication and indicates multiple sidelink carriers supported by the second UE; and sending a message to the second UE confirming that the first UE supports one or more of the multiple sidelink carriers to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication, wherein the message may include a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message sent in a PC5 interface.

[0009] In some implementations, communicating with the second UE using one or more sidelink carriers may include: pre-configuring the first UE; and configuring the one or more sidelink carriers based on a system information block (SIB) or a dedicated RRC signal received from the network.

[0010] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a UE as a first UE performs sidelink communication with a second UE in a network. The first UE includes a processor; and a transmitter. The processor supports multiple candidate carriers for multi-carrier CA; the processor determines the ability of the second UE to perform sidelink communication with the first UE; the processor selects one or more sidelink carriers from the multiple candidate carriers; and the transmitter communicates with the second UE using the one or more sidelink carriers.

[0011] In some specific implementations, the sidelink communication may include broadcast communication or multicast communication. When selecting one or more sidelink carriers, the processor determines a TX profile from a TX profile list. The processor determines, based on the TX profile, that the second UE does not support multi-carrier CA for sidelink communication. The processor selects a single carrier from a plurality of candidate carriers as the one or more sidelink carriers based on the TX profile.

[0012] In some implementations, the UE may further include a receiver. The receiver receives configuration information of an anchor channel from a network. The transmitter transmits one or more sidelink carriers to a second UE via a message in the anchor channel. When selecting the one or more sidelink carriers, the receiver receives an indication of one or more RX carriers supported by the second UE from the second UE; and the processor determines that the one or more RX carriers are supported by both the first UE and the second UE.

[0013] In some specific implementations, the sidelink communication may include unicast communication. The UE may also include a receiver. When selecting one or more sidelink carriers, the transmitter sends a CA capability query message to the second UE. The receiver receives a CA capability response message from the second UE; the processor determines that the second UE has the ability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication based on the CA capability response message. The processor determines a plurality of sidelink carriers supported by both the first UE and the second UE based on the CA capability response message and the capability of the first UE. The transmitter transmits the plurality of sidelink carriers to the second UE via a message.

[0014] The details of one or more embodiments of these systems and methods are set forth in the following drawings and description. Other features, objects, and advantages of these systems and methods will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 An example communication system according to some implementations is illustrated.

[0016] Figure 2 Example steps for selecting a sidelink carrier according to some implementations are illustrated.

[0017] Figure 3Example steps for selecting a sidelink carrier according to some implementations are illustrated.

[0018] Figure 4A Example steps for selecting a sidelink carrier according to some implementations are illustrated.

[0019] Figure 4B Example steps for selecting a sidelink carrier according to some implementations are illustrated.

[0020] Figure 5 Flowcharts illustrating example methods according to some implementations are shown.

[0021] Figure 6 A UE according to some implementations is illustrated.

[0022] Figure 7 An access node according to some implementations is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The latest versions of 3GPP, such as Release 18 (Rel-18), consider the use of CA for NR sidelink communications. When the RX UE has limited capability to receive sidelink communications utilizing CA from the TX UE, the RX UE may not be able to communicate correctly with the TX UE. Examples of RX UEs with limited capabilities include: legacy (e.g., Rel-17 or earlier) UEs that only support a single carrier, and current (e.g., Rel-18) UEs that only support a subset of aggregated carriers supported by the TX UE. In such a scenario, the TX UE and the RX UE need to adjust their respective carrier selections so that (i) the sidelink communication is performed correctly, and (ii) backward compatibility is ensured when the legacy RX UE communicates with the non-legacy TX UE.

[0024] The present disclosure solves the technical problems in some or all of the above scenarios. Specifically, the present disclosure describes one or more methods for keeping the TX UE informed of the sidelink capabilities of the RX UE so that the TX UE can correctly select a carrier for sidelink communication. Some specific implementations are applied to broadcast and / or multicast sidelink communications, where the TX UE sends information to multiple RX UEs simultaneously without specifying separate destination addresses. Additionally or alternatively, some specific implementations are applied to unicast communications, where the TX UE sends information to one RX UE with a known destination address.

[0025] Figure 1 An example communication system 100 including sidelink communication according to some implementations is illustrated. Note that Figure 1 The system is just one example of a possible system, and features of the present disclosure may be implemented in other wireless communication systems.

[0026] The following description is provided for an example communication system operating in conjunction with a fifth generation (5G) network provided by the 3GPP technical specification. However, the example implementation is not limited in this regard, and the described examples may be applied to other networks that may benefit from the principles described herein, such as 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, Wi-Fi networks, etc. In addition, other types of communication standards are also possible, including future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G)). Although various aspects may be described herein using terms typically associated with 5G NR, various aspects of the present disclosure may be applied to other systems, such as 3G, 4G, and / or systems after 5G (e.g., 6G).

[0027] The frequency bands for 5G NR can be divided into two different frequency ranges. Frequency Range 1 (FR1) may include frequency bands operating at frequencies below 6 GHz, some of which may be used by previous standards and may potentially be expanded to cover new spectrum products from 410 MHz to 7125 MHz. Frequency Range 2 (FR2) may include frequency bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. Frequency bands in the millimeter wave (mmWave) range of FR2 may have a smaller range but potentially higher available bandwidth than frequency bands in FR1.

[0028] As shown, the communication system 100 includes a plurality of user equipments. More specifically, the communication system 100 includes two UEs 105 (UE 105-1 and UE 105-2 are collectively referred to as "UE 105" or "UEs 105"), two base stations 110 (base stations 110-1 and base stations 110-2 are collectively referred to as "base stations 110" or "base stations 110"), two cells 115 (cells 115-1 and cells 115-2 are collectively referred to as "cells 115" or "cells 115"), and one or more servers 135 in a core network (CN) 140 connected to the Internet 145.

[0029] In some implementations, UE 105 may communicate directly with base station 110 via links 120 (links 120-1 and 120-2 are collectively referred to as "a link 120" or "links 120"), which utilize a direct interface with the base station (referred to as a "Uu interface"). Each of links 120 may represent one or more channels. Links 120 are illustrated as air interfaces that implement communication coupling and may conform to cellular communication protocols, such as 3GPP LTE protocols, advanced long term evolution (LTE-A) protocols, LTE-based unlicensed spectrum access (LTE-U), 5G protocols, NR protocols, NR-based unlicensed spectrum access (NR-U) protocols, and / or any other communication protocols discussed herein.

[0030] As shown, some user equipments may be able to communicate directly with each other, for example, without intermediate infrastructure equipment (such as base station 110-1). In this example, UE 105-1 may communicate directly with UE 105-2. Similarly, UE 105-2 may communicate directly with UE 105-1. This peer-to-peer communication may utilize a "side link" interface such as a PC5 interface. In some specific implementations, the PC5 interface supports direct cellular communication between user equipments (e.g., between UE 105), while the Uu interface supports cellular communication with infrastructure equipment (such as a base station). For example, UE 105 may use the PC5 interface for radio resource control (RRC) signaling exchange (also referred to as PC5-RRC signaling) between UEs. The PC5 / Uu interface is used only as an example, and PC5 as used herein may represent various other possible wireless communication technologies that allow direct side link communication between user equipments, while Uu may represent cellular communication performed between user equipments and infrastructure equipment (such as a base station).

[0031] In some implementations, UE 105 may be configured with parameters for communicating via the Uu interface and / or the sidelink interface. In some examples, UE 105 may be "pre-configured with" some parameters. In these examples, the parameters may be hardwired into UE 105 or coded into the specification. Additionally and / or alternatively, UE 105 may receive the parameters from one or more of base stations 110.

[0032] In order to transmit / receive data to / from one or more base stations 110 or UE 105, UE 105 may include a transmitter / receiver (or alternatively, a transceiver), a memory, one or more processors, and / or other similar components that enable UE 105 to operate according to one or more wireless communication protocols and / or one or more cellular communication protocols. UE 105 may have multiple antenna elements that enable UE 105 to maintain multiple links 120 and / or side links 125 to transmit / receive data to / from multiple base stations 110 and / or multiple UEs 105. For example, as Figure 1 As shown, UE 105 - 1 may be connected to base station 110 - 1 via link 120 and simultaneously connected to UE 105 - 2 via side link 125 .

[0033] In some implementations, one or more sidelink radio bearers can be established on the sidelink 125. The sidelink radio bearers can include signaling radio bearers (SL-SRBs) and / or data radio bearers (SL-DRBs).

[0034] The PC5 interface may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH), and / or any other similar communication channel. The PSFCH carries feedback related to the success or failure reception of the sidelink transmission. The PSSCH may be scheduled by the sidelink control information (SCI) carried in the sidelink PSCCH. In some examples, the sidelink interface may operate on an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., in an unlicensed 5 GHz (GHz) and 6 GHz band) or a (licensed) shared spectrum.

[0035] In one example, the sidelink interface implements vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. V2X communications may, for example, follow the 3GPP Cellular V2X (C-V2X) specification, or follow one or more other or subsequent standards, whereby vehicles and other devices and network entities may communicate. V2X communications may utilize both long-range (e.g., cellular) communications and short-range to medium-range (e.g., non-cellular) communications. V2X communications with cellular capabilities may be referred to as cellular V2X (C-V2X) communications. C-V2X systems may use various cellular radio access technologies (RATs), such as 4G LTE or 5G NR RAT (or RATs after 5G, e.g., 6G RAT). Certain LTE standards available in V2X systems may be referred to as LTE-Vehicle (LTE-V) standards. As used herein in the context of a V2X system, and as defined above, the term "user equipment" may generally refer to a device associated with a mobile participant or traffic participant in a V2X system, for example, a mobile (capable of moving) communication device such as a vehicle, a pedestrian user equipment (PUE) device, and a roadside unit (RSU).

[0036] In some implementations, the UEs 105 may be physical hardware devices capable of running one or more applications, accessing network services via one or more radio links 120 with corresponding base stations 110 (also referred to as “serving” base stations), and communicating with each other via side links 125. The links 120 may allow the UEs 105 to send and receive data from the base stations 110 providing the links 120. The side links 125 may allow the UEs 105 to send and receive data with each other. The side links 125 between the UEs 105 may include one or more channels for transmitting information from the UE 105-1 to the UE 105-2 (or vice versa) and / or between the UE 105 and a UE-type RSU (or vice versa).

[0037] In some implementations, base stations 110 can communicate with each other over a backhaul connection 130, and can communicate with one or more servers 135 within CN 140 over another backhaul connection 133. The backhaul connection can be a wired and / or wireless connection.

[0038] In some implementations, UE 105 is configured to use a resource pool for sidelink communications. The sidelink resource pool defines the time-frequency resources used for sidelink communications and can be divided into multiple time slots, frequency channels, and frequency subchannels. In some examples, UE 105 is synchronized and performs sidelink transmissions aligned with time slot boundaries. It is expected that the UE selects several time slots and subchannels for the transmission of a transport block. In some examples, the UE can use different subchannels to send a transport block across multiple time slots within its own resource selection window.

[0039] In some implementations, the base station 110 may configure a special exception resource pool for the UE 105. The special exception resource pool includes resources that the UE 105 can use in special exception situations such as radio link failure (RLF). The special exception resource pool may include resources selected based on random resource allocation.

[0040] In some implementations, a UE that is initiating communication with another UE is referred to as a transmitter UE (TX UE), and a UE that receives the communication is referred to as a receiver UE (RX UE). For example, UE 105-1 may be a TX UE, and UE 105-2 may be a RX UE. Figure 1 It is illustrated that a single TX UE communicates with a single RX UE, but the TX UE may communicate with more than one RX UE via a side link.

[0041] In some implementations, a TX UE initiating sidelink communication may determine available resources (e.g., sidelink resources) and may select a subset of these resources to communicate with the RX UE based on a resource allocation scheme. Example resource allocation schemes include a Mode 1 resource allocation scheme and a Mode 2 resource allocation scheme. In a Mode 1 resource allocation scheme (referred to as "Mode 1"), resources are allocated by a network node to UEs within coverage. In a Mode 2 resource allocation scheme (referred to as "Mode 2"), the TX UE selects sidelink resources (e.g., sidelink transmission resources).

[0042] In some implementations, the communication system 100 supports different broadcast types, including unicast, broadcast, and groupcast (or multicast) communications. Unicast refers to direct communication between two UEs. Broadcast refers to communication broadcasted by a single UE to multiple other UEs. Groupcast refers to communication transmitted from a single UE to a set of UEs that meet a certain condition (e.g., as members of a specific group).

[0043] In communication system 100, UE 105-1 may be a TX UE and UE 105-2 may be a RX UE. Figure 1 It is illustrated that a single TX UE communicates with a single RX UE, but the TX UE may communicate with more than one RX UE via a side link.

[0044] In some implementations, a TX UE initiating sidelink communication may determine available resources (e.g., sidelink resources) and may select a subset of these resources to communicate with the RX UE based on a resource allocation scheme. Example resource allocation schemes include a Mode 1 resource allocation scheme and a Mode 2 resource allocation scheme. In a Mode 1 resource allocation scheme (referred to as "Mode 1"), resources are allocated by a network node to UEs within coverage. In a Mode 2 resource allocation scheme (referred to as "Mode 2"), the TX UE selects sidelink resources (e.g., sidelink transmission resources).

[0045] In some implementations, the communication system 100 supports different broadcast types, including unicast, broadcast, and groupcast (or multicast) communications. Unicast refers to direct communication between two UEs. Broadcast refers to communication broadcasted by a single UE to multiple other UEs. Groupcast refers to communication transmitted from a single UE to a set of UEs that meet a certain condition (e.g., as members of a specific group).

[0046] Figure 2 An example method 200 for selecting a sidelink carrier according to some implementations is illustrated. The method 200 may be performed by Figure 1 The method 200 is shown implemented by the TX UE 105-1 in the communication system 100. The following description of the method 200 assumes that sidelink communication is performed between the TX UE 105-1 and the RX UE 105-2.

[0047] In some implementations, the method 200 uses the TX profile list to help the TX UE 105-1 determine whether the limited capabilities of the RX UE 105-2 need to be considered when performing sidelink CA. The TX profile list can be configured to the TX UE 105-1 before establishing sidelink communication. In some implementations, the method 200 can be applied to multicast and / or broadcast communications.

[0048] At 201, the TX UE 105-1 configures a plurality of candidate carriers that can be used for sidelink communication with the RX UE 105-2. The plurality of candidate carriers may be provided by the RRC configuration from the Uu interface, or may be provided to the TX UE 105-1 and then passed down to the upper layers of the TX UE 105-1. In some implementations, 201 may be further decomposed into 202 to 204. At 202, the TX UE 105-1 selects a plurality of candidate carriers for sidelink communication from its supported carrier list. At 203, the TX UE 105-1 selects TX resources to schedule the sidelink communication. At 204, the TX UE 105-1 selects a broadcast or multicast destination for the sidelink communication.

[0049] At 205, TX UE 105-1 checks the TX profile list to determine whether to consider the limited capabilities of RX UE 105-2 when performing sidelink communications. TX profiles can be constructed to correspond to different layer 2 (L2) addresses or different services for sending sidelink traffic. Each TX profile in the list can be accompanied by an indication indicating whether NR sidelink CA is applied to the L2 address or service. This is equivalent to the release of the intended receiver (RX UE 105-2 in this example) of a specific service. In other words, the TX profile informs TX UE 105-1 of the working assumptions of RX UE 105-2, for example, RX UE 105-2 can be assumed to be a current Rel-18 UE or a traditional UE. Based on this assumption, TX UE 105-1 specifies (e.g., determines) RX UE 105-2 as supporting multi-carrier CA for sidelink communication or not supporting multi-carrier CA for sidelink communication. Through this designation, TX UE 105-1 may or may not take measures to confirm the assumption. That is, the TX UE 105 - 1 may communicate with the RX UE 105 - 2 to confirm whether the assumption is true, or alternatively, continue to perform communications based on the assumption without confirming the communications to the RX UE 105 - 2.

[0050] For example, the TX profile list can be expressed as SL-TxProfileList-r18::=SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..256))OF SL-TxProfile-r18. According to this representation, the list of TX profiles "SL-TxProfileList-r18" is configured for Rel-18 TX UEs to perform side link communication, and a total of 256 TX profiles SL-TxProfile-r18 are included in the list. Each of the 256 TX profiles can correspond to the L2 address of the destination RX UE of the side link communication RX UE or the service delivered to the destination RX UE in the side link service.

[0051] In some specific implementations, within the example list SL-TxProfileList-r18, each TX profile SL-TxProfile-r18 can be represented as SL-TxProfile-r18=ENUMERATED{Rel-18, Rel-17orOlder, spare6, spare5, spare4, spare3, spare2, spare1, ...}. According to this representation, each TX profile SL-TxProfile-r18 includes: (a) a field (e.g., one or more bits) "Rel-18" indicating whether the L2 address (or service) corresponding to the TX profile is associated with a current Rel-18 UE with CA capability, and (b) a field "Rel-17orOlder" indicating whether the L2 address (or service) is associated with a legacy Rel-17 or older UE that does not have CA capability. Alternatively, each TX profile SL-TxProfile-r18 may be represented as SL-TxProfile-r18=ENUMERATED{carrierAggregated,singleCarrier,spare6,spare5,spare4,spare3,spare2,spare1,...}. According to this representation, each TX profile SL-TxProfile-r18 includes: field (c) "carrierAggregated", which indicates that the UE at the L2 address (or service) is intended to have CA capability; and field (d) "singleCarrier", which indicates that the UE at the L2 address (or service) is intended to support only a single carrier without supporting CA. By reading fields (a) and (b) or fields (c) and (d), the TX UE 105-1 in this example can determine whether CA with multiple carriers can be used in the sidelink communication with the RX UE 105-2.

[0052] In some specific implementations, within the example list SL-TxProfileList-r18, each TX profile SL-TxProfile-r18 can be represented as SL-TxProfile-r18=SEQUENCE{freq1,freq2,freq3,...}. According to this representation, each TX profile SL-TxProfile-r18 includes a set of one or more carrier frequencies to be used by the L2 address (or service). If the TX profile contains a single carrier frequency in the sequence, the TX profile indicates that the L2 address (or service) is associated with a legacy UE that only allows a single carrier (i.e., does not support sidelink SA). Alternatively, if the TX profile contains multiple carrier frequencies, the TX profile indicates that the sidelink communication to the corresponding L2 address (or service) is intended to reach a UE with CA capability.

[0053] The TX profiles described above are only a limited number of examples, and there are many other forms that can be used to implement the TX profile. In addition, a combination of the above examples can be used to form a TX profile. For example, a TX profile may be formed to include both a release indication, such as ENUMERATED{Rel-18, Rel-17orOlder, spare6, spare5, spare4, spare3, spare2, spare1, ...}, and a set of supported carrier frequencies, such as SEQUENCE{freq1, freq2, freq3, ...}.

[0054] If the TX profile indicates that the L2 address (or service) is CA capable, this may indicate that the RX UE 105-2 is intended to be a Rel-18 UE. For example, this may indicate that the sidelink service is intended to be performed with a Rel-18 UE, or that the UEs listening to the L2 address are all Rel-18 UEs. Therefore, at 206, the TX UE 105-1 designates the RX UE 105-2 as supporting sidelink CA, and further assumes that the RX UE 105-2 supports all sidelink carriers selected by the TX UE 105-1. Therefore, the TX UE 105-1 may perform sidelink communications using the supported sidelink carriers configured at 201. In some implementations, the TX UE 105-1 may also determine at 207 based on a quality of service (QoS) profile whether the sidelink communication prioritizes communication reliability (e.g., quality) or throughput (e.g., data rate). If high reliability is preferred over high throughput, the TX UE 105-1 may perform parallel transmission of the same data using the supported sidelink carrier at 208. If high throughput is preferred over high reliability, the TX UE 105-1 may perform non-repetitive transmission using the supported sidelink carrier at 209 to increase data transmission speed.

[0055] If the TX profile indicates that the L2 address (or service) is not CA-capable, this may indicate that the RX UE 105-2 may be a legacy UE. Therefore, at 210, the TX UE 105-1 specifies the RX UE 105-2 as not supporting sidelink CA. Therefore, at 211, the TX UE 105-1 selects a single carrier to perform sidelink communication with the RX UE 105-2. In some specific implementations, even if the RX UE 105-2 is not CA-capable, the TX UE 105-1 may further determine at 212 whether the destination allows transmission on an additional carrier. If the answer is "yes", at 213, the TX UE 105-1 performs repeated transmissions using supported sidelink carriers (including the single carrier selected for the RX UE 105-2). Such repeated transmissions over multiple carriers may include the transmission of a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU). Conversely, if the answer is "no," then at 214, TX UE 105-1 performs sidelink communications with RX UE 105-2 using only a single carrier.

[0056] Based on the above description, method 200 allows the TX UE to determine the CA capability of the RX UE based on the nature of the sidelink communication (eg, destination or service). These operations improve the reliability of broadcast or multicast communications without requiring additional communications between the TX UE and the RX UE.

[0057] Figure 3 A method 300 of example steps for selecting a sidelink carrier according to some specific implementations is illustrated. For illustration purposes, Figure 3 TX UE 301 and TX UE 302 are shown, both of which can be used with Figure 1 1, as well as RX UE 303 and RX UE 304, both of which can be connected to Figure 1 105-2 is the same as the RX UE 105-2 shown in FIG. However, the method 300 does not necessarily require two TX UEs and two RX UEs. Some specific implementations may include only one TX UE communicating with one or more RX UEs. The method 300 may be applied to groupcast and / or broadcast communications.

[0058] In some implementations, method 300 is applied to scenarios where RX UE 303 and RX UE 304 are Rel-18 UEs with limited CA capabilities in sidelink communications. In these scenarios, although TX UE 301 and TX UE 302 have full capabilities to perform CA using multiple carriers in sidelink communications, RX UE 303 and RX UE 304 only support a subset of sidelink carriers that can be used for CA. Given their limited CA capabilities, RX UE 303 and RX UE 304 do not need to monitor all available carriers. Instead, RX UE 303 and RX UE 304 only monitor the carriers they support.

[0059] Similar to Figure 2 Method 200, method 300 may start with TX UE 301 and TX UE 302 configuring multiple candidate carriers for sidelink communication. For the sake of brevity, these steps and their descriptions are omitted.

[0060] Once TX UE 301 and TX UE 302 have selected multiple sidelink carriers, TX UE 301 and TX UE 302 use anchor channel 310 to inform RX UE 303 and RX UE 304 of their respective selections of sidelink carriers for CA. In some implementations, anchor channel 310 may be provided by a network such as Figure 1301 and 302. In the announcement, each of TX UE 301 and TX UE 302 may include its L2 address and its selection of the side link carrier. Upon receiving the announcement, each of RX UE 303 and RX UE 304 may determine one or more side link carriers supported by both the announcing TX UE and the RX UE. Each of RX UE 303 and RX UE 304 may also determine the set of carriers that it needs to monitor simultaneously based on the limited capabilities of each RX UE. The one or more side link carriers determined by RX UE 303 and RX UE 304 may then be transmitted to the corresponding TX UE for side link communication. The above-mentioned use of anchor channel 310 is not limited to groupcast and broadcast communications. For example, anchor channel 310 may be similarly used for unicast communications for TX UEs to announce their respective selections of side link carriers.

[0061] exist Figure 3 In the example of , RX UE 303 supports carrier f1, carrier f2 and carrier f3, and RX UE 304 supports carrier f2, carrier f3 and carrier f4. On the other hand, TX UE 301 selects carrier f1 and carrier f2, and TX UE 302 selects carrier f3 and carrier f4 for sidelink communication. According to method 300, TX UE 301 announces its selection of carrier f1 and carrier f2 and its L2 address "Addr.1" via anchor channel 310. Similarly, TX UE 302 announces its selection of carrier f3 and carrier f4 and its L2 address "Addr.2" via anchor channel 310. The announcement may also indicate whether the selected carrier is for repeated transmission or non-repeated transmission. In some specific implementations, the announcement may take the form of a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0062] Upon receiving the notification from TX UE 301, RX UE 303 determines that both TX UE 301 and RX UE 303 itself support carrier f1 and carrier f2. Therefore, RX UE 303 can only monitor carrier f1 and carrier f2 for sidelink communication initiated by TX UE 301 at Addr. 1. In some specific implementations, RX UE 303 can further inform TX UE 301 that carrier f1 and carrier f2 are supported by both RX UE 303 and TX UE 301.

[0063] Similarly, upon receiving the notification from TX UE 302, RX UE 303 determines that both TX UE 302 and RX UE 303 support carrier f3. Therefore, RX UE 303 can only monitor carrier f3 for sidelink communication initiated by TX UE 302 at Addr. 2. In some specific implementations, RX UE 303 can further inform TX UE 302 that carrier f3 is supported by both RX UE 303 and TX UE 301.

[0064] The operation of RX UE 304 is similar to the above-described operation of RX UE 303. Through these operations, RX UE 304 may monitor only carrier f2 for sidelink communications initiated by TX UE 301, and may monitor only carrier f3 and carrier f4 for sidelink communications initiated by TX UE 302.

[0065] According to the above description, method 300 allows a RX UE with limited capabilities to learn the sidelink carrier that the TX UE will use. This not only improves the reliability of broadcast or multicast communication, but also reduces power consumption on the RX side because the RX UE does not need to monitor all supported carriers.

[0066] Figure 4A and Figure 4B 4 and 400B respectively illustrate example methods 400A and 400B for selecting a sidelink carrier according to some specific implementations. TX UE 401 and RX UE 402 may respectively communicate with Figure 1 The TX UE 105-1 and the RX UE 105-2 in the communication system 100 are the same. In some implementations, the method 400A and the method 400B may be applied to sidelink unicast communication.

[0067] In method 400A and method 400B, the capabilities of TX UE 401 and RX UE 402 to perform CA in sidelink communications may be the same or different. For example, the maximum number of carriers that can be supported between TX UE 401 and RX UE 402 may be different; or TX UE 401 and RX UE 402 may not be able to simultaneously support one or more component carriers in one or more frequency bands due to their hardware. Therefore, in both example methods, TX UE 401 and RX UE 402 exchange their respective CA capabilities and negotiate which carriers to use for sidelink communications. Method 400A can be viewed as "TX-centric", where the determination of the sidelink carrier is primarily made by TX UE 401, while method 400B can be viewed as "RX-centric", where the determination of the sidelink carrier is primarily made by RX UE 402.

[0068] Similar to Figure 2 The method 200, method 400A and method 400B illustrated in FIG. 4 may start with the TX UE 401 configuring multiple candidate carriers for sidelink communication. For the sake of brevity, these steps and their descriptions are omitted.

[0069] Turning to method 400A, at 411 TX UE 401 transmits a query message, such as “CapabilityEnquirySidelink”, to RX UE 402 to query the CA capability of RX UE 402 .

[0070] At 413, RX UE 402 responds to the query message by transmitting a response message, such as "CapabilityInformationSidelink," to TX UE 401. The response message informs TX UE 401 whether RX UE 402 supports CA in sidelink communications, and if so, which sidelink carriers are supported.

[0071] At 415, TX UE 401 decides whether CA can be performed in the sidelink communication based on the response message, and if so, which sidelink carriers are supported by both TX UE 401 and RX UE 402. In some implementations, the response message indicates that RX UE 402 does not have the capability to perform multi-carrier CA. In these implementations, TX UE 401 decides that only a single carrier can be used for sidelink communication.

[0072] At 417, when selecting a sidelink carrier for use in a sidelink communication, the TX UE 401 notifies the RX UE 402 of the selected sidelink carrier for CA operation. In a specific implementation where the RX UE 402 does not have the ability to perform multi-carrier CA, the TX UE 401 selects only a single carrier. The notification can be transmitted from the TX UE 401 to the RX UE 402 via the PC5 interface and can be formed as a PC5-RRC reconfiguration message. In some examples, the notification can also indicate whether the sidelink communication will be performed repeatedly, such as CA packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) repetitions. Upon receiving the notification, the RX UE 402 can determine the sidelink carriers to be used in the upcoming sidelink communication and can begin monitoring these sidelink carriers.

[0073] Turning to method 400B, at 412, TX UE 401 and RX UE 402 exchange their respective CA capability information. That is, TX UE 401 informs RX UE 402 of the sidelink carriers supported by TX UE 401. In addition, RX UE 402 informs TX UE 401 whether RX UE 402 supports CA in sidelink communications, and if so, which sidelink carriers are supported. The capability exchange may be performed via a message such as "CapabilityInformationSidelink".

[0074] At 414, RX UE 402 determines which sidelink carriers, if any, are supported by both TX UE 401 and RX UE 402. RX UE 402 then selects these carriers for carrier aggregation used in sidelink communications between the two UEs and notifies TX UE 401 of the selection.

[0075] At 416, TX UE 401 receives a notification from RX UE 402 indicating the sidelink carriers of CA supported by both TX UE 401 and RX UE 402. The notification may be via a message such as "UEAssistanceInformation". Alternatively or additionally, the notification only indicates some or all of the sidelink carriers supported by RX UE 402, regardless of whether the indicated sidelink carriers are also supported by TX UE 401. In these scenarios, it is up to TX UE 401 to decide which of the indicated sidelink carriers are supported by both UEs based on its own capabilities.

[0076] At 418, TX UE 401 confirms that some or all of the sidelink carriers notified by RX UE 402 will be used for sidelink communications. In some examples, prior to confirmation, TX UE 401 may refine the selection made by RX UE 402 by, for example, repeating 412 to 416.

[0077] At 420, after both TX UE 401 and RX UE 402 agree on the selection of the sidelink carrier, TX UE 401 transmits a notification indicating the final sidelink carrier for CA. The notification can be transmitted via the PC5 interface and can be formed as a PC5-RRC reconfiguration message. In some specific implementations, the notification can also indicate that the sidelink communication will be repeated. Upon receiving the notification, RX UE 402 can determine the sidelink carrier to be used in the upcoming sidelink communication and can begin monitoring these sidelink carriers.

[0078] The method 400A and the method 400B, which can be viewed as a negotiation process, provide an effective mechanism for the TX UE 401 and the RX UE 402 to understand the other party's ability to perform CA in sidelink communications. These effective mechanisms can improve communication reliability in unicast communications.

[0079] References in the above Figures 2 to 4B In the described implementation, before using the sidelink carrier to perform sidelink communication, the TX UE needs to be informed by the network (such as Figure 1 The configuration may be performed via the CN 140 in the Rel-16 / Rel-17NR sidelink UE. The configuration may be performed via the SIB, a dedicated RRC message and / or pre-configuration. Using the configuration, the TX UE configures a set of common TX carriers as candidate sidelink carriers, communicating with all available RX UEs in the vicinity using CA. In some examples, a subset of carriers in the candidate sidelink carriers may be configured for each L2 address, in particular for L2 addresses associated with multicast or broadcast sidelink communications. For L2 addresses corresponding to services supported by Rel-16 / Rel-17NR sidelink UEs, the configuration provides a single carrier that may be used by the TX UE. In some examples where one or more L2 addresses are not explicitly configured with a carrier subset, the configuration may provide a default set of TX carriers to be used by the TX UE to transmit to these L2 addresses.

[0080] Figure 5 1 shows a flow chart of an example method 500 according to some specific implementations. For clarity of presentation, the following description generally describes the method 500 in the context of other figures in this specification. For example, the method 500 can be performed by Figure 1 TX UE 105-1, Figure 3 TX UE 301 or TX UE 302, or Figure 4A and Figure 4B It should be understood that the method 500 may be performed by any suitable system, environment, software, hardware, or a combination of systems, environments, software, and hardware, as appropriate. In some specific implementations, the steps of the method 500 may be executed in parallel, in combination, in a loop, or in any order.

[0081] At 502, method 500 involves configuring a plurality of candidate carriers for communicating with a second UE such as Figure 1 RX UE 105-2, Figure 3 RX UE 303 or 304 or Figure 4A and Figure 4B RX UE 402) communication.

[0082] At 504, method 500 involves determining a capability of the second UE to perform sidelink communications with the first UE. The capability may be a limited capability or an unlimited capability.

[0083] At 506, method 500 involves selecting one or more sidelink carriers from a plurality of candidate carriers.

[0084] At 508, method 500 involves communicating with a second UE using one or more sidelink carriers.

[0085] Figure 6 UE 600 according to some specific implementations is illustrated. UE 600 may be similar to Figures 1 to 5 Any of the UEs described in and are substantially interchangeable therewith.

[0086] UE 600 can be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as, for example, a mobile phone, a computer, a tablet, an industrial wireless sensor (e.g., a microphone, a pressure sensor, a thermometer, a motion sensor, an accelerometer, an inventory sensor, a voltage / current meter, etc.), a video device (e.g., a camera, a camcorder, etc.), a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch), or a loose IoT device.

[0087] UE 600 may include a processor 602, an RF interface circuit 604, a memory / storage 606, a user interface 608, a sensor 610, a driver circuit 612, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 614, one or more antennas 616, and a battery 618. The components of UE 600 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), a portion of an integrated circuit, a discrete electronic device or other module, logic component, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. Figure 6 The block diagram of UE 600 is intended to show a high-level view of certain of the components of UE 600. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0088] Components of UE 600 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 620, which may represent any type of interface, input / output, bus (local, system, or extension), transmission line, trace, optical connection, etc., that allows various circuit components (on a common or different chip or chipset) to interact with each other.

[0089] The processor 602 may include processor circuits such as a baseband processor circuit (BB) 622A, a central processor unit circuit (CPU) 622B, and a graphics processor unit circuit (GPU) 622C. The processor 602 may include any type of circuit or processor circuit that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions (such as program codes, software modules, or functional processes from the memory / storage device 606) to cause the UE 600 to perform operations as described herein.

[0090] In some implementations, the baseband processor circuit 622A may access a communication protocol stack 624 in the memory / storage device 606 to communicate over a 3GPP compatible network. Generally speaking, the baseband processor circuit 622A may access a communication protocol stack to: perform user plane functions at the physical (PHY) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, the radio link control (RLC) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, and the PDU layer; and perform control plane functions at the PHY layer, the MAC layer, the RLC layer, the PDCP layer, the RRC layer, and the non-access layer. In some implementations, the PHY layer operations may be additionally / alternatively performed by components of the RF interface circuit 604. The baseband processor circuit 622A may generate or process a baseband signal or waveform that carries information in a 3GPP compatible network. In some implementations, the waveform used for NR can be based on cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) "CP-OFDM" in uplink or downlink, and discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM "DFT-S-OFDM" in uplink.

[0091] The memory / storage 606 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions (e.g., the communication protocol stack 624) that may be executed by one or more of the processors 602 to cause the UE 600 to perform various operations described herein. The memory / storage 606 includes any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that may be distributed throughout the UE 600. In some implementations, some of the memory / storage 606 may be located on the processor 602 itself (e.g., L1 cache and L2 cache), while other memory / storage 606 are located external to the processor 602 but may be accessed via a memory interface. The memory / storage 606 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state memory, or any other type of memory device technology.

[0092] The RF interface circuit 604 may include a transceiver circuit and a radio frequency front end module (RFEM), which allows the UE 600 to communicate with other devices through a radio access network. The RF interface circuit 604 may include various elements arranged in a transmit path or a receive path. These elements may include, for example, switches, mixers, amplifiers, filters, synthesizer circuits, control circuits, etc.

[0093] In the receive path, the RFEM may receive the radiated signal from the air interface via one or more antennas 616 and continue to filter and amplify the signal (using a low noise amplifier). The signal may be provided to the transceiver's receiver, which down-converts the RF signal to a baseband signal provided to the baseband processor of the processor 602.

[0094] In the transmit path, the transmitter of the transceiver up-converts the baseband signal received from the baseband processor and provides the RF signal to the RFEM. The RFEM may amplify the RF signal through a power amplifier before the signal is radiated across the air interface via the antenna 616. In various specific implementations, the RF interface circuit 604 may be configured to transmit / receive signals in a manner compatible with the NR access technology.

[0095] Antenna 616 may include antenna elements to convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and convert received radio waves into electrical signals. These antenna elements may be arranged into one or more antenna panels. Antenna 616 may have an antenna panel that is omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof to achieve beamforming and multiple-input / multiple-output communications. Antenna 616 may include a microstrip antenna, a printed antenna manufactured on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards, a patch antenna, a phased array antenna, etc. Antenna 616 may have one or more panels that are designed for a specific frequency band included in a band in FR1 or FR2.

[0096] The user interface 608 includes various input / output (I / O) devices designed to enable a user to interact with the UE 600. The user interface 608 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual components for accepting input, including in particular one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, or a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual components for displaying information or otherwise delivering information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuit may include any number or combination of audio or visual displays, including in particular one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary state indicators, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays "LCDs", LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), where the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. is generated or produced by the operation of the UE 600.

[0097] Sensor 610 may include a device, module, or subsystem that is designed to detect events or changes in its environment and to communicate information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit including an accelerometer, gyroscope, or magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system or nanoelectromechanical system including a three-axis accelerometer, three-axis gyroscope, or magnetometer; a fluid level sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.); a depth sensor; an ambient light sensor; an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; and the like.

[0098] The driver circuit 612 may include software and hardware elements that operate to control specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the UE 600. The driver circuit 612 may include separate drivers to allow other components to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the UE 600. For example, the driver circuit 612 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor 610 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor 610, a driver for obtaining actuator positioning of an electromechanical component or controlling and allowing access to an electromechanical component, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0099] The PMIC 614 may manage the power provided to various components of the UE 600. Specifically, with respect to the processor 602, the PMIC 614 may control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC to DC conversion.

[0100] In some implementations, the PMIC 614 may control or otherwise function as part of various power saving mechanisms of the UE 600. The battery 618 may power the UE 600, but in some examples, the UE 600 may be installed or deployed in a fixed location and may have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 618 may be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, the battery 618 may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

[0101] In various implementations, aspects of the processor 602, memory / storage 606, and RF interface circuit 604 may be integrated in various ways to implement the operations described herein. For example, the processor 602 may be configured to determine its own CA capabilities or the CA capabilities of another UE, and select and configure a sidelink carrier, the memory / storage 606 may be configured to store a TX profile or other information required for the processor 602 to select a sidelink carrier, and the RF interface circuit 604 may be configured to send and receive wireless signals with another UE or a network.

[0102] Figure 7 An access node 700 (e.g., a base station or gNB) according to some implementations is illustrated. The access node 700 may be similar to Figure 1The access node 700 may include a processor 702, an RF interface circuit 704, a CN interface circuit 706, a memory / storage device circuit 708, and one or more antennas 710.

[0103] The components of access node 700 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 712. Processor 702, RF interface circuitry 704, memory / storage circuitry 708 (including communication protocol stack 714), one or more antennas 710, and interconnects 712 may be similar to those described with reference to Figure 6 Like-named elements are shown and described.For example, processor 702 may include processor circuits such as, for example, baseband processor circuit (BB) 716A, central processor unit circuit (CPU) 716B, and graphics processor unit circuit (GPU) 716C.

[0104] The CN interface circuit 706 may provide connectivity to a core network (e.g., a 5GC using a 5th Generation Core Network (5GC) compatible network interface protocol such as a Carrier Ethernet protocol or some other suitable protocol). Network connectivity may be provided to / from the access node 700 via optical fiber or wireless backhaul. The CN interface circuit 706 may include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the CN interface circuit 706 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0105] As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may be described as equipment that provides radio baseband functionality for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP or TRP, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN node", etc. may refer to an access node 700 (e.g., a gNB) operating in an NR or 5G system, and the terms "E-UTRAN node", etc. may refer to an access node 700 (e.g., an eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system. According to various specific implementations, the access node 700 may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing a femtocell, picocell or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0106] In some implementations, all or part of the access node 700 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In a V2X scenario, the access node 700 may be or act as a "road side unit". The term "road side unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationed (or relatively stationed) UE, where 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.

[0107] 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).

[0108] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below in the example section.

[0109] Example

[0110] In the following sections, additional exemplary embodiments are provided.

[0111] Embodiment 1 includes one or more processors configured to execute instructions, wherein the instructions cause a first user equipment (UE) to perform operations in a network supporting multiple carrier aggregation (CA), the operations comprising: configuring multiple candidate carriers for communicating with a second UE; determining the ability of the second UE to perform sidelink communication with the first UE; selecting one or more sidelink carriers from the multiple candidate carriers based on the determination; and communicating with the second UE using the one or more sidelink carriers.

[0112] Embodiment 2 includes one or more processors according to embodiment 1, wherein the sidelink communication includes broadcast communication or multicast communication.

[0113] Embodiment 3 includes one or more processors according to embodiment 2, wherein selecting one or more sidelink carriers includes: determining a transmit (TX) profile from a TX profile list; based on the TX profile, determining that the second UE does not support multi-carrier CA for the sidelink communication; and based on the TX profile, selecting a single carrier from the multiple candidate carriers as the one or more sidelink carriers.

[0114] Embodiment 4 includes one or more processors according to embodiment 3, wherein the TX profiles in the list correspond to different layer 2 (L2) addresses or different services.

[0115] Embodiment 5 includes one or more processors according to embodiment 1, the operations further comprising: receiving configuration information of an anchor channel from the network; and transmitting the one or more sidelink carriers to the second UE via a message in the anchor channel.

[0116] Embodiment 6 includes one or more processors according to embodiment 5, wherein selecting one or more sidelink carriers includes: receiving an indication of one or more receive (RX) carriers supported by the second UE from the second UE; and determining that the one or more RX carriers are supported by both the first UE and the second UE.

[0117] Embodiment 7 includes one or more processors according to embodiment 1, wherein the sidelink communication includes unicast communication.

[0118] Embodiment 8 includes one or more processors according to embodiment 7, wherein selecting one or more sidelink carriers includes: sending a CA capability query message to the second UE; receiving a CA capability response message from the second UE; determining, based on the CA capability response message, that the second UE has the ability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication; determining, based on the CA capability response message and the capability of the first UE, a plurality of sidelink carriers supported by both the first UE and the second UE; and transmitting the plurality of sidelink carriers to the second UE via a message.

[0119] Embodiment 9 includes one or more processors according to embodiment 8, and the operation also includes: determining that the second UE does not have the ability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication based on the CA capability response message; and selecting a single carrier as the one or more sidelink carriers.

[0120] Embodiment 10 includes one or more processors according to embodiment 7, wherein selecting one or more sidelink carriers includes: sending a transmit (TX) CA capability message to the second UE; receiving a receive (RX) CA capability message from the second UE, wherein the RX CA capability message indicates that the second UE has the ability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication and indicates a plurality of sidelink carriers supported by the second UE; and sending a message to the second UE confirming that the first UE supports one or more of the plurality of sidelink carriers to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication.

[0121] Embodiment 11 includes one or more processors according to embodiment 10, wherein the plurality of sidelink carriers supported by the second UE includes one or more sidelink carriers supported by the first UE.

[0122] Embodiment 12 comprises one or more processors according to embodiment 10, wherein the message comprises a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message sent in a PC5 interface.

[0123] Embodiment 13 includes one or more processors according to embodiment 1, wherein using the one or more side link carriers to communicate with the second UE includes: pre-configuring the first UE; and configuring the one or more side link carriers based on a system information block (SIB) or a dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signal received from the network.

[0124] Embodiment 14 includes a user equipment (UE) as a first UE for sidelink communication with a second UE in a network, the first UE including: a processor; and a transmitter, wherein the processor is configured to enable the UE to: support multiple candidate carriers for multi-carrier carrier aggregation (CA); determine the ability of the second UE to perform the sidelink communication with the first UE; and select one or more sidelink carriers from the multiple candidate carriers based on the determination, and wherein the transmitter is configured to communicate with the second UE using the one or more sidelink carriers.

[0125] Embodiment 15 comprises the UE according to embodiment 14, wherein the sidelink communication comprises broadcast communication or multicast communication.

[0126] Embodiment 16 includes a UE according to embodiment 15, wherein when selecting the one or more sidelink carriers: the processor is configured to: determine a transmit (TX) profile from a TX profile list; based on the TX profile, determine that the second UE does not support multi-carrier CA for the sidelink communication; and select a single carrier as the one or more sidelink carriers based on the TX profile and from the multiple candidate carriers.

[0127] Embodiment 17 includes the UE of embodiment 15, wherein the TX profiles in the list correspond to different layer 2 (L2) addresses or different services.

[0128] Embodiment 18 includes the UE according to embodiment 14, further comprising a receiver. When selecting the one or more sidelink carriers: the receiver is configured to receive configuration information of an anchor channel from the network; and the transmitter is configured to transmit the one or more sidelink carriers to the second UE via a message in the anchor channel.

[0129] Embodiment 19 comprises the UE according to embodiment 14, wherein the sidelink communication comprises unicast communication.

[0130] Embodiment 20 includes the UE according to embodiment 19, further comprising a receiver. When selecting the one or more sidelink carriers: the transmitter is configured to send a CA capability query message to the second UE; the receiver is configured to receive a CA capability response message from the second UE; the processor is configured to determine, based on the CA capability response message, that the second UE has the capability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication; the processor is configured to determine, based on the CA capability response message and the capability of the first UE, a plurality of sidelink carriers supported by both the first UE and the second UE; and the transmitter is configured to transmit the plurality of sidelink carriers to the second UE via a message.

[0131] Embodiment 21 includes a UE according to embodiment 20, wherein the processor is configured to determine that the second UE does not have the ability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication based on the CA capability response message; and select a single carrier as the one or more sidelink carriers.

[0132] Embodiment 22 includes the UE according to embodiment 21, further comprising a receiver. When selecting the one or more sidelink carriers: the transmitter is configured to send a transmit (TX) CA capability message to the second UE; the receiver is configured to receive a receive (RX) CA capability message from the second UE, wherein the RX CA capability message indicates that the second UE has the capability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication and indicates a plurality of sidelink carriers supported by the first UE; and the transmitter is configured to send a message to the second UE confirming that the first UE supports one or more of the plurality of sidelink carriers to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication.

[0133] Embodiment 23 includes the UE of embodiment 22, wherein the plurality of sidelink carriers supported by the second UE includes one or more sidelink carriers supported by the first UE.

[0134] Embodiment 24 includes the UE of embodiment 22, wherein the message includes a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message sent in a PC5 interface.

[0135] Embodiment 25 includes a UE according to embodiment 14, wherein: the processor preconfigures the first UE; and the processor configures the one or more sidelink carriers based on a system information block (SIB) or a dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signal received from the network.

[0136] Embodiment 26 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 25 or any other method or process described herein.

[0137] Embodiment 27 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of a method as described or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 25, or any other method or process described herein.

[0138] Embodiment 28 may include methods, techniques or processes described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 25, or parts or components thereof.

[0139] Embodiment 29 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, process, or portion thereof as described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 25.

[0140] Embodiment 30 may include a computer program including instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element causes the processing element to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 25. The operations or actions performed by the instructions executed by the processing element may include operations according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 25.

[0141] Embodiment 31 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0142] Embodiment 32 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. The operations or actions performed by the system may include a method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 25.

[0143] Embodiment 33 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. The operations or actions performed by the apparatus may include a method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 25.

[0144] Previously described embodiments 1 to 25 can be implemented using a computer-implemented method; a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions to execute the computer-implemented method; and a computer system comprising a computer memory interoperably coupled to a hardware processor configured to execute the computer-implemented method or instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium.

[0145] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings or may be obtained from the practice of various embodiments.

[0146] Although the above embodiments 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.

[0147] 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.

Claims

1. One or more processors configured to execute instructions that cause a first user equipment (UE) to perform operations in a network supporting multi-carrier carrier aggregation (CA), the operations comprising: configuring a plurality of candidate carriers for communicating with a second UE; determining a capability of the second UE to perform sidelink communications with the first UE; selecting one or more sidelink carriers from the plurality of candidate carriers based on the determining; as well as Communicate with the second UE using the one or more sidelink carriers.

2. The one or more processors of claim 1, wherein the sidelink communication comprises a broadcast communication or a multicast communication.

3. The one or more processors of claim 2, wherein selecting one or more sidelink carriers comprises: Determine the transmit (TX) profile from the TX profile list; Based on the TX profile, determining that the second UE does not support multi-carrier CA for the sidelink communication; as well as Based on the TX profile, a single carrier is selected from the plurality of candidate carriers as the one or more sidelink carriers.

4. The one or more processors of claim 3, wherein the TX profiles in the list correspond to different layer 2 (L2) addresses or different services.

5. The one or more processors of claim 1, the operations further comprising: receiving configuration information of an anchor channel from the network; as well as The one or more sidelink carriers are transmitted to the second UE via a message in the anchor channel.

6. The one or more processors of claim 5, wherein selecting one or more sidelink carriers comprises: receiving, from the second UE, an indication of one or more receive (RX) carriers supported by the second UE; as well as It is determined that the one or more RX carriers are supported by both the first UE and the second UE.

7. The one or more processors of claim 1, wherein the sidelink communication comprises a unicast communication.

8. The one or more processors of claim 7, wherein selecting one or more sidelink carriers comprises: Sending a CA capability query message to the second UE; receiving a CA capability response message from the second UE; determining, based on the CA capability response message, that the second UE has a capability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication; determining a plurality of sidelink carriers supported by both the first UE and the second UE based on the CA capability response message and a capability of the first UE; as well as The plurality of sidelink carriers are transmitted to the second UE via a message.

9. The one or more processors of claim 8, the operations further comprising: determining, based on the CA capability response message, that the second UE does not have the capability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication; as well as A single carrier is selected as the one or more sidelink carriers.

10. The one or more processors of claim 7, wherein selecting one or more sidelink carriers comprises: Sending a transmit (TX) CA capability message to the second UE; receiving a receive (RX) CA capability message from the second UE, wherein the RX CA capability message indicates that the second UE has a capability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication and indicates a plurality of sidelink carriers supported by the second UE; as well as A message is sent to the second UE confirming that the first UE supports one or more of the plurality of sidelink carriers to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication.

11. The one or more processors of claim 10, wherein the plurality of sidelink carriers supported by the second UE comprises one or more sidelink carriers supported by the first UE.

12. The one or more processors of claim 10, wherein the message comprises a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message sent in a PC5 interface.

13. The one or more processors of claim 1 , wherein communicating with the second UE using the one or more sidelink carriers comprises: pre-configuring the first UE; as well as The one or more sidelink carriers are configured based on a system information block (SIB) or a dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signal received from the network.

14. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) being a first UE performing sidelink communication with a second UE in a network, the first UE comprising: processor; and transmitter, The processor is configured to cause the UE to: Support for multiple candidate carriers for multi-carrier carrier aggregation (CA); determining a capability of the second UE to perform the sidelink communication with the first UE; as well as selecting one or more sidelink carriers from the plurality of candidate carriers based on the determining; and The transmitter is configured to communicate with the second UE using the one or more sidelink carriers.

15. The UE of claim 14, wherein the sidelink communication comprises broadcast communication or multicast communication.

16. The UE of claim 15, wherein when selecting the one or more sidelink carriers: The processor is configured to: Determine the transmit (TX) profile from the TX profile list; Based on the TX profile, determining that the second UE does not support multi-carrier CA for the sidelink communication; and Based on the TX profile, a single carrier is selected from the plurality of candidate carriers as the one or more sidelink carriers. 17 . The UE of claim 15 , wherein the TX profiles in the list correspond to different layer 2 (L2) addresses or different services.

18. The UE of claim 14, further comprising a receiver, wherein when selecting the one or more sidelink carriers: The receiver is configured to receive configuration information of an anchor channel from the network; and The transmitter is configured to transmit the one or more sidelink carriers to the second UE via a message in the anchor channel.

19. The UE of claim 14, wherein the sidelink communication comprises a unicast communication.

20. The UE of claim 19, further comprising a receiver, wherein when selecting the one or more sidelink carriers: The transmitter is configured to send a CA capability query message to the second UE; The receiver is configured to receive a CA capability response message from the second UE; The processor is configured to determine, based on the CA capability response message, that the second UE has the capability to perform multi-carrier CA in the sidelink communication; The processor is configured to determine a plurality of sidelink carriers supported by both the first UE and the second UE based on the CA capability response message and a capability of the first UE; and The transmitter is configured to transmit the plurality of sidelink carriers to the second UE via a message.

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