Method for controlling resource sharing operation of multiple wireless interfaces

Abstract

The proposed method enables reduction of power consumption and instantaneous computation requirements in the case where wireless devices operating according to different and non-interoperable standards use shared radio resources by using a dual mode UE configured to perform at least part of the proposed method. The use of shared radio resources may include so-called side-chain communications. In these cases, a dual mode UE internally shares information relating to the use of resource elements in the shared resource, which are reserved or planned to use for UEs operating in accordance with a first communication standard, and forwards these information to UEs limited to communicating in accordance with a second communication standard, and correspondingly modifying the operation of the second type of wireless interface.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly, to a method for controlling wireless interface operations. Background Art

[0002] In today’s connected world, many devices are connected to other devices or systems via wireless connections. These devices can include portable or mobile devices, sensors, and even motor vehicles. In the past, multiple communication standards have been developed, deployed, and retired, all of which use corresponding parts of the wireless spectrum for transmission. Some of the older wireless communication standards include GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) (also known as 2G) and UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) (also known as 3G). Although these standards have not been completely retired, their data transmission rates and ability to serve a large number of users simultaneously are no longer able to meet the needs of the growing number of connected mobile devices, which led to the development and deployment of LTE (Long Term Evolution) or 4G, and later NR (New Radio) (also known as 5G).

[0003] An important application scenario for LTE and NR communication systems is Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), which increasingly enable communication between vehicles and other objects or services around them that have wireless capabilities, such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and vehicles. V2X, short for vehicle-to-everything (or anything), covers all imaginable communication scenarios.

[0004] In V2X communication, data transmission is preferably carried out directly between the communication partners without using a base station or other network elements as an intermediary, because direct communication has a lower delay between transmission and reception. Since this direct communication can use the same communication interface as LTE or NR communication through the corresponding network, but the data is not routed to a base station and transmitted through the network, this direct communication is also called "sidelink" communication, or SL.

[0005] LTE V2X is expected to operate in the 5.9 GHz frequency band reserved for ITS services in certain markets (e.g., the United States, Europe, China). In SL communications, vehicles, wireless devices or user equipment (UE) (used interchangeably here) use the so-called PC5 interface, while they use the Uu interface in vehicle-to-network (V2N) communications. LTE V2X is designed to support basic cooperative active traffic safety, traffic management and telematics applications and services. The services supported by LTE V2X are similar to those supported by DSRC or its European counterpart ITS-G5. These applications and services rely on the broadcast transmission of small awareness messages, such as the cooperative awareness messages (CAM) in ITS-G5 or the basic safety messages (BSM) in DSRC, to periodically provide basic information such as the position, direction, speed and acceleration of the transmitting vehicle. LTE V2X defines a new physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) for V2X and reuses the upper V2X layers and protocols specified by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute), IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers).

[0006] LTE V2X defines two resource allocation modes for V2X SL communication, namely, Mode 3 and Mode 4. In Mode 3, the cellular or network infrastructure (eNB) manages V2X SL communication. This includes selecting and configuring communication resources, i.e., sub-channels. In contrast, Mode 4 can operate without the support of cellular infrastructure. In this case, the vehicle can autonomously select, manage, and configure sub-channels. Vehicles using Mode 3 need to be within network coverage, while vehicles using Mode 4 can operate without network coverage.

[0007] LTE V2X uses SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access) and supports 10MHz and 20MHz channels. The channel is divided into 180kHz resource blocks (RBs), corresponding to 12 subcarriers, each of which is 15kHz. In the time domain, the channel is organized into 1ms subframes. Figure 1 Channelization in LTE V2X Mode 4 sensing-based SPS scheduling is shown, with an example length of T = 100ms. Each subframe has 14 OFDM symbols with a normal cyclic prefix. Nine of these symbols are used to transmit data, and four symbols (3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th) are used to transmit demodulation reference signals (DMRS) for channel estimation and to eliminate Doppler effects at high speeds. The last symbol is used as a guard symbol for timing adjustment and allows the vehicle to switch between transmission and reception across subframes.

[0008] RBs are grouped into subchannels. A subchannel can only contain RBs within the same subframe. The number of RBs per subchannel can be different and is (pre)configured. (Pre)configuration refers to one of the following two situations:

[0009] 1) A configuration defined by the network and issued / signaled to the UE via a cellular base station (eNB in ​​LTE or gNB in ​​5GNR) when the UE is within network coverage; or

[0010] 2) When the UE leaves the network coverage, the configuration is predefined in the UE. The subchannel is used to transmit data and control information. The data is organized into transport blocks (TB)

[0011] The LTE standard does not specify an algorithm for selecting subchannels in Mode 3. Instead, it defines two scheduling methods: dynamic scheduling and semi-persistent scheduling (SPS). With dynamic scheduling, the UE must request a subchannel from the eNB for each TB. With SPS scheduling, the eNB reserves subchannels so that the UE can transmit multiple TBs. The eNB can configure the periodicity of the reserved subchannels. LTE Mode 3 is superior to LTE Mode 4 because the transmission scheduling is centralized at the eNB. However, it requires operation within the network coverage area and introduces cellular uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) signaling overhead. LTE Mode 3 also encounters challenges at cell boundaries, especially when different operators serve adjacent UEs.

[0012] In LTE Mode 4, the UE autonomously selects its subchannel using the perception-based SPS scheduling scheme specified in 3GPP Release 14 / 15. The UE uses the selected subchannel to transmit the next reselection counter consecutive TB. The UE uses the resource reservation interval (RRI) included in the sidelink control information (SCI) to announce the reservation of the selected subchannel for the transmission of the next TB. Figure 1 As shown, the UE is in subframe t TX Select a subchannel at subframe t TX +RRI informs neighboring UEs to reserve these channels for the next transmission. This is done to prevent other UEs from using the same subchannels at the same time. RRI can be equal to 0ms, 20ms, 50ms, 100ms or any multiple of 100ms, with a maximum value of 1000ms. The UE sets the RRI to 0ms to inform neighboring UEs that it has not reserved the same subchannel for the next TB. The UE can only select an RRI value higher than 0ms from the (pre-)configured list of allowed RRI values. The list can contain up to 16 values, although the current 3GPP standard only defines 12 RRI values ​​higher than 0ms for Mode 4.

[0013] 5G NR V2X is designed to complement LTE V2X. LTE V2X supports basic active safety and traffic management use cases, while 5G NR V2X supports more advanced use cases and higher levels of automation. Like LTE, the 5G system architecture supports two V2X communication operation modes, namely V2X communication over the PC5 reference point or interface, and V2X communication over the Uu reference point or interface.

[0014] 5G NR is specified to operate in two frequency ranges, FR1 from 450MHz to 6GHz and FR2 from 24.25GHz to 52.6GHz. In NR Uu, the maximum carrier bandwidth is 200MHz for FR1 and 400MHz for FR2. Although the NR infrastructure (gNB) can support such wide bandwidths, not all UEs can, especially low-end UEs. In addition, supporting ultra-large bandwidths may also mean higher power consumption for UEs from the perspective of radio frequency (RF) and baseband signal processing. In order to support UEs that cannot handle large bandwidths due to processing limitations or high power consumption, the concept of bandwidth part (BWP) is introduced. A bandwidth part (BWP) consists of a continuous bandwidth within the carrier bandwidth, in which a single numeric symbol is used. By defining a smaller BWP, the computational complexity and power consumption of the UE can be reduced. Since each BWP can have different bandwidth and numeric symbol, the BWP can be used to multiplex transmissions with different configurations and requirements by dividing the carrier bandwidth, thereby making more flexible and efficient use of resources. The term "numeric symbol" is generally understood to refer to the physical waveform characteristics, expressed in terms of subcarrier spacing and corresponding time domain length. In 5GNR, the subcarrier spacing can vary from 15kHz to 960kHz, and as of Release 17, there are 7 numeric symbols: SCS15, 30, 60, 120, 240, 480, 960kHz. In contrast, there is only one numeric symbol in LTE, SCS15kHz. Larger SCSs allow lower latency and support higher frequency bands, while smaller SCSs are suitable for lower frequency bands and wider coverage. The symbol duration of 5G NR is inversely proportional to the SCS. The larger the SCS, the shorter the symbol duration, resulting in faster data transmission and lower latency.

[0015] In 5G NR V2X, a subset of available SL resources is (pre)configured for multiple UEs to use for their SL transmissions. This subset of available SL resources is called a resource pool (RP), such as Figure 2As shown. A resource pool can contain any number of adjacent or consecutive subchannels and multiple consecutive time slots. Resource blocks in a resource pool are called physical resource blocks (PRBs). A RP consists of consecutive PRBs and consecutive or non-contiguous time slots (pre-)configured for SL transmission. RP must be defined within a SL BWP. Therefore, a single number character is used within an RP. If a UE has an active uplink (UL) BWP, the SL BWP must use the same number character as the UL BWP, provided that they are both in the same carrier. Otherwise, the SL BWP will be disabled. The number character is used to refer to the subcarrier spacing of the PRB and can be expressed in kHz.

[0016] In the frequency domain, the RP is divided into a (pre)configured number L of consecutive subchannels, where a subchannel consists of a group of consecutive PRBs in a time slot. The number of PRBs in a subchannel corresponds to the (pre)configured subchannel size in the RP. In NR V2X SL, the subchannel size M sub It can be equal to 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75 or 100 PRBs. A subchannel represents the smallest unit of sidelink data transmission or reception. Sidelink transmission can use one or more subchannels. In the time domain, the time slots that are part of the resource pool are (pre) configured and appear with a periodicity of 10240ms. The time slots that are part of the resource pool can be (pre) configured as a bitmap. The length of the bitmap can be equal to 10, 11, 12...160.

[0017] Resource pools can be used for all transmission types, i.e. unicast, multicast and broadcast, and can be used by multiple UEs for their SL transmissions. A UE can be (pre-)configured with multiple resource pools for transmission / sending, i.e. transmit / send resource pools, and multiple resource pools for reception, i.e. receive resource pools. The UE can then receive data on resource pools used by other UEs for SL transmissions, while the UE can still utilize its transmit resource pools for transmissions on SL.

[0018] 5GAA Release 16 defines two modes, Mode 1 and Mode 2, for selecting subchannels in NR V2X SL communications using the NR V2X PC5 interface. These two modes are the counterparts of Mode 3 and Mode 4 in LTE V2X discussed above. However, unlike NR V2X, which supports broadcast, multicast, and unicast SL communications, LTE V2X only supports broadcast SL communications.

[0019] Similar to Mode 3 in LTE V2X, in NR Mode 1, the network infrastructure (gNB) allocates and manages NR SL radio resources for V2V communication using the NR Uu interface. Therefore, the UE must be under network coverage to use NR Mode 1. NRSL radio resources can be allocated from licensed carriers dedicated to NR SL communication or from licensed carriers that share resources between SL and UL communication. SL radio resources can be configured so that NR Mode 1 and NR Mode 2 use separate resource pools. An alternative is for NR Mode 1 and NR Mode 2 to share a resource pool. Pool sharing allows for more efficient use of resources but is prone to potential conflicts between NR Mode 1 and NR Mode 2 transmissions. To address this issue, NR Mode 1 UEs inform NR Mode 2 UEs of the resources allocated for their future transmissions.

[0020] NR Mode 1 uses dynamic grant (DG) scheduling similar to LTE V2X Mode 3, except that the semi-persistent scheduling in LTE V2X Mode 3 is replaced by configured grant scheduling. For DG, NR Mode 1 UEs must request resources from the base station for each TB transmission. To do this, the UE must send a scheduling request (SR) to the gNB, which responds by indicating the SL resources - i.e., slots and subchannels - allocated for the TB transmission and up to 2 possible retransmissions. The UE informs other UEs of the resources it will use for the TB transmission and up to 2 retransmissions via a first-level Sidelink Control Information (SCI) message. In this way, neighboring UEs in NR Mode 2 can know which resources the UE in NR Mode 1 will use.

[0021] Similar to Mode 4 in LTE V2X, when Mode 2 is used in NR V2X, the UE can autonomously select its SL resources from a resource pool, i.e., one or more subchannels. In this case, the UE can operate without network coverage. When the UE is in network coverage, the resource pool can be (pre)configured by the gNB. NR Mode 2 and LTE Mode 4 differ in scheduling schemes. LTE Mode 4 operates following a perception-based SPS scheme, while NR Mode 2 can operate using a dynamic or SPS scheme that is different from the scheme designed for LTE Mode 4. The dynamic scheme selects new resources for each TB and can only reserve resources for the retransmission of that TB. In this section, selected resources and reserved resources are distinguished. Reserved resources are selected resources that the UE reserves for future transmissions by notifying neighboring UEs using a first-level SCI message. When using the SPS scheme, the UE can select and reserve resources for multiple TBs and their retransmissions. Importantly, the SPS scheme can be enabled or disabled in the resource pool by corresponding (pre)configuration.

[0022] A large number of radio devices or user equipment (UE) communicating according to the 4G LTE standard or the 5G NR standard may be in common radio range and require SL communication. Since LTE and NR can use the same part of the available resources, i.e., can operate on the same frequency or at least partially overlapping frequency bands, radio devices operating according to either standard may attempt to transmit simultaneously in the frequencies or frequency bands they use mutually. The resulting conflicting access to the same resources can only be avoided by coordinating access to the commonly used resources.

[0023] When both LTE and NR UEs are within the coverage of their respective networks, coordination of reservation and access to radio resources can be achieved at the network level, i.e., the eNB and gNB coordinate the resources allocated to their respective UEs. However, the radio access (RA) mechanisms of LTE and NR are not compatible, even if the messages required for RA are sent on the same frequency. Therefore, if either the LTE UE or the NR UE is not within the coverage of their respective networks, coordinated access of the networks for these two incompatible communication types will not be achieved, because the UEs that are not within the coverage of their networks cannot decode the resource reservation of the other network, and ultimately can only adopt their own self-coordination mode.

[0024] It is expected that most, if not all, of the spectrum used for ITS will be allocated to LTE SL, which will leave little dedicated ITS spectrum available for NR. One motivation for prioritizing ITS spectrum for LTE SL is the need to enable basic safety V2X use cases such as those described in 3GPP TS 22.885 in as many vehicles as possible in a relatively short period of time to minimize traffic-related accidents and fatalities. As new vehicles supporting both LTE SL and NR SL, and in the longer term vehicles supporting only NR SL, enter the market, there will eventually be enough market penetration to enable advanced V2X use cases such as those described in 3GPP TS 22.886. However, to make these advanced V2X use cases possible, sufficient spectrum will need to be available for NR SL in both the ITS bands and other non-ITS bands. While the latter situation is addressed in NR SL by introducing features such as carrier aggregation, unlicensed band operation, and beam management in FR2 bands, the former is achieved through co-channel coexistence of LTE SL and NR SL. Co-channel coexistence allows two different, mutually incompatible or non-interoperable radio access technologies (RATs) to use the same radio resources. In this context, incompatibility or non-interoperability may include the ability of one or both RATs to receive and / or decode portions of the other RAT's transmissions. However, full interoperability does not exist.

[0025] In order to avoid overlapping resource pools between two coexisting, mutually incompatible or non-interoperable RATs, a predefined, rigid resource allocation scheme may be used. Figure 3 a) in Figure 1 schematically shows an example of a rigid resource allocation scheme. In a rigid resource allocation scheme, a resource pool is exclusively allocated within a resource to communications that conform to one of the two communication standards. The light dashed background represents a commonly used resource, i.e., a channel that varies over time, while reservations for different communication standards are represented by different slashes. It should be noted that there may or may not be unused space between reservations for different resource pools, and that the respective reserved resource pools may have different lengths and widths, i.e., the number of consecutive subchannels and time slots. Since the resource allocation is rigid, i.e., fixed, all UEs operating according to the corresponding standard can know it in advance. However, although easy to implement, this rigid resource allocation scheme cannot take into account the situation where UEs of different standards are composed in the same radio range, i.e., the number of UEs conforming to the first standard is greater than the number of UEs conforming to the second standard, and once implemented in the UE, it is difficult to adjust. Therefore, resources in a resource pool reserved for communications conforming to a certain standard may not be used, while resources reserved for communications conforming to another standard may be insufficient. This usually leads to inefficiencies, especially when the proportion of UEs under the corresponding communication standards within the same radio range is inconsistent with the corresponding proportion preset in the rigid allocation.

[0026] Utilizing resource elements reserved but unused for one communication standard to communicate in accordance with another communication standard will improve overall radio resource utilization and thus efficiency. However, doing so requires a mechanism to avoid or at least reduce collisions when transmitting according to the two communication standards during the overlap period. Figure 3 b) in Figure 1 illustrates partially overlapping resource pools, where some of the resources reserved for communications that meet one standard can be used for communications that meet another standard. Here, the resources used for communications that meet the overlapping standards are reserved specifically for that purpose. This "pool occupation" still requires some coordination, and there may still be inefficiencies, such as when the "occupied" portion of the resource pool is not fully used for communications that meet the occupation standard, but could be used for communications that meet the other standard.

[0027] As mentioned above, in a resource pool provided to comply with a certain communication standard, not all resource elements, sub-channels and time slots are necessarily used, and unused resource elements will be wasted. Figure 4Depicted is an exemplary LTE resource pool structure showing the reserved or allocated resource elements in the Physical SL Control Channel (PSCCH) and Physical SL Shared Channel (PSSCH) and the available resource elements for contiguous and non-contiguous resource allocation. Contiguous and non-contiguous refers to the arrangement of transport blocks (TBs) on subchannels. Using unused resource elements for communications compliant with another communication standard will improve overall resource usage, thereby improving efficiency.

[0028] The remaining inefficiencies can be further reduced by introducing partially overlapping resource pools, where the overlapping portions are shared by UEs that conform to their respective non-interoperable communication standards.

[0029] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of partially overlapping resource pools within a frequency range for co-channel coexistence is shown, wherein the overlapping portion or portion is shared. As described above, this is feasible and does not cause any problems when the resource elements of the shared portion or portion of the resource pool have not yet been fully allocated for communications that meet the criteria that may have priority access. This situation, i.e., the shared portion has not yet been fully allocated for use, tends to be more common, and the method proposed in this article addresses those situations in which access coordination to the shared resources cannot be achieved within the required parameters.

[0030] LTE predates NR and has been widely deployed, and its use in sidelink operation is already fully developed, specified and fixed, i.e. it will not be modified. Therefore, coordination optimization can only be achieved through corresponding implementation in NR systems.

[0031] Therefore, the present invention envisions that the LTE UE will be able to be within a certain range of the resource pool ( Figure 5 5G NR V2X communications. The UE will reserve resources for the resource pools marked as Class A in the LTE network, but will not be aware of the resource pool sharing that may or actually exists in the overlapping portion (marked as Class C). However, the LTE network may know the difference between Class A and Class C. Non-legacy NR UEs will know the difference between Class B and Class C, where Class B is a range in the resource pool that may or may not be dedicated or reserved for 5G NR V2X communications. The unshared portion of Class A can be considered dedicated or reserved for 4G LTE V2X communications.

[0032] As described above, the coordination of resource allocation can be network controlled, that is, the network determines and allocates the resources available to the UE in a centralized manner through the eNB or gNB, and the UE only uses the allocated resources; or it can be UE controlled, in which case the UE determines the available resources in an autonomous and distributed manner. In view of this, when a UE (UE-A) that only supports a first communication standard (e.g., 4G LTE standard) and a UE (UE-B) that only supports a second communication standard (e.g., 5G NR standard) are located in an area with only network coverage of the first standard or only network coverage of the second standard (e.g., only LTE or NR), RA coordination problems may arise. In this case, the network-controlled resource allocation will not be known to all UEs located in the area with only the first or only the second standard network coverage, because the resource allocation performed by the first standard NB is not received or understood by the UE-B that only supports the second standard, and the resource allocation performed by the second standard NB is not received or understood by the UE-A that only supports the first standard. Therefore, the corresponding UE that cannot benefit from the network-controlled resource allocation will use the UE-controlled resource allocation method instead. Since the two resource allocation schemes are not coordinated with each other, the resource blocks allocated in the shared resource pool may overlap at least partially, which may cause communication attempts to be hindered or even fail due to signal interference.

[0033] Likewise, in an area without any network coverage, coordination problems may arise when UE-A supporting only the first standard and UE-B supporting only the second standard each attempt to perform respective UE control resource allocations. Here, the respective UEs communicating according to respective non-interoperable standards will be unaware of each other's resource allocations, which may result in at least partially overlapping allocated resource pools.

[0034] Some UE-Bs supporting only the second standard may be able to receive and decode some control messages related to reservation, allocation and use of shared resources transmitted according to the first standard. However, this capability may require additional hardware and / or software support, which means higher component costs, for example, for almost simultaneous decoding of control messages that may have different digital symbols, and requires higher computing power and therefore higher energy consumption. In addition, in order to be able to simultaneously decode different digital symbols in the channel where coexistence occurs, such hardware (HW) will face trade-offs (in design).

[0035] As briefly described above, some wireless devices may be equipped with corresponding communication interfaces for communicating according to a first standard and a second standard (e.g., 4G LTE and 5G NR). These devices may also be referred to as dual-mode UEs and are designated herein as a third type of device, a third type of wireless device, or a UE-C. Since the first type of communication interface of the UE-C is capable of fully receiving and decoding control messages received through the first type of communication interface, in particular related to resource reservation and allocation of a shared resource pool, it would not be beneficial if the second type of interface of these third type of devices were capable of receiving and decoding control messages related to reservation, allocation, and use of shared resources transmitted according to the first standard. However, it would be beneficial if the relevant information was passed internally from the first type of communication interface to the second type of communication interface. To this end, the corresponding communication interfaces of such third type of wireless devices may be internally communicatively coupled. Nevertheless, since the first type and second type of interfaces in the UE-C are generally independent of each other, both can still receive and decode information related to coordinated operations in shared resources.

[0036] However, even if the relevant information is shared internally in the third type of device, this shared knowledge is still limited to the UE-C, if it is shared internally at all. Therefore, even if there are one or more dual-mode UEs in the above scenario, UE-B that only supports the second standard still needs to receive and / or decode the control messages on its own.

[0037] In view of the above discussion, it is desirable to reduce the computational load and / or power consumption in the second and third categories of UEs in at least some of the following situations: the first, second and third categories of UEs are located within a given area and within radio range within the given area, and these UEs use at least partially shared resources; and there is no complete network coverage that complies with both the first and second communication standards. Summary of the invention

[0038] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling the operation of a second type wireless interface in second type and third type wireless devices to at least partially solve the above needs.

[0039] This object is achieved by the methods according to claims 1, 6, 10 and 13, respectively, and by the devices according to claims 5, 9 and 12. Advantageous embodiments and variants are given in the respective dependent claims. The various methods described herein and their implementation in a wireless device or communication apparatus can be implemented individually or complementary to achieve the overall object of the invention.

[0040] The solution proposed herein by the present invention at least partially addresses the deficiencies in the prior art discussed above by utilizing the capabilities of dual-mode UEs (third class wireless devices or UE-C). These devices are able to receive information related to the operation of the first class communication interface through the first class communication interface and share this information internally with a control module for controlling the operation of the second class communication interface. This capability can be used not only to control the operation of the third class device or UE-C, but also to transmit corresponding information or control messages to the second class device (also referred to herein as the second class wireless device or UE-B), so that these UE-B can also operate in an operating mode with reduced computing power and energy consumption.

[0041] Before elaborating on the present invention in detail, an exemplary scenario to which the present invention is directed will be briefly outlined, taking LTE as a first communication standard and 5G NR as a second communication standard. As initially mentioned, both LTE and NR have operating modes where their respective networks are unavailable, at which time the UE performs autonomous resource allocation.

[0042] Figure 6 An exemplary representation of the above situation is shown. Figure 6 In a), only LTE network coverage is provided in an area, where UE-A that only supports the first standard, UE-B that only supports the second standard, and dual-mode UE-C are located in the area. In the figure, UE-A is represented by a vehicle with a circle with vertical hatching, UE-B is represented by a vehicle with a circle with horizontal hatching, and UE-C is represented by a vehicle with a circle with cross hatching. The LTE network (represented by a radio tower icon marked with an eNB) can only allocate resources for the NR radio interface of UE-A and UE-C, as shown by the arrows. UE-B will be unaware of the resource allocation performed by the LTE eNB, as shown by the question mark, and will instead adopt the UE-controlled resource allocation performed by UE-B, which may cause interference on at least partially overlapping resource pools and / or allocated resources, and may result in insufficient time synchronization between UE-B and UE-A.

[0043] exist Figure 6 In b), only NR network coverage is provided in an area, where UE-A that only supports the first standard, UE-B that only supports the second standard, and dual-mode UE-C are located in the area. Figure 6Similar to a) in FIG. 1 , UE-A is represented by a vehicle with a circle containing vertical hatching, UE-B is represented by a vehicle with a circle containing horizontal hatching, and UE-C is represented by a vehicle with a circle containing cross hatching. The NR network (represented by a radio tower icon with a gNB labeled) can only allocate resources for the NR radio interface of UE-B and UE-C, as shown by the arrows. UE-A will be unaware of the resource allocation made by the NR gNB, as shown by the question mark, and will fall back on the UE controlled resource allocation performed by UE-A, which may cause interference on at least partially overlapping resource pools and / or allocated resources, and may result in insufficient time synchronization between UE-B and UE-A.

[0044] Figure 7 The schematic diagram shows a situation where there is no network coverage in a given area, wherein UE-A supporting only the first standard, UE-B supporting only the second standard, and dual-mode UE-C are located in the given area. Figure 6 Similar to a) and b) in , UE-A is represented by a vehicle with a circle containing vertical hatching, UE-B is represented by a vehicle with a circle containing horizontal hatching, and UE-C is represented by a vehicle with a circle containing cross hatching. Since there is no network available to coordinate radio access, UE-A and UE-B will independently perform UE control resource allocation. Obviously, UE A is unaware of the allocation reached by UE-B, and vice versa, as shown by the question mark, while only UE-C that happens to be in a given area may be aware of both allocations, as shown by the exclamation mark. In any case, this will result in one or more UEs not being able to fully understand the actual usage of shared resources, which may cause the above-mentioned communication problems.

[0045] It is important to note that it is assumed that LTE takes precedence over NR in terms of resource allocation and synchronization because the standards are already set and cannot be modified to accommodate the above situation. In addition, sidelink operation, especially in out-of-coverage situations, allows the use of different synchronization sources, including other UEs as synchronization references, which increases the possibility of insufficient synchronization when two non-interoperable communication systems access shared resources.

[0046] Therefore, according to a first aspect of the present invention, a method for operating a third type of device in the absence and / or unavailability of network coverage for at least a first or a second communication standard is proposed, the third type of device comprising a first type of wireless interface for communicating according to the first communication standard and a second type of wireless interface for communicating according to the second communication standard. The first type and the second type of wireless interface are communicatively coupled to each other under the control of one or more microprocessors of the third type of device. The first type and the second type of wireless interface and / or the first type and the second type of communication standards are generally not interoperable and use at least partially shared radio resources. In this context, generally not interoperable may allow the second type of wireless interface to receive and decode a subset / a portion of transmissions carried out according to the first communication standard, in particular transmissions carrying the following control information: the control information is related to the use of at least partially shared radio resources for communication carried out according to the first or the second communication standard. The received portion / a subset may include receiving the portion / the subset on a communication channel having different physical characteristics (e.g., different subcarrier spacing and time slot duration). The second type of wireless interface of the third type of device may be configured to use a subcarrier spacing (SCS) that is a multiple of the SCS of the first type of wireless interface of the third type of device. However, the second type of radio interface is not fully compatible with communications according to the first communication standard. The at least partially shared resources extend over a plurality of consecutive subcarriers and time. Resource elements in the shared radio resources may include physical resource blocks, channels, subchannels or a combination thereof, and may further include time slots or any combination of the above elements. The term "partially shared" may be understood as simultaneous or exclusive / exclusive use of channels, subchannels or time slots of radio resources when communicating over the first and second types of radio interfaces.

[0047] The method of the first aspect comprises the step of determining whether network coverage compliant with the first and / or second communication standard exists and / or is available. In the event of a positive answer, the method may stop, or preferably restart in a continuous or repetitive manner.

[0048] If network coverage that complies with the first communication standard does not exist and / or is unavailable, and network coverage that complies with the second communication standard exists and is available, the method includes internally forwarding information about the use of shared radio resources previously received through the first type of wireless interface to a second control module associated with the second type of wireless interface, and controlling the operation of the second control module accordingly. The internal forwarding information can be implemented by a first control module associated with the first communication interface. The control modules of the first and second types of communication interfaces can each be implemented in hardware and / or software, and can also include and / or control elements and components commonly found in general wireless communication interfaces, such as signal mappers and demappers, modulators and demodulators, transmit power controllers, gain control circuits (AGCs), transmit amplifiers, receive amplifiers, digital-to-analog converters (DACs), analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), and other electronic circuits.

[0049] Throughout the specification, the control module associated with the first type of wireless interface in the third type of device may have common elements with the control module associated with the second type of wireless interface, for example, when the actual functions of the control module associated with the first type or the second type of wireless interface are implemented as computer program instructions, these instructions may be executed by the same physical microprocessor or its physical or logical core, using the same physical volatile memory. The control module associated with the first type of wireless interface and / or the second type of wireless interface may include one or more microprocessors, related volatile and non-volatile memories, and may execute computer program instructions stored in the non-volatile memory, which perform decoding, encoding, device internal information sharing and / or control of the physical elements of the wireless interface or other elements provided therein.

[0050] In a further step of the method of the first aspect, a control message is sent via the second class wireless interface relating to / in relation to selectively enabling or disabling the following operating mode of the second class wireless interface of the second class device: in this operating mode, transmissions carrying information related to reservation, allocation and / or use of shared resources transmitted in accordance with the first standard are received and / or decoded. The control message sent via the second class wireless interface of the third class device is targeted at one or more second class devices within radio range, or a base station providing network coverage in accordance with the second communication standard. In addition or as an alternative, at least a relevant portion of the corresponding information previously forwarded internally to the second control module associated with the second class communication interface can be transmitted via the second communication interface to the second class device or base station within radio range.

[0051] If the target of the transmission is a base station, a control message related to selectively enabling or disabling the following operating mode of the second type of communication interface of the second type of device can be forwarded by the base station to the second type of device: in this operating mode, information related to the reservation, allocation and use of shared resources transmitted according to the first standard is received and / or decoded.

[0052] If only at least a relevant part of the corresponding information previously forwarded internally to a second control module associated with the second type of communication interface is transmitted to a second type of device or base station within radio range via the second communication interface, then the intended recipient of the transmission will use this information to correspondingly enable or disable the following operating mode of its second type interface: in this operating mode, transmissions carrying information sent in accordance with the first standard and relating to the reservation, allocation and / or use of shared resources are received and / or decoded.

[0053] In an alternative embodiment of the method of the first aspect, if network coverage conforming to the second communication standard or network coverage conforming to the first and second communication standards does not exist and / or is unavailable, the method includes internally forwarding information related to the use of shared radio resources previously received via the first type of communication interface to a second control module associated with the second type of communication interface, similar to the previously described embodiment. Similarly, in a further step of an alternative embodiment of the method of the first aspect, a control message related to the following operating mode of the second type of wireless interface that selectively enables or disables the second type of device is sent via the second type of wireless interface: in this operating mode, a transmission carrying information related to the reservation, allocation and / or use of shared resources sent in accordance with the first standard is received and / or decoded. However, in an alternative embodiment of the method of the first aspect, the control message sent via the second type of wireless interface of the third type of device is targeted only to one or more second type devices within radio range. Similarly, in addition to sending the control message, or as an alternative, at least a relevant portion of the corresponding information previously internally forwarded to the second control module associated with the second type of communication interface can be transmitted only (exclusively) to the second type of device within radio range via the second communication interface.

[0054] In both of the above alternatives, additional or alternative transmissions may include broadcasting or multicasting this information.

[0055] In one or more embodiments, the method according to the first aspect of the present invention further comprises sensing whether one or more second-category devices are within the radio range of the third-category device. The forwarding step and the subsequent one or more transmission steps are performed only if a positive result is obtained. The implementation of such sensing is simple and direct, and only requires the use of information that can be obtained from the second-category wireless interface. This embodiment can also further reduce the power consumption of the third-category device.

[0056] According to one or more embodiments, the method according to the first aspect of the present invention also includes continuously or intermittently repeating the determination step. According to the result of the determination step, the corresponding adjusted control message and / or the relevant part of the corresponding information previously transmitted internally to the second control module associated with the second type of communication interface can be sent. This embodiment can also handle the following situation: when the operation mode of the second type of communication interface of the second type of device is selectively enabled or disabled (in this operation mode, receiving and / or decoding carries messages related to the reservation, allocation and use of shared resources transmitted according to the first standard) is only valid within a predetermined time interval, and will be restored to the default setting in the absence of further or subsequent control messages. The predetermined time interval can be pre-set in the corresponding second type of wireless interface, or can be determined by the value transmitted in the corresponding control message.

[0057] According to one or more embodiments, the method according to the first aspect of the present invention also includes comparing the digital characters at the first type of wireless interface and the second type of wireless interface of the third type of device. The determining step, the forwarding step and the transmitting step are called only when the digital characters are different from each other. This embodiment can solve the problem of requiring higher computing power and / or higher power consumption when different digital symbols are used in two communication standards. In this case, selectively not sending the control message can reduce communication overhead.

[0058] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a third class of wireless devices or communication equipment is proposed. The third class of wireless devices or communication equipment includes at least one transmitting and / or receiving antenna and associated electronic radio frequency circuits, which may be of conventional design. The above-mentioned components, circuits and elements provide or implement at least one first class wireless interface and at least one second class wireless interface. The third class of wireless devices or communication equipment also includes one or more microprocessors and associated volatile and non-volatile memories. The above-mentioned elements, circuits and components are communicatively connected via one or more signal or data connections or buses. The non-volatile memory stores computer program instructions, which, when executed by one or more microprocessors, configure the wireless device or communication equipment to perform the method according to one or more embodiments of the first aspect of the present invention described above.

[0059] According to a third aspect of the present invention, a method of operating a second type of device is proposed, the second type of device comprising a second type of wireless interface for communicating according to a second communication standard that is generally not interoperable with a first communication standard. Although the first communication standard and the second communication standard are generally not interoperable, the second type of wireless interface may also be configured to receive and decode a subset of transmissions made according to the first communication standard, the subset carrying control information related to the use of radio resources at least partially shared for communications conforming to either of the first and second communication standards. With regard to the meaning of "not interoperable" in the context of the present invention, reference may be made to the above description of the method according to the first aspect of the present invention.

[0060] The method of the third aspect includes receiving a control message from a third class device or a base station providing network coverage in accordance with a second communication standard via a second class wireless interface, the control message involving selectively enabling or disabling the following operating mode of the second class wireless interface of the second class device, in which a transmission carrying information related to the reservation, allocation and / or use of shared resources sent in accordance with the first standard is received and / or decoded. In addition or as an alternative, at least a relevant part of the information related to the use of shared radio resources by first class devices within radio range can also be received from a third class device or a base station providing network coverage in accordance with the second communication standard via the second class wireless interface. The method also includes operating the second class wireless interface of the second class device according to the received control message and / or the received relevant part of the information related to the use of shared radio resources by first class devices within radio range, the process being achieved by correspondingly enabling or disabling the reception and / or decoding of a subset of transmissions carried out based on the first communication standard and carrying control information related to the use of radio resources.

[0061] In one or more embodiments, the method according to the third aspect of the present invention also includes: when receiving and / or decoding a subset of transmissions that conform to the first communication standard and carry control information related to the use of shared radio resources is disabled, information related to the use of shared radio resources is received only in transmissions that conform to the second communication standard.

[0062] In one or more embodiments, the method according to the third aspect of the present invention further comprises: restoring the operation of the second type wireless interface of the second type wireless device to a default mode after a predetermined time of receiving the control message.

[0063] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a second class wireless device or communication equipment is proposed. The wireless device or communication equipment comprises at least one transmitting and / or receiving antenna and associated electronic radio frequency circuits, and is provided with at least one second class communication interface for communicating according to a second communication standard that is generally not interoperable with the first communication standard. Although the first communication standard and the second communication standard are generally not interoperable, the second class wireless interface can also be configured to receive and decode a subset of transmissions performed according to the first communication standard, the subset carrying control information related to the use of radio resources at least partially shared for communications conforming to either of the first and second communication standards. Regarding the meaning of "not interoperable" in the context of the present invention, reference may be made to the description of the method according to the first aspect of the present invention above. The wireless device or communication equipment also includes one or more microprocessors and associated volatile and non-volatile memories. The above elements are communicatively connected via one or more signal or data connections or buses. The non-volatile memory stores computer program instructions, which, when executed by one or more microprocessors, configure the wireless communication device to perform one or more embodiments of the method according to the third aspect of the present invention described above.

[0064] As can be seen from the above description, providing a second type of base station of a network configured to perform wireless communication according to a second communication standard also contributes to achieving the object of the present invention. Therefore, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a method for operating such a second type of base station is proposed. The method of the fifth aspect comprises: if resource allocation information of a first type of device cannot be obtained from a corresponding first type of base station configured to perform wireless communication according to a first communication standard within a given area covered by the second type of base station, a control message is received from a third type of wireless device according to the second aspect of the present invention, the control message being related to selectively enabling or disabling the following operation mode of the second type of communication interface of the second type of device according to the fourth aspect of the present invention located within the given area: in this operation mode, a transmission transmitted according to the first standard and carrying a message related to reservation, allocation and / or use of shared resources is received and / or decoded. The control message can be received via the second type of wireless interface of the second type of base station. In addition or as an alternative, at least a relevant part of the information related to the use of shared radio resources by the first type of device within the given area can also be received from the third type of device via the second type of wireless interface. Then, the second type of base station sends a corresponding downlink (DL) control message to the second type of device located within the given area.

[0065] In one or more embodiments of the method according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the DL control message is sent as a broadcast V2X application message, a 5G NR DCI format message or a system information message.

[0066] According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a second type of base station configured for a network for wireless communication according to a second communication standard includes one or more microprocessors, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, and a second type of wireless interface, wherein the second type of wireless interface is used to communicate with one or more third type of wireless devices according to the second aspect of the present invention and / or one or more second type of wireless devices according to the fourth aspect of the present invention. The second type of base station also includes a third type of communication interface for communicating with one or more network elements of a network configured for wireless communication according to a first communication standard. The above elements are communicatively connected via one or more signal or data connections or buses. The non-volatile memory stores computer program instructions that, when executed by one or more microprocessors, configure the second type of base station (gNB) to perform the method of the fifth aspect of the present invention.

[0067] In one or more embodiments of the method according to the first, third and fifth aspects of the present invention, the control message includes a single bit whose state or value indicates whether the following operating mode of the second type of communication interface of the second type of device can be enabled or disabled: in this operating mode, control messages related to the reservation, allocation and use of shared resources sent in accordance with the first standard are received and / or decoded accordingly.

[0068] Although the control message can be sent or received in a general broadcast transmission, according to one or more embodiments of the method proposed by the present invention, the second communication standard includes messages carrying sidelink control information (SCI), which are sent via a physical control channel, including sending via a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). Sending or receiving the control message via the second type of interface may include sending or receiving the control message via first-level control information (including first-level sidelink control information (SCI-1)).

[0069] In NR radio, SCI may be sent in two stages or parts, namely SCI-1 and SCI-2. SCI-1 is sent over PSCCH and is intended to be decoded by all UEs. According to the implementation scheme of this embodiment in NR, a new dedicated format may be defined for SCI-1, in which one bit in the reserved field is used, for example, to signal whether to enable or disable the following operating mode of the second type of communication interface of the second type of device: in this operating mode, control messages related to the reservation, allocation and use of shared resources sent in accordance with the first standard are received and / or decoded. In order to extend the standard, up to four bits can be configured, which is conceptually feasible and quite convenient.

[0070] According to one or more embodiments of the method proposed by the present invention, the first level control information includes information specifying the second level control information, including the second level sidechain control information (SCI-2). The second level control information can be accessed or decoded after decoding the first level control information.

[0071] While decoding of SCI-1 is required in this embodiment, it provides more flexibility because the size of the SCI-2 message can be indicated therein and provides more options in handling offsets, particularly offsets associated with higher number characters of the second type of communication standard. Figure 8 A schematic diagram is shown illustrating the transmission path of information in the NR radio system. The Logical Sidelink Traffic Channel (STCH) and the Logical Sidelink Control Channel (SCCH) are mapped to the Sidelink Shared Channel (SL-SCH) transport channel, which is in turn mapped to the Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) and the Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH). SCI-1 from the two-level SCI is mapped to the PSSCH, while SCI-2 is in turn mapped to the PSCCH.

[0072] Fig. 9 A simplified relationship between SCI1 and SCI-2 in PSSCH transmission is shown.

[0073] In the embodiment using the first level SCI-1 and the second level SCI-2 messages, it is particularly simple to specify a time period for indicating how long the following operation mode of the second type of communication interface of the second type of device should be enabled or disabled: in this operation mode, receiving and / or decoding control messages sent in accordance with the first standard and related to the reservation, allocation and use of shared resources; or for indicating such a time period: if such control messages are not received before the expiration of this time period, the operation mode should be enabled after this time period. Geographical coordinates can also be specified, for example, to indicate in which area the operation mode is enabled or disabled.

[0074] The inventive method described herein enables a reduction in power consumption and instantaneous required computing power in the following situations: by using a dual-mode UE configured to perform at least part of the method, wireless devices operating under different, non-interoperable standards use the same shared radio resources. Such use of shared radio resources may include so-called sidelink communications. In these cases, the dual-mode UE internally shares information about resource elements in the shared resource reserved or planned for use by UEs operating according to a first communication standard, and forwards this information to UEs limited to communicating according to a second communication standard to modify the operation of the second type of radio interface accordingly. The method described herein is backward compatible with existing resource reservation and allocation schemes for LTE and NR.

[0075] The various aspects and extensions and embodiments described herein may solve one or more of the initially discussed problems individually or in conjunction with each other.

[0076] The methods described above can be represented by computer program instructions. Therefore, the computer program product includes computer program instructions, which, when executed by a microprocessor of a wireless device, a communication device or a network component, will cause the microprocessor to perform one or more of the methods consistent with the present invention described herein, and control the hardware and / or software blocks or modules of the wireless device, the communication device or the network component accordingly.

[0077] The computer program instructions may be stored or transmitted in a retrievable manner on a computer-readable medium or data carrier. The medium or data carrier may be implemented in a physical manner, such as a hard disk, a solid-state disk, a flash memory device, etc. However, the medium or data carrier may also include a modulated electromagnetic, electrical or optical signal, which is received by the computer through a corresponding receiver and forwarded and stored in the computer's memory.

[0078] Although the present invention discusses mutually non-interoperable standards using 4G LTE and 5G NR as examples, it is obvious that the present invention can be very advantageously applied to all communication scenarios in which communications performed in accordance with mutually non-interoperable standards occur in the same or at least partially overlapping resources (e.g., frequency channels and time slots), especially when the mutually non-interoperable standards use different sub-channel spacings. A particularly useful application of the present invention is the application of sidelink communications in vehicle-to-X (V2X) communication scenarios in ITS spectrum. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0079] The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0080] Figure 1 Schematically illustrated is the channelization in LTE V2X Mode 4 sensing-based semi-persistent scheduling (SPS), with an example length T=100ms.

[0081] Figure 2 The concept of resource pool is schematically illustrated.

[0082] Figure 3 An example of overlapping resource pools in a channel used by two non-interoperable radio access technologies is shown.

[0083] Figure 4 An exemplary LTE resource pool structure is depicted showing reserved or allocated resource elements in a physical SL control channel (PSCCH) and a physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) and available resource elements that can be used for contiguous resource allocation and non-contiguous resource allocation.

[0084] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of overlapping resource pools in frequency channels for co-channel coexistence is shown, wherein the overlapping portion or part is shared for use.

[0085] Figure 6 An exemplary representation of a situation to be handled by the present invention is shown in the presence of at least one radio access network.

[0086] Figure 7 An exemplary representation of a situation to be handled by the present invention is shown in the absence of a radio access network.

[0087] Figure 8 A schematic diagram depicting the transmission path of information in NR radio is shown.

[0088] Fig. 9 A simplified relationship between SCI1 and SCI-2 in PSSCH transmission is shown.

[0089] Fig.10 An exemplary block diagram of a third type of wireless device or communication equipment according to the present invention is shown.

[0090] Fig.11 An exemplary block diagram of a second type of wireless device according to the present invention is shown.

[0091] Fig.12 An exemplary block diagram of a second type of base station according to the present invention is shown.

[0092] Fig.13 The main steps of the methods according to the first, third and fifth aspects of the present invention and their mutual relationships are shown, and the message exchanges between them are further shown.

[0093] In the drawings, the same or similar elements may be referenced using the same reference numbers. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0094] Figures 1 to 9 This has been discussed in detail above and will not be repeated here.

[0095] Fig.10An exemplary block diagram of a third type of wireless device or communication equipment UE-C according to the second aspect of the present invention is shown. The wireless device or communication equipment UE-C includes one or more antennas 402 and associated wireless interface circuits 456, which provide at least one first type of wireless interface and at least one second type of wireless interface for communicating with one or more second type of wireless devices or communication equipment UE-B or second type of base station gNB, and also includes one or more microprocessors 450, volatile memory 452 and non-volatile memory 454. The above elements are communicatively connected via one or more signal or data connections or buses 458. The non-volatile memory 454 stores computer program instructions, which, when executed by one or more microprocessors 450, cause the wireless device or communication equipment UE-C to perform the method according to the first aspect of the present invention as described above.

[0096] Fig.11 An exemplary block diagram of a second type of wireless device UE-B according to the fourth aspect of the present invention is shown. The second type of wireless device UE-B includes one or more microprocessors 450, a volatile memory 452, a non-volatile memory 454 and a second type of wireless interface 404, and the second type of wireless interface 404 is used to communicate with one or more other second type of wireless devices and / or with a third type of wireless device or communication device UE-C (not shown in the figure) according to the second aspect of the present invention. The above elements are communicatively connected via one or more signal or data connections or buses 458. The non-volatile memory 454 stores computer program instructions, which, when executed by one or more microprocessors 450, cause the network component UE-B to perform the method according to the third aspect of the present invention as described above.

[0097] Fig.12 An exemplary block diagram of a second-class base station gNB providing a network configured for wireless communication according to a second communication standard according to the sixth aspect of the present invention is shown. The second-class base station gNB includes one or more antennas 402 and associated wireless interface circuits 456, which provide at least one second-class wireless interface for communicating with one or more second-class or third-class wireless devices or communication equipment 400, 500 (not shown in the figure), and also includes one or more microprocessors 450, volatile memory 452 and non-volatile memory 454. The second-class base station gNB also includes a third-class communication interface 480 for communicating with a network element configured for wireless communication according to a first communication standard. The above elements are communicatively connected via one or more signal or data connections or buses 458. The non-volatile memory 454 stores computer program instructions, which, when executed by one or more microprocessors 450, cause the second-class base station gNB to perform the method according to the fifth aspect of the present invention described above.

[0098] Fig.13 The main steps of the methods 100, 200 and 300 according to the first, third and fifth aspects of the present invention and their relationship to each other are shown, and the message exchange between them is further shown. In step 130, the third type of device UE-C determines whether there is network coverage that complies with the first and / or second communication standard.

[0099] If there is network coverage that complies with the first and second communication standards, the method may simply continue with the checking step, ie, follow the "Y" branch of step 130, and perform step 130 continuously or periodically.

[0100] If network coverage in accordance with the first communication standard does not exist and / or is not available, and network coverage in accordance with the second communication standard exists and / or is available, i.e., the method is executed according to the "N1" branch of step 130, then in step 140, the method internally forwards the information related to the use of shared radio resources previously received via the first type of radio interface to the second control module associated with the second type of radio interface, and controls the operation of the second control module accordingly. In step 150, a control message is sent via the second type of radio interface of the third type of device UE-C to selectively enable or disable the following operating mode of the second type of communication interface of the second type of device UE-B: in this operating mode, a transmission sent in accordance with the first standard and carrying information related to the reservation, allocation and / or use of shared resources is received and / or decoded. The target of the transmission is one or more second type devices within radio range, or a base station gNB providing network coverage in accordance with the second communication standard. It should be noted that the message flow in the figure is indicated by a dotted arrow. In an additional or optional step 160, as indicated by the dashed outline of the box, at least a relevant part of the corresponding information previously forwarded internally to the second control module associated with the second type of communication interface is transmitted to the second type of device UE-B or the base station gNB within the radio range via the second communication interface of the third type of device UE-C.

[0101] If network coverage conforming to the second communication standard or network coverage conforming to both the first and second communication standards does not exist and / or is unavailable, i.e., the method is executed according to the "N2" branch of step 130, then in step 140', the method internally forwards the information related to the use of the shared radio resources previously received via the first type of wireless interface to the second control module associated with the second type of wireless interface and controls its operation accordingly. In step 150', a control message is sent via the second type of wireless interface of the third type of device UE-C related to the following operating mode of the second type of communication interface of the second type of device UE-B: in this operating mode, a transmission sent according to the first standard and carrying information related to the reservation, allocation and / or use of shared resources is received and / or decoded. In this case, the target of the transmission is only one or more second type devices UE-B within the radio range. In an additional or optional step 160', at least one relevant information of the corresponding information previously forwarded internally to the second control module associated with the second type of communication interface is transmitted to the second type of device UE-B within the radio range via the second communication interface of the third type of device UE-C.

[0102] In step 220 of the method 200, the second type of wireless device UE-B receives, via its second type of wireless interface, a control message relating to selectively enabling or disabling the following operating mode of the second type of wireless interface of the second type of device UE-B from a third type of device UE-C or a base station gNB providing network coverage in accordance with the second communication standard: in this operating mode, transmissions sent in accordance with the first standard and containing information related to reservation, allocation and / or use of shared resources are received and / or decoded. In an additional or optional step 230, at least a relevant part of the information related to the use of shared radio resources by first type devices within radio range is received from the third type of device UE-C or the base station gNB providing network coverage in accordance with the second communication standard via the second type of wireless interface. In step 240, the second type of wireless interface of the second type of device UE-B is operated according to the received control message and / or the received relevant part of the information related to the use of shared radio resources by first type devices within radio range, by correspondingly enabling or disabling the reception and / or decoding of the following transmission subset: the transmission subset is in accordance with the first communication standard and carries control information related to the use of shared radio resources.

[0103] If resource allocation information of first-class devices within a given area covered by a second-class base station gNB cannot be obtained from the corresponding first-class base station eNB covering the given area, then in step 310 of method 300, the second-class base station gNB receives a control message, which involves selectively enabling or disabling the following operation mode of the second-class communication interface of the second-class device UE-B located in the given area: in this operation mode, receiving and / or decoding transmissions transmitted according to the first standard and carrying information related to reservation, allocation and use of shared resources. The control message is received from a third-class wireless device (UE-C) via the second-class radio interface of the second-class base station gNB. In an additional or alternative step 320, at least a relevant part of the information related to the use of shared radio resources by first-class devices within the given area is received from the third-class wireless device UE-C via the second-class radio interface. In step 330, the second-class base station gNB sends a corresponding downlink (DL) control message to the second-class wireless device UE-B located in the given area.

[0104] List of reference numerals (part of the specification)

[0105] 100 Methods

[0106] 110 Perception

[0107] 120 Comparison

[0108] 130 OK

[0109] 140, 140' forwarding

[0110] 150, 150'Send

[0111] 160, 160'Send

[0112] 200 Methods

[0113] 220 Receive

[0114] 230 Receive

[0115] 240 Operations

[0116] 250 Receive

[0117] 300 Methods

[0118] 310 Receive

[0119] 320 Receive

[0120] 330 Send

[0121] 400 Devices / communication equipment

[0122] 402 Antenna

[0123] 450 microprocessor

[0124] 452 Volatile Memory

[0125] 454 Non-volatile memory

[0126] 456 Wireless Interface Circuit

[0127] 458 signal / data connection / bus

[0128] 480 Class III communication interface

[0129] eNB Type I base station

[0130] gNB Type II base station

[0131] UE-A Class 1 wireless device

[0132] UE-B Class II wireless device

[0133] UE-C Class III wireless device

Claims

1. A method (100) of operating a third type of device (UE-C) in a situation where network coverage conforming to at least one of a first communication standard and a second communication standard is not present and / or is not available, the third type of device (UE-C) comprising a first type of radio interface configured for communication according to the first communication standard and a second type of radio interface configured for communication according to the second communication standard, wherein: The first type of wireless interface and the second type of wireless interface and / or the first communication standard and the second communication standard are generally not interoperable but use at least partially shared radio resources, wherein the first type of wireless interface and the second type of wireless interface are communicatively coupled under the control of one or more microprocessors (450) of a third type of device (UE-C), the method comprising: - determining (130) whether network coverage compliant with the first communication standard and / or the second communication standard exists and / or is available, and In the event that network coverage conforming to the first communication standard does not exist and / or is unavailable and network coverage conforming to the second communication standard exists and is available: - internally forwarding (140) information related to the use of shared radio resources previously received via the first type of radio interface to a second control module associated with the second type of radio interface and controlling the operation of the second type of radio interface accordingly, - providing a second communication standard to one or more second-type devices within the radio range or to a base station providing network coverage conforming to the second communication standard via a second-type wireless interface; The station (gNB) sends (150) a control message, the control message relating to selectively enabling or disabling the second type of communication interface of the second type of device (UE-B) a lower operating mode in which a transmission sent in accordance with a first standard and carrying information related to reservation, allocation and / or use of a shared resource is received and / or decoded, and / or - via the second communication interface to a second type of device within radio range (UE-B) or the base station (gNB) sends (160) the corresponding information previously forwarded internally to the second control module associated with the second type of communication interface to the base station (gNB) Less relevant part, or, In the event that network coverage conforming to the second communication standard or network coverage conforming to both the first communication standard and the second communication standard does not exist and / or is unavailable: - internally forwarding (140') information related to the use of the shared radio resources previously received via the first type of communication interface to a second control module associated with the second type of communication interface, - sending (150') a control message to one or more second type devices within radio range via the second communication interface, the control message relating to selectively enabling or disabling an operating mode of the second type communication interface of the second type devices (UE-B) in which transmissions sent in accordance with the first standard and carrying information related to reservation, allocation and use of shared resources are received and / or decoded, - sending (160') via the second communication interface to a second type of device within radio range at least a relevant part of the corresponding information previously forwarded internally to a second control module associated with the second type of communication interface.

2. The method (100) according to claim 1, further comprising: - sensing (110) whether one or more second type devices (UE-B) are within the radio range and only in case of a positive answer the forwarding step and the subsequent one or more sending steps are performed.

3. The method (100) according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: - Repeating the determination step (130) continuously or intermittently and sending a correspondingly adjusted control message and / or a relevant part of a corresponding message previously sent internally to a second control module associated with the second type of communication interface.

4. The method (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: - comparing (120) the digital characters present at the first type of radio interface and at the second type of radio interface and invoking the determination step (130), the forwarding step (140) and the sending step (150, 160; 150', 160') only if the digital characters are different from each other.

5. A first class wireless device or communication equipment (UE-C) comprising at least one transmit and / or receive antenna (402) and associated electronic radio frequency (RF) circuitry (456), the electronic radio frequency (RF) circuitry providing or implementing at least one first class wireless interface and at least one second class wireless interface, the first class wireless device or communication equipment also comprising one or more microprocessors (450) and associated volatile memory (452) and non-volatile memory (454), these elements being communicatively connected via one or more signal or data connections or buses (458), the non-volatile memory (454) storing computer program instructions which, when executed by the one or more microprocessors (450), configure the first class wireless device or communication equipment (UE-C) to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. A method (200) of operating a second type of apparatus (UE-B), the second type of apparatus comprising a second type of radio interface configured for communicating in accordance with a second communication standard that is generally not interoperable with a first communication standard, the second type of radio interface further configured to receive and decode a subset of transmissions conforming to the first communication standard, the subset carrying control information relating to use of radio resources at least partially shared for communications conforming to either the first communication standard and the second communication standard, wherein The method includes: - receiving (220) a control message from a third type of device (UE-C) or from a base station (gNB) providing network coverage in accordance with the second communication standard via the second type of radio interface, the control message relating to selectively enabling or disabling the following operating mode of the second type of radio interface of the second type of device (UE-B): in this operating mode, receiving and / or decoding transmissions sent in accordance with the first standard and carrying information related to the reservation, allocation and / or use of shared resources, and / or - receiving (230) from a third type of device (UE-C) or from a base station (gNB) providing network coverage in accordance with the second communication standard via a second type of radio interface at least a relevant part of the information relating to the use of shared radio resources by devices of the first type within radio range, The method further comprises: -operating (240) a second type of radio interface of a second type of device (UE-B) by correspondingly enabling or disabling reception and / or decoding of a subset of transmissions conforming to the first communication standard and carrying control information relating to the use of shared radio resources, based on relevant parts of received control messages and / or received information relating to the use of shared radio resources by first type of devices within radio range.

7. The method (200) of claim 6, wherein: Operating (240) the second type of interface of the second type of apparatus (UE-B) according to the offset class further comprises: when reception and / or decoding of a subset of transmissions carrying control information related to use of shared radio resources in accordance with the first communication standard is disabled: - receiving (250) only information related to the use of shared radio resources in transmissions conforming to the second communication standard.

8. The method (200) of claim 6 or 7, further comprising restoring the operation of the second type of radio interface of the second type of device (UE-B) to a default mode after a predetermined time has passed after receiving the control message.

9. A second class wireless device or communication equipment (UE-B) comprising at least one transmit and / or receive antenna (402) and associated electronic radio frequency (RF) circuitry (456) providing at least one second class communication interface, the second class wireless device or communication equipment also comprising one or more microprocessors (450) and associated volatile memory (452) and non-volatile memory (454), these elements being communicatively coupled via one or more signal or data connections or buses (458), the non-volatile memory (454) storing computer program instructions which, when executed by the one or more microprocessors (450), configure the second class wireless communication device (500) to perform the method according to one or more of claims 6 to 8.

10. A method (300) of operating a second type of base station (gNB) providing a network configured for wireless communication according to a second communication standard, the method comprising: In the case where the resource allocation information for the first type of devices within a given area covered by the second type of base station (gNB) cannot be obtained from the corresponding first type of base station (eNB): - from the third type of wireless interface according to claim 5 via the second type of wireless interface The device (UE-C) receives (310) a control message, the control message relating to selecting The second type of communication interface of the second type of device (UE-B) located in the given area is enabled or disabled in the following operation mode: in this operation mode, receiving and / or decoding a transmission sent in accordance with a first standard and carrying information related to reservation, allocation and / or use of a shared resource, and / or - receiving (320) from a third type of wireless device (UE-C) according to claim 5 information concerning a first type of wireless device located in the given area regarding a request for sharing radio resources at least a relevant portion of the information about the use of the source, and - sending (330) a corresponding downlink (DL) control message to a second type of wireless device (UE-B) located within the given area.

11. The method (300) of claim 10, wherein: Downlink (DL) control messages are sent as broadcast V2X application messages, 5G NR DCI format messages, or system information messages.

12. A second type base station (gNB) providing a network configured for wireless communication according to a second communication standard, the second type base station comprising one or more microprocessors (450), a volatile memory (452), a non-volatile memory (454), and a second type of wireless interface (404), the second type of wireless interface being used to communicate with one or more third type of wireless devices or communication equipment (UE-C) according to claim 5 and / or one or more second type of wireless devices or communication equipment (UE-B) according to claim 9, the second type base station also comprising a third type of communication interface (480), the third type of communication interface being used to communicate with one or more network elements configured to provide a network for wireless communication according to a first communication standard, the above elements being communicatively coupled via one or more signal or data connections or buses (458), the non-volatile memory (454) storing computer program instructions which, when executed by the one or more microprocessors (450), configure the second type base station (gNB) to perform the method according to claim 10 or 11.

13. The method according to one or more of claims 1 to 4, 6 to 8, 10 and 11, wherein: The second communication standard includes messages carrying sidelink control information (SCI), which are sent via a physical control channel, including via a physical sidelink control channel (PSSCH), wherein control messages related to the following operating mode of selectively enabling or disabling the second type of communication interface of the second type of device (UE-B) are sent (140, 140') or received (220), respectively: in this operating mode, transmissions sent in accordance with the first standard and carrying information related to the reservation, allocation and / or use of shared resources are received and / or decoded.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein: The first level control information includes information specifying second level control information, the second level control information including second level sidelink control information (SCI-2), wherein the second level control information is accessible or decodable after decoding the first level control information.

15. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed by a microprocessor, cause a computer and / or control hardware blocks, modules or components in a third-category wireless device or communication equipment (UE-C) according to claim 5, in a second-category wireless device or communication equipment (UE-B) according to claim 9, or in a second-category base station (gNB) according to claim 12 to respectively perform the method (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the method (200) according to any one of claims 6 to 8, the method (300) according to claim 10 or 11, or the corresponding embodiment of the method according to claim 13 or 14.

16. A computer-readable medium or data carrier for transmitting or storing the computer program product according to claim 15 in a retrievable manner.

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