UE-to-UE communications for different traffic types on one or more unicast links

Abstract

In one aspect, a first UE communicates (e.g., transmits and / or receives) a first type of traffic with a second UE via a unicast link. The first UE establishes support for transmission of traffic of the second type over the unicast link. The first UE tunnels (e.g., sends and / or receives) traffic of a second type between the first UE and the second UE over the unicast link. In another aspect, instead of tunneling the second type of traffic on the same unicast link, the first UE establishes a second unicast link with the second UE for the second type of traffic, where the unicast links have a shared link management state. In another aspect, the BS allocates a set of resources for supporting an associated (e.g., bound) unicast link.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the invention patent application with the application date of February 7, 2020, application number 202080095053.X, and invention name "UE-to-UE communication of different service types on one or more unicast links". Technical Field

[0002] Various aspects described herein relate generally to wireless communication systems and, more particularly, to transmitting data on a sidelink. Background Art

[0003] Wireless communication systems have evolved over many generations, including first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third generation (3G) high speed data, wireless service with Internet capabilities, and fourth generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Currently, there are many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including cellular and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), global system for mobile access (GSM) variants of TDMA, and the like.

[0004] The fifth generation (5G) mobile standard, also known as New Radio (NR), calls for higher data transmission speeds, a greater number of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, such as providing a data rate of 1 gigabit per second to dozens of workers on an office floor. To support large sensor deployments, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported. Therefore, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly improved compared to the current 4G standard. In addition, signaling efficiency should be enhanced and latency should be significantly reduced compared to the current standard.

[0005] Leveraging the increased data rates and reduced latency of 5G, among other features, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technologies are being implemented to support autonomous driving applications, such as wireless communications between vehicles, between vehicles and roadside infrastructure, between vehicles and pedestrians, and so on. Summary of the invention

[0006] The Summary of the Invention section identifies features of some exemplary aspects and is not an exclusive or exhaustive description of the disclosed subject matter. Whether a feature or aspect is included or omitted from the Summary of the Invention section is not intended to indicate the relative importance of those features. Additional features and aspects are described and will become apparent to those skilled in the art after reading the following Detailed Description and viewing the accompanying drawings that form a part thereof.

[0007] One aspect relates to a method of operating a first user equipment (UE), comprising: communicating a first type of service with a second UE via a unicast link; establishing support for transmitting a second type of service over the unicast link; and tunneling the second type of service between the first UE and the second UE over the unicast link.

[0008] Another aspect relates to a method of operating a first user equipment (UE), comprising: communicating a first type of service with a second UE via a first unicast link; establishing a second unicast link associated with a second type of service with the second UE; associating the first unicast link and the second unicast link together with a shared link management state; communicating the second type of service with the second UE via the second unicast link; and maintaining the shared link management state of the first unicast link and the second unicast link based on the service communicated on either the first unicast link or the second unicast link.

[0009] Another aspect relates to a method for operating a base station, comprising: receiving a request for resources associated with link establishment of a second unicast link for communication of a second type of service with a second user equipment (UE) having established a first unicast link for communication of a first type of service with the second UE; determining that the first unicast link and the second unicast link will be associated with a shared link management state; determining a set of resources for supporting the second unicast link between the first UE and the second unicast link based at least in part on the shared link management state determined for the first unicast link and the second unicast link; and sending an indication of the set of resources to the first UE.

[0010] Another aspect relates to a first user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: communicate a first type of service with a second UE via a unicast link; establish support for transmitting a second type of service on the unicast link; and tunnel the second type of service between the first UE and the second UE on the unicast link.

[0011] Another aspect relates to a first user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: communicate a first type of service with a second UE via a first unicast link; establish a second unicast link associated with a second type of service with the second UE; associate the first unicast link and the second unicast link together with a shared link management state; communicate the second type of service with the second UE via the second unicast link; and maintain the shared link management state of the first unicast link and the second unicast link based on the service communicated on either the first unicast link or the second unicast link.

[0012] Another aspect relates to a base station, comprising: a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive a request for resources associated with link establishment of a second unicast link for communication of a second type of service with a second user equipment (UE) having established a first unicast link for communication of a first type of service with a second UE; determine that the first unicast link and the second unicast link will be associated with a shared link management state; determine a resource set for supporting the second unicast link between the first UE and the second unicast link based at least in part on the shared link management state determined for the first unicast link and the second unicast link; and send an indication of the resource set to the first UE.

[0013] Another aspect relates to a first user equipment (UE), comprising: a unit for communicating a first type of service with a second UE via a unicast link; a unit for establishing support for transmitting a second type of service on the unicast link; and a unit for tunneling the second type of service between the first UE and the second UE on the unicast link.

[0014] Another aspect relates to a first user equipment (UE), comprising: a unit for communicating a first type of service with a second UE via a first unicast link; a unit for establishing a second unicast link associated with a second type of service with the second UE; a unit for associating the first unicast link and the second unicast link together with a shared link management state; a unit for communicating the second type of service with the second UE via the second unicast link; and a unit for maintaining the shared link management state of the first unicast link and the second unicast link based on the service communicated on either the first unicast link or the second unicast link.

[0015] Another aspect relates to a base station, comprising: a unit for receiving a request for resources associated with link establishment of a second unicast link for communication of a second type of service with a second user equipment (UE) from a first UE that has established a first unicast link for communication of a first type of service with a second UE; a unit for determining that the first unicast link and the second unicast link will be associated with a shared link management state; a unit for determining a resource set for supporting the second unicast link between the first UE and the second unicast link based at least in part on the shared link management state determined for the first unicast link and the second unicast link; and a unit for sending an indication of the resource set to the first UE.

[0016] Another aspect relates to a non-temporary computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising: at least one instruction instructing a first user equipment (UE) to communicate a first type of service with a second UE via a unicast link; at least one instruction instructing the first UE to establish support for transmitting a second type of service over the unicast link; and at least one instruction instructing the first UE to tunnel the second type of service between the first UE and the second UE over the unicast link.

[0017] Another aspect relates to a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions including: at least one instruction instructing a first user equipment (UE) to communicate a first type of service with a second UE via a first unicast link; at least one instruction instructing the first UE to establish a second unicast link associated with a second type of service with the second UE; at least one instruction instructing the first UE to associate the first unicast link and the second unicast link together with a shared link management state; at least one instruction instructing the first UE to communicate a second type of service with the second unicast link via the second unicast link; and at least one instruction instructing the first UE to maintain a shared link management state of the first unicast link and the second unicast link based on the service communicated on either the first unicast link and the second unicast link.

[0018] Another aspect relates to a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions including: at least one instruction instructing a base station to receive a request for resources associated with a link establishment of a second unicast link for communication of a second type of service with a second user equipment (UE) having established a first unicast link with the second UE for communication of a first type of service; at least one instruction instructing the base station to determine that the first unicast link and the second unicast link will be associated with a shared link management state; at least one instruction instructing the base station to determine a set of resources for supporting a second unicast link between the first UE and the second unicast link based at least in part on the shared link management state determined for the first unicast link and the second unicast link; and at least one instruction instructing the base station to send an indication of the set of resources to the first UE.

[0019] Other objects and advantages associated with the various aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the drawings and detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing examples of one or more aspects of the disclosed subject matter and are provided solely for purposes of illustrating and not limiting the examples:

[0021] Figure 1 An exemplary wireless communication system in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0022] Figure 2A and 2B Example wireless network architectures in accordance with various aspects are shown.

[0023] Figure 3 An example of a wireless communication system supporting unicast sidelink setup in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0024] Figure 4A , 4B 4 and 4C illustrate several exemplary components that may be incorporated into a UE, a base station, and a network entity to support file transfer operations as taught herein.

[0025] Figure 5 and 6 An exemplary flow between an initiator device and a target device according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0026] Figure 7 and 8 An exemplary process for establishing a dependent device-to-device communication session in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0027] Fig. 9A method for implementing an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 6 An exemplary initiator device of the process, Figure 6 The process is represented as a series of related functional modules.

[0028] Fig.10 A method for implementing an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 7 An exemplary target device of the process is, Figure 7 The process is represented as a series of related functional modules.

[0029] Fig.11 A method for implementing an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 6 An exemplary UE of the process, Figure 6 The process is represented as a series of related functional modules.

[0030] Fig.12 A method for implementing an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 8 An exemplary UE of the process, Figure 8 The process is represented as a series of related functional modules.

[0031] Fig.13 A method for implementing an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Fig.10 An exemplary BS of the process, Fig.10 The process is represented as a series of related functional modules. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] Techniques for user equipment (UE)-to-UE (or device-to-device) communications of different traffic types on one or more unicast links (sometimes referred to as "unicast sidelinks") are disclosed. In one aspect, the unicast link is associated with a first traffic type (e.g., IP traffic or non-IP traffic), and the UEs coordinate to tunnel a second traffic type (e.g., non-IP traffic or IP traffic) over the same unicast link. In another aspect, a separate unicast link may be established for transmission of the second traffic type (i.e., without tunneling). In this aspect, the unicast links may be associated (e.g., bound together) to have a shared link management state. In a further aspect, if a base station determines that two unicast links are to be bound in this manner, the base station may allocate (one or more) resources based on the determination.

[0033] These and other aspects of the subject matter are provided in the following description and related drawings of specific examples of the disclosed subject matter. Alternatives may be devised without departing from the scope of the disclosed subject matter. In addition, well-known elements will not be described in detail or will be omitted to avoid obscuring the relevant details.

[0034] The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term "aspects" does not require that all aspects include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.

[0035] The terms used herein describe specific aspects only and should not be construed as limiting any aspect disclosed herein. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", "said" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood by those skilled in the art that the terms "comprise, comprising" and / or "include, including" as used herein specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and / or groups thereof.

[0036] In addition, various aspects are described in terms of a sequence of operations to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the various operations described herein may be performed by a specific circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of the two. In addition, these sequences of operations described herein may be viewed as being fully embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon corresponding sets of computer instructions that, when executed, will cause the associated processor to perform the functions described herein. Therefore, the various aspects described herein may be embodied in a variety of different forms, all of which are considered to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each aspect described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "logic" that is "configured to" perform the described operations and / or other structural components that are configured to perform the described operations.

[0037] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms "UE", "vehicle UE" (V-UE) and "base station" are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any specific radio access technology (RAT). In general, such a UE can be any wireless communication device (e.g., a vehicle computer, a vehicle navigation device, a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a tracking device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. The UE can be mobile or can be fixed (e.g., at certain times) and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" can be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or UT, "mobile terminal", "mobile station" or variations thereof. The V-UE can be any vehicle-mounted wireless communication device, such as a navigation system, a warning system, a head-up display (HUD), etc. Alternatively, the V-UE can be a portable wireless communication device (e.g., a cellular phone, a tablet computer, etc.) belonging to a vehicle driver or a passenger in the vehicle. The term "V-UE" may refer to a vehicle-mounted wireless communication device or the vehicle itself, depending on the context. Typically, a UE may communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE may connect to an external network such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for the UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible, such as through a wired access network, a WiFi network (e.g., based on IEEE 802.11, etc.), and the like.

[0038] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs to communicate with UEs based on the network in which the base station is deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a general NodeB (gNodeB, gNB), etc. In addition, in some systems, a base station may provide only edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, the base station may provide additional control and / or network management functions.

[0039] A UE may be embodied by any of a variety of types of devices, including but not limited to a printed circuit (PC) card, a compact flash device, an external or internal modem, a wireless or wired phone, a smart phone, a tablet, a tracking device, an asset tag, and the like. The communication link through which a UE may send a signal to a base station is referred to as an uplink channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, and the like). The communication link through which a RAN may send a signal to a UE is referred to as a downlink or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, and the like). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) may refer to an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0040] Figure 1 An exemplary wireless communication system 100 according to one or more aspects is shown. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cells (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cells (low-power cellular base stations). The macro cells may include: an evolved NodeB (eNB) when the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, a gNodeB (gNB) when the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to a 5G network, and / or a combination thereof, and the small cells may include femto cells, pico cells, micro cells, etc.

[0041] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) or Next Generation Core (NGC) via a backhaul link. The base stations 102 may perform, among other functions, one or more of the following functions: forwarding user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and device tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via EPC / NGC) over a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0042] Base stations 102 can communicate wirelessly with UEs 104. Each base station 102 can provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, although Figure 1 Not shown, coverage area 110 may be subdivided into multiple cells (eg, three) or sectors, each cell corresponding to a single antenna or antenna array of base station 102.

[0043] The term "cell" refers to a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station 102 (e.g., via a carrier frequency), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), an enhanced cell identifier (E-CID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID), etc.) used to distinguish adjacent cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some examples, a carrier frequency may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types that may provide access to different types of devices (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other). In some cases, the term "cell" may refer to a portion (e.g., a sector) of a geographic coverage area 110 on which a logical entity operates. As used herein, the term "cell" or "sector" may correspond to one of the multiple cells of a base station 102, or to the base station 102 itself, depending on the context.

[0044] Although adjacent macrocell geographic coverage areas 110 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover region), some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by a larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' may have a coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cells and macrocells may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB) and / or a home gNodeB, which may provide services to a restricted group called a closed subscriber group (CSG). The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include an uplink (UL) (also referred to as a reverse link) transmission from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or a downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmission from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link may be over one or more carriers. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (eg, more or fewer carriers may be allocated to DL compared to UL).

[0045] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a WLAN station (STA) 152 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 gigahertz (GHz)) via a communication link 154. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communication to determine whether a channel is available.

[0046] The small cell base station 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' can adopt LTE or 5G technology and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' adopting LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum can improve the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as LTE Unlicensed (LTE-U), Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0047] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a mmW base station 180, which may operate in and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF ranges from 30 GHz to 300 GHz, and has a wavelength between 1 mm and 10 mm. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW can be extended down to a frequency of 3 GHz, with a wavelength of 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also known as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short distances. The mmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming with the UE 182 to compensate for extremely high path loss and short distances. In addition, it will be understood that in an alternative configuration, one or more base stations 102 may also use mmW or near mmW and beamforming for transmission. Therefore, it will be understood that the foregoing description is only an example and should not be interpreted as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0048] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) or peer-to-peer (P2P) links. Figure 1 In the example of , UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of UEs 104 connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity), and has a D2D P2P link 194 with a WLAN STA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In one example, the D2D P2P links 192-194 can be supported by any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, etc.

[0049] Leveraging the increased data rates and reduced latency of 5G, among other features, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technology is being implemented to support intelligent transportation system (ITS) applications, such as wireless communications between vehicles (vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)), between vehicles and roadside infrastructure (vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I)), and between vehicles and pedestrians (vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P)). For vehicles, the goal is to be able to sense the environment around them and communicate that information to other vehicles, infrastructure, and personal mobile devices. Such vehicle communications will enable safety, mobility, and environmental advances that current technology cannot provide. Once fully implemented, the technology is expected to reduce unimpaired vehicle collisions by 80%.

[0050] Still reference Figure 1 , the wireless communication system 100 may include a plurality of V-UEs 160 that may communicate with a base station 102 over a communication link 120 (e.g., using a Uu interface). The V-UEs 160 may also communicate directly with each other over a wireless unicast sidelink 162, with a roadside access point 164 over a sidelink 166, or with a UE 104 over a sidelink 168 using a P2P / D2D protocol (e.g., “PC5,” an LTE V2XD2D interface) or ProSe direct communication. The sidelink communications may be used for D2D media sharing, V2V communications, V2X communications (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communications, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communications, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more of a group of V-UEs 160 utilizing D2D communications may be within a geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 102. Other V-UEs 160 in the group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102 or may not be able to receive transmissions from the base station 102 for other reasons. In some cases, a group of V-UEs 160 communicating via D2D communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each V-UE 160 transmits to each other V-UE 160 in the group. In some cases, the base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for D2D communications. In other cases, D2D communications are performed between the V-UEs 160 without involving the base station 102.

[0051] In one aspect, the V-UE 160 and Figure 1Any other UE shown in FIG. 1 may have a sidelink manager 170. Sidelink manager 170 may be a hardware, software, or firmware component that, when executed, causes V-UE 160 to perform the operations described herein. For example, sidelink manager 170 may be a software module stored in a memory of V-UE 160 and executable by a processor of V-UE 160. As another example, sidelink manager 170 may be a hardware circuit (e.g., an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc.) within V-UE 160.

[0052] In one aspect, base station 102 and Figure 1 Any other base station (or AP) shown in can have a sidelink resource manager 176. The sidelink resource manager 176 can be a hardware, software, or firmware component that, when executed, causes the base station 102 to perform the operations described herein. For example, the sidelink resource manager 176 can be a software module stored in a memory of the base station 102 and executable by a processor of the base station 102. As another example, the sidelink resource manager 176 can be a hardware circuit (e.g., an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc.) within the base station 102. As an example, the sidelink resource manager 176 can facilitate the base station 102 to select (one or more) resources for allocation to the sidelink connection established between the respective UEs.

[0053] In one aspect, the wireless sidelinks 162, 166, 168 can operate on a communication medium of interest that can be shared with other vehicles and / or infrastructure access points and other communications between other RATs. The "medium" can consist of one or more frequency, time, and / or spatial communication resources (e.g., including one or more channels on one or more carriers) associated with communications between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs.

[0054] In one aspect, the wireless sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may be cV2X links. The first generation of cV2X has been standardized in LTE, and the next generation is expected to be defined in 5G (also known as "New Radio" (NR) or "5G NR"). cV2X is a cellular technology that also enables device-to-device communications. In the United States and Europe, cV2X is expected to operate in the licensed ITS band in sub-6 GHz. Other frequency bands may be allocated in other countries. Therefore, as a specific example, the medium of interest used by the sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may correspond to at least a portion of the licensed ITS band in sub-6 GHz. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this frequency band or cellular technology.

[0055] In one aspect, the wireless sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may be dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) links. DSRC is a unidirectional or bidirectional short-range to medium-range wireless communication protocol that uses the Wireless Access for Vehicular Environments (WAVE) protocol (also known as IEEE 802.11p) for V2V, V2I, and V2P communications. IEEE 802.11p is an approved revision of the IEEE 802.11 standard and operates in the licensed ITS band of 5.9 GHz (5.85-5.925 GHz) in the United States. In Europe, IEEE 802.11p operates in the ITS G5A band (5.875-5.905 MHz). Other frequency bands may be allocated in other countries. The V2V communications briefly described above occur on a safety channel, which in the United States is typically a 10 MHz channel dedicated to safety purposes. The remainder of the DSRC band (total bandwidth is 75 MHz) is intended for other services of interest to drivers, such as road regulations, toll collection, parking automation, etc. Thus, as a specific example, the medium of interest used by the sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may correspond to at least a portion of the licensed ITS band at 5.9 GHz.

[0056] Alternatively, the medium of interest may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed band shared among the various RATs. Although different licensed bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems, particularly those employing small cell access points, have recently expanded operations to unlicensed bands, such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) bands used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies (most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology commonly referred to as "Wi-Fi"). Exemplary systems of this type include different variations of code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and the like.

[0057] Communications between V-UEs 160 are referred to as V2V communications, communications between V-UEs 160 and one or more roadside access points 164 are referred to as V2I communications, and communications between V-UEs 160 and one or more P-UEs 104 are referred to as V2P communications. V2V communications between V-UEs 160 may include, for example, information about the location, speed, acceleration, heading, and other vehicle data of the V-UEs 160. V2I information received at the V-UEs 160 from one or more roadside access points 164 may include, for example, road rules, parking automation information, and the like. V2P communications between V-UEs 160 and P-UEs 104 may include, for example, information about the location, speed, acceleration, and heading of the V-UEs 160 and the location, speed (for example, in the case where the P-UE 104 is a bicycle), and heading of the P-UEs 104.

[0058] Figure 2A An exemplary wireless network architecture 200 according to one or more aspects is shown. For example, a next generation core (NGC) 210 can be functionally viewed as a control plane function 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane function 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) that operate in concert to form a core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect one or more gNBs 222 to the NGC 210, and specifically to the control plane function 214 and the user plane function 212. In additional configurations, one or more eNBs 224 can also be connected to the NGC 210, i.e., to the control plane function 214 via the NG-C 215, and to the user plane function 212 via the NG-U 213. In addition, the eNB(s) 224 can communicate directly with the gNB(s) 222 via the backhaul connection 223. Thus, in some configurations, the new RAN 220 may have only one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. The gNB(s) 222 or the eNB(s) 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 240 (e.g., Figure 1 In one aspect, two UEs 240 may communicate with each other over a wireless unicast sidelink 242, which may correspond to any UE shown in FIG. 1 , such as UE 104, UE 152, UE 160, UE 182, UE 190, etc. Figure 1 The wireless unicast sidelink 162 in.

[0059] Another optional aspect may include a location management function (LMF) 230 that communicates with the NGC 210 to provide location assistance to the UE 240. The LMF 230 uses information from the UE 240 and / or the new RAN 220 to determine the current location of the UE 240 and provide the location upon request. The LMF 230 may be implemented as multiple structurally separate servers, or alternatively, may each correspond to a single server. Although Figure 2A The LMF 230 is shown as being separate from the NGC 210 and the new RAN 220 , but it may be integrated into one or more components of the NGC 210 or the new RAN 220 .

[0060] Figure 2B An exemplary wireless network architecture 250 is shown in accordance with one or more aspects. For example, an evolved packet core (EPC) 260 can be functionally viewed as a control plane function, namely a mobility management entity (MME) 264, and a user plane function, namely a packet data network gateway / serving gateway (P / SGW) 262, operating in concert to form a core network. An S1 control plane interface (S1-MME) 265 and an S1 user plane interface (S1-U) 263 connect one or more eNBs 224 to the EPC 260, and specifically to the MME 264 and P / SGW 262, respectively.

[0061] In additional configurations, one or more gNBs 222 may also be connected to the EPC 260, i.e., to the MME 264 via S1-MME 265 and to the P / SGW 262 via S1-U 263. In addition, the eNB(s) 224 may communicate directly with the gNB(s) 222 via the backhaul connection 223 with or without a gNB direct connection to the EPC 260. Thus, in some configurations, the new RAN 220 may have only the gNB(s) 222, while other configurations include both the eNB(s) 224 and the gNB(s) 222. The gNB(s) 222 or the eNB(s) 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 240 (e.g., Figure 1 In one aspect, two UEs 240 may communicate with each other over a wireless unicast sidelink 242, which may correspond to a wireless unicast sidelink 242. Figure 1 The wireless unicast sidelink 162 in.

[0062] Another optional aspect may include a location server 270 that can communicate with the EPC 260 to provide location assistance to (one or more) UEs 240. In one aspect, the location server 270 can be an evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC), a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP), a gateway mobile location center (GMLC), etc. The location server 270 can be implemented as a plurality of structurally separate servers, or alternatively, each can correspond to a single server. The location server 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for (one or more) UEs 240, which can be connected to the location server 270 via the core network, the EPC 260, and / or via the Internet (not shown).

[0063] Figure 3 An example of a wireless communication system 300 supporting unicast sidelink establishment according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. In some examples, the wireless communication system 300 can implement aspects of the wireless communication systems 100, 200, and 250. The wireless communication system 300 can include a first UE 302 and a second UE 304, which can be Figure 1 Any example of a UE shown in FIG. 1 , such as UE 104, UE 152, UE 160, UE 182, UE 190, etc., or Figure 2A and 2B UE 240 shown in FIG. UE 302 may attempt to establish a unicast connection with UE 304 on a sidelink, which may be a V2X communication link between UE 302 and UE 304. Additionally or alternatively, a unicast connection on a sidelink may generally be used for sidelink communications between any two UEs. Thus, the established sidelink connection may correspond to Figure 1 The wireless sidelinks 162, 166 and / or 168 and / or Figure 2A and 2B In some cases, UE 302 may be referred to as an initiating UE that initiates a unicast connection procedure, and UE 304 may be referred to as a target UE that is a target of the initiating UE's unicast connection procedure.

[0064] In order to establish a unicast connection, access stratum (AS) (a functional layer in the UMTS and LTE protocol stacks between the RAN and the UE, which is responsible for transmitting data on a wireless link and managing radio resources, also referred to as "layer 2") parameters may be configured and negotiated between the UE 302 and the UE 304. For example, matching of transmit and receive capabilities may be negotiated between the UE 302 and the UE 304. Each UE may have different capabilities (e.g., transmit and receive capabilities, 64QAM, transmit diversity, carrier aggregation (CA) capabilities, supported (one or more) communication bands, etc.). In some cases, different services may be supported at the upper layers of the respective protocol stacks of the UE 302 and the UE 304. In addition, a security association for a unicast connection may be established between the UE 302 and the UE 304. Unicast services may benefit from link-level security protection (e.g., integrity protection). Security requirements may be different for different wireless communication systems. For example, V2X and Uu systems may have different security requirements (e.g., Uu security does not include confidentiality protection). Additionally, Internet Protocol (IP) configuration (eg, IP version, addresses, etc.) may be negotiated for a unicast connection between UE 302 and UE 304 .

[0065] In some cases, UE 304 may create a service announcement (e.g., a service capability message) to be sent over a cellular network (e.g., cV2X) to assist in unicast connection establishment. Conventionally, UE 302 may identify and locate candidates for unicast communication based on a basic service message (BSM) broadcasted unencrypted by a nearby UE (e.g., UE 304). The BSM may include location information, security and identity information, and vehicle information (e.g., speed, handling, size, etc.) of the corresponding UE. However, for different wireless communication systems (e.g., D2D or V2X communication), a discovery channel may not be configured to enable UE 302 to detect (one or more) BSMs. Therefore, the service announcements (e.g., discovery signals) sent by UE 304 and other nearby UEs may be upper layer signals and broadcast (e.g., in NR sidelink broadcasts). In some cases, UE 304 may include one or more parameters for itself in the service announcement, including connection parameters and / or the capabilities it possesses. UE 302 may then monitor and receive the broadcasted service announcements to identify potential UEs for the corresponding unicast connection. In some cases, UE 302 may identify potential UEs based on the capabilities indicated by each UE in its respective service announcement.

[0066] The service announcement may include information for assisting UE 302 (e.g., or any initiating UE) in identifying the UE that sent the service announcement. For example, the service announcement may include channel information in which a direct communication request may be sent. In some cases, the channel information may be RAT (e.g., LTE or NR) specific and may include a resource pool in which the UE 302 sends the communication request. In addition, if the destination address is different from the current address (e.g., the address of the stream provider or UE that sent the service announcement), the service announcement may include a specific destination address of the UE (e.g., a layer 2 (L2) destination address). The service announcement may also include a network or transport layer for the UE 302 to send the communication request on. For example, the network layer (also known as "layer 3" or "L3") or the transport layer (also known as "layer 4" or "L4") may indicate the port number of the application of the UE that sent the service announcement. In some cases, IP addressing may not be required if the signaling (e.g., PC5 signaling) directly carries a protocol (e.g., real-time transport protocol (RTP)) or gives a locally generated random protocol. Additionally, the service announcement may include the protocol type and QoS related parameters used for credential establishment.

[0067] After identifying a potential unicast connection target (e.g., UE 304), UE 302 (e.g., an initiating UE) may send a connection request 315 to the identified target. In some cases, the connection request 315 may be a first RRC message sent by UE 302 to request a unicast connection with UE 304 (e.g., an RRCDirectConnectionSetupRequest message). For example, the unicast connection may utilize a PC5 interface for a unicast link, and the connection request 315 may be an RRC connection setup request message. In addition, UE 302 may use a sidelink signaling radio bearer 305 to transmit the connection request 315.

[0068] After receiving the connection request 315, the UE 304 may determine whether to accept or reject the connection request 315. The UE 304 may make this determination based on transmit / receive capabilities, the ability to accommodate unicast connections on the sidelink, a specific service indicated for the unicast connection, content to be sent on the unicast connection, or a combination thereof. For example, if the UE 302 wants to use the first RAT to send or receive data, but the UE 304 does not support the first RAT, the UE 304 may reject the connection request 315. Additionally or alternatively, the UE 304 may reject the connection request 315 based on the inability to accommodate the unicast connection on the sidelink due to limited radio resources, scheduling issues, etc. Therefore, the UE 304 may send an indication of whether to accept or reject the request in a connection response 320. Similar to the UE 302 and the connection request 315, the UE 304 may use the sidelink signaling radio bearer 310 to transmit the connection response 320. Additionally, the connection response 320 may be a second RRC message (eg, an RRCDirectConnectionResponse message) sent by the UE 304 in response to the connection request 315 .

[0069] In some cases, the sidelink signaling radio bearers 305 and 310 may be the same sidelink signaling radio bearer, or may be separate sidelink signaling radio bearers. Thus, a radio link control (RLC) layer acknowledgement mode (AM) may be used for the sidelink signaling radio bearers 305 and 310. A UE supporting unicast connections may monitor on a logical channel associated with the sidelink signaling radio bearer. In some cases, the AS layer (i.e., Layer 2) may deliver information directly through RRC signaling (e.g., control plane) rather than the V2X layer (e.g., data plane).

[0070] If the connection response 320 indicates that the UE 304 accepted the connection request 315, the UE 302 may send a connection setup 325 message on the sidelink signaling radio bearer 305 to indicate that the unicast connection setup is complete. In some cases, the connection setup 325 may be a third RRC message (e.g., an RRCDirectConnectionSetupComplete message). Each of the connection request 315, the connection response 320, and the connection setup 325 may use basic capabilities when transmitted from one UE to another UE to enable each UE to receive and decode the corresponding transmission (e.g., RRC message).

[0071] In addition, an identifier may be used for each of the connection request 315, the connection response 320, and the connection establishment 325 (e.g., RRC signaling). For example, the identifier may indicate which UE 302 / 304 is sending which message and / or which UE 302 / 304 the message is intended to be sent to. For physical (PHY) channels, the RRC signaling and any subsequent data transmission may use the same identifier (e.g., L2ID). However, for logical channels, the identifier may be separate for RRC signaling and for data transmission. For example, on a logical channel, RRC signaling and data transmission may be treated differently and have different acknowledgment (ACK) feedback messaging. In some cases, for RRC messaging, a PHY layer ACK may be used to ensure that the corresponding message is correctly sent and received.

[0072] One or more information elements may be included in the connection request 315 and / or the connection response 320 for UE 302 and / or UE 304, respectively, to enable negotiation of corresponding AS layer parameters for the unicast connection. For example, UE 302 and / or UE 304 may include a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) parameter in the corresponding unicast connection establishment message to set the PDCP context for the unicast connection. In some cases, the PDCP context may indicate whether PDCP duplication is used for the unicast connection. In addition, UE 302 and / or UE 304 may include an RLC parameter when establishing a unicast connection to set the RLC context for the unicast connection. For example, the RLC context may indicate whether AM (e.g., using a reordering timer (t-reordering)) or unacknowledged mode (UM) is used for the RLC layer of the unicast communication.

[0073] In addition, UE 302 and / or UE 304 may include medium access control (MAC) parameters to set up a MAC context for a unicast connection. In some cases, the MAC context may enable a resource selection algorithm for a unicast connection, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback scheme (e.g., ACK or negative ACK (NACK) feedback), parameters of the HARQ feedback scheme, CA, or a combination thereof. In addition, UE 302 and / or UE 304 may include PHY layer parameters when establishing a unicast connection to set up a PHY layer context for a unicast connection. For example, the PHY layer context may indicate a transport format (unless a transport profile is included for each UE) and a radio resource configuration (e.g., bandwidth part (BWP), digital scheme, etc.) for a unicast connection. These information elements may be supported for different frequency range configurations (e.g., frequency range 1 (FR1) for sub-6 GHz bands, typically 450 MHz to 6000 MHz, and frequency range 2 (FR2) for mmW, typically 24250 MHz to 52600 MHz).

[0074] In some cases, a security context may also be set for the unicast connection (e.g., after sending the connection establishment 325 message). Before a security association (e.g., a security context) is established between UE 302 and UE 304, the sidelink signaling radio bearers 305 and 310 may not be protected. After the security association is established, the sidelink signaling radio bearers 305 and 310 may be protected. Therefore, the security context may enable secure data transmission over the unicast connection and the sidelink signaling radio bearers 305 and 310. In addition, IP layer parameters (e.g., link-local IPv4 or IPv6 addresses) may also be negotiated. In some cases, the IP layer parameters may be negotiated by an upper layer control protocol running after establishing RRC signaling (e.g., establishing a unicast connection). As described above, the UE 304 may make the decision based on accepting or rejecting the connection request 315 for a specific service indicated for the unicast connection and / or content (e.g., upper layer information) to be sent over the unicast connection. Specific services and / or content may also be indicated by an upper layer control protocol running after the RRC signaling is established.

[0075] After establishing the unicast connection, UE 302 and UE 304 can communicate using the unicast connection on the sidelink 330, wherein sidelink data 335 is sent between the two UEs 302 and 304. In some cases, the sidelink data 335 may include an RRC message sent between the two UEs 302 and 304. In order to maintain the unicast connection on the sidelink 330, UE 302 and / or UE 304 may send a keep-alive message (e.g., an RRCDirectLinkAlive message, a fourth RRC message, etc.). In some cases, the keep-alive message may be triggered periodically or on demand (e.g., event triggered). Therefore, the triggering and sending of the keep-alive message may be invoked by UE 302 or by both UE 302 and UE 304. Additionally or alternatively, a MAC control element (CE) (e.g., defined on the sidelink 330) may be used to monitor the state of the unicast connection on the sidelink 330 and maintain the connection. When the unicast connection is no longer needed (e.g., UE 302 travels far enough away from UE 304), either UE 302 and / or UE 304 may initiate a release procedure to drop the unicast connection on sidelink 330. Thus, subsequent RRC messages may not be sent between UE 302 and UE 304 on the unicast connection.

[0076] Figure 4A , 4B 4C show several exemplary components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into UE 402 (which may correspond to any UE described herein), base station 404 (which may correspond to any base station described herein), and network entity 406 (which may correspond to or embody any network function described herein, including location server 230 and LMF 270) to support file transfer operations as taught herein. It will be understood that these components may be implemented in different embodiments in different types of devices (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.). The components shown may also be incorporated into other devices in the communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described to provide similar functionality. Moreover, a given device may include one or more of these components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components, enabling the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0077] UE 402 and base station 404 each include a wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceiver 410 and 450, respectively, which is configured to communicate via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, etc. The WWAN transceivers 410 and 450 can be connected to one or more antennas 416 and 456, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes (e.g., other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) on a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a certain set of time / frequency resources in a specific spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 410 and 450 can be configured differently to transmit and encode signals 418 and 458 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.), respectively, according to the designated RAT, and conversely, receive and decode signals 418 and 458 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.), respectively. Specifically, transceivers 410 and 450 include one or more transmitters 414 and 454 for sending and encoding signals 418 and 458, respectively, and one or more receivers 412 and 452 for receiving and decoding signals 418 and 458, respectively.

[0078] In at least some cases, the UE 402 and the base station 404 also include wireless local area network (WLAN) transceivers 420 and 460, respectively. The WLAN transceivers 420 and 460 can be connected to one or more antennas 426 and 466, respectively, for communicating over the wireless communication medium of interest via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, The WLAN transceivers 420 and 460 may be configured differently to transmit and encode signals 428 and 468 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to a specified RAT, and conversely, receive and decode signals 428 and 468 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.), respectively. Specifically, the transceivers 420 and 460 include: one or more transmitters 424 and 464 for transmitting and encoding signals 428 and 468, respectively, and one or more receivers 422 and 462 for receiving and decoding signals 428 and 468, respectively.

[0079] The transceiver circuitry including the transmitter and the receiver may comprise an integrated device (e.g., transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry embodied as a single communication device) in some embodiments, may comprise a separate transmitter device and a separate receiver device in some embodiments, or may be embodied in other ways in other embodiments. In one aspect, the transmitter may comprise or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 416, 436, and 476), such as an antenna array, which allows the corresponding device to perform transmit "beamforming", as described herein. Similarly, the receiver may comprise or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 416, 436, and 476), such as an antenna array, which allows the corresponding device to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter and the receiver may share the same plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 416, 436, and 476) so that the corresponding device may only receive or transmit at a given time and not at the same time. The wireless communication devices of apparatus 402 and / or 404 (eg, one or both of transceivers 410 and 420 and / or 450 and 460) may also include a network listening module (NLM) or similar module for performing various measurements.

[0080] In at least some cases, devices 402 and 404 also include satellite positioning system (SPS) receivers 430 and 470. SPS receivers 430 and 470 can be connected to one or more antennas 436 and 476, respectively, for receiving SPS signals 438 and 478, respectively, such as global positioning system (GPS) signals, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Indian regional navigation satellite system (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. SPS receivers 430 and 470 can include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing SPS signals 438 and 478, respectively. SPS receivers 430 and 470 request appropriate information and operations from other systems and use measurements obtained by any suitable SPS algorithm to perform calculations necessary to determine the location of devices 402 and 404.

[0081] The base station 404 and the network entity 406 each include at least one network interface 480 and 490 for communicating with other network entities. For example, the network interfaces 480 and 490 (e.g., one or more network access ports) may be configured to communicate with one or more network entities via a wired-based backhaul connection or a wireless backhaul connection. In some aspects, the network interfaces 480 and 490 may be implemented as transceivers configured to support wired-based signal communication or wireless signal communication. The communication may involve, for example, sending and receiving: messages, parameters, or other types of information.

[0082] Apparatuses 402, 404, and 406 also include other components that may be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. UE 402 includes a processor circuit that implements a processing system 432, which is used to provide, for example, the functions disclosed herein and to provide other processing functions. Base station 404 includes a processing system 484, which is used to provide, for example, the functions disclosed herein and to provide other processing functions. Network entity 406 includes a processing system 494, which is used to provide, for example, the functions disclosed herein and to provide other processing functions. In one aspect, processing systems 432, 484, and 494 may include, for example, one or more general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices or processing circuits.

[0083] Apparatuses 402, 404, and 406 include memory circuits implementing memory components 440, 486, and 496, respectively (e.g., each including a memory device), which are used to maintain information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). In some cases, apparatus 402 may include sidelink manager 170, and apparatus 404 may include sidelink resource manager 176. Sidelink manager 170 and sidelink resource manager 176 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to processing systems 432, 484, and 494, respectively, which, when executed, cause apparatuses 402, 404, and 406 to perform the functions described herein. Alternatively, sidelink manager 170 and sidelink resource manager 176 may be memory modules (e.g., memory modules) stored in memory components 440, 486, and 496, respectively. Figure 4A -C), these memory modules, when executed by processing systems 432, 484 and 494, enable devices 402, 404 and 406 to perform the functions described herein.

[0084] UE 402 may include one or more sensors 444 coupled to processing system 432 to provide movement and / or orientation information independent of motion data derived from signals received by WWAN transceiver 410, WLAN transceiver 420, and / or GPS receiver 430. As an example, sensor(s) 444 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. In addition, sensor(s) 444 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, sensor(s) 444 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate a position in a 2D and / or 4D coordinate system.

[0085] In addition, UE 402 includes a user interface 446 for providing indications to the user (e.g., audible and / or visual indications) and / or for receiving user input (e.g., when the user actuates a sensing device such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, apparatuses 404 and 406 may also include a user interface.

[0086] Referring to the processing system 484 in more detail, in the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 406 may be provided to the processing system 484. The processing system 484 may implement functions for the RRC layer, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The processing system 484 can provide: RRC layer functions associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functions associated with delivery of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel priority sorting.

[0087] The transmitter 454 and the receiver 452 may implement layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transmission channel, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of the transmission channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 454 processes the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be divided into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., a pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator can be used to determine the coding and modulation schemes, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimates can be derived from a reference signal and / or channel state feedback sent by the UE 402. Each spatial stream can then be provided to one or more different antennas 456. The transmitter 454 can modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0088] At the UE 402, the receiver 412 receives the signal through its corresponding (one or more) antennas 416. The receiver 412 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to the processing system 432. The transmitter 414 and the receiver 412 implement layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 412 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams intended for the UE 402. If there are multiple spatial streams destined for the UE 402, they can be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by the receiver 412. The receiver 412 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier and the reference signal are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation point sent by the base station 404. These soft decisions can be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally sent on the physical channel by the base station 404. The data and control signals are then provided to a processing system 432 that implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

[0089] In the UL, the processing system 432 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The processing system 432 is also responsible for error detection.

[0090] Similar to the functions described in conjunction with DL transmissions performed by the base station 404, the processing system 432 provides: RRC layer functions associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functions associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0091] Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback sent by base station 404 may be used by transmitter 414 to select appropriate coding and modulation schemes and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by transmitter 414 may be provided to different antennas 416. Transmitter 414 may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0092] UL transmissions are processed at the base station 404 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver functionality at the UE 402. The receiver 452 receives the signal through its corresponding antenna(s) 456. The receiver 452 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to the processing system 484.

[0093] In the UL, the processing system 484 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 402. The IP packets from the processing system 484 may be provided to the core network. The processing system 484 is also responsible for error detection.

[0094] For convenience, devices 402, 404 and / or 406 are Figure 4A -C is shown as including various components that can be configured according to various examples described herein. However, it will be understood that the blocks shown may have different functions in different designs.

[0095] The various components of devices 402, 404, and 406 may communicate with each other via data buses 434, 482, and 492, respectively. Figure 4A -C components can be implemented in various ways. In some embodiments, Figure 4A -C components can be implemented in one or more circuits, such as one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or combine at least one memory component to store information or executable code used by the circuit to provide the function. For example, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 410 to 446 may be implemented by the processor and (one or more) memory components of UE 402 (e.g., by executing appropriate codes and / or by appropriate configuration of processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 450 to 488 may be implemented by the processor and (one or more) memory components of base station 404 (e.g., by executing appropriate codes and / or by appropriate configuration of processor components). In addition, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 490 to 498 may be implemented by the processor and (one or more) memory components of network entity 406 (e.g., by executing appropriate codes and / or by appropriate configuration of processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions and / or functions are described herein as being performed by "UE", "by base station", "by positioning entity", etc. However, as will be appreciated, such operations, actions, and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE, base station, positioning entity, etc. (such as processing systems 432, 484, 494, transceivers 410, 420, 450, and 460, memory components 440, 486, and 496, sidelink manager 170 and sidelink resource manager 176, etc.).

[0096] In an NR system, sidelink communications (e.g., UE-to-UE communications) can be associated with one of three modes; namely, unicast, groupcast (or multicast), or broadcast. In the 3GPP Rel.16eV2X design, an L2 unicast link (e.g., a PC5 unicast link) can support either IP services or non-IP services, but not both at the same time. Similar transport protocols (i.e., separation of IP services from non-IP services) may also be defined in other designs, such as any unicast sidelink design based on V2X (e.g., 3GPP Rel.17 ProSe / NR unicast sidelink, etc.). For example, if two UEs are using the same application layer ID pair (e.g., using the same application), two separate L2 unicast links are established in a scenario where some of the communicated services are IP services and other communicated services are non-IP services (e.g., Wireless Access for Vehicular Environments (WAVE) (WAVE) Short Message Protocol (WSMP) messages). In the current standard, since each L2 unicast link is associated with its own corresponding L2ID, each L2 unicast link needs to establish a separate RRC connection. Therefore, two L2 unicast links between the same UE and associated with the same application may require redundant signaling (e.g., PC5-S link keepalive packets, link identifier updates, PC5-RRC signaling, etc.).

[0097] Figure 5 FIG. 5 shows a V2X communication flow 500 between UE A and UE B according to the current unicast sidelink standard. Figure 5 As shown, PC5 unicast links 1-2 are established between UE A and B. PC5QoS flows #1-#2 are established between UE A and UE B on PC5 unicast link 1 for V2X service A, PC5QoS flow #3 is established between UE A and UE B on PC5 unicast link 1 for V2X service B, PC5QoS flow #4 is established between UE A and UE B on PC5 unicast link 2 for V2X service C, and PC5QoS flow #5 is established between UE A and UE B on PC5 unicast link 2 for V2X service D.

[0098] refer to Figure 5, the application layer IDs associated with the two PC5 unicast links 1-2 are the same. It is further assumed that, as required by current standards, V2X service AB is associated with a first type of service (e.g., IP service or non-IP service), while V2X service CD is associated with a second type of service (e.g., non-IP service or IP service). For example, some current standards require that PC5 unicast links supporting V2X communication use a single network layer protocol, such as IP or non-IP. In this case, when the application layer in the UE initiates data delivery for a V2X service type that requires a unicast communication mode through a PC5 reference point, the UE will reuse the existing PC5 unicast link and modify the existing PC5 unicast link to add the V2X service type only when the pairing of the network layer protocol and the peer application layer ID of the PC5 unicast link is the same as those required by the application layer in the UE for the V2X service; otherwise, the UE will trigger the establishment of a new PC5 unicast link. Under such standards, the association of a new PC5 QoS flow with a different network layer protocol (e.g., IP or non-IP) triggers the use of a separate PC5 unicast link, even if the application layer ID is the same, such as Figure 5 shown.

[0099] refer to Figure 5 , since the PC5 unicast link 1-2 corresponds to a separate L2ID, according to the current standard, the PC5 unicast link 1-2 is presented as two separate connections at the AS layer. For example, the current standard stipulates that a PC5-RRC connection is a logical connection between two UEs for a pair of source and destination layer 2IDs, which is considered to be established after the corresponding PC5 unicast link is established. There is a one-to-one correspondence between a PC5-RRC connection and a PC5 unicast link. A UE may have multiple PC5-RRC connections with one or more UEs for different source and destination layer 2ID pairs. Therefore, for the same application layer ID pair, under the current standard, if there are both IP and non-IP services, UE A and UE B still need to use two different unicast links. This requires separate link management and maintenance, which wastes UE power and radio resources (for example, when keep-alive signaling is required).

[0100] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to configuring a single unicast link (e.g., a unicast sidelink) between UEs to transmit different service types (e.g., non-IP service and IP service). Other embodiments of the present disclosure relate to deploying a first unicast link and a second unicast link (e.g., a separate sidelink) between UEs to transmit the first and second service types, respectively, while further implementing a shared link management state for the first unicast link and the second unicast link.

[0101] Figure 6A communication process 600 is shown according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 6 The process 600 is performed by a first UE, such as UE 104, 152, 160, 182, 190, Figure 2A and 2B Any of the UEs 240 shown in Figure 3 Any one of UE302, 304, Figure 4A UE 402 in Figure 5 UE A or UE B, etc. In some designs, for example, process 600 may be performed via sidelink manager 170.

[0102] refer to Figure 6 At 602, the first UE communicates a first type of service with the second UE via a unicast link. The first type of service may correspond to an IP service or a non-IP service. In some designs, the unicast link may correspond to a D2D, a unicast sidelink, or a V2X unicast link, such as a PC5 unicast link. The service communicated at 602 may include a service sent by the first UE to the second UE, a service sent by the second UE to the first UE, or a combination thereof.

[0103] refer to Figure 6 At 604, the first UE establishes support for transmitting the second type of traffic on the unicast link. In one example, 604 may involve coordination between the first UE and the second UE. In a further example, either the first UE or the second UE may initiate the coordination of 604.

[0104] refer to Figure 6 At 606, the first UE tunnels a second type of traffic between the first UE and the second UE on the unicast link. The traffic tunneled at 606 may include traffic sent by the first UE to the second UE, traffic sent by the second UE to the first UE, or a combination thereof.

[0105] Figure 7 The embodiment according to the present disclosure is shown Figure 6 An exemplary embodiment of process 600 is provided. Figure 6 The first UE described in the context of may correspond to Figure 7 UE A or UE B in the context of.

[0106] refer to Figure 7 , at 702 (e.g., Figure 6In 602 of the embodiment, UE A and UE B communicate on a unicast link for a first type of service. At 704, UE A sends a link modification request message to UE B on the unicast link. In this case, the link modification request message requests to add a new QoS flow to support a second type of service. At 706, UE B sends a link modification accept message back to UE A. In one example, Figure 7 704-706 indicates Figure 6 At 708 (e.g., Figure 6 In 606), UE A and UE B communicate two types of services on the unicast link, wherein the second type of service is transmitted through a tunnel.

[0107] refer to Figure 6 In an example where the first type of service corresponds to IP service and the second type of service corresponds to non-IP service, 604 may include: identifying a QoS flow identifier (e.g., PC5 QoS flow ID) for transmitting the non-IP service on the unicast link, and the tunneling at 606 may include: encapsulating a first subset of the non-IP service for transmission from the first UE to the second UE on the unicast link in association with the identified QoS flow identifier, and decapsulating a second subset of the non-IP service received from the second UE on the unicast link at the first UE in association with the identified QoS flow identifier. In one example, the encapsulated non-IP service may be encapsulated within a User Datagram Protocol (UDP), a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), or “raw” IP. As an example, in the example, the non-IP service may be encapsulated within a User Datagram Protocol (UDP), a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), or “raw” IP. As an example, in the example, the non-IP service may be transmitted from the first UE to the second UE in association with the identified QoS flow identifier. Figure 7The QoS information element of the link modification request message of 704 identifies the (one or more) QoS flow identifiers associated with the (one or more) non-IP flows, whereby UE A provides an indication to UE B regarding the non-IP association and the corresponding encapsulation / decapsulation protocol (e.g., the indication may be an explicit indication in the PC5-S message, a new QoS information indicator, or via a new PC5QoS profile (PQI), etc.). In a further example, UE A may define (one or more) PC5QoS rules for mapping such encapsulated (one or more) non-IP flows to corresponding PC5QoS flow IDs (e.g., such rules may be defined as an extension of the PC5 packet filter set as defined in the current standard to facilitate combined IP and non-IP PC5 packet filters). UE A may pass the (one or more) PC5QoS rules to UE B (e.g., via the link modification request message of 704), and UE B may create corresponding (one or more) processing rules (e.g., encapsulation / decapsulation) for such services. In one specific example, the V2X layer / ProSe layer may strip the IP / UDP or IP / TCP header of the received packet and pass the embedded non-IP content (now decapsulated via header stripping) to the non-IP stack. In a further example, 604 may further include: identifying a port for transmitting non-IP traffic in IP over the unicast link. In this case, the encapsulated first subset may be further sent over the unicast link using the identified port, and the decapsulated second subset may be received over the unicast link using the identified port.

[0108] refer to Figure 6 In an example where the first type of service corresponds to non-IP service and the second type of service corresponds to IP service, 604 may include: identifying a non-IP header to be used to transmit the IP service on the unicast link (e.g., a non-IP header defined in a standard for pre-associating with the IP service, or a dynamically generated / negotiated non-IP header), and identifying a QoS flow identifier (e.g., a PC5QoS flow ID) for transmitting the IP service on the unicast link, and the tunneling of 606 may include: encapsulating a first subset of the IP service for transmission from the first UE to the second UE on the unicast link in association with the identified non-IP header and the identified QoS flow identifier, and decapsulating a second subset of the IP service received from the second UE on the unicast link at the first UE in association with the identified non-IP header and the identified QoS flow identifier. As an example, in the example, in the example from Figure 7The QoS information element of the link modification request message of 704 identifies the (one or more) QoS flow identifiers associated with the (one or more) IP flows, whereby UE A provides an indication to UE B about the IP association and the corresponding encapsulation / decapsulation protocol (for example, the indication can be an explicit indication in the PC5-S message, a new QoS information indicator, or via a new PQI, etc.). In a further example, UE A can define (one or more) PC5QoS rules for mapping such (one or more) encapsulated IP flows to corresponding PC5QoS flow IDs (for example, such rules can be defined as an extension of the PC5 packet filter set as defined in the current standard to facilitate combined IP and non-IP PC5 packet filters). UE A can pass the (one or more) PC5QoS rules to UE B (for example, via the link modification request message of 704), and UE B can create corresponding (one or more) processing rules (for example, encapsulation / decapsulation) for such services. In a specific example, the V2X layer / ProSe layer can strip the non-IP header and pass the embedded IP content (now decapsulated via header stripping) to the IP stack.

[0109] Figure 8 A communication process 800 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 8 The process 800 is performed by a first UE, such as UE 104, 152, 160, 182, 190, Figure 2A and 2B Any of the UEs 240 shown in Figure 3 Any one of UE 302, 304 in Figure 4A UE 402 in Figure 5 UE A or UE B, etc. In some designs, for example, process 800 may be performed via sidelink manager 170.

[0110] refer to Figure 8 At 802, the first UE communicates a first type of service with the second UE via a unicast link. The first type of service may correspond to an IP service or a non-IP service. In some designs, the unicast link may correspond to a D2D or V2X unicast link, such as a PC5 unicast link. The service communicated at 802 may include a service sent by the first UE to the second UE, a service sent by the second UE to the first UE, or a combination thereof.

[0111] refer to Figure 8At 804, the first UE establishes a second unicast link associated with a second type of service with the second UE. The second type of service may correspond to a non-IP service or an IP service. At 806, the first UE associates (e.g., binds) the first unicast link and the second unicast link together with a shared link management state. At 808, the first UE communicates the second type of service with the second UE via the second unicast link. The service communicated at 808 may include a service sent by the first UE to the second UE, a service sent by the second UE to the first UE, or a combination thereof. At 810, the first UE maintains the shared link management state of the first unicast link and the second unicast link based on the service communicated on either the first unicast link and the second unicast link.

[0112] refer to Figure 8 In one example, 806 may include transmission of one or more link establishment messages for the second unicast link, the link establishment message including an indication that the first unicast link and the second unicast link are to be associated (e.g., bound together). For example, the one or more link establishment messages and the indication may be transmitted (i) via the session establishment signaling resource, or (ii) via the first unicast link.

[0113] refer to Figure 8 In one example, the shared link management state includes:

[0114] ● Shared radio link activity or failure status,

[0115] A shared keep-alive timer that triggers a forwarding request based on inactivity on both the first unicast link and the second unicast link.

[0116] the second UE sends a common keep-alive packet for extending the expiration time of both the first unicast link and the second unicast link, and processes an incoming keep-alive packet from the second UE on either the first unicast link or the second unicast link for extending the expiration time of the first unicast link.

[0117] an expiration time of both the first unicast link and the second unicast link,

[0118] shared security information for encrypting and / or decrypting data transmitted on the first unicast link and the second unicast link, or any combination thereof

[0119] Now it will be Fig. 9 The L2 link establishment process 900 shown in FIG. Figure 8 Process 800 (e.g., according to 3GPP TS 23.287 Section 6.3.3.1).

[0120] refer to Fig. 9, at (1), UE BD each determines a corresponding destination L2ID for signaling reception. At (2), the V2X application layer at UE A provides application information for PC5 unicast communication. At (3), UE A sends a direct communication message (broadcast or unicast) to each of UE BD. At (4a), UE A and UE B perform security establishment. At (5a), UE B sends a direct communication accept message (unicast) to UE A to establish a first unicast link. At (6), UE A and UE B exchange V2X service data on the first unicast link.

[0121] Now, assume that UE A or UE B determines to transmit different service types (e.g., if the first unicast link is associated with IP service, then non-IP service is transmitted, or if the first unicast link is associated with non-IP service, then IP service is transmitted). At (4b), UE A and UE B perform security establishment. At (5b), UE B sends a direct communication accept message (unicast) to UE A to establish a second unicast link. At (4b[2]), UE A and UE D perform security establishment. At (5b[2]), UE D sends a direct communication accept message (unicast) to UE A to establish the first unicast link. At (6), UE A and UE B exchange V2X service data on the second unicast link. At (6[2]), UE A and UE D exchange V2X service data on the second unicast link.

[0122] refer to Figure 8-9In one example, the direct communication request message sent in association with (4b) may be configured to indicate that the second unicast link will be associated with (e.g., bound to) the first unicast link (e.g., having the same application layer ID). In some designs, the indication may correspond to an explicit indicator in the message, or by including an indication in the V2X service information, or by an indication in a security information element. For example, since the second unicast link will be associated with (e.g., bound to) the first unicast link, the security information may indicate that a previous set of keys should be reused (e.g., with the same source user information and target user information together). Such an indication may also utilize existing security information of an existing link for security protection. Alternatively, UE A may choose to use an existing PC5SRB link (i.e., the first unicast link) to send the link establishment message instead of an unprotected message. In one example, in response to a link request indicating an association with an existing unicast link, UE B may create a new link (e.g., PC5L2 link ID and corresponding context) and associate it with (one or more) existing links of the same application layer ID pair (e.g., source user information, target user information). Alternatively, when passing down the unicast link context, the V2X layer / ProSe layer may inform the AS layer of such an association.

[0123] refer to Figure 8-9 In one example, the V2X layer / ProSe layer at UE AB can share link management state between the two links, for example, when a lower layer indication of radio link failure occurs, it will apply to both, and when keep-alive signaling (at PC5-S layer) updates the state, it will also apply to both, etc. In some designs, this saves signaling resources. In another example, if the AS layer is enhanced, it can also reduce sensing operations.

[0124] Fig.10 A communication process 1000 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Fig.10 The process 1000 is performed by a base station, for example, Figure 1 Any of the BS or AP described, Figure 2A-2B Any of the eNBs 222-224, Figure 4B BS 404, etc. For example, in some designs, process 1000 may be performed via sidelink resource manager 176. In some designs, when the resources for the second unicast link are allocated by the BS, it may be combined with Figure 8 Process 800 is used to execute process 1000.

[0125] refer to Fig.10At 1002, the BS receives a request for resources associated with link establishment of a second unicast link (e.g., another PC5 unicast link supporting V2X communication) for communication of a second type of service with a second user equipment (UE) that has established a first unicast link (e.g., a PC5 unicast link supporting V2X communication) for communication of a first type of service with the second UE. The first type of service may correspond to an IP service or a non-IP service.

[0126] refer to Fig.10 At 1004, the BS determines that the first unicast link and the second unicast link are to be associated with the shared link management state (e.g., bound together). In some designs, the determination of 1004 may be based on an indication explicitly stated in the request from 1002. In another example, the determination of 1004 may be implicit (e.g., the BS is aware of the existing first unicast link, so that the second unicast links between these same UEs may be implicitly bound together).

[0127] refer to Fig.10 At 1006, the BS determines a set of resources for supporting a second unicast link between the first UE and the second UE based at least in part on the shared link management state determined for the first unicast link and the second unicast link. For example, because the BS knows that the two links are between the same pair of UEs, it does not allocate resources for transmission on both links at the same time.

[0128] refer to Fig.10 , at 1008, the BS sends an indication of the resource set to the first UE.

[0129] refer to Fig.10 In one example, the shared link management state includes:

[0130] Shared radio link activity or failure status,

[0131] A shared keep-alive timer that triggers a signal to the first unicast link based on inactivity on both the first unicast link and the second unicast link.

[0132] the second UE sends a common keep-alive packet for extending the expiration time of both the first unicast link and the second unicast link, and processes an incoming keep-alive packet from the second UE on either the first unicast link or the second unicast link for extending the expiration time of the first unicast link.

[0133] an expiration time of both the first unicast link and the second unicast link,

[0134] • shared security information for encrypting and / or decrypting data transmitted on the first unicast link and the second unicast link, or • any combination thereof.

[0135] Fig.11 A method for implementing an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 6 The exemplary UE 1100 of the process 600, Figure 6 The process 600 is represented as a series of related functional modules. UE 1100 may correspond to Figure 1 Any of the UEs shown in , such as UE 104, 152, 160, 182, 190, Figure 2A and 2B Any of the UEs 240 shown in Figure 3 Any of UE302, 304, or Figure 4A 400, etc. In the illustrated example, a module for communicating 1102 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a transceiver (e.g., transceiver 410, 420, etc.) as discussed herein. In the illustrated example, a module for establishing 1104 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a processing system (e.g., processing system 432) and / or a transceiver (e.g., transceiver 410, 420, etc.). In the illustrated example, a module for tunneling 1106 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a processing system (e.g., processing system 432) and / or a transceiver (e.g., transceiver 410, 420, etc.).

[0136] Fig.12 A method for implementing an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 8 The exemplary UE 1200 of the process 800, Figure 8 The process 800 is represented as a series of related functional modules. The UE 1200 may correspond to Figure 1 Any of the UEs shown in , such as UE 104, 152, 160, 182, 190, Figure 2A and 2B Any of the UEs 240 shown in Figure 3 Any of UE302, 304, or Figure 4A400, etc. In the illustrated example, a module 1202 for communicating may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a transceiver (e.g., transceiver 410, 420, etc.) as discussed herein. In the illustrated example, a module 1204 for establishing may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a processing system (e.g., processing system 432) and / or a transceiver (e.g., transceiver 410, 420, etc.). In the illustrated example, a module 1206 for associating may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a processing system (e.g., processing system 432) and / or a transceiver (e.g., transceiver 410, 420, etc.). In the illustrated example, a module 1208 for communicating may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a transceiver (e.g., transceiver 410, 420, etc.) as discussed herein. In the depicted example, a means for maintaining 1210 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a processing system (eg, processing system 432) and / or a transceiver (eg, transceivers 410, 420, etc.).

[0137] Fig.13 A method for implementing an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Fig.10 An exemplary BS1300 of the process 1000, Fig.10 The process 1000 of BS1300 is represented as a series of related functional modules. Figure 1 Any of the BS or AP described, Figure 2A-2B Any of the eNBs 222-224, Figure 4B BS 404, etc. In the illustrated example, a module for receiving 1302 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a transceiver as discussed herein (e.g., transceivers 450, 460, etc.). In the illustrated example, a module for determining 1304 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a processing system as discussed herein (e.g., processing system 484). In the illustrated example, a module for determining 1306 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a processing system as discussed herein (e.g., processing system 484). In the illustrated example, a module for transmitting 1308 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a transceiver as discussed herein (e.g., transceivers 450, 460, etc.).

[0138] Figure 11-13The functions of the modules can be implemented in various ways consistent with the teachings of this article. In some designs, the functions of these modules can be implemented as one or more electrical components. In some designs, the functions of these blocks can be implemented as a processing system including one or more processor components. In some designs, the functions of these modules can be implemented using, for example, at least a portion of one or more integrated circuits (e.g., ASICs). As discussed herein, an integrated circuit may include a processor, software, other related components, or some combination thereof. Therefore, the functions of different modules can be implemented as, for example, different subsets of integrated circuits, different subsets of software module sets, or a combination thereof. Moreover, it will be understood that a given subset (e.g., of an integrated circuit and / or software module set) can provide at least a portion of the functions for more than one module.

[0139] in addition, Figure 11-13 The components and functions represented, as well as other components and functions described herein, may be implemented using any suitable means. Such means may also be implemented, at least in part, using corresponding structures as taught herein. For example, the above combination of "for Figure 11-13 Components described as "modules of components" may also correspond to similarly designated "units for functionality." Thus, in some aspects, one or more of such units may be implemented using one or more of processor components, integrated circuits, or other suitable structures as taught herein, including as algorithms. Those skilled in the art will recognize in the present disclosure the algorithms represented in the foregoing description, and the sequences of actions that may be represented by pseudo code. For example, Figure 11-13 The components and functions represented may include code for performing LOAD operations, COMPARE operations, RETURN operations, IF-THEN-ELSE loops, and the like.

[0140] Those skilled in the art will recognize that a variety of different techniques and methods may be used to represent information and signals. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips mentioned throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0141] In addition, those skilled in the art will recognize that the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, circuits and algorithm steps described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software or a combination of the two. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits and steps have been generally described above according to their functions. Whether such functions are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the entire system. Those skilled in the art can implement the described functions in different ways for each specific application, but such implementation method decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0142] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in an alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0143] The methods, sequences and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software module may reside in a random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROMs, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. In an alternative, the storage medium may be integrated into the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In an alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside in a user terminal as discrete components.

[0144] In one or more exemplary aspects, the function can be implemented with hardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof. If implemented with software, the function can be stored on a computer-readable medium or sent via a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that is convenient for transferring a computer program from one location to another. Storage media can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. Exemplarily and not restrictively, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of an instruction or data structure and can be accessed by a computer. In addition, any connection is appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is sent from a website, a server or other remote source using a coaxial cable, an optical cable, a twisted pair, a digital subscriber line (DSL) or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio and microwaves, then coaxial cable, optical cable, twisted pair, DSL or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio and microwaves are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc, where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data using lasers. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0145] Although the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative aspects of the present disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and / or operations of the method claims according to the various aspects of the present disclosure described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. In addition, although elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in singular form, plural forms are also covered unless expressly stated to be limited to the singular form.

Claims

1. A method of operating a first user equipment (UE), comprising: Communicating a first type of service with a second UE via a unicast link; establishing support for transmitting a second type of traffic over the unicast link; as well as The second type of traffic is tunneled between the first UE and the second UE over the unicast link.

2. A method of operating a first user equipment (UE), comprising: Communicating a first type of service with a second UE via a first unicast link; Establishing a second unicast link associated with a second type of service with the second UE; associating the first unicast link and the second unicast link together with a shared link management state; communicating the second type of service with the second UE via the second unicast link; as well as The shared link management state of the first unicast link and the second unicast link is maintained based on traffic communicated on either of the first unicast link and the second unicast link.

3. A method of operating a base station, comprising: receiving, from a first user equipment (UE) having established a first unicast link for communication of a first type of traffic with a second UE, a request for resources associated with link establishment of a second unicast link for communication of a second type of traffic with the second UE; determining that the first unicast link and the second unicast link are to be associated with a shared link management state; determining a set of resources for supporting the second unicast link between the first UE and the second UE based at least in part on the shared link management state determined for the first unicast link and the second unicast link; as well as An indication of the resource set is sent to the first UE.

4. A first user equipment (UE), comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; as well as at least one processor coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor and the memory being configured to: Communicating a first type of service with a second UE via a unicast link; establishing support for transmitting a second type of traffic over the unicast link; as well as The second type of traffic is tunneled between the first UE and the second UE over the unicast link.

5. A first user equipment (UE), comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; as well as at least one processor coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor and the memory being configured to: Communicating a first type of service with a second UE via a first unicast link; Establishing a second unicast link associated with a second type of service with the second UE; associating the first unicast link and the second unicast link together with a shared link management state; communicating the second type of service with the second UE via the second unicast link; as well as The shared link management state of the first unicast link and the second unicast link is maintained based on traffic communicated on either of the first unicast link and the second unicast link.

6. A base station, comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; as well as at least one processor coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor and the memory being configured to: receiving, from a first user equipment (UE) having established a first unicast link for communication of a first type of traffic with a second UE, a request for resources associated with link establishment of a second unicast link for communication of a second type of traffic with the second UE; determining that the first unicast link and the second unicast link are to be associated with a shared link management state; determining a set of resources for supporting the second unicast link between the first UE and the second UE based at least in part on the shared link management state determined for the first unicast link and the second unicast link; as well as An indication of the resource set is sent to the first UE.

7. A first user equipment (UE), comprising: means for communicating a first type of traffic with a second UE via a unicast link; means for establishing support for transmitting a second type of traffic over the unicast link; as well as Means for tunneling the second type of traffic between the first UE and the second UE over the unicast link.

8. A first user equipment (UE), comprising: means for communicating a first type of traffic with a second UE via a first unicast link; means for establishing a second unicast link associated with a second type of service with the second UE; means for associating the first unicast link and the second unicast link together with a shared link management state; means for communicating the second type of traffic with the second UE via the second unicast link; as well as Means for maintaining the shared link management state of the first unicast link and the second unicast link based on traffic communicated on either of the first unicast link and the second unicast link.

9. A base station, comprising: means for receiving, from a first user equipment (UE) having established a first unicast link for communication of a first type of traffic with the second UE, a request for resources associated with link establishment of a second unicast link for communication of a second type of traffic with the second UE; means for determining that the first unicast link and the second unicast link are to be associated with a shared link management state; means for determining a set of resources for supporting the second unicast link between the first UE and the second UE based at least in part on the shared link management state determined for the first unicast link and the second unicast link; as well as Means for sending an indication of the resource set to the first UE.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising: at least one instruction instructing a first user equipment (UE) to communicate a first type of service with a second UE via a unicast link; at least one instruction instructing the first UE to establish support for transmitting a second type of service over the unicast link; as well as At least one instruction instructing the first UE to tunnel the second type of traffic between the first UE and the second UE over the unicast link.

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