Systems, methods, and devices for sidelink (SL) communication

Abstract

The techniques described herein provide a solution for supporting SL signaling of two candidate starting symbols within a time slot. A slot with two candidate start symbols may be unsuitable for slots with feedback channel resources. A time slot with two candidate start symbols may be pre-configured. Slot structures and solutions are provided for determining a transport block size (TBS) for a slot supporting two candidate starting symbols. Solutions are also described for handling time constraints and time slots between receiving a time slot supporting two candidate starting symbols and providing feedback regarding such time slots. The techniques described herein also include solutions for sharing information, sharing LTE and NR sub-channel resources, and avoiding NR feedback transmissions that may overlap with LTE transmissions during overlapping long term evolution (LTE) sensing windows and new radio (NR) sensing windows. These and other features and techniques are described herein.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to wireless communication networks and mobile device capabilities. Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication networks and wireless communication services are becoming increasingly dynamic, complex, and ubiquitous. For example, some wireless communication networks can be developed to implement fifth-generation (5G) or new radio (NR) technologies, sixth-generation (6G) technologies, and so on. Such technologies can include solutions for enabling user equipment (UE) to communicate directly with each other. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0003] This disclosure will be readily understood and implemented through the detailed description and the drawings. The same reference numerals may designate the same features and structural elements. The drawings and the corresponding description are provided as non-limiting examples of aspects, embodiments, etc. of this disclosure, and the reference to "one" or "a" aspect, embodiment, etc. may not necessarily refer to the same aspect, embodiment, etc., and may mean at least one, one or more, etc.

[0004] Figure 1 is a diagram of an example network according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0005] Figure 2 is a diagram of an example process of sidelink (SL) communication (SL-U communication) in unlicensed spectrum according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0006] Figure 3 is a diagram of an example of a time slot with two candidate start symbols according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0007] Figures 4 to 5 is a diagram of an example of a time slot configuration that supports two start symbols in one time slot according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0008] Figure 6 is a diagram of an example of a long-term evolution (LTE) sensing module 610 and a new radio (NR) sensing module of a user equipment (UE) according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0009] Figure 7 is a diagram of an example of overlapping an LTE sensing window and an NR sensing window and sharing LTE sensing results according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0010] Figure 8 is a diagram of an example of a process for sharing and using sensing results according to one or more embodiments described herein.

[0011] Figure 9 It is a diagram of an example of a process for using shared LTE signal results according to one or more specific implementations described herein.

[0012] Figures 10 to 11 It is a diagram of an example of using shared LTE signal results according to one or more specific implementations described herein.

[0013] Figures 12 to 13 It is a diagram of an example of preventing a physical SL feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission from overlapping with an LTE transmission according to one or more specific implementations described herein.

[0014] Figure 14 It is a diagram of an example of components of a device according to one or more specific implementations described herein.

[0015] Figure 15 It is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or a computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methods discussed herein according to one or more specific implementations described herein. Detailed Description

[0016] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals in different drawings may identify the same or similar features, elements, operations, etc. Additionally, the present disclosure is not limited to the following description, as other specific implementations may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0017] A wireless network may include user equipment (UE) capable of communicating with base stations, wireless routers, satellites, and other network nodes. Such devices may operate according to one or more communication standards, such as the 2nd generation (2G) communication standard of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the 3rd generation (3G) communication standard, the 4th generation (4G) communication standard (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE)), and / or the 5th generation (5G) communication standard (e.g., New Radio (NR)). A UE may refer to a smart phone, a tablet computer, a wearable wireless device, a vehicle capable of wireless communication, and / or another type of a wide range of wireless-capable devices.

[0018] UEs can use one or more types of communication technologies to communicate directly with each other. Examples of such technologies can include Proximity Services (ProSe) or Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication, Sidelink (SL) communication, etc. As described herein, SL communication can include scenarios in which UEs operate to discover one or more other UEs, establish connections with the one or more other UEs, and communicate directly with the one or more other UEs. SL communication using unlicensed radio spectrum can be referred to as SL-U communication.

[0019] SL transmissions can use Time Division Duplex (TDD) (e.g., half-duplex) on dedicated carriers or shared carriers together with the regular Uu transmissions between the base station and the UE. Transmission resource pools (also referred to as resource pools, SL resource pools, etc.) can be used to manage resource allocation and interference between conflicting transmissions. The resource pool can include a set of time-frequency resources from which resources for SL transmissions can be selected. And UEs can be configured with multiple transmission and reception resource pools.

[0020] Additionally, UEs can use different operation modes for SL resource allocation and communication. When a UE is within the coverage area of a base station, Mode 1 can be used. In Mode 1, scheduling and resource assignment can be performed by the base station (e.g., via DCI) (and can be based on Dynamic Grant (DG) or Configured Grant (CG)). When a UE is outside the coverage area of the base station, Mode 2 can be used. In Mode 2, the UE can select SL resources by itself (e.g., without a base station). Thus, the UE can use sensing-based resource allocation, which can include performing a Listen Before Talk (LBT) process before selecting SL resources for use and sending Sidelink Control Information (SCI) to other UEs to indicate the use and reservation of the SL resources. In some specific implementations, the UE can also use Channel Occupancy Time (COT) to indicate how long certain resources (e.g., channels) are to be used. The SCI can be sent via unicast, multicast, and / or broadcast, and can indicate to the receiving UEs which SL resources are scheduled for use. The SCI can indicate the reserved SL resources for both the first transmission of the Transport Block (TB) for data and the retransmission of the TB to improve reliability (e.g., if the initial transmission fails).

[0021] The currently available technologies fail to provide sufficient solutions for SL-U communication - particularly with respect to start symbols, time slot structures, and SL-U resource allocation and conflicts. For example, the currently available technologies fail to provide support for a time slot structure that includes a time slot with two candidate start symbols and feedback resources, thereby failing to determine the transport block size (TBS) when the time slot includes two candidate start symbols and to address the SL-U signaling and processing time constraints for such scenarios. The currently available technologies also fail to provide solutions for: addressing SL communication involving LTE resources and NR resources, converting LTE resource preferences into NR resource preferences, and addressing potential resource conflicts between LTE SL resource reservations and NR SL resources.

[0022] The techniques described herein provide solutions for these and other deficiencies of the current technologies. These techniques include solutions for SL signaling to support two candidate start symbols within a time slot. A time slot with two candidate start symbols may not be applicable to a time slot with feedback channel resources. A time slot with two candidate start symbols can be (pre-)configured. A time slot structure and solution for determining the TBS for a time slot that supports two candidate start symbols are provided. Solutions for handling time constraints and the time gap between receiving a time slot that supports two candidate start symbols and providing feedback regarding such a time slot are also described. The techniques described herein also include solutions for sharing information, sharing LTE and NR sub-channel resources, and avoiding NR feedback transmissions that may overlap with LTE transmissions during overlapping LTE sensing windows and NR sensing windows. These and other features and techniques are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0023] Figure 1 is an example network 100 according to one or more specific implementations described herein. The example network 100 may include UEs 110-1, 110-2, etc. (collectively referred to as "UEs 110" and individually referred to as "UE 110"), a radio access network (RAN) 120, a core network (CN) 130, an application server 140, and an external network 150.

[0024] The systems and devices of example network 100 may operate in accordance with one or more communication standards, such as second generation (2G) communication standards of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), third generation (3G) communication standards, fourth generation (4G) (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE)) communication standards, and / or fifth generation (5G) (e.g., New Radio (NR)) communication standards. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the systems and devices of example network 100 may operate in accordance with other communication standards and protocols discussed herein, including future versions or generations of 3GPP standards (e.g., sixth generation (6G) standards, seventh generation (7G) standards, etc.), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards (e.g., Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), etc.), and so on.

[0025] As shown, UE 110 may include a smart phone (e.g., a handheld touchscreen mobile computing device that can connect to one or more wireless communication networks). Additionally or alternatively, UE 110 may include other types of mobile or non-mobile computing devices capable of wireless communication, such as a personal data assistant (PDA), pager, laptop computer, desktop computer, wireless handheld terminal, etc. In some embodiments, UE 110 may include an Internet of Things (IoT) device (or IoT UE), which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-lived UE connections. Additionally or alternatively, the IoT UE may utilize one or more types of technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) communication or machine type communication (MTC) (e.g., to exchange data with an MTC server or other devices via a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN)), Proximity Services (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, IoT networks, etc. Depending on the scenario, the M2M or MTC exchange of data may be machine-initiated, and the IoT network may include IoT UEs interconnected by short-lived connections (which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices within the Internet infrastructure). In some scenarios, the IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connection of the IoT network.

[0026] UE 110 can communicate with and establish connections with one or more other UEs 110 via one or more wireless channels 112, and each of the one or more wireless channels may include a physical communication interface / layer. The connections may include M2M connections, MTC connections, D2D connections, SL connections, etc. The connections may involve the PC5 interface. In some specific embodiments, UEs 110 may be configured to discover each other, negotiate wireless resources with each other, and establish connections with each other without involving the intervention or communication of RAN nodes 122 or another type of network node. In some specific embodiments, discovery, authentication, resource negotiation, registration, etc. may involve communication with RAN nodes 122 or another type of network node.

[0027] UEs 110 can communicate with each other using one or more wireless channels 112. As described herein, UE 110-1 can communicate with RAN node 122 to request SL resources. RAN node 122 can respond to the request by providing a dynamic grant (DG) or a configured grant (CG) of SL resources to UE 110. The DG may involve a grant based on a grant request from UE 110. The CG may involve a resource grant without a grant request and may be based on the type of service provided (e.g., a service with strict timing or latency requirements). UE 110 can perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) process based on the DG or CG, select SL resources based on the CCA process and the DG or CG; and communicate with another UE 110 based on the SL resources. UE 110 can communicate with RAN node 122 using a licensed band and communicate with another UE 110 using an unlicensed band.

[0028] UE 110 can communicate with and establish a connection (e.g., communicatively couple) with RAN 120, which may involve one or more wireless channels 114-1 and 114-2, and each wireless channel may include a physical communication interface / layer. In some specific embodiments, the UE may be configured with dual connectivity (DC) as multi-radio access technology (multi-RAT) or multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), where a UE capable of multiple receive and transmit (Rx / Tx) can use resources provided by different network nodes (e.g., 122-1 and 122-2), and the network nodes may be connected by a non-ideal backhaul (e.g., one network node provides NR access and the other network node provides E-UTRA for LTE or NR access for 5G). In such scenarios, one network node may act as a master node (MN), and the other node may act as a secondary node (SN). The MN and SN may be connected via a network interface, and at least the MN may be connected to CN 130.

[0029] As described herein, the UE 110 and / or the base station 122 may transmit, receive, process, and / or store one or more configurations, instructions, and / or other types of information for enabling SL-U signaling that supports two candidate starting symbols within a time slot. A time slot with two candidate starting symbols may be preconfigured (e.g., via mode 1 or mode 2 SL resource allocation), and a time slot with two candidate starting symbols may not be applicable to a time slot with feedback channel resources. SL-U signaling may also involve determining and / or using different time slot structures, transport block sizes, and signal timings (e.g., the timing between receiving a time slot that supports two candidate starting symbols and providing feedback regarding such a time slot). The enabled SL-U signaling may also include sharing information during overlapping LTE sensing windows and NR sensing windows, converting LTE resource preferences into NR resources for SL-U communication, and avoiding NR feedback transmissions that may overlap with LTE transmissions.

[0030] As shown, the UE 110 may also or alternatively be connected to an access point (AP) 116 via a connection interface 118, which may include an air interface that communicatively couples the UE 110 to the AP 116. The AP 116 may include a wireless local area network (WLAN), a WLAN node, a WLAN endpoint, etc. The connection 116 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection that conforms to any IEEE 702.11 protocol, and the AP 116 may include a Wi-Fi router or other AP. Although Figure 1 not explicitly depicted, the AP 116 may be connected to another network (e.g., the Internet) without being connected to the RAN 120 or the CN 130. In some scenarios, the UE 110, the RAN 120, and the AP 116 may be configured to utilize Long-Term Evolution-Wireless Local Area Network Aggregation (LWA) technology or LTE WLAN radio-level technology integrated with an IPsec tunnel (LWIP). LWA may involve the RAN 120 configuring the UE 110 in the RRC_CONNECTED state to utilize the radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP may involve the UE 110 using the WLAN radio resources (e.g., the connection interface 118) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt the packets (e.g., Internet Protocol (IP) packets) communicated through the connection interface 118. The IPsec tunnel transmission may include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0031] RAN 120 may include one or more RAN nodes 122-1 and 122-2 (collectively referred to as RAN nodes 122 and individually as RAN node 122), which enable the establishment of channels 114-1 and 114-2 between the UE 110 and the RAN 120. The RAN node 122 may include a network access point configured to provide radio baseband functionality for data and / or voice connectivity between a user and a network based on one or more of the communication technologies described herein (e.g., 1G, 3G, 4G, 5G, WiFi, etc.). Thus, by way of example, the RAN node may be an E-UTRAN Node B (e.g., enhanced Node B, eNodeB, eNB, 4G base station, etc.), a next-generation base station (e.g., 5G base station, NR base station, next-generation eNB (gNB), etc.). The RAN node 122 may include a roadside unit (RSU), a transmit receive point (TRxP or TRP), and one or more other types of terrestrial stations (e.g., terrestrial access points). In some scenarios, the RAN node 122 may be a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station and / or a low-power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocells, etc. with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to a macrocell.

[0032] Some or all or portions of the RAN node 122 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a centralized RAN (CRAN) and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these specific implementations, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement: RAN function splitting, such as packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) splitting, where the radio resource control (RRC) and PDCP layers may be operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and other layer 1 (L2) protocol entities may be operated by individual RAN nodes 122; medium access control (MAC) / physical (PHY) layer splitting, where the RRC, PDCP, radio link control (RLC), and MAC layers may be operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer may be operated by individual RAN nodes 122; or "lower PHY" splitting, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers, and the upper part of the PHY layer may be operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the lower part of the PHY layer may be operated by individual RAN nodes 122. This virtualization framework may allow the idle processor cores of the RAN node 122 to conduct or execute other virtualization applications.

[0033] Any one of the RAN nodes 122 can serve as the termination point of the air interface protocol and can be the first contact point of the UE 110. In some specific implementations, any one of the RAN nodes 122 can perform various logical functions of the RAN 120, including but not limited to the functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management. The UE 110 can be configured to communicate with each other or with any one of the RAN nodes 122 over a multi-carrier communication channel using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals according to various communication technologies, such as but not limited to OFDMA communication technology (e.g., for downlink communication) or single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) communication technology (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink (SL) communication), but the scope of such specific implementations may not be limited in this regard. The OFDM signal can include a plurality of orthogonal sub-carriers.

[0034] In some specific implementations, the downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmission from any one of the RAN nodes 122 to the UE 110, and uplink transmission can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid (e.g., resource grid or time-frequency resource grid), which represents the physical resources of the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such time-frequency plane representations are common practice, which makes radio resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid correspond to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM sub-carrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one time slot in the radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block can include a set of resource elements (RE); in the frequency domain, this can represent the smallest amount of resources that can be currently allocated. Such resource blocks are used to carry several different physical downlink channels.

[0035] In addition, the RAN nodes 122 can be configured to wirelessly communicate with the UE 110 and / or with each other through a licensed medium (also referred to as "licensed spectrum" and / or "licensed band"), an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as "unlicensed spectrum" and / or "unlicensed band"), or a combination thereof. In one example, the licensed spectrum can include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, while the unlicensed band or spectrum can include the 5 GHz band. In additional or alternative examples, the unlicensed spectrum can include the 5 GHz unlicensed band, the 6 GHz band, the 60 GHz millimeter wave band, and so on.

[0036] Licensed spectrum may correspond to channels or frequency bands selected, reserved, regulated, etc. for certain types of wireless activities (e.g., radio telecommunications network activities), while unlicensed spectrum may correspond to one or more frequency bands that are unrestricted for certain types of wireless activities. Whether a particular frequency band corresponds to a licensed or unlicensed medium may depend on one or more factors, such as frequency allocations determined by public-sector organizations (e.g., government agencies, regulatory bodies, etc.) or frequency allocations determined by private-sector organizations involved in the development of wireless communication standards and protocols, etc.

[0037] To operate in unlicensed spectrum, the UE 110 and the RAN node 122 may operate using independent unlicensed operation, licensed-assisted access (LAA), eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these embodiments, the UE 110 and the RAN node 122 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed according to the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0038] The LAA mechanism may be built on the carrier aggregation (CA) technology of the LTE-Advanced system.

[0039] The PDSCH may carry user data and high-layer signaling to the UE 110. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information such as information about the transmission format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel. The PDCCH may also notify the UE 110 about the transmission format, resource allocation, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information related to the uplink shared channel. Generally, downlink scheduling (e.g., allocating control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 110-2 within the cell) may be performed at any one of the RAN nodes 122 based on the channel quality information fed back from any one of the UEs in the UE 110. The downlink resource allocation information may be transmitted on the PDCCH for each UE in the UE 110 (e.g., allocated to).

[0040] The PDCCH uses control channel elements (CCEs) to convey control information, where several CCEs (e.g., 6, etc.) can be composed of resource element groups (REGs), and a REG is defined as a physical resource block (PRB) in an OFDM symbol. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quads and then arranged, e.g., using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to nine sets each having four physical resource elements, called REGs. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and the channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. Four or more different PDCCH formats with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L = 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16) can be defined in LTE.

[0041] Some embodiments can use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments can utilize the extended (E)-PDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs can be used to transmit the EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE can correspond to nine sets each including four physical resource elements, called EREGs. In some cases, an ECCE can have other numbers of EREGs.

[0042] RAN nodes 122 can be configured to communicate with each other via interface 123. In an embodiment where the system is an LTE system, interface 123 can be an X2 interface. In an NR system, interface 123 can be an Xn interface. In some embodiments such as a stand-alone (SA) embodiment, interface 123 can be an Xn interface. In some embodiments such as a non-stand-alone (NSA) embodiment, interface 123 can represent an X2 interface and an XN interface. The X2 interface can be defined between two or more RAN nodes 122 (e.g., two or more eNB / gNBs or a combination thereof) connected to the evolved packet core (EPC) or CN 130, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC. In some embodiments, the X2 interface can include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U can provide a flow control mechanism for user data packets transmitted through the X2 interface and can be used to convey information about the delivery of user data between eNBs or gNBs. The X2-C can provide access mobility functions within LTE (e.g., including context transfer from a source eNB to a target eNB, user plane transmission control, etc.), load management functions, and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0043] As shown, the RAN 120 can be connected (e.g., communicatively coupled) to the CN 130. The CN 130 can include multiple network elements 132, which are configured to provide various data and telecommunications services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of the UE 110) connected to the CN 130 via the RAN 120. In some specific implementations, the CN 130 can include an evolved packet core (EPC), a 5G CN, and / or one or more additional or alternative types of CNs. The components of the CN 130 can be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some specific implementations, network function virtualization (NFV) can be used to virtualize any or all of the above network node roles or functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical example of the CN 130 can be referred to as a network slice, and a logical example of a part of the CN 130 can be referred to as a network sub-slice. The network function virtualization (NFV) architecture and infrastructure can be used to virtualize one or more network functions onto physical resources including a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches (alternatively implemented by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system can be used to implement virtual or reconfigurable specific implementations of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0044] As shown, the CN 130, the application server 140, and the external network 150 can be connected to each other via interfaces 134, 136, and 138, which can include IP network interfaces. The application server 140 can include one or more server devices or network elements (e.g., virtual network functions (VNFs)) that provide applications using IP bearer resources through the CM 130 (e.g., Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Packet Service (UMTSPS) domain, LTE PS data service, etc.). The application server 140 can also or alternatively be configured to support one or more communication services of the UE 110 via the CN 130 (e.g., Voice over IP (VoIP) sessions, Push-to-Talk (PTT) sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.). Similarly, the external network 150 can include one or more of various networks, including the Internet, thereby providing network access to various additional services, information, interconnectivity, and other network features to the mobile communication network and the UE 110.

[0045] Figure 2 is a diagram of an example process 200 for SL-U communication according to one or more specific implementations described herein. The process 200 can be implemented by the UE 110-1 and the UE 110-2. In some specific implementations, some or all of the process 200 can be performed by one or more other systems or devices, includingFigure 1 one or more of the devices). Additionally, process 200 may include operations that are one or more fewer, additional, different in order, and / or arrangement compared to the operations shown in Figure 2 , including other processes and / or operations discussed herein. For example, process 200 may include operations before one or more of the depicted operations, operations executed in parallel with the one or more operations, and / or operations after the one or more operations. Additionally, some or all of the operations of process 200 may be executed independently, sequentially, simultaneously, etc. relative to one or more of the other operations of process 200. Thus, the techniques described herein are not limited to Figure 2 the number, sequence, arrangement, timing, etc. of the operations or processes depicted in Figures 3 to 13 Process 200 is described below with periodic reference to

[0046] As shown, process 200 may include UE 110-1 and UE 110-2 (at 205) determining a time slot configuration to be used for SL communication. The time slot configuration may include a time slot having two candidate starting symbols, and UE 110-1 and UE 110-2 may determine which starting symbol to use for PSSCH and PSCCH communication. In some embodiments, the time slot configuration may be determined between UE 110-1 and UE 110-2 (e.g., without the participation of base station 110 (not shown)). In other embodiments, the time slot configuration may be determined based on DG or CG from base station 110. In some embodiments, the time slot configuration may be determined by UE 110-1 and UE 110 in combination with determining SL resources.

[0047] Process 200 may also include UE 110-1 (at 210) communicating an SL signal to UE 110-2. The signal may include PSCCH communication or PSSCH communication. The communication may include: time slot configurations previously determined according to an SL resource pool, some of which support two candidate starting symbols in one time slot; and other features, such as symbols for PSCCH information, PSSCH information, etc. As described herein, a starting symbol may include a symbol within a time slot indicating the start of PSCCH and / or PSSCH communication. A time slot having two potential or candidate starting symbols may, for example, enable PSCCH communication and / or PSSCH communication to start from the first starting symbol or the second starting symbol. Examples of time slots having two candidate starting symbols and time slot configurations supporting time slots having two candidate starting symbols are described below with reference to Figures 3 to 5 .

[0048] Figure 3FIG. is an illustration of an example of slot 300 with two candidate start symbols according to one or more specific implementations described herein. As shown, slot 300 may include two automatic gain control (AGC) symbols, two sets of PSSCH / PSCCH symbols, and a gap symbol. In some specific implementations, a slot with two candidate start symbols may use an AGC symbol as the start symbol. In other words, in some specific implementations, the candidate start symbol may be intended for AGC purposes. In some specific implementations, a slot with two candidate start symbols may include a slot arrangement different from the slot arrangement shown in Figure 3 . For example, the AGC symbol (or start symbol) and / or the PSSCH / PSCCH symbols may vary in terms of size, quantity, and position within the slot. Thus, Figure 3 is provided as a non-limiting example.

[0049] Figures 4 to 5 FIG. is an illustration of examples 400 and 500 of slot configurations that support two candidate start symbols in one slot according to one or more specific implementations described herein. The slot configurations of examples 400 and 500 are non-limiting. For example, the techniques described herein may include or implement slot configurations with different arrangements, patterns, and periodicities of slots with two candidate start symbols, slots with PSFCH resources, and slots with neither two candidate start symbols nor PSFCH resources.

[0050] Example 400 may include a slot configuration with symbols for PSSCH / PSCCH communication and PSFCH communication. The slot configuration includes a slot with two candidate start symbols, where the periodicity is four slots. The second start symbol may not be applicable in a slot with PSFCH resources because three symbols may use the PSFCH resources (including one gap symbol and two candidate symbols for PSFCH). Thus, the remaining symbols in such a slot may not be sufficient to meet the minimum required for PSSCH / PSCCH communication. Therefore, a slot with two candidate start symbols may also not include resources (e.g., symbols) for PSFCH communication. Similarly, example 400 may include a slot configuration with symbols for PSSCH / PSCCH communication and PSFCH communication. In example 500, every other slot is a slot with two candidate start symbols (e.g., with a periodicity of two slots) or a PSFCH resource. Thus, when a PSFCH resource is in a slot, then that slot may also not include the second start symbol.

[0051] In some specific implementations, a time slot configuration based on a resource pool configuration can be used. As described herein, the term "resource pool configuration" can refer to a set of SL resource pool configuration settings, a resource pool pre-configuration, or a resource pool (pre-)configuration used to implement or facilitate one or more of the techniques described herein. In some specific implementations, as part of a mode 1 SL resource allocation process (e.g., DG or CG), one or more resource pool (pre-)configurations can be received from the base station 122. In some specific implementations, as part of a mode 2 SL resource allocation process, the UE 110 can locally store one or more resource pool configurations and / or can communicate with each other to determine an appropriate resource pool configuration. Depending on the scenario or specific implementation, not every time slot may support two candidate starting symbols, and the feature of supporting two candidate starting symbols within a time slot can be enabled or disabled based on the resource pool configuration. For example, for one or more time slots of each resource pool configuration, a new control parameter such as the "2_starting_symbols_in_slot" parameter can be used or indicated.

[0052] In some specific implementations, the resource pool configuration can use or indicate the periodicity and starting positioning of time slots with two candidate starting symbols. For example, one resource pool configuration can indicate the periodicity of four time slots, while another resource pool configuration can indicate the periodicity of two time slots. In specific implementations where periodicity is used in the resource pool configuration, a periodicity of zero or infinity can be used to indicate that no time slot has two candidate starting symbols.

[0053] In some specific implementations, the periodicity of time slots with two candidate starting symbols can be predefined according to rules or instructions. An example of such a rule can include: a time slot will include two candidate starting symbols as long as the feature of the time slot with two candidate starting symbols is enabled according to the resource pool configuration and the time slot does not include PSFCH resources. In another example, the rule can include: if the feature of the time slot with two candidate starting symbols is enabled and a specific time slot is specified to have two candidate starting symbols, then the time slot will not include PSFCH resources.

[0054] In some specific implementations, the second starting symbol position (e.g., symbol index) can be predefined for all resource pool configurations or can be determined for each resource pool configuration (e.g., different resource pool configurations can have different symbol positions for the second starting symbol). The second starting symbol position or index can be selected from a set of available symbol indices (e.g., set = {2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}). In some specific implementations, the set of available symbol indices may not include symbol indices related to PSSCH demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) symbols.

[0055] In some specific implementations, a time slot having two candidate starting symbols may further include two AGC symbols. The second AGC symbol may be set or assigned to a position in the same manner as the second starting symbol (e.g., predefined for all resource pool configurations or determined according to the resource pool configuration). Additionally, the second AGC symbol may be a copy of the next symbol in the time slot. For example, if the second ADC symbol is at symbol index 5, the second AGC symbol may be the same as the symbol at symbol index 6 (e.g., including the same information).

[0056] In some specific implementations, the PSSCH / PSCCH may start transmission from the first starting symbol. In such specific implementations, the PSSCH resource mapping may include decoding bits and modulation symbols of the PSSCH for rate matching at the second AGC symbol position. Alternatively, a resource mapping technique that does not consider the second AGC symbol may be used for the PSSCH, such that the second AGC symbol position may be punctured first and then copied from the next OFDM symbol.

[0057] In the case of puncturing, assume there are 1000 decoding bits for the PSSCH, and the first 900 decoding bits are carried in the PSSCH symbols without considering the second AGC symbol. Thereafter, the second AGC symbol is considered and the decoding bits are removed from it. Finally, the next OFDM symbol after the second AGC symbol is copied to the second AGC symbol. This may be an example of puncturing.

[0058] In some specific implementations, when the DM-RS symbol of the PSSCH can overlap with the second AGC symbol, the DM-RS symbol may be punctured by the second AGC symbol. Alternatively, when the DM-RS symbol of the PSSCH can overlap with the second AGC symbol, the DM-RS symbol may be advanced (e.g., moved to the previous symbol index) or delayed by one or more symbols (e.g., moved to the next symbol index). When the PSSCH / PSCCH is transmitted starting from the second starting symbol, the symbol index for the DM-RS symbol may be determined based on the number of remaining PSSCH symbols.

[0059] In a scenario where the resource pool configuration (or (pre-)configuration) supports two candidate starting symbols, the TBS may be determined. In some specific implementations, the resource pool configuration may indicate whether the TBS determination is based on the time slot from the first starting symbol or the second starting symbol. In other specific implementations, whether the TBS determination is based on the time slot from the first starting symbol or the second starting symbol may be predefined or configured to be the same for all resource pool configurations (or regardless of the resource pool configuration).

[0060] In other specific implementations, whether the TBS determination is based on the time slot of the first starting symbol or the second starting symbol can be directly indicated by a level 1 SCI (e.g., an SCI indicating the first PSSCH DM-RS mode of the DM-RS multiplexed with the PSSCH). In such specific implementations, the reserved bits in the level 1 SCI (e.g., SCI format 1-A) can be used, provided that 2 starting symbols within the time slot are enabled. For example, when the reserved bit is equal to 0, the TBS determination can be based on the time slot of the first starting symbol, and when the reserved bit is equal to 1, the TBS determination can be based on the time slot of the second starting symbol. In some specific implementations, when a higher layer parameter (e.g., the "indicationUEBScheme2" parameter) is set to enabled, the second reserved bit in "sl-NumReservedBits" can be used to indicate whether the TBS determination is based on the time slot of the first starting symbol or the second starting symbol.

[0061] When PSSCH and / or PSCCH communication starts from the second starting symbol of the time slot, one or more processing time constraints can be determined and / or implemented by the UE 110. In some specific implementations, a time gap can be implemented between the PSSCH and the PSFCH. In such a scenario, the first PSFCH occasion can be at least two or three time slots after the PSSCH transmission. In other specific implementations, a time gap can be implemented between the PSSCH communication and the PSFCH communication based on a predefined configuration. For example, for all scenarios, the first PSFCH occasion can be specified as at least two, three, or another number of time slots after the PSSCH communication.

[0062] In still other specific implementations, a time gap can be implemented between the PSSCH communication and the PSFCH communication in different ways, such as based on the resource pool configuration implemented for SL communication. For example, the resource pool configuration can include or trigger a specific implementation of a time gap greater than three time slots between the PSSCH communication and the PSFCH communication. In some specific implementations, the time gap specific implementation can be based on the corresponding resource pool configuration, regardless of whether the PSSCH communication and / or the PSCCH communication starts from the first starting symbol or the second starting symbol in the time slot. In such specific implementations, the time gap can be greater than 3 time slots.

[0063] In other specific implementations, when PSSCH communication and / or PSCCH communication starts from the second starting symbol in a time slot, the time gap specific implementation can be based on the corresponding resource pool configuration. For PSSCH communication and / or PSCCH communication starting from the first starting time slot symbol in a time slot, a traditional time gap (e.g., a time gap of 2 or 3 time slots) can be implemented. In other specific implementations, the method of implementing the time gap (e.g., whether the first starting symbol or the second starting symbol is non-positive) can further depend on the category or type of the resource pool configuration being implemented.

[0064] Reference Figure 2 , process 200 may include (at 220) determining SL resources. For example, UE 110-2 may determine SL resources when receiving PSCCH communication and / or PSSCH communication from UE110-1. UE 110-2 may determine the SL resources based on the resource pool configuration implemented by UE 110-1. The resource pool configuration may be indicated as control information by UE 110-1 and / or indicated by base station 122 (e.g., where base station 122 configures each of UE 110-1 and UE 110-2 to use the resource pool configuration for SL communication). In some specific implementations, UE 110-2 may use 4G LTE technology and / or 5G NR technology to listen for or monitor SL communication. In such scenarios, UE 110-2 detects SL signaling for communication received during the LTE sensing window and / or NR sensing window. As described herein, UE 110-2 may process and analyze signals received in overlapping LTE sensing windows and NR sensing windows by sharing the earliest detected information.

[0065] Figure 6 is a diagram of example 600 of LTE SL module 610 and NR SL module 620 of UE 110 according to one or more specific implementations described herein. LTE SL module 610 may include one or more combinations of software components and hardware components described herein that are configured to or otherwise capable of performing one or more of the operations described herein (see, for example, Figure 13 components 1310, 1308, 1306, 1304B, 1304E, 1304G, etc.). Similarly, NR SL module 620 may include one or more combinations of software components and hardware components described herein that are configured to or otherwise capable of performing one or more of the operations described herein (see, for example, Figure 13 components 1310, 1308, 1306, 1304C, 1304E, 1304G, etc.).

[0066] Generally, the LTE SL module 610 can be configured to facilitate or enable the UE 110 to participate in SL communication using LTE signals, resources, configurations, parameter sets, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the NR SL module 620 can be configured to prompt or enable the UE 110 to participate in SL communication using NR signals, resources, configurations, parameter sets, etc. The following describes non-limiting examples of processes and operations that can be performed by the LTE SL module 610 and the NR SL module 620 (and / or other components of the UE 110) with reference to Figures 7 to 11 non-limiting examples of processes and operations that can be performed by the LTE SL module 610 and the NR SL module 620 (and / or other components of the UE 110).

[0067] Figure 7 is a diagram of an example 700 of overlapping an LTE sensing window and an NR sensing window and sharing LTE sensing results according to one or more specific implementations described herein. The LTE SL module 610 can be configured to listen for, detect, and / or receive LTE SL signals. As described herein, the LTE SL signals can include SL-U signals from another UE 110 using resources, configurations, parameter sets, etc. defined by LTE. The LTE SL module 610 can be configured to listen for and receive LTE SL signals during an LTE sensing window having a duration of 1000 milliseconds (ms). The NR SL module 620 can be configured to listen for, detect, and / or receive NR SL signals. As described herein, the NR SL signals can include SL-U signals from another UE 110 using resources, configurations, parameter sets, etc. defined by NR. As shown, the NR SL module 620 can be configured to listen for and receive NR SL signals during an NR sensing window having a duration of 1100 ms or 100 ms. The duration of the NR sensing window can be based on the resource pool configuration implemented by the UE 110.

[0068] N can be the time at the end of the NR sensing window or the start time of a time slot for NR resource selection, reselection, re-evaluation, or preemption. T' can be the time when the sensing result of the LTE SL signal is shared with the NR SL module 620. T' MAX can depend on the specific implementation. For example, T' MAX can be 1100 ms for each NR sensing window, 1000 ms for each LTE sensing window size, or according to the resource pool configuration. When T' is less than or equal to T' MAXWhen, the NR SL module 620 can be configured to use the information received from the LTE SL signal. As shown, this can be applied to a scenario where the LTE sensing window and the NR sensing window overlap with each other. That is, the NR SL module 620 can be configured to use the information when it is received within the NR sensing window and within a threshold time starting from N. The NR SL module 620 can be configured to: if such information is received before the NR sensing window or before the threshold time, ignore the information. In such a scenario, the NR SL module 620 can, for example, wait and receive the NR SL signal, and continue with NR SL resource selection, reselection, re-evaluation, etc. based on the NR SL signal.

[0069] Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process 800 for sharing and using sensing results according to one or more specific implementations described herein. The process 800 can be implemented by the UE 110 and / or a combination of the LTE SL module 610 and the NR SL module 620. In some specific implementations, some or all of the processes in the process 800 can be performed by one or more other systems or devices (including Figure 1 one or more of the devices). Additionally, the process 800 can include one or more fewer, additional, different-ordered, and / or arranged operations compared to the operations shown in Figure 8 including other processes and / or operations discussed herein. For example, the process 800 can include operations before one or more of the depicted operations, operations performed in parallel with the one or more operations, and / or operations after the one or more operations. Furthermore, some or all of the operations of the process 800 can be performed independently, sequentially, simultaneously, etc. relative to one or more of the other operations of the process 800. Therefore, the techniques described herein are not limited to Figure 8 the number, sequence, arrangement, timing, etc. of the operations or processes depicted in

[0070] As shown, the process 800 can include receiving and processing an LTE SL signal using the LTE SL module 610 (block 810). For example, the UE 110-2 can receive and process the LTE SL signal from the UE 110-1. In some specific implementations, the UE 110-2 can use the LTE SL module 610 of the UE 110-2 to receive and detect the signal. The process 800 can include receiving a notification of the LTE SL signal using the NR SL module 620 (block 820). For example, when receiving and processing the LTE SL signal, the LTE SL module 610 can be configured to share or convey the LTE SL signal or information about the LTE SL signal (such as sensing information) to the NR SL module 620.

[0071] UE 110 can determine whether the NR SL module 620 has received an LTE SL signal or sensing information (T') within a threshold time (T or T MAX ) of a time slot (N) for NR SL resource selection, reselection, re-evaluation, or preemption (block 830). When the NR SL module 620 receives sensing information or results from the LTE SL module 610 at a time (T') before N minus the time threshold (T), the NR SL module 620 may ignore the information or results. N may include time slots for NR sidelink resource selection, reselection, re-evaluation, or preemption. In contrast, when the NR SL module 620 receives sensing information or results from the LTE SL module 610 at a time (T') after N minus the time threshold (T or T MAX ), the NR SL module 620 may use the information or results from the LTE SL module 610.

[0072] Figure 9 is a diagram of an example process 900 for using shared LTE signal results according to one or more specific implementations described herein. Process 900 may be implemented by the UE 110 and / or a combination of the LTE SL module 610 and the NR SL module 620. In some specific implementations, some or all of process 900 may be performed by one or more other systems or devices (including Figure 1 one or more of the devices). Additionally, process 900 may include one or more fewer, additional, different-ordered, and / or arranged operations compared to those shown in Figure 9 , including other processes and / or operations discussed herein. For example, process 900 may include operations before one or more of the depicted operations, operations performed in parallel with the one or more operations, and / or operations after the one or more operations. Additionally, some or all of the operations of process 900 may be performed independently of, sequentially, simultaneously, etc. with respect to one or more of the other operations of process 900. Thus, the techniques described herein are not limited to Figure 9 the number, order, arrangement, timing, etc. of the depicted operations or processes. In some specific implementations, the example process 900 may be implemented when the LTE SL subchannel has partially overlapped with the NR SL subchannel.

[0073] As shown, process 900 may include receiving an indication of S A or S B from the LTE SL module 610 (block 910). For example, the NR SL module 620 may receive S A or S BThe indication. As used herein, "S" (e.g., S A , S B , S C , etc.) may refer to a set of candidate resources available for sidelink transmission. Receiving an indication of S A or S B may correspond to receiving an LTE SL signal from the LTE SL module 610, as described elsewhere herein. Process 900 may also include converting the resources in S A or S B into a set of preferred resources S c for NR SL communication (block 920). For example, the NR SL module 620 may convert the resources in S A or S B into a set of preferred resources for NR SL communication.

[0074] In some specific embodiments, converting the candidate resources in S A or S B into preferred resources for NR SL communication may include one or more techniques. In some specific embodiments, when all resource blocks (RBs) in a resource block (RB) of an NR SL subchannel are within the subchannel of the resources in S A or S B , the NR SL subchannel may be regarded as a preferred resource for NR SL communication only. In some specific embodiments, when at least a threshold number or a threshold percentage of the RBs of an NR SL subchannel are within the subchannel of the resources in S A or S B , the NR SL subchannel may be regarded as a preferred resource for NR SL communication only. In such specific embodiments, the threshold number or threshold percentage of RBs may be specified for and / or specific to the corresponding SL resource pool configuration (e.g., the resource pool configuration implemented by the UE 110).

[0075] Process 900 may also include performing an NR SL resource selection process to obtain a set of candidate resources S D (block 930). For example, the NR SL module 620 may perform an NR SL resource selection process to obtain a set of candidate resources S D .

[0076] Process 900 may also include determining the resource intersection between the candidate resources S D and the preferred resources S c , and selecting resources from the resource intersection (block 940). For example, the NR SL module 620 may determine the resource intersection between the candidate resources S D and the preferred resources S cthe resource intersection between, and select resources from the resource intersection. Candidate resource S D and the preferred resource S c The intersection between can include resources that overlap between the candidate resource set and the preferred resource set. In some specific implementations, the selection of resources from the intersection can be random.

[0077] Figures 10 to 11 is a diagram of Examples 1000 and 1100 that use the shared LTE signal result when the LTE SL subchannel overlaps with the NRSL subchannel, according to one or more specific implementations described herein. As shown, Examples 1000 and 1100 can include LTE subchannel resources S A or S B and NR subchannel resources S c . Example 1000 can include the following scenario: Since all RBs in the RB of the NR SL subchannel are within the subchannel of the resources in S A or S B , the NRSL subchannel is considered a preferred resource for NR SL communication. In contrast, Example 1100 can include the following scenario: When at least a threshold number or threshold percentage of the RBs of the NRSL subchannel are within the subchannel of the resources in S A or S B , the NR SL subchannel can be considered a preferred resource for NR SL communication.

[0078] Refer to Figure 2 , process 200 can include using SL resources for PSFCH communication (230). For example, UE 110-2 can use SL resources for PSFCH communication. In some specific implementations, UE 110-2 can determine or evaluate the SL resources reserved by other UEs 110, and these SL resources can include LTE or NR resources. As described below with reference to Figures 12 to 13 , UE 110-2 can apply one or more rules to determine which SL resources will be used for PSFCH communication. UE 110-2 can determine, schedule, reserve, etc. SL resources for PSFCH communication while (at 220) determining the SL resources.

[0079] Figures 12 to 13 is a diagram of Examples 1200 and 1300 that prevent PSFCH transmission from overlapping with LTE transmission, according to one or more specific implementations described herein. As described herein, UE 110 can use LTE resources and / or NR resources to join SL communication. Each set of resources can be related to the time domain and the frequency domain. When the reserved SL resources do not overlap in either the time domain or the frequency domain, the SL communication using these resources can continue.

[0080] Example 1200 includes LTE reservation 1210, LTE reservation 1220, and NR PSSCH 1230. The LTE transmission and the NR transmission can come from the same UE 110 or from different UEs 110. The SL communication using these resources can continue because these SL communications do not overlap in the time domain or the frequency domain. However, the corresponding LTE reservations 1240 and 1250 overlap with the PSFCH transmission corresponding to the NR PSSCH transmission 1230 in the time domain (rather than the frequency domain). Thus, the UE 110 can be configured to determine and continue when one or more exceptions are applied to this scenario. In some embodiments, the UE 110 can compare the priority of the NR PSFCH transmission with the LTE reservations 1240 and 1250 and continue only when the priority of the NR PSFCH transmission is higher than the priority of the LTE reservations 1240 and 1250. In some embodiments, the UE 110 can compare the priority of the NR PSFCH transmission with the threshold priority of the corresponding NR SL resource pool and continue only when the priority of the NR PSFCH transmission is higher than the threshold of the pre-configured threshold priority. In some embodiments, the UE 110 can compare the priority of the LTE reservations 1240 and 1250 with the threshold priority of the corresponding NR SL resource pool and continue only when the priority of the LTE reservations 1240 and 1250 is less than the pre-configured threshold priority. In some embodiments, the UE 110 can be configured to continue the NR PSFCH transmission when any one, two or more, or all of the foregoing exceptions are applied.

[0081] Example 1300 includes LTE reservation 1310 and NR PSSCH 1320. The LTE transmission and the NR transmission can come from the same UE 110 or from different UEs 110. The SL communication using these resources can continue because these SL communications do not overlap in the time domain or the frequency domain. However, the corresponding LTE reservation 1330 overlaps with the PSFCH transmission corresponding to the NR PSSCH transmission 1320 in both the time domain and the frequency domain. Thus, the UE 110 performing the PSFCH transmission can be configured to continue in one or more ways.

[0082] In some specific implementations, the UE 110 may be configured to detect coverage and not convey a PSFCH transmission. In some specific implementations, the UE 110 may be configured to compare the priority of a PSFCH transmission with the priority of a conflicting LTE SL reservation (LTE reservation 1330), and continue the PSFCH transmission when the priority of the PSFCH transmission is higher. In some specific implementations, the UE 110 may be configured to continue the PSFCH transmission when the priority of the PSFCH transmission is the highest priority compared to the UE 110 among the LTE SL reservations. In some specific implementations, the UE 110 may be configured to continue the PSFCH transmission when the priority of the PSFCH transmission is higher than a preconfigured threshold of the corresponding NR resource pool.

[0083] In some specific implementations, the UE 110 may be configured to continue the PSFCH transmission when the priority of the PSFCH transmission is the highest priority compared to the UE 110 among the LTE SL reservations and the total number of SL transmissions is less than a threshold number of SL transmissions. In some specific implementations, the UE 110 may not continue the PSFCH transmission unless one or more (or all) of the foregoing conditions are applied. In still other specific implementations, one or more of the foregoing conditions may be applied based on a broadcast type (e.g., unicast, multicast, broadcast, groupcast).

[0084] For example, in a multicast scenario, one or more of the foregoing conditions may be applied based on whether multicast option 1 (e.g., negative acknowledgment (NACK only)) or multicast option 2 (e.g., acknowledgment and negative acknowledgment (ACK / NACK)) is applied. As another example, in a unicast scenario, the UE 110 may be configured to continue the PSFCH transmission when the priority of the PSFCH transmission is the highest priority compared to the UE 110 among the LTE SL reservations; and in a multicast option 1 scenario, the UE 110 may be configured to continue the PSFCH transmission when the priority of the PSFCH transmission is the highest priority compared to the UE 110 among the LTE SL reservations and the total number of SL transmissions is less than a threshold number of SL transmissions.

[0085] Reference Figure 2 , process 200 may include (at 240) using SL resources for PSSCH communication. For example, the UE 110-2 may use the SL resources (e.g., determined at 220) for communicating with the UE 110-1 via PSSCH communication. In doing so, the UE 110-2 may implement one or more of the techniques described herein for SL-U communication, including the evaluation, reservation, and use of LTE and / or NR resources for doing so.

[0086] Figure 14 It is a diagram showing examples of components of a device according to one or more specific embodiments described herein. In some specific embodiments, device 1400 may include, at least, application circuitry 1402, baseband circuitry 1404, RF circuitry 1406, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 1408, one or more antennas 1410, and power management circuitry (PMC) 1412 coupled together as shown. The illustrated components of device 1400 may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some specific embodiments, device 1400 may include fewer elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry 1402 but may include a processor / controller to process IP data received from a CN or an evolved packet core (EPC)). In some specific embodiments, device 1400 may include additional elements such as memory / storage, a display, a camera, sensors (including one or more temperature sensors, such as a single temperature sensor, multiple temperature sensors located at different positions within device 1400, etc.), or input / output (I / O) interfaces. In other specific embodiments, the following components may be included in more than one device (e.g., the circuitry may be included separately in more than one device for a cloud-RAN (C-RAN) specific embodiment).

[0087] The application circuitry 1402 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 1402 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled to or may include memory / storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage to enable various application programs or operating systems to run on device 1400. In some specific embodiments, the processors of the application circuitry 1402 may process IP data packets received from the EPC.

[0088] The baseband circuit 1404 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuit 1404 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic components to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 1406 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 1406. The baseband circuit 1404 may interact with the application circuit 1402 to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of the RF circuit 1406. For example, in some specific embodiments, the baseband circuit 1404 may include a 3G baseband processor 1404A, a 4G baseband processor 1404B, a 5G baseband processor 1404C, or other baseband processors 1404D for other existing generations, generations under development, or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., 5G, 6G, etc.). The baseband circuit 1404 (e.g., one or more of the baseband processors 1404A-D) may process various radio control functions that may communicate with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 1406. In other specific embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 1404A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory 1404G and executed via the central processing unit (CPU) 1404E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some specific embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuit of the baseband circuit 1404 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some specific embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 1404 may include convolutional, tail-biting convolutional, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity-check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The specific embodiments of modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other aspects.

[0089] In some specific embodiments, the memory 1404G may receive and store one or more configurations, instructions, and / or other types of information for supporting SL signaling for two candidate start symbols within a time slot. A time slot with two candidate start symbols may not be applicable to a time slot having feedback channel resources. A time slot with two candidate start symbols may be pre-configured. A time slot structure and solution for determining the TBS for a time slot supporting two candidate start symbols may also be included, as well as a solution for handling time constraints and the time gap between receiving a time slot supporting two start candidate symbols and providing feedback regarding such a time slot. The memory 1404G may receive and store one or more configurations, instructions, and / or other types of information for sharing information, sharing LTE and NR sub-channel resources, and avoiding NR feedback transmissions that may overlap with LTE transmissions during overlapping LTE sensing windows and NR sensing windows.

[0090] In some specific implementations, the baseband circuit 1404 may include one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 1404F. The audio DSP 1404F may include elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and in other specific implementations may include other suitable processing elements. In some specific implementations, the components of the baseband circuit may be appropriately combined on a single chip, in a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In some specific implementations, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuit 1404 and the application circuit 1402 may be implemented together, for example, on a system-on-chip (SOC).

[0091] In some specific implementations, the baseband circuit 1404 may provide communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some specific implementations, the baseband circuit 1404 may support communication with NG-RAN, evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN), or other wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless personal area network (WPAN), etc. Specific implementations in which the baseband circuit 1404 is configured to support radio communication of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0092] The RF circuit 1406 may communicate with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various specific implementations, the RF circuit 1406 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with the wireless network. The RF circuit 1406 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry for down-converting an RF signal received from the FEM circuit 1408 and providing a baseband signal to the baseband circuit 1404. The RF circuit 1406 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry for up-converting a baseband signal provided by the baseband circuit 1404 and providing an RF output signal to the FEM circuit 1408 for transmission.

[0093] In some specific implementations, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 1406 may include a mixer circuit 1406A, an amplifier circuit 1406B, and a filter circuit 1406C. In some specific implementations, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 1406 may include a filter circuit 1406C and a mixer circuit 1406A. The RF circuit 1406 may further include a synthesizer circuit 1406D that is used to synthesize frequencies for use by the mixer circuit 1406A in the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some specific implementations, the mixer circuit 1406A in the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 1408 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 1406D. The amplifier circuit 1406B may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 1406C may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or a band-pass filter (BPF) that is configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to the baseband circuit 1404 for further processing. In some specific implementations, the output baseband signal may be a zero-frequency baseband signal, but this is not required. In some specific implementations, the mixer circuit 1406A in the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, but the scope of specific implementations is not limited in this regard.

[0094] In some specific implementations, the mixer circuit 1406A in the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert the input baseband signal based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 1406D to generate an RF output signal for the FEM circuit 1408. The baseband signal may be provided by the baseband circuit 1404 and may be filtered by the filter circuit 1406C.

[0095] In some specific implementations, the mixer circuit 1406A in the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1406A in the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged respectively for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion. In some specific implementations, the mixer circuit 1406A in the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1406A in the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some specific implementations, the mixer circuit 1406A in the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1406A may be arranged respectively for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion. In some specific implementations, the mixer circuit 1406A in the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1406A in the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0096] In some specific implementations, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal can be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the specific implementations is not limited in this regard. In some alternative specific implementations, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal can be digital baseband signals. In these alternative specific implementations, the RF circuit 1406 can include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, and the baseband circuit 1404 can include a digital baseband interface for communicating with the RF circuit 1406.

[0097] In some dual-mode specific implementations, separate radio IC circuits can be provided to process the signals of each spectrum, but the scope of the specific implementations is not limited in this regard.

[0098] In some specific implementations, the synthesizer circuit 1406D can be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the specific implementations is not limited in this regard, as other types of frequency synthesizers can also be suitable. For example, the synthesizer circuit 1406D can be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0099] The synthesizer circuit 1406D can be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on a frequency input and a frequency divider control input for use by the mixer circuit 1406A of the RF circuit 1406. In some specific implementations, the synthesizer circuit 1406D can be a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0100] In some specific implementations, the frequency input can be provided by a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not necessary. The frequency divider control input can be provided by the baseband circuit 1404 or the application circuit 1402 according to the desired output frequency. In some specific implementations, the frequency divider control input (e.g., N) can be determined from a look-up table based on the channel indicated by the application circuit 1402.

[0101] The synthesizer circuit 1406D of the RF circuit 1406 can include a frequency divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some specific implementations, the frequency divider can be a dual-mode frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator can be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some specific implementations, the DMD can be configured to divide an input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry output) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example specific implementations, the DLL can include cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a set of D-type flip-flops. In these specific implementations, the delay elements can be configured to divide the VCO period into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO period.

[0102] In some specific implementations, the synthesizer circuit 1406D may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other specific implementations, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and may be used in conjunction with the quadrature generator and frequency divider circuits to generate multiple signals having multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some specific implementations, the output frequency may be the LO frequency (fLO). In some specific implementations, the RF circuit 1406 may include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0103] The FEM circuit 1408 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 1410, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the RF circuit 1406 for further processing. The FEM circuit 1408 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuit 1406 for transmission via one or more of the one or more antennas 1410. In various specific implementations, amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be accomplished only in the RF circuit 1406, only in the FEM circuit 1408, or in both the RF circuit 1406 and the FEM circuit 1408.

[0104] In some specific implementations, the FEM circuit 1408 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operations. The FEM circuit may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit may include an LNA to amplify the received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 1406). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 1408 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying an input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 1406); and one or more filters for generating RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., via one or more of the one or more antennas 1410).

[0105] In some specific implementations, the PMC 1412 may manage the power provided to the baseband circuit 1404. Specifically, the PMC 1412 may control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion. When the device 1400 is capable of being powered by a battery, e.g., when the device is included in a UE, the PMC 1412 is typically included. The PMC 1412 may improve power conversion efficiency while providing desired specific implementation size and thermal characteristics.

[0106] Although Figure 14PMC 1412 is shown coupled only to the baseband circuitry 1404. However, in other embodiments, PMC 1412 may additionally or alternatively be coupled to other components such as, but not limited to, the application circuitry 1402, the RF circuitry 1406, or the FEM circuitry 1408, and perform similar power management operations.

[0107] In some embodiments, PMC 1412 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the device 1400. For example, if the device 1400 is in the RRC_Connected state, where the device is still connected to a RAN node because the device expects to receive traffic immediately, after an inactive period, the device may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the device 1400 may power down for short intervals, thus saving power.

[0108] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period, the device 1400 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, where the device is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 1400 enters a very low power state and performs paging, where the device wakes up periodically again to listen for the network and then powers down again. The device 1400 may not receive data in this state; to receive data, the device may transition back to the RRC_Connected state.

[0109] Additional power saving modes may cause the device to be unavailable to the network for longer than the paging time interval (ranging from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device cannot connect to the network and may be powered down completely. Any data transmitted during this time incurs a significant delay, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0110] The processors of the application circuitry 1402 and the baseband circuitry 1404 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuitry 1404 may be used alone or in combination to perform functions of layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1, while the processor of the baseband circuitry 1404 may utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform functions of layer 4 (e.g., the transport control protocol (TCP) and the user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include the RRC layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include the media access control (MAC) layer, the radio link control (RLC) layer, and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include the physical (PHY) layer of the UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0111] Figure 15is a block diagram illustrating components that can read instructions from a machine-readable medium or a computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein. Specifically, Figure 15 shows a schematic representation of hardware resources 1500, which includes one or more processors (or processor cores) 1510, one or more memory / storage devices 1520, and one or more communication resources 1530, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1540. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1500.

[0112] The processor 1510 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) (such as a baseband processor), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 1512 and a processor 1514.

[0113] The memory / storage device 1520 may include a main memory, a disk memory, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1520 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid state memory, etc.

[0114] In some embodiments, the memory / storage device 1520 may receive and store one or more configurations, instructions, and / or other types of information 1555 for supporting SL signaling for two candidate starting symbols within a time slot. A time slot with two candidate starting symbols may not be applicable to a time slot having feedback channel resources. A time slot with two candidate starting symbols may be pre-configured. A time slot structure and solution for determining the TBS for a time slot supporting two candidate starting symbols may also be included, as well as a solution for handling time constraints and the time gap between receiving a time slot supporting two candidate starting symbols and providing feedback regarding such a time slot. The memory / storage device 1520 may receive and store one or more configurations, instructions, and / or other types of information 1555 for sharing information, sharing LTE and NR sub-channel resources, and avoiding NR feedback transmissions that may overlap with LTE transmissions during overlapping LTE sensing windows and NR sensing windows.

[0115] The communication resource 1530 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1504 or one or more databases 1506 via a network 1508. For example, the communication resource 1530 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, a component (such as low power consumption), a component, and other communication components.

[0116] The instructions 1550 may include software, programs, applications, applets, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1510 to execute any one or more of the method sets discussed herein. The instructions 1550 may reside, in whole or in part, in at least one of the processors 1510 (e.g., within the cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 1520, or any suitable combination thereof. Additionally, any portion of the instructions 1550 may be transmitted from any combination of the peripheral devices 1504 or the database 1506 to the hardware resource 1500. Thus, the memory of the processor 1510, the memory / storage device 1520, the peripheral devices 1504, and the database 1506 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0117] Embodiments herein may include a subject matter, such as a method, components for performing actions or blocks of the method, at least one machine-readable medium including executable instructions that, when executed by a machine (e.g., a processor with a memory, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), etc.), cause the machine to perform actions of a method or an apparatus or a system for concurrent communication using multiple communication technologies according to the specific implementations and embodiments described.

[0118] In Example 1, which may also include one or more examples described herein, a User Equipment (UE) includes: a memory; and one or more processors configured to cause the UE, when executing instructions stored in the memory, to: determine a time slot configuration for unlicensed spectrum sidelink (SL-U) communication, the time slot configuration including a time slot having two candidate start symbols; and communicate the SL-U communication using, at least in part, one of the two candidate start symbols as a start symbol for the SL-U communication based on the time slot configuration.

[0119] In Example 2, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the SL-U signal includes feedback resources in a time slot different from the time slot having the two candidate starting symbols. In Example 3, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the time slot configuration is preconfigured based on the SL resource pool. In Example 4, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the SL-U signal includes periodicity for the time slot having the two candidate starting symbols.

[0120] In Example 5, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the time slot configuration of the SL-U signal is used for the physical sidelink (SL) shared channel (PSSCH) and the physical SL control channel (PSCCH). In Example 6, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the time slot having the two candidate starting symbols includes two automatic gain control (AGC) symbols. In Example 7, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, when transmitting the physical sidelink (SL) shared channel (PSSCH) starting from the first starting symbol of the two candidate starting symbols, the PSSCH symbols are mapped on the second AGC symbol of the two AGC symbols.

[0121] In Example 8, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the second starting symbol of the two candidate starting symbols is located at a symbol index different from the symbol index assigned to the demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) symbols. In Example 9, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the transport block size (TBS) determination of the SL-U signal is based on the first candidate starting symbol of the two candidate starting symbols. In Example 10, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the transport block size (TBS) determination of the SL-U signal is based on the second candidate starting symbol of the two candidate starting symbols.

[0122] In Example 11, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the transport block size (TBS) determination of the SL-U signal is based on sidelink (SL) control information (SCI). In Example 12, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the time gap between the physical sidelink (SL) shared channel (PSSCH) and the physical SL feedback channel (PSFCH) is preconfigured based on the SL resource pool associated with the SL-U signal. In Example 13, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, when the physical sidelink (SL) shared channel (PSSCH) starts from the second candidate start symbol of the two candidate start symbols, the time gap preconfigured for the SL resource pool associated with the SL-U signal is applied.

[0123] In Example 14, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, a user equipment (UE) may include: a memory; and one or more processors configured to cause the UE, when executing instructions stored in the memory, to: receive a sensing result from a signal corresponding to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) signal, the sensing result indicating an LTE resource allocation for sidelink (SL) communication; convert the LTE resource allocation into a New Radio (NR) resource allocation; select an NR resource based on the converted NR resource allocation; and communicate with another UE using the selected NR resource.

[0124] In Example 15, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the LTE resource allocation is received within a threshold time starting from a time slot for NR SL resource selection. In Example 16, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the LTE resource allocation is received within an LTE sensing window. In Example 17, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the LTE resource allocation is received within an NR sensing window. In Example 18, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the threshold time is preconfigured based on the SL resource pool.

[0125] In Example 19, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the NR resource allocation is based on the number of NR resource blocks (RBs) included in the frequency range corresponding to the LTE resource allocation. In Example 20, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the NR resource allocation is based on a threshold number of NR resource blocks (RBs) included in the frequency range corresponding to the LTE resource allocation. In Example 21, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the NR resource allocation is based on a threshold percentage of NR resource blocks (RBs) included in the frequency range corresponding to the LTE resource allocation.

[0126] In Example 22, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the NR resource allocation includes a Physical SL Feedback Channel (PSFCH) resource that overlaps in the time domain with a reserved LTE resource having a lower priority than the NR resource allocation. In Example 23, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the priority of the NR resource allocation of the PSFCH resource is higher than the highest priority of the LTE SL transmission of the reserved LTE resource. In Example 24, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the priority of the NR resource allocation of the PSFCH resource is higher than a preconfigured priority threshold of the corresponding NR resource pool.

[0127] In Example 25, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the number of LTE SL transmissions of the reserved LTE resource is less than a preconfigured threshold number of LTE SL transmissions. In Example 26, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the NR resource allocation includes a Physical SL Feedback Channel (PSFCH) resource that overlaps in the time domain and frequency domain with a reserved LTE resource having a lower priority than the NR resource allocation. In Example 27, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the priority of the NR resource allocation of the PSFCH resource is higher than the priority of the LTE SL transmission of the reserved LTE resource. In Example 28, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the priority of the NR resource allocation of the PSFCH resource is higher than the highest priority of the LTE SL transmission. In Example 29, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, the priority of the NR resource allocation of the PSFCH resource is higher than the highest priority of the LTE SL transmission, and the number of LTE SL transmissions is less than a preconfigured threshold number of LTE SL transmissions.

[0128] In Example 30, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) may include: determining a time slot configuration for unlicensed spectrum sidelink (SL-U) communication, the time slot configuration including a time slot having two candidate start symbols; and communicating the SL-U communication using one of the two candidate start symbols as a start symbol for SL-U communication, at least in part based on the time slot configuration. In Example 31, which may also include one or more of the examples described herein, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) may include: receiving a sensing result from a signal corresponding to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) signal, the sensing result indicating an LTE resource allocation for sidelink (SL) communication; converting the LTE resource allocation to a New Radio (NR) resource allocation; selecting an NR resource based on the converted NR resource allocation; and communicating with another UE using the selected NR resource.

[0129] The foregoing description of illustrative examples, specific implementations, aspects, etc. of the subject matter of the present disclosure, which includes what is described in the abstract of the specification, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosed aspects to the precise forms disclosed. While specific examples, specific implementations, aspects, etc. are described herein for illustrative purposes, various modifications can be contemplated within the scope of such examples, specific implementations, aspects, etc., as will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the relevant art.

[0130] In this regard, while the subject matter of the present disclosure has been described in connection with various examples, specific implementations, aspects, etc. and the corresponding drawings, it should be understood that, where applicable, other similar aspects may be used or modifications and additions may be made to the disclosed subject matter to perform the same, similar, alternative, or substitute functions of the subject matter without departing from the disclosed subject matter. Accordingly, the disclosed subject matter should not be limited to any single example, specific implementation, or aspect described herein, but should be construed in accordance with the breadth and scope of the following appended claims.

[0131] Particularly with respect to the various functions performed by the above-described components or structures (assemblies, devices, circuits, systems, etc.), unless otherwise specified, the terms used to describe such components (including references to "means") are intended to correspond to any component or structure that performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., functionally equivalent), even if not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure that performs the functions in the exemplary specific implementations illustrated herein. Additionally, although a particular feature has been disclosed with respect to only one of several specific implementations, for any given application, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of one or more other specific implementations, which may be desirable and advantageous.

[0132] As used herein, the term "or" is intended to mean an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or". That is, unless otherwise specified or clear from the context, "X employs A or B" is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then "X employs A or B" is satisfied in any of the foregoing instances. Additionally, the articles "a" and "an" as used in this application and the appended claims generally should be construed to mean "one or more" unless otherwise specified or clearly indicated to be the singular form from the context. Further, to the extent that the terms "comprising", "include", "has", "have", "with" or variants thereof are used in the detailed description or claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term "comprising". Additionally, in the case of discussing one or more numbered items (e.g., "first X", "second X", etc.), generally, the one or more numbered items can be different or they can be the same, but in some cases, the context may indicate that they are different or indicate that they are the same.

[0133] It is well known that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and disposed of to minimize the risk of inadvertent or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprises: a memory; and one or more processors configured to cause the UE, when executing instructions stored in the memory, to: determine a time slot configuration for unlicensed spectrum sidelink (SL-U) communication, the time slot configuration including a time slot having two candidate start symbols; and communicate the SL-U communication using one of the two candidate start symbols as a start symbol for SL-U communication, at least partially based on the time slot configuration.

2. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the SL-U signal includes a feedback resource in a time slot different from the time slot having the two candidate start symbols.

3. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the time slot configuration is pre-configured based on an SL resource pool.

4. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the SL-U signal includes periodicity for a time slot having the two candidate start symbols.

5. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the time slot configuration of the SL-U signal is used for a physical sidelink (SL) shared channel (PSSCH) and a physical SL control channel (PSCCH).

6. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the time slot having the two candidate start symbols includes two automatic gain control (AGC) symbols.

7. The UE according to claim 6, wherein when transmitting a physical sidelink (SL) shared channel (PSSCH) starting from a first start symbol of the two candidate start symbols, the PSSCH symbols are mapped on a second AGC symbol of the two AGC symbols.

8. The UE according to claim 1, wherein a second start symbol of the two candidate start symbols is located at a symbol index different from a symbol index assigned to a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) symbol.

9. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the transport block size (TBS) determination of the SL-U signal is based on a first candidate start symbol of the two candidate start symbols.

10. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the transport block size (TBS) determination of the SL-U signal is based on a second candidate start symbol of the two candidate start symbols.

11. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the transport block size (TBS) determination of the SL-U signal is based on sidelink (SL) control information (SCI).

12. The UE according to claim 1, wherein a time gap between a physical sidelink (SL) shared channel (PSSCH) and a physical SL feedback channel (PSFCH) is pre-configured based on an SL resource pool associated with the SL-U signal.

13. The UE according to claim 12, wherein when the physical sidelink (SL) shared channel (PSSCH) starts from the second candidate start symbol of the two candidate start symbols, the time gap pre-configured based on the SL resource pool associated with the SL-U signal is applied.

14. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprises: a memory; and one or more processors configured to cause the UE, when executing instructions stored in the memory, to: receive a sensing result from a signal corresponding to a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) signal, the sensing result indicating an LTE resource allocation for sidelink (SL) communication; convert the LTE resource allocation into a New Radio (NR) resource allocation; select NR resources based on the converted NR resource allocation; and communicate with another UE using the selected NR resources.

15. The UE according to claim 14, wherein the LTE resource allocation is received within a threshold time starting from a time slot for NR SL resource selection.

16. The UE according to claim 14, wherein the LTE resource allocation is received within an LTE sensing window.

17. The UE according to claim 14, wherein the LTE resource allocation is received within an NR sensing window.

18. The UE according to claim 14, wherein the threshold time is pre-configured based on an SL resource pool.

19. The UE according to claim 14, wherein the NR resource allocation is based on the number of NR resource blocks (RBs) included in a frequency range corresponding to the LTE resource allocation.

20. The UE according to claim 14, wherein the NR resource allocation is based on a threshold number of NR resource blocks (RBs) included in a frequency range corresponding to the LTE resource allocation.

21. The UE according to claim 14, wherein the NR resource allocation is based on a threshold percentage of NR resource blocks (RBs) included in a frequency range corresponding to the LTE resource allocation.

22. The UE according to claim 14, wherein the NR resource allocation includes a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) resource that overlaps in the time domain with reserved LTE resources having a lower priority than the NR resource allocation.

23. The UE according to claim 22, wherein the priority of the NR resource allocation of the PSFCH resource is higher than the highest priority of LTE SL transmissions of the reserved LTE resources.

24. The UE according to claim 22, wherein the priority of the NR resource allocation of the PSFCH resource is higher than a pre-configured priority threshold of a corresponding NR resource pool.

25. The UE according to claim 22, wherein the number of LTE SL transmissions of the reserved LTE resources is less than a pre-configured threshold number of LTE SL transmissions.

26. The UE according to claim 14, wherein the NR resource allocation includes a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) resource that overlaps in both the time domain and the frequency domain with reserved LTE resources having a lower priority than the NR resource allocation.

27. The UE according to claim 26, wherein the priority of the NR resource allocation for the PSFCH resource is higher than the priority of the LTE SL transmission for the reserved LTE resource.

28. The UE according to claim 26, wherein the priority of the NR resource allocation for the PSFCH resource is higher than the highest priority of the LTE SL transmission.

29. The UE according to claim 26, wherein the priority of the NR resource allocation for the PSFCH resource is higher than the highest priority of the LTE SL transmission, and the number of the LTE SL transmissions is less than a preconfigured threshold number of the LTE SL transmissions.

30. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: determining a time slot configuration for unlicensed spectrum sidelink (SL-U) communication, the time slot configuration including a time slot having two candidate starting symbols; and communicating the SL-U communication at least in part based on the time slot configuration using one of the two candidate starting symbols as a starting symbol for the SL-U communication.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein the SL-U signal includes feedback resources in a time slot different from the time slot having the two candidate starting symbols.

32. The method according to claim 30, wherein the time slot configuration is preconfigured based on an SL resource pool.

33. The method according to claim 30, wherein the SL-U signal includes periodicity for a time slot having the two candidate starting symbols.

34. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a sensing result from a signal corresponding to a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) signal, the sensing result indicating an LTE resource allocation for sidelink (SL) communication; converting the LTE resource allocation into a New Radio (NR) resource allocation; selecting an NR resource based on the converted NR resource allocation; and communicating with another UE using the selected NR resource.

35. The method according to claim 34, wherein the LTE resource allocation is received within a threshold time starting from a time slot for NR SL resource selection.

36. The method according to claim 34, wherein the LTE resource allocation is received within an LTE sensing window.

37. The method according to claim 34, wherein the LTE resource allocation is received within an NR sensing window.

Images