Metasurface-enabled multiple access control

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. A device may receive a sidelink grant for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a plurality of user equipments (UEs). The device may transmit separate uplink grants to the plurality of UEs according to the sidelink grants based on the combined uplink grants. The device may configure the metasurface via the control signal to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the plurality of UEs to the network entity according to separate uplink grants.

Description

[0001] Cross-reference

[0002] This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 18 / 073,325, filed on December 1, 2022, by Dutta et al., entitled "META-SURFACEENABLED MULTIPLE ACCESS CONTROL", which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0003] The following relates to wireless communication, including meta-surface-enabled multiple access control. Background Art

[0004] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content, such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcasting, etc. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multi-access systems include fourth-generation (4G) systems (such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems) and fifth-generation (5G) systems (which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems). These systems may employ techniques such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or Discrete Fourier Transform Spread Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multi-access communication system may include one or more base stations, each supporting wireless communication for communication devices, which may be referred to as User Equipment (UE).

[0005] In some wireless communication systems, wireless devices are capable of operating in a multiple access scheme. However, such methods can be improved. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The described techniques relate to improved methods, systems, devices, and apparatuses for supporting meta-surface-enabled multiple access control. For example, a device (e.g., a meta-surface controller or a Reconfigurable Intelligent Device (RID) controller (RID-C)) may receive a sidelink grant for forwarding a combined uplink grant to multiple User Equipments (UEs). The device may send individual uplink grants to the multiple UEs based on the combined uplink grant according to the sidelink grant. The device may configure the meta-surface via a control signal to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the multiple UEs to a network entity according to the individual uplink grants.

[0007] A method for wireless communication at a device is described. The method may include: receiving, via an access link, a sidelink grant for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a set of multiple user equipments (UEs) from a network entity; sending, based on the combined uplink grant, individual uplink grants to the set of multiple UEs according to the sidelink grant; and configuring a metasurface via a control signal to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs to the network entity according to the individual uplink grant.

[0008] An apparatus for wireless communication at a device is described. The apparatus may include: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive, via an access link, a sidelink grant for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a set of multiple UEs from a network entity; send, based on the combined uplink grant, individual uplink grants to the set of multiple UEs according to the sidelink grant; and configure a metasurface via a control signal to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs to the network entity according to the individual uplink grant.

[0009] Another apparatus for wireless communication at a device is described. The apparatus may include: means for receiving, via an access link, a sidelink grant for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a set of multiple UEs from a network entity; means for sending, based on the combined uplink grant, individual uplink grants to the set of multiple UEs according to the sidelink grant; and means for configuring a metasurface via a control signal to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs to the network entity according to the individual uplink grant.

[0010] A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a device is described. The code may include instructions executable by a processor to perform the following actions: receive, via an access link, a sidelink grant for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a set of multiple UEs from a network entity; send, based on the combined uplink grant, individual uplink grants to the set of multiple UEs according to the sidelink grant; and configure a metasurface via a control signal to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs to the network entity according to the individual uplink grant.

[0011] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: sending an indication of the set of multiple UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity via the access link; and receiving, via the access link, an uplink grant for the combination of the set of multiple UEs from the network entity.

[0012] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: sending a request to enable a multiple access communication scheme for the set of multiple UEs via the metasurface to the network entity via the access link; and receiving, based on the request, a response message indicating that the multiple access communication scheme can be enabled for the set of multiple UEs, wherein sending the individual uplink grant may be based on receiving the response message.

[0013] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the request further includes an identifier associated with the device, an identifier associated with the set of multiple UEs, one or more identifiers for individual UEs in the set of multiple UEs, or any combination thereof.

[0014] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the request further includes one or more channel measurement reports for one or more channels between the metasurface and one or more UEs in the set of multiple UEs.

[0015] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: sending an indication to the set of multiple UEs that the metasurface-enabled multiple access for the set of multiple UEs may have been enabled, based on the response message.

[0016] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: sending an indication of the multiple access scheme associated with the set of multiple UEs.

[0017] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the combined uplink grant includes: an indication of a bandwidth part associated with the combined uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation, an identifier associated with the set of multiple UEs, a list of UEs in the set of multiple UEs that can be scheduled by the combined uplink grant, a list of modulation and coding scheme orders for each UE in the list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, an indication of the sidelink grant, or any combination thereof.

[0018] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the separate uplink grant indicates a bandwidth part for the one or more uplink transmissions, a common resource allocation for the one or more uplink transmissions, precoding information for the one or more uplink transmissions, or any combination thereof.

[0019] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: receiving one or more measurement reports for one or more channels associated with the set of multiple UEs and the metasurface; and transmitting, via the access link, an indication of the set of multiple UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity, wherein, based on the one or more measurement reports, the indication of the set of multiple UEs includes an indication of a multiple access group including the set of multiple UEs.

[0020] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: transmitting, via the access link, an indication of the set of multiple UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity; and receiving one or more cell-specific identifiers associated with the set of multiple UEs and one or more cell identifiers associated with the set of multiple UEs, wherein, based on the one or more cell-specific identifiers and the one or more cell identifiers, the indication of the set of multiple UEs includes an indication of a multiple access group including the set of multiple UEs.

[0021] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: receiving, from the set of multiple UEs, one or more metasurface configurations for individual UEs in the set of multiple UEs; wherein the control signal indicates that redirecting the one or more uplink transmissions may be based on the one or more metasurface configurations.

[0022] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the device may be a metasurface controller.

[0023] A method for wireless communication at a network entity is described. The method may include: receiving, via an access link, an indication of a set of multiple user equipments (UEs) associated with a metasurface controlled by the device; sending, via the access link, an uplink grant for a combination of the set of multiple UEs; sending, via the access link, a sidelink grant for the device to relay to the set of multiple UEs; and monitoring one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs via the metasurface according to the combined uplink grant.

[0024] A device for wireless communication at a network entity is described. The device may include: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause the device to: receive, via an access link, an indication of a set of multiple user equipments (UEs) associated with a metasurface controlled by the device; send, via the access link, an uplink grant for a combination of the set of multiple UEs; send, via the access link, a sidelink grant for the device to relay to the set of multiple UEs; and monitor one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs via the metasurface according to the combined uplink grant.

[0025] Another device for wireless communication at a network entity is described. The device may include: means for receiving, via an access link, an indication of a set of multiple user equipments (UEs) associated with a metasurface controlled by the device; means for sending, via the access link, an uplink grant for a combination of the set of multiple UEs; means for sending, via the access link, a sidelink grant for the device to relay to the set of multiple UEs; and means for monitoring one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs via the metasurface according to the combined uplink grant.

[0026] A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a network entity is described. The code may include instructions executable by a processor to perform the following actions: receive, via an access link, an indication of a set of multiple user equipments (UEs) associated with a metasurface controlled by the device; send, via the access link, an uplink grant for a combination of the set of multiple UEs; send, via the access link, a sidelink grant for the device to relay to the set of multiple UEs; and monitor one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs via the metasurface according to the combined uplink grant.

[0027] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: receiving a request to enable metasurface-enabled multiple access for the set of multiple UEs, the request including an indication of the set of multiple UEs; and sending, based on the indication of the set of multiple UEs, a response message to enable the metasurface-enabled multiple access for the set of multiple UEs.

[0028] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the request further includes an identifier associated with the device, an identifier associated with the set of multiple UEs, one or more identifiers for individual UEs in the set of multiple UEs, or any combination thereof.

[0029] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the request further includes one or more channel measurement reports for one or more channels between the metasurface and the set of multiple UEs.

[0030] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: receiving an indication of a multiple access scheme associated with the set of multiple UEs.

[0031] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the combined uplink grant includes: an indication of a bandwidth part associated with the combined uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation, an identifier associated with the set of multiple UEs, a list of UEs in the set of multiple UEs that can be scheduled by the combined uplink grant, a list of modulation and coding scheme orders for each UE in the list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, an indication of the sidelink grant, or any combination thereof.

[0032] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the one or more uplink transmissions include multiple uplink transmissions, and the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may include additional operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: performing a successive interference cancellation process on the multiple uplink transmissions to decode one or more of the multiple uplink transmissions.

[0033] Describes a method for wireless communication at a UE. The method may include: sending a channel measurement report to a device, the channel measurement report indicating a channel measurement of a channel between the UE and a metasurface associated with the device; monitoring an uplink grant for a transmission to be redirected by the metasurface from the UE to a network entity; and sending an uplink transmission according to the uplink grant.

[0034] Describes an apparatus for wireless communication at a UE. The apparatus may include: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: send a channel measurement report to a device, the channel measurement report indicating a channel measurement of a channel between the UE and a metasurface associated with the device; monitor an uplink grant for a transmission to be redirected by the metasurface from the UE to a network entity; and send an uplink transmission according to the uplink grant.

[0035] Describes another apparatus for wireless communication at a UE. The apparatus may include: means for sending a channel measurement report to a device, the channel measurement report indicating a channel measurement of a channel between the UE and a metasurface associated with the device; means for monitoring an uplink grant for a transmission to be redirected by the metasurface from the UE to a network entity; and means for sending an uplink transmission according to the uplink grant.

[0036] Describes a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a UE. The code may include instructions executable by a processor to perform the following actions: send a channel measurement report to a device, the channel measurement report indicating a channel measurement of a channel between the UE and a metasurface associated with the device; monitor an uplink grant for a transmission to be redirected by the metasurface from the UE to a network entity; and send an uplink transmission according to the uplink grant.

[0037] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: receiving a notification enabling uplink multiple access communication for a set of multiple UEs including the UE, wherein monitoring the uplink grant may be based on receiving the notification.

[0038] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: receiving a channel measurement request via a sidelink channel, the channel measurement request indicating sidelink resources for the channel measurement.

[0039] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the channel measurement report is based on the channel measurement to indicate a requested metasurface configuration for the metasurface.

[0040] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: receiving, from the device, the uplink grant according to the sidelink grant.

[0041] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the uplink grant includes: an indication of a bandwidth part associated with the uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation common to a set of multiple UEs including the UE, precoding information for the uplink transmission, or any combination thereof.

[0042] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, components, or instructions for the following actions: transmitting a cell-specific identifier associated with the UE and a cell identifier associated with the UE. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0043] Figure 1 Examples of a wireless communication system supporting metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein are illustrated.

[0044] Figure 2 Examples of a wireless communication system supporting metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein are illustrated.

[0045] Figure 3 Examples of a process flow supporting metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein are illustrated.

[0046] Figure 4 Examples of a process flow supporting metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein are illustrated.

[0047] Figure 5 Examples of a process flow supporting metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein are illustrated.

[0048] Figure 6 and Figure 7 Examples of a block diagram of a device supporting metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein are illustrated.

[0049] Figure 8Block diagram of a communication manager that supports hyper-surface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein.

[0050] Figure 9 Diagram of a system that includes a device that supports hyper-surface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein.

[0051] Figure 10 and Figure 11 Block diagram of a device that supports hyper-surface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein.

[0052] Figure 12 Block diagram of a communication manager that supports hyper-surface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein.

[0053] Figure 13 Diagram of a system that includes a device that supports hyper-surface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein.

[0054] Figure 14 and Figure 15 Block diagram of a device that supports hyper-surface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein.

[0055] Figure 16 Block diagram of a communication manager that supports hyper-surface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein.

[0056] Figure 17 Diagram of a system that includes a device that supports hyper-surface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein.

[0057] Figures 18 to 20 Flowchart that illustrates a method that supports hyper-surface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein. Detailed Description

[0058] In some wireless communication systems involving multiple devices, multiple access (MA) schemes, including non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) schemes, can be employed, where two or more devices transmit over the same resources and the receiving device can perform successive interference cancellation. Some such NOMA schemes may also include the use of metasurfaces (also referred to as reconfigurable intelligent devices (RID)), which can anomalously (e.g., not following general optical laws such as Snell's law) reflect, refract, or otherwise redirect an incident wavefront. By using metasurfaces, the uplink channel in a NOMA scheme can be altered to redirect NOMA uplink transmissions (e.g., to provide improved communication conditions that may be more suitable for NOMA). However, previous NOMA communication methods have not discussed any control mechanisms for metasurfaces and metasurface controllers (also referred to as RID controllers (RID-C)) to implement MA in this way.

[0059] The subject matter discussed herein includes control mechanisms for a metasurface controller to use a metasurface to manage enhanced multiple access in a wireless communication system. Such control mechanisms can involve coordination among the metasurface controller, a network entity, and one or more UEs that are to transmit uplink transmissions in NOMA. The metasurface controller can discover a set of UEs that are capable of communicating in NOMA using the metasurface and can send an indication of the set to the network entity. Such UEs can be spatially separated around the metasurface, the network entity, or both. The network entity can then send a combined uplink grant and sidelink grant for the set of UEs such that the metasurface controller can generate individual uplink grants and send them to these UEs. These UEs can then (e.g., according to the NOMA scheme) send their respective uplink messages to the metasurface, which can redirect one or more of the uplink transmissions in the uplink transmission to the network entity, effectively regrouping the uplink transmissions to be received at the network entity in a single effective spatial direction (instead of in the directions of the spatially separated UEs). The network entity can then use successive interference cancellation (SIC) techniques to decode the one or more uplink transmissions.

[0060] In at least these ways, using a metasurface controller and a metasurface can increase the system capacity of a wireless communication network because the metasurface controller can change one or more conditions of a channel, and the one or more conditions can make NOMA feasible when it is not feasible otherwise. Using the metasurface controller and the metasurface also provides an additional degree of control over uplink transmissions because the characteristics of the metasurface controller are configured or modified to change the characteristics of the uplink signal redirected by the metasurface. For example, the system can control the achievable rate of a MA system by adjusting the characteristics of the metasurface. Additionally, by using the metasurface to implement a NOMA scenario, coverage can be enhanced and the probability of outage can be reduced. Additionally or alternatively, since the spatial directions of uplink transmissions from spatially separated UEs are combined into fewer spatial directions from which a network entity receives uplink transmissions, radio resources can be better utilized (e.g., more efficiently).

[0061] Aspects of the present disclosure are first described in the context of a wireless communication system. Then, aspects of the present disclosure are described with reference to wireless communication systems and process flows. Aspects of the present disclosure are further illustrated by device diagrams, system diagrams, and flowcharts related to metasurface-enabled multiple access control and are described with reference to these diagrams.

[0062] Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication system 100 that supports metasurface-enabled multiple access control in accordance with one or more examples disclosed herein is illustrated. The wireless communication system 100 may include one or more network entities 105, one or more UEs 115, and a core network 130. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, an LTE-A Pro network, a New Radio (NR) network, or a network operating according to other systems and radio technologies including future systems and radio technologies not explicitly mentioned herein.

[0063] The network entity 105 can be dispersed throughout a geographical area to form a wireless communication system 100, and can include devices in different forms or with different capabilities. In various examples, the network entity 105 can be referred to as a network element, a mobility element, a radio access network (RAN) node, or network equipment, among other designations. In some examples, the network entity 105 and the UE 115 can communicate wirelessly via one or more communication links 125 (e.g., radio frequency (RF) access links). For example, the network entity 105 can support a coverage area 110 (e.g., a geographical coverage area) within which the UE 115 and the network entity 105 can establish one or more communication links 125. The coverage area 110 can be an example of a geographical area within which the network entity 105 and the UE 115 can support signal communication according to one or more radio access technologies (RATs).

[0064] The UEs 115 can be dispersed throughout the coverage area 110 of the wireless communication system 100, and each UE 115 can be stationary or mobile, or stationary and mobile at different times. The UEs 115 can be devices in different forms or with different capabilities. Figure 1 Some example UEs 115 are illustrated herein. The UEs 115 described herein may be capable of supporting communication with various types of devices, such as Figure 1 other UEs 115 or network entities 105 as shown.

[0065] As described herein, a node of the wireless communication system 100 (which may be referred to as a network node or a wireless node) can be a network entity 105 (e.g., any network entity described herein), a UE 115 (e.g., any UE described herein), a network controller, a device, an apparatus, a computing system, one or more components, or another suitable processing entity configured to perform any of the techniques described herein. For example, the node can be a UE 115. As another example, the node can be a network entity 105. As yet another example, a first node can be configured to communicate with a second node or a third node. In one aspect of this example, the first node can be a UE 115, the second node can be a network entity 105, and the third node can be a UE 115. In another aspect of this example, the first node can be a UE 115, the second node can be a network entity 105, and the third node can be a network entity 105. In other aspects of this example, the first node, the second node, and the third node can be different from these examples. Similarly, references to UE 115, network entity 105, device, apparatus, computing system, etc. can include the disclosure of UE 115, network entity 105, device, apparatus, computing system, etc. as nodes. For example, the disclosure that UE 115 is configured to receive information from network entity 105 also discloses that a first node is configured to receive information from a second node.

[0066] In some examples, network entity 105 can communicate with core network 130, or with each other, or both. For example, network entity 105 can communicate with core network 130 via one or more backhaul communication links 120 (e.g., according to S1, N2, N3, or other interface protocols). In some examples, network entity 105 can communicate with each other directly (e.g., directly between network entities 105) or indirectly (e.g., via core network 130) via backhaul communication links 120 (e.g., according to X2, Xn, or other interface protocols). In some examples, network entity 105 can communicate with each other via midhaul communication link 162 (e.g., according to midhaul interface protocol) or fronthaul communication link 168 (e.g., according to fronthaul interface protocol) or any combination thereof. Backhaul communication link 120, midhaul communication link 162, or fronthaul communication link 168 can be or include one or more wired links (e.g., electrical link, optical fiber link), one or more wireless links (e.g., radio link, wireless optical link), etc. or various combinations thereof. UE 115 can communicate with core network 130 via communication link 155.

[0067] One or more of the network entities 105 described herein may include or may be referred to as a base station 140 (e.g., transceiver base station, radio base station, NR base station, access point, radio transceiver, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next-generation Node B or gigabit Node B (any of which may be referred to as gNB), 5G NB, next-generation eNB (ng-eNB), home Node B, home evolved Node B, or other suitable terms). In some examples, the network entity 105 (e.g., base station 140) may be implemented in an integrated (e.g., monolithic, stand-alone) base station architecture that may be configured to utilize a protocol stack physically or logically integrated within a single network entity 105 (e.g., a single RAN node, such as base station 140).

[0068] In some examples, the network entity 105 may be implemented in a disaggregated architecture (e.g., disaggregated base station architecture, disaggregated RAN architecture) that may be configured to utilize a protocol stack physically or logically distributed between two or more network entities 105 (such as an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open RAN (O-RAN) (e.g., a network configuration sponsored by the O-RAN Alliance), or a virtualized RAN (vRAN) (e.g., a cloud RAN (C-RAN))). For example, the network entity 105 may include one or more of the following: a central unit (CU) 160, a distributed unit (DU) 165, a radio unit (RU) 170, a RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 175 (e.g., a near-real-time RIC (near RT RIC), a non-real-time RIC (non RT RIC)), a service management and orchestration (SMO) 180 system, or any combination thereof. The RU 170 may also be referred to as a radio head, an intelligent radio head, a remote radio head (RRH), a remote radio unit (RRU), or a transmit receive point (TRP). One or more components of the network entity 105 in the disaggregated RAN architecture may be co-located, or one or more components of the network entity 105 may be located in distributed locations (e.g., separate physical locations). In some examples, one or more network entities 105 of the disaggregated RAN architecture may be implemented as virtual units (e.g., virtual CU (VCU), virtual DU (VDU), virtual RU (VRU)).

[0069] The functional split between the CU 160, DU 165, and RU 170 is flexible and can support different functions, depending on which functions are performed at the CU 160, DU 165, or RU 170 (e.g., network layer functions, protocol layer functions, baseband functions, RF functions, and any combination thereof). For example, a functional split of the protocol stack can be adopted between the CU 160 and the DU 165 such that the CU 160 can support one or more layers of the protocol stack and the DU 165 can support one or more different layers of the protocol stack. In some examples, the CU 160 can host higher protocol layer (e.g., layer 3 (L3), layer 2 (L2)) functions and signaling (e.g., radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP)). The CU 160 can be connected to one or more DU 165s or RU 170s, and one or more DU 165s or RU 170s can host lower protocol layers, such as layer 1 (L1) (e.g., physical (PHY) layer) or L2 (e.g., radio link control (RLC) layer, media access control (MAC) layer) functions and signaling, and can each be at least partially controlled by the CU 160. Additionally or alternatively, a functional split of the protocol stack can be adopted between the DU 165 and the RU 170 such that the DU 165 can support one or more layers of the protocol stack and the RU 170 can support one or more different layers of the protocol stack. The DU 165 can support one or more different cells (e.g., via one or more RU 170s). In some cases, the functional split between the CU 160 and the DU 165 or between the DU 165 and the RU 170 can be within a protocol layer (e.g., some functions of a protocol layer can be performed by one of the CU 160, DU 165, or RU 170, while other functions of that protocol layer are performed by a different one of the CU 160, DU 165, or RU 170). The CU 160 can be further functionally split into a CU control plane (CU-CP) and a CU user plane (CU-UP) function. The CU 160 can be connected to one or more DU 165s via an intermediate transport communication link 162 (e.g., F1, F1-c, F1-u), and the DU 165 can be connected to one or more RU 170s via a fronthaul communication link 168 (e.g., open fronthaul (FH) interface). In some examples, the intermediate transport communication link 162 or the fronthaul communication link 168 can be implemented according to an interface (e.g., a channel) between the layers of the protocol stack, which is supported by the respective network entities 105 communicating via such communication links.

[0070] In some wireless communication systems (e.g., wireless communication system 100), the infrastructure and spectrum resources for radio access may support wireless backhaul link capabilities to supplement wired backhaul connections, thereby providing an IAB network architecture (e.g., to the core network 130). In some cases, in an IAB network, one or more network entities 105 (e.g., IAB node 104) may be controlled in part by each other. One or more IAB nodes 104 may be referred to as donor entities or IAB donors. One or more DUs 165 or one or more RUs 170 may be controlled in part by one or more CUs 160 associated with a donor network entity 105 (e.g., donor base station 140). One or more donor network entities 105 (e.g., IAB donors) may communicate with one or more additional network entities 105 (e.g., IAB nodes 104) via the supported access and backhaul links (e.g., backhaul communication link 120). The IAB node 104 may include an IAB mobile terminal (IAB-MT) controlled (e.g., scheduled) by the DU 165 of the coupled IAB donor. The IAB-MT may include a separate antenna set for relaying communication with the UE 115 or may share the same antenna (e.g., of the RU 170 of the IAB node 104) of the IAB node 104 for access via the DU 165 of the IAB node 104 (e.g., referred to as a virtual IAB-MT (vIAB-MT)). In some examples, the IAB node 104 may include a DU 165 that supports communication links with additional entities (e.g., IAB node 104, UE 115) within a relay chain or configuration (e.g., downstream) of the access network. In such cases, one or more components of the split RAN architecture (e.g., one or more IAB nodes 104 or components of the IAB node 104) may be configured to operate according to the techniques described herein.

[0071] For example, an access network (AN) or RAN may include communication between an access node (e.g., an IAB donor), an IAB node 104, and one or more UEs 115. The IAB donor may facilitate a connection between the core network 130 and the AN (e.g., via a wired or wireless connection to the core network 130). That is, the IAB donor may refer to a RAN node having a wired or wireless connection to the core network 130. The IAB donor may include a CU 160 and at least one DU 165 (e.g., and a RU 170), where the CU 160 may communicate with the core network 130 via an interface (e.g., a fronthaul link). The IAB donor and the IAB node 104 may communicate via an F1 interface according to a protocol defining signaling messages (e.g., the F1 AP protocol). Additionally or alternatively, the CU 160 may communicate with the core network via an interface (which may be an example of a part of the fronthaul link) and may communicate with other CUs 160 (e.g., CUs 160 associated with alternative IAB donors) via an Xn-C interface (which may be an example of a part of the fronthaul link).

[0072] The IAB node 104 may refer to a RAN node providing IAB functionality (e.g., access for UEs 115, wireless self-backhaul capabilities, etc.). The DU 165 may act as a distributed scheduling node towards the child nodes associated with the IAB node 104, and the IAB-MT may act as a scheduled node towards the parent node associated with the IAB node 104. That is, the IAB donor may be referred to as a parent node communicating with one or more child nodes (e.g., the IAB donor may relay transmissions for UEs through one or more other IAB nodes 104). Additionally or alternatively, depending on the relay chain or configuration of the AN, the IAB node 104 may also be referred to as a parent node or a child node of other IAB nodes 104. Thus, the IAB-MT entity of the IAB node 104 may provide a Uu interface for the child IAB node 104 to receive signaling from the parent IAB node 104, and the DU interface (e.g., DU 165) may provide a Uu interface for the parent IAB node 104 to signal to the child IAB node 104 or the UE 115.

[0073] For example, the IAB node 104 can be referred to as a parent node supporting communication for the sub-IAB nodes or as a sub-node associated with the IAB donor or both. The IAB donor can include a CU 160 having a wired or wireless connection to the core network 130 (e.g., a fronthaul communication link 120), and can act as the parent node of the IAB node 104. For example, the DU 165 of the IAB donor can relay transmissions to the UE 115 via the IAB node 104, or can signal transmissions directly to the UE 115, or both. The CU 160 of the IAB donor can signal communication link establishment to the IAB node 104 via the F1 interface, and the IAB node 104 can schedule transmissions (e.g., transmissions relayed from the IAB donor to the UE 115) via the DU 165. That is, data can be relayed to and from the IAB node 104 via signaling over the NR Uu interface to the MT of the IAB node 104. Communication with the IAB node 104 can be scheduled by the DU 165 of the IAB donor, and communication with the IAB node 104 can be scheduled by the DU 165 of the IAB node 104.

[0074] In cases where the techniques described herein are applied in the context of a split RAN architecture, one or more components of the split RAN architecture can be configured to support hypersurface-enabled multi-access control as described herein. For example, some operations described as being performed by the UE 115 or the network entity 105 (e.g., the base station 140) can additionally or alternatively be performed by one or more components of the split RAN architecture (e.g., the IAB node 104, the DU 165, the CU 160, the RU 170, the RIC 175, the SMO 180).

[0075] The UE 115 can include or can be referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, or a subscriber device or some other suitable term, where "device" can also be referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client, etc. The UE 115 can also include or can be referred to as a personal electronic device, such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a personal computer. In some examples, the UE 115 can include or can be referred to as a wireless local loop (WLL) station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or a machine type communication (MTC) device, etc., which can be implemented in various objects such as appliances or vehicles, meters, etc.

[0076] The UE 115 described herein may be capable of communicating with various types of devices such as other UE 115s that can sometimes act as relays, as well as network entities 105 and network equipment including macro eNBs or gNBs, small cell eNBs or gNBs, or relay base stations, etc., asFigure 1 as shown

[0077] UE 115 and network entity 105 may wirelessly communicate with each other via one or more communication links 125 (e.g., access links) using resources associated with one or more carriers. The term "carrier" may refer to a set of RF spectrum resources having a physical layer structure defined to support communication link 125. For example, a carrier for communication link 125 may include a portion (e.g., bandwidth part (BWP)) of an RF spectrum band operating according to one or more physical layer channels for a given radio access technology (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel may carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information), control signaling for coordinating carrier operation, user data, or other signaling. Wireless communication system 100 may support communication with UE 115 using carrier aggregation or multi-carrier operation. According to a carrier aggregation configuration, UE 115 may be configured to have multiple downlink component carriers and one or more uplink component carriers. Carrier aggregation may be used for both frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) component carriers. Communication between network entity 105 and other devices may refer to communication between these devices and any part (e.g., entity, sub-entity) of network entity 105. For example, the terms "transmit," "receive," or "communicate" when referring to network entity 105 may refer to any part of network entity 105 of the RAN (e.g., base station 140, CU 160, DU 165, RU 170) communicating with another device (e.g., directly or via one or more other network entities 105).

[0078] In some examples, such as in a carrier aggregation configuration, a carrier may also have acquisition signaling or control signaling for coordinating the operation of other carriers. A carrier may be associated with a frequency channel (e.g., evolved universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) absolute RF channel number (EARFCN)) and may be identified according to a channel raster for discovery by UE 115. A carrier may operate in independent mode, in which case initial acquisition and connection may be performed by UE 115 via the carrier, or a carrier may operate in non-independent mode, in which case the connection is anchored using a different carrier (e.g., different carriers of the same or different radio access technologies).

[0079] The communication link 125 shown in the wireless communication system 100 may include other transmission configurations such as a downlink transmission (e.g., forward link transmission) from the network entity 105 to the UE 115, an uplink transmission (e.g., reverse link transmission) from the UE 115 to the network entity 105, or both. A carrier may carry downlink communication or uplink communication (e.g., in the FDD mode), or may be configured to carry both downlink communication and uplink communication (e.g., in the TDD mode).

[0080] A carrier may be associated with a specific bandwidth of the RF spectrum, and in some examples, the carrier bandwidth may be referred to as the "system bandwidth" of the carrier or the wireless communication system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth may be one of a set of bandwidths of carriers of a specific radio access technology (e.g., 1.4 megahertz (MHz), 3 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHz). Devices of the wireless communication system 100 (e.g., the network entity 105, the UE 115, or both) may have a hardware configuration that supports communication using a specific carrier bandwidth, or may be configurable to support communication using one of a set of carrier bandwidths. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may include a network entity 105 or a UE 115 that supports concurrent communication using carriers associated with multiple carrier bandwidths. In some examples, each served UE 115 may be configured to operate using a portion (e.g., subband, BWP) or all of the carrier bandwidth.

[0081] The signal waveform transmitted via a carrier may include multiple subcarriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM)). In a system employing an MCM technique, a resource element may refer to the resource of one symbol period (e.g., the duration of one modulation symbol) and one subcarrier, where the symbol period and the subcarrier spacing may be inversely related. The amount of bits carried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulation scheme, the decoding rate of the modulation scheme, or both), such that a relatively high amount of resource elements (e.g., during the transmission duration) and a relatively high order of the modulation scheme may correspond to a relatively high communication rate. Wireless communication resources may refer to a combination of RF spectrum resources, time resources, and spatial resources (e.g., spatial layer or beam), and the use of multiple spatial resources may increase the data rate or data integrity for communication with the UE 115.

[0082] One or more parameter sets for a carrier may be supported, and the parameter sets may include subcarrier spacing (Δf) and cyclic prefixes. A carrier may be divided into one or more BWPs with the same or different parameter sets. In some examples, a UE 115 may be configured with multiple BWPs. In some examples, a single BWP for a carrier may be active at a given time, and communications for a UE 115 may be constrained to one or more active BWPs.

[0083] The time interval for the network entity 105 or the UE 115 may be expressed as a multiple of a basic time unit, which may be, for example, a sampling period T s =1 / (Δf max ·N f ) seconds, for which Δf max It can represent the supported subcarrier spacing, and N f The supported discrete Fourier transform (DFT) size may be indicated. The time intervals of the communication resources may be organized according to radio frames, each radio frame having a specified duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)). Each radio frame may be identified by a system frame number (SFN) (e.g., ranging from 0 to 1023).

[0084] Each frame may include multiple consecutively numbered subframes or time slots, and each subframe or time slot may have the same duration. In some examples, the frame may be divided into subframes (e.g., in the time domain), and each subframe may be further divided into a certain number of time slots. Alternatively, each frame may include a variable number of time slots, and the number of time slots may depend on the subcarrier spacing. Each time slot may include a certain number of symbol periods (e.g., depending on the length of the cyclic prefix appended in front of each symbol period). In some wireless communication systems 100, the time slot may be further divided into a plurality of micro time slots associated with one or more symbols. Excluding the cyclic prefix, each symbol period may be associated with one or more (e.g., N f The duration of a symbol period may depend on the subcarrier spacing or the operating frequency band.

[0085] A subframe, slot, mini-slot, or symbol may be the smallest scheduling unit (e.g., in the time domain) of the wireless communication system 100 and may be referred to as a transmit time interval (TTI). In some examples, the TTI duration (e.g., the amount of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable. Additionally or alternatively, the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communication system 100 may be dynamically selected (e.g., in a burst of a shortened TTI (sTTI)).

[0086] Physical channels can be multiplexed according to various techniques to communicate using a carrier. For example, one or more of time-division multiplexing (TDM) techniques, frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) techniques, or hybrid TDM-FDM techniques can be used to multiplex physical control channels and physical data channels to signal via a downlink carrier. The control region of a physical control channel (e.g., control resource set (CORESET)) can be defined by a set of symbol periods and can extend across the system bandwidth of a carrier or a subset of the system bandwidth. One or more control regions (e.g., CORESET) can be configured for a set of UEs 115. For example, one or more of the UEs 115 can monitor or search a control region for control information according to one or more search space sets, and each search space set can include one or more control channel candidates in one or more aggregation levels arranged in a cascaded manner. The aggregation level of a control channel candidate can refer to the amount of control channel resources (e.g., control channel elements (CCE)) associated with the coded information for a control information format with a given payload size. The search space set can include: a common search space set configured to transmit control information to multiple UEs 115, and a UE-specific search space set for transmitting control information to a specific UE 115.

[0087] The network entity 105 can provide communication coverage via one or more cells (e.g., macro cells, small cells, hotspots, or other types of cells or any combination thereof). The term "cell" can refer to a logical communication entity for communicating with the network entity 105 (e.g., using a carrier) and can be associated with an identifier for distinguishing adjacent cells (e.g., physical cell identifier (PCID), virtual cell identifier (VCID), or other cell identifier). In some examples, a cell can also refer to the coverage area 110 or a part of the coverage area 110 (e.g., a sector) on which the logical communication entity operates. Depending on various factors such as the capabilities of the network entity 105, the range of such cells can be from a smaller area (e.g., a structure, a subset of a structure) to a larger area. For example, a cell can be or can include a building, a subset of a building, or an external space between or overlapping with the coverage areas 110, etc.

[0088] Macro cells generally cover a relatively large geographical area (e.g., with a radius of several kilometers) and can allow unrestricted access to UEs 115 having a service subscription with the network provider supporting the macro cell. In comparison with macro cells, small cells can be associated with a lower power network entity 105 (e.g., a lower power base station 140), and small cells can operate using the same or different (e.g., licensed, unlicensed) frequency bands as macro cells. Small cells can provide unrestricted access to UEs 115 having a service subscription with the network provider, or can provide restricted access to UEs 115 associated with the small cell (e.g., UEs 115 in a closed subscriber group (CSG), UEs 115 associated with users in a home or office). The network entity 105 can support one or more cells and can also use one or more component carriers to support communication via the one or more cells.

[0089] In some examples, a carrier can support multiple cells and can be configured with different cells according to different protocol types that can provide access for different types of devices (e.g., MTC, narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB)).

[0090] In some examples, the network entity 105 (e.g., base station 140, RU 170) can be movable and thus provide communication coverage for a moving coverage area 110. In some examples, different coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies can overlap, but different coverage areas 110 can be supported by the same network entity 105. In some other examples, overlapping coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies can be supported by different network entities 105. The wireless communication system 100 can include, for example, a heterogeneous network in which different types of network entities 105 use the same or different radio access technologies to provide coverage for various coverage areas 110.

[0091] The wireless communication system 100 can support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the network entities 105 (e.g., base stations 140) can have similar frame timings, and transmissions from different network entities 105 can be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the network entities 105 can have different frame timings, and in some examples, transmissions from different network entities 105 can not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein can be used for synchronous or asynchronous operation.

[0092] Some UEs 115 (such as MTC or IoT devices) can be low-cost or low-complexity devices and can provide automated communication between machines (e.g., via machine-to-machine (M2M) communication). M2M communication or MTC can refer to data communication technologies that allow devices to communicate with each other or with a network entity 105 (e.g., base station 140) without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communication or MTC can include communication from devices integrated with sensors or meters to measure or capture information and relay such information to a central server or application that uses the information or presents the information to a person interacting with the application. Some UEs 115 can be designed to collect information or enable automated behavior of machines or other devices. Application examples of MTC devices include smart metering, inventory monitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcare monitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological event monitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access control, and transaction-based business charging.

[0093] Some UEs 115 can be configured to operate in power consumption-reducing operation modes, such as half-duplex communication (e.g., a mode that supports one-way communication via transmission or reception but does not transmit and receive concurrently). In some examples, half-duplex communication can be performed at a reduced peak rate. Other energy-saving techniques for UEs 115 include: entering a power-saving deep sleep mode when not participating in active communication, operating using limited bandwidth (e.g., according to narrowband communication), or a combination of these techniques. For example, some UEs 115 can be configured to operate using a narrowband protocol type associated with a defined portion or range (e.g., a set of subcarriers or resource blocks (RBs)) within a carrier, within a guard band of the carrier, or outside the carrier.

[0094] The wireless communication system 100 can be configured to support ultra-reliable communication or low-latency communication or various combinations thereof. For example, the wireless communication system 100 can be configured to support ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC). UEs 115 can be designed to support ultra-reliable, low-latency, or critical functions. Ultra-reliable communication can include private communication or group communication and can be supported by one or more services (such as push-to-talk, video, or data). Support for ultra-reliable, low-latency functions can include prioritization of services, and such services can be used for public safety or general commercial applications. The terms ultra-reliable, low-latency, and ultra-reliable low-latency can be used interchangeably herein.

[0095] In some examples, UE 115 may be configured to support communicating directly with other UEs 115 via a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 135 (e.g., according to a peer-to-peer (P2P), D2D, or sidelink protocol). In some examples, one or more UEs 115 performing D2D communication in a group may be within the coverage area 110 of a network entity 105 (e.g., base station 140, RU 170), and the network entity may support aspects of such D2D communication configured (e.g., scheduled) by the network entity 105. In some examples, one or more UEs 115 in such a group may be outside the coverage area 110 of the network entity 105, or may otherwise be unable or not configured to receive transmissions from the network entity 105. In some examples, a group of UEs 115 communicating via D2D communication may support a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each UE 115 transmits to each other UE among the other UEs 115 in the group. In some examples, the network entity 105 may facilitate scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In some other examples, D2D communication may be performed between UEs 115 without involving the network entity 105.

[0096] In some systems, the D2D communication link 135 may be an example of a communication channel (such as a sidelink communication channel) between vehicles (e.g., UE 115). In some examples, vehicles may communicate using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, or some combination of these. Vehicles may signal information related to traffic conditions, signal scheduling, weather, safety, emergencies, or any other information related to the V2X system. In some examples, vehicles in a V2X system may communicate with roadside infrastructure (such as roadside units) using vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication, or communicate with the network via one or more network nodes (e.g., network entity 105, base station 140, RU 170), or both.

[0097] The core network 130 can provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 can be an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC), which can include at least one control plane entity for managing access and mobility (e.g., a mobility management entity (MME), an access and mobility management function (AMF)) and at least one user plane entity for routing packets or interconnecting to an external network (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), a packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a user plane function (UPF)). The control plane entity can manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management of a UE 115 served by a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140) associated with the core network 130. User IP packets can be transferred through the user plane entity, which can provide IP address allocation and other functions. The user plane entity can be connected to the IP services 150 of one or more network operators. The IP services 150 can include access to the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), or packet switched streaming services.

[0098] The wireless communication system 100 can operate using one or more frequency bands that can be in the range of 300 megahertz (MHz) to 300 gigahertz (GHz). Generally, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is known as the ultra-high frequency (UHF) region or the decimeter band because, in terms of length, the wavelength range is from approximately one decimeter to one meter. UHF waves can be blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features (which can be referred to as clutter), but these waves can be sufficient to penetrate structures so that a macro cell can serve a UE 115 located indoors. Compared to communication using smaller frequencies and longer waves in the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF) portions of the spectrum below 300 MHz, communication using UHF waves can be associated with smaller antennas and shorter ranges (e.g., less than 100 kilometers).

[0099] The wireless communication system 100 may also operate using the super high frequency (SHF) region (also known as the centimeter band) in the range of 3 GHz to 30 GHz or using the extremely high frequency (EHF) region of the spectrum (e.g., 30 GHz to 300 GHz) (also known as the millimeter band). In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW) communication between the UE 115 and the network entity 105 (e.g., the base station 140, the RU 170), and the EHF antennas of the corresponding devices may be smaller and closer spaced than UHF antennas. In some examples, such techniques may facilitate the use of antenna arrays within the device. However, the propagation of EHF transmissions may be affected by even greater attenuation and shorter ranges than SHF or UHF transmissions. The techniques disclosed herein may be employed across transmissions using one or more different frequency regions, and the use of frequency bands designated across these frequency regions may vary by country or regulatory body.

[0100] The wireless communication system 100 may utilize licensed and unlicensed RF spectrum bands. For example, the wireless communication system 100 may employ licensed-assisted access (LAA), LTE-unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technology that uses unlicensed bands such as the 5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. When operating using an unlicensed RF spectrum band, devices such as the network entity 105 and the UE 115 may employ carrier sensing for collision detection and avoidance. In some examples, the operation using an unlicensed band may be based on a carrier aggregation configuration in combination with a component carrier operating using a licensed band (e.g., LAA). The operation using unlicensed spectrum may include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, peer-to-peer (P2P) transmissions, device-to-device (D2D) transmissions, and so on.

[0101] The network entity 105 (e.g., the base station 140, the RU 170) or the UE 115 may be equipped with multiple antennas that may be used to employ techniques such as transmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication, or beamforming. The antennas of the network entity 105 or the UE 115 may be located within one or more antenna arrays or antenna panels, which may support MIMO operation or transmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or more base station antennas or antenna arrays may be co-located at an antenna assembly such as an antenna tower. In some examples, the antennas or antenna arrays associated with the network entity 105 may be located at different geographical locations. The network entity 105 may include an antenna array having a set of antenna ports arranged in multiple rows and columns that the network entity 105 may use to support beamforming for communication with the UE 115. Similarly, the UE 115 may include one or more antenna arrays that may support various MIMO or beamforming operations. Additionally or alternatively, an antenna panel may support RF beamforming for signals transmitted via the antenna ports.

[0102] Network entity 105 or UE 115 may use MIMO communication to take advantage of multipath signal propagation and improve spectral efficiency by transmitting or receiving multiple signals via different spatial layers. Such techniques may be referred to as spatial multiplexing. The multiple signals may be transmitted, for example, by a transmitting device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Similarly, the multiple signals may be received by a receiving device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Each of the multiple signals may be referred to as a separate spatial stream and may carry information associated with the same data stream (e.g., the same codeword) or different data streams (e.g., different codewords). Different spatial layers may be associated with different antenna ports for channel measurement and reporting. MIMO techniques include: single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO), where multiple spatial layers are transmitted to the same receiving device; and multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), where multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multiple devices.

[0103] Beamforming (which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception) is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., network entity 105, UE 115) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam, a receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device. Beamforming may be achieved by combining signals communicated via the antenna elements of an antenna array such that some signals propagating in a particular direction relative to the antenna array experience constructive interference while other signals experience destructive interference. Adjustment of the signals communicated via the antenna elements may include the transmitting device or the receiving device applying an amplitude offset, a phase offset, or both to the signals carried via the antenna elements associated with the device. The adjustment associated with each of these antenna elements may be defined by a set of beamforming weights associated with a particular orientation (e.g., relative to the antenna array of the transmitting device or receiving device or relative to some other orientation).

[0104] Network entity 105 or UE 115 may use beam scanning techniques as part of a beamforming operation. For example, network entity 105 (e.g., base station 140, RU 170) may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., antenna panels) to perform beamforming operations for directional communication with UE 115. Some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted multiple times by network entity 105 in different directions. For example, network entity 105 may transmit signals according to different sets of beamforming weights associated with different transmission directions. Transmission along different beam directions may be used to identify (e.g., by a transmitting device such as network entity 105, or by a receiving device such as UE 115) beam directions for later transmission or reception by network entity 105.

[0105] Some signals, such as data signals associated with a particular receiving device, may be transmitted by a transmitting device (e.g., transmitting network entity 105, transmitting UE 115) along a single beam direction (e.g., a direction associated with a receiving device such as receiving network entity 105 or receiving UE 115). In some examples, the beam direction associated with the transmission along a single beam direction may be determined based on signals transmitted along one or more beam directions. For example, UE 115 may receive one or more of the signals transmitted by network entity 105 in different directions and may report to network entity 105 an indication of the signal received by UE 115 with the highest signal quality or other acceptable signal quality.

[0106] In some examples, transmissions performed by a device (e.g., by network entity 105 or UE 115) may be carried out using multiple beam directions, and the device may use a combination of digital precoding or beamforming to generate a combined beam for transmission (e.g., from network entity 105 to UE 115). UE 115 may report feedback indicating precoding weights for one or more beam directions, and the feedback may correspond to a configured set of beams across the system bandwidth or one or more sub-bands. Network entity 105 may transmit reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signal (CRS), channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)), which may or may not be precoded. UE 115 may provide feedback for beam selection, which may be a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) or codebook-based feedback (e.g., multi-panel type codebook, linear combination type codebook, port selection type codebook). Although these techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted by network entity 105 (e.g., base station 140, RU 170) in one or more directions, UE 115 may use similar techniques for transmitting signals multiple times in different directions (e.g., for identifying beam directions used by UE 115 for subsequent transmissions or receptions), or for transmitting signals in a single direction (e.g., for transmitting data to a receiving device).

[0107] A receiving device (e.g., UE 115) may perform receiving operations according to multiple receiving configurations (e.g., directional listening) when receiving various signals (such as synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) from a receiving device (e.g., network entity 105). For example, the receiving device may perform receiving according to multiple receiving directions by: receiving via different antenna sub-arrays, processing the received signals according to different antenna sub-arrays, receiving according to different sets of receive beamforming weights (e.g., different sets of directional listening weights) applied to the signals received at multiple antenna elements of the antenna array, or processing the received signals according to different sets of receive beamforming weights applied to the signals received at multiple antenna elements of the antenna array, where any of these may refer to "listening" according to different receiving configurations or receiving directions. In some examples, the receiving device may use a single receiving configuration to receive along a single beam direction (e.g., when receiving a data signal). The single receiving configuration may be aligned along a beam direction determined based on listening according to different receiving configuration directions (e.g., a beam direction determined to have the highest signal strength, highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or other acceptable signal quality based on listening according to multiple beam directions).

[0108] The wireless communication system 100 may be a packet-based network that operates according to a hierarchical protocol stack. In the user plane, the communication at the bearer or PDCP layer may be IP-based. The RLC layer may perform packet segmentation and reassembly for conveyance via logical channels. The MAC layer may perform priority handling and multiplexing of logical channels into transport channels. The MAC layer may also implement error detection techniques, error correction techniques, or both to support retransmission to improve link efficiency. In the control plane, the RRC layer may provide the establishment, configuration, and maintenance of an RRC connection that supports the radio bearers for user plane data between the UE 115 and the network entity 105 or the core network 130. The PHY layer may map the transport channels to physical channels.

[0109] UE 115 and network entity 105 may support retransmission of data to increase the likelihood that the data is successfully received. Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback is a technique for increasing the likelihood of correctly receiving data via a communication link (e.g., communication link 125, D2D communication link 135). HARQ may include a combination of error detection (e.g., using cyclic redundancy check (CRC)), forward error correction (FEC), and retransmission (e.g., automatic repeat request (ARQ)). HARQ may improve throughput at the MAC layer under poor radio conditions (e.g., low signal-to-noise ratio conditions). In some examples, the device may support same-slot HARQ feedback, in which case the device may provide HARQ feedback for data received via previous symbols in a particular slot during that slot. In some other examples, the device may provide HARQ feedback in a subsequent slot or according to some other time interval.

[0110] In some embodiments, RID-C may receive a sidelink grant for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a group of UEs 115 that may operate in a multiple access (MA) scheme (e.g., NOMA scheme), which uses RID to manipulate or control transmissions from multiple UEs 115. The device may send individual uplink grants for uplink transmissions to the multiple UEs 115, and the multiple UEs may use the RID to communicate with network entity 105. The device may also configure the RID to redirect (e.g., reflect, refract, or both) one or more uplink transmissions from the multiple UEs 115 to the network entity according to the individual uplink grants. In this way, wireless communication system 100 may participate in an MA scheme (e.g., NOMA scheme) and may employ an additional degree of control over the uplink channel by using the RID.

[0111] Figure 2 An example of a wireless communication system 200 supporting hyper-surface-enabled multiple access control in accordance with one or more examples disclosed herein is illustrated. Wireless communication system 200 may include or relate to network entity 105-a, one or more UEs 115-a, hyper-surface controller 210, and hyper-surface 215 that may operate within coverage area 110-a of network entity 105-a. In some examples, hyper-surface 215 may also be referred to as RID, and hyper-surface controller 210 may be referred to as RID-C.

[0112] Some wireless communication systems may adopt the NOMA scheme, in which two or more devices can use the same radio resources. For example, in downlink NOMA, the network entity 105-a can transmit to two or more UEs 115-a in the same resources. In uplink NOMA, two or more UEs 115-a can use the same resources to communicate with the network entity 105-a. Although the discussion in this article may involve uplink NOMA, some or all parts of such discussion can also be applied to the case of downlink NOMA.

[0113] In the NOMA scheme, the transmitting device can encode data in the power domain (PD-NOMA). For example, the transmitted signal represented by x(t) can be expressed as The receiving device can perform successive interference cancellation (SIC) to improve the signal reception quality. In such a case, the path losses from two different UEs 115-a can be expressed as |h1| 2 , |h2| 2 ; |h1| 2 < |h2| 2 . If the transmitter selects the power fraction α i such that α1>α2, then: UE 2 first decodes the signal of UE-1, cancels the interference, and decodes the signal of UE-2 without interference, thereby improving the SNR and decoding rate. The UE with the weaker link (e.g., UE 1 in this example) can decode its own signal received with a higher power (e.g., α1>α2). In some examples, the transmitting device can perform encoding by using dedicated codes, sequences, or through enhanced interleaving or scrambling techniques.

[0114] Some NOMA methods may adopt one or more metasurfaces 215. The metasurface 215 can be a specially manufactured surface that can transmit, refract, reflect, diffract, or otherwise anomalously change the incident wavefront. Anomalous reflection or refraction may refer to reflection or refraction that does not follow the general optical laws (e.g., Snell's law). In the context of wireless communication, the wireless channel involving the metasurface 215 (e.g., between a transmitting device such as UE 115-a and a receiving device such as network entity 105-a) can be determined by the reflection, refraction, diffraction, or other changes of the electromagnetic (EM) wave passing through the metasurface 215. Placing the metasurface in this medium can achieve "intelligent" or controllable changes (e.g., steering or directivity adjustment) of the EM wave towards or away from the receiver, which can provide intelligent control of the wireless medium.

[0115] 215 can operate in one or more operating modes, including a reflection mode and a refraction or transmission mode. In the reflection mode, the metasurface 215 can reflect EM waves in a configurable direction. In the refraction or transmission mode, the metasurface 215 can refract the wavefront in a desired direction.

[0116] In some examples, NOMA can be enabled or improved by using the metasurface 215. For example, the metasurface 215 can be configured to operate in both the transmission or refraction mode and the reflection mode. For example, a first set of meta-elements of the metasurface 215 can be configured to reflect EM waves, while another set of meta-elements can be configured to refract or transmit EM waves. This configuration can be referred to as a simultaneous transmit and receive metasurface or RID.

[0117] In some examples, enabling NOMA can involve channel conditions to be satisfied (e.g., to allow performing one or more processes such as SIC). For example, as discussed in the examples herein, a scenario where the path losses h1 and h2 are approximately equal (e.g., |h1|≈|h2|) can imply that the SIC process may fail (e.g., because the small difference between the two channels does not allow decoding or removing interference for the two channels). Thus, the metasurface 215 can be used to “intelligently” change the channels to allow SIC, NOMA, or both. In this way, the probability of outage can be reduced and the coverage can be enhanced. Similar gains can be achieved by employing intelligent gain control with a multi-panel intelligent repeater.

[0118] In some examples, NOMA can be employed in the power domain. For example, consider a scenario where two UEs are sending uplink communications to a network entity over the same resources and the transmit powers of these UEs are the same. The signal received at the gNB, denoted by y(t), can be where P1 and P2 represent the transmit powers of these UEs, h1 and h2 represent the respective channels, and x1(t) and x2(t) represent the transmitted messages. In this case, one of these channels may be stronger than the other, given by: P1|h1| 2 >>P2|h2| 2 (P1≤P max ; P2≤P max ). In this case, the network entity can participate in the SIC process, where the network entity can decode the stronger signal, subtract the signal from the received signal, and then decode the weaker signal. For example, the UL rate of UE 1 (the stronger signal) can be given by and the UL rate of UE 2 (the weaker signal) can be given by .

[0119] In such cases, the use of NOMA can enhance system capacity. However, the use of NOMA may not always be feasible. For example, the channel conditions (h1, h2) may not support effective SIC. In another case, UEs participating in beamforming communication may be spatially separated, and due to the spatial separation, network entities can serve the UEs in a TDM or SDM manner. However, from the perspective of the network entity, the metasurface can effectively place two UEs in the same spatial direction. For example, as Figure 2 shown, UEs 115-a are spatially separated, but their uplink transmissions 240 arrive at network entity 105-a in the same effective spatial direction (e.g., arriving in the direction originating from metasurface 215). This situation can allow network entity 105-a to multiplex UEs 115-a using FDMA or via NOMA. By using metasurface 215 to solve the spatial separation problem of the UEs, this can better utilize radio resources.

[0120] Utilizing metasurface 215 that can simultaneously support two transmissions from two UEs 115-a, wireless communication system 200 obtains the ability to change the uplink channel in an intelligent manner. Additionally, some metasurfaces can allow an additional degree of control by changing the channel gain (e.g., in the case of a repeater) or the transmission and reflection coefficients of the metasurface. Additionally or alternatively, wireless communication system 200 can control or adjust the achievable rate of the MA or NOMA system.

[0121] Metasurface 215 can modify the channel between transmitting devices (e.g., UEs 115-a), which can enable the NOMA scheme. However, metasurface 215 can be controlled by another device (e.g., metasurface controller 210). Such control can be beneficial for allowing SIC or other processes for enhancing wireless communication. However, such control can involve communication, processes, rules, or configurations among various devices in wireless communication system 200 (including UEs 115-a, metasurface 215, metasurface controller 210, network entity 105-a, one or more additional devices, or any combination thereof).

[0122] In some examples, the metasurface controller 210 may be connected to or co-located with a wireless communication device that may communicate with one or more nodes (e.g., UE 115-a, network entity 105-a, other devices, or any combination thereof) via one or more communication channels (e.g., an access link, a sidelink, one or more other communication channels, or any combination thereof). For example, the metasurface controller 210 may communicate with the network entity 105-a via the Uu link or the access link (e.g., via the wireless communication device). The metasurface controller 210 may communicate with the UE 115-a via one or more sidelink connections. In cases involving uplink communication from the UE 115-a, the metasurface controller 210 may communicate with the network entity 105-a, the UE 115-a, or both as part of a process to configure the metasurface 215 to change the uplink channel on demand. For example, the metasurface controller 210 may configure the metasurface 215 such that the uplink transmission 240 from the UE 115-a may be reflected or refracted towards the network entity 105-a.

[0123] In some examples, the UE 115-a and the metasurface controller 210 may discover each other via a sidelink connection. During the discovery phase, the UE 115-a may share one or more parameters with the metasurface controller 210, including an identifier (e.g., a cell-specific identifier), the cell associated with the UE 115-a, or both. In some cases, the discovery message may include a list of one or more quality-of-service considerations (e.g., rate, latency, uptime, one or more other considerations, or any combination thereof) shared by the UE 115-a with the metasurface controller 210.

[0124] In some examples, each UE 115-a may determine a metasurface configuration that enhances or otherwise affects its channel. This determination may be performed during a training phase, where in some cases, the training phase may be an individual training phase for each UE 115-a. In other cases, the training phase may be a joint training phase for all UEs 115-a associated with a cell. After training, the UE 115-a may report the channel quality back to the metasurface 215 controller for each measurement occasion. In some examples, one measurement occasion may be associated with a metasurface configuration. The report may include an indication of the precoding configuration used at the UE 115-a for each measurement. In some cases, the report may include one or more signal quality metrics, an indication of uplink-downlink reciprocity, or both.

[0125] In some examples, the metasurface controller 210 may optionally group multiple UEs into one or more groups for a MA scheme based on one or more configurations determined for each UE 115-a during the measurement phase. For example, the metasurface controller 210 may group UEs 115-a from the same cell into groups of two or more UEs 115-a, where each member of the group may support a selected MA scheme (e.g., FDMA or NOMA), while maintaining the indicated quality-of-service considerations (if they are indicated). Additionally or alternatively, the metasurface controller 210 may group UEs based on location, one or more quality-of-service considerations, or both.

[0126] For example, a UE 115-a may be located in a NOMA group, while other UEs may be placed in another group. The metasurface controller 210 may determine that other UEs cannot be placed in a group (e.g., a NOMA group) for one or more reasons, such as the similarity of the channels between one or more devices or the selection of the same or similar metasurface configurations.

[0127] In some examples, the metasurface controller 210 may create or use an existing communication link (e.g., an access link or a Uu link) to communicate with the network entity 105-a to indicate UE grouping. For example, the metasurface controller 210 may send a request message 245 with such information, and the request message 245 may be referred to as a UL_e-MA_Enable request message. The metasurface controller 210 may include one or more parameters for communication involving the metasurface 215. For example, the metasurface controller 210 may include its own identifier (e.g., a cell-specific identifier), a list of UE groups, both. In some examples, each group may be represented by a unique group identifier, one or more associated (e.g., cell-specific) UE identifiers, or both. For example, in some cases, for each group (e.g., a MA group, such as an enhanced MA group), the associated MA scheme (e.g., an FDMA scheme or a NOMA scheme) may be indicated.

[0128] In some cases, the metasurface controller 210 may include in the request a link measurement report for the link enabling the metasurface to the network entity 105-a for each UE 115-a in the group. In some examples, such measurements may be measurements reported by the UE115-a after the training phase. In some other examples, the included measurements may be link quality estimates based on UE measurements, metasurface 215 adjustments, or parameters for enabling FDMA or NOMA, or any combination thereof.

[0129] The network entity 105-a may receive a request message 245 from the metasurface controller 210 and may perform one or more actions in response. For example, the network entity 105-a may send a response message 250 to the metasurface controller 210, and the response message 250 may be referred to as a UL_e-MA_Enable response message. The response message 250 may indicate acceptance or rejection of the request message 245. Acceptance or rejection may be indicated for some or all of the groups indicated in the request message 245 on a collective basis, or acceptance or rejection may be indicated on a per-group basis. The response message 250 may indicate to the metasurface controller 210 whether an uplink grant (e.g., the combined uplink grant 225) is to be reprocessed by the metasurface controller 210. In some such cases, a time limit or restriction for processing and retransmitting the processed uplink grant may be indicated to the metasurface controller 210 (e.g., via control signaling) or may be configured. Additionally or alternatively, the network entity 105-a may (e.g., in the response message 250) indicate to the metasurface controller 210 one or more sidelink grants (e.g., sidelink mode 1 grants) for coordinating the MA scheme involving the UE 115-a and the metasurface 215. For example, the metasurface controller 210 may send a sidelink message according to such sidelink grants to send a separate uplink grant 230 to the UE 115-a.

[0130] In some examples, the network entity 105-a may perform one or more actions after indicating acceptance in the response message 250. The network entity 105-a may send an indication that MA has been enabled to the UE 115-a in the accepted group. The network entity 105-a may indicate to the UE 115-a the identifier of the metasurface controller 210 (e.g., a cell-specific identifier). The network entity 105-a may indicate whether to receive an uplink grant (e.g., the separate uplink grant 230) from the metasurface controller 210, the network entity 105-a, or both. In some examples, the metasurface controller 210 may receive the combined uplink grant 225, generate a separate uplink grant 230 based on the combined uplink grant 225, and send the separate uplink grant 230 to the UE 115-a. In other examples, the network entity 105-a may send one or more uplink grants (e.g., the separate uplink grant 230 or the combined uplink grant 225) to the UE 115-a.

[0131] In some examples, network entity 105-a may utilize additional latency to configure or reconfigure one or more of UEs 115-a to accommodate reception of individual uplink grants 230. In some examples where the MA scheme is a NOMA scheme for a group of UEs, further processing of one or more uplink grants (e.g., combined uplink grant 225) may be performed at the metasurface controller 210. In some examples where the MA scheme is an FDMA scheme for a group of UEs, the metasurface controller 210 may forward one or more uplink grants received from network entity 105-a to UEs 115-a.

[0132] In some examples, network entity 105-a may enable uplink grant modification for the MA scheme involving the metasurface 215. In some examples, network entity 105-a may generate a single uplink grant (e.g., combined uplink grant 225) for all UEs or a set of UEs in the MA group (optionally based on a scheduling request, a buffer status report (BSR), group information received from the metasurface controller 210, or any combination thereof). The combined uplink grant 225 may include a BWP associated with the grant, a common time-frequency resource allocation, a group identifier (e.g., from a set of group identifiers indicated by the metasurface controller 210), a list of scheduled UEs (e.g., where the list includes UEs in the group indicated by the group identifier), a list of one or more modulation and coding scheme (MCS) orders for each scheduled UE, one or more additional uplink grant parameters, or any combination thereof. The UL grant may be accompanied by a sidelink grant 220 (e.g., mode 1 sidelink grant) for the metasurface controller 210 to send individual uplink grants 230 to UEs 115-a. In some examples, the sidelink grant 220 may indicate multiple resources for serving multiple UEs 115-a in the group.

[0133] The metasurface controller 210 may parse the combined uplink grant 225 and generate individual uplink grants 230 for each of the UEs 115-a indicated in the combined uplink grant 225. Based on the combined uplink grant 225, the metasurface controller 210 may generate individual uplink grants 230 for each UE 115-a. The individual uplink grant 230 may include a BWP associated with the individual uplink grant 230, a resource allocation, an MCS indication, a pre-coder index for uplink transmission, pre-coding information for uplink transmission, one or more additional grant parameters, or any combination thereof. In some examples, such information included in the individual uplink grant 230 may be information determined during a training process or may be based on information determined during a training process.

[0134] The metasurface controller 210 may configure the metasurface 215 via a control signal 235 based on the combined uplink grant 225, the individual uplink grant 230, one or more additional parameters for wireless communication in the MA scheme, or any combination thereof. For example, the metasurface controller 210 may be co-located with the metasurface 215 and may be coupled to or communicate with the metasurface 215 via a direct or indirect wired connection. The metasurface controller 210 may use a wired connection (e.g., optionally by sending the control signal 235 via the wired connection) to configure, adapt, control, modify, or adjust one or more aspects, characteristics, or functions of the metasurface. The control signal 235 may include an indication of one or more parameters of the metasurface 215. For example, the control signal 235 may include parameters that adjust the reflectivity, refractive index, channel gain, one or more additional channel parameters or characteristics of the uplink channel used by the UE 115-a to send the uplink transmission 240, or any combination thereof. For example, the metasurface controller 210 may indicate to the metasurface 215 parameters that cause the metasurface 215 to reflect transmissions from the first UE 115-a and refract transmissions from the second UE 115-a (e.g., as Figure 2 depicted in).

[0135] Then, the UEs 115-a may send their respective uplink transmissions 240, using the metasurface 215 to redirect the transmissions or change their respective channels, as configured by the metasurface controller 210.

[0136] Figure 3 An example of a process flow 300 that supports metasurface-enabled multiple access control in accordance with one or more examples disclosed herein is illustrated. The process flow 300 may implement various aspects of the present disclosure described herein. The elements described in the process flow 300 (e.g., device 310, network entity 105-b, UE 115-b, and metasurface 215-a) may be examples of similarly named elements described herein.

[0137] In the following description of the process flow 300, operations between various entities or elements may be performed in a different order or at different times. Some operations may also be excluded from the process flow 300, or other operations may be added. Although the various entities or elements are shown as performing the operations of the process flow 300, some aspects of some operations may also be performed by other entities or elements of the process flow 300 or by entities or elements not depicted in the process flow or any combination thereof.

[0138] At 320, the device 310 may receive one or more measurement reports for one or more channels associated with multiple UEs 115-b and the metasurface 215-a. In some examples, the device 310 may be a metasurface controller.

[0139] At 325, the device 310 may receive one or more cell-specific identifiers associated with multiple UEs 115-b and one or more cell identifiers associated with multiple UEs 115-b.

[0140] At 330, the device 310 may send an indication of multiple UEs 115-b associated with the metasurface to the network entity 105-b via an access link. In some examples, based on the one or more measurement reports, the indication of the multiple UEs 115-b may include an indication of a multiple access group including the multiple UEs 115-b. Additionally or alternatively, based on the one or more cell-specific identifiers and the one or more cell identifiers, the indication of the multiple UEs 115-b may include an indication of a multiple access group including the multiple UEs 115-b.

[0141] At 335, the device 310 may send a request to enable a multiple access communication scheme for multiple UEs 115-b via the metasurface 215-a to the network entity 105-b via an access link. In some examples, the request may further include an identifier associated with the device 310, an identifier associated with the multiple UEs 115-b, one or more identifiers for individual UEs among the multiple UEs 115-b, or any combination thereof. Additionally or alternatively, the request may further include one or more channel measurement reports for one or more channels between the metasurface 215-a and one or more of the multiple UEs 115-b.

[0142] At 340, the device 310 may receive a response message indicating that a multiple access communication scheme is enabled for the multiple UEs 115-b based on the request, and send individual uplink grants based on receiving the response message.

[0143] At 345, the device 310 may send an indication to the multiple UEs 115-b that metasurface-enabled multiple access for the multiple UEs 115-b has been enabled based on the response message.

[0144] At 350, the device 310 may send an indication of the multiple access scheme associated with the multiple UEs 115-b.

[0145] At 355, the device 310 may receive one or more metasurface configurations for individual UEs among the multiple UEs 115-b from the multiple UEs 115-b.

[0146] At 360, device 310 may receive, via an access link, a combined uplink grant for multiple UEs 115-b from network entity 105-b. In some examples, the combined uplink grant may include: an indication of a bandwidth part associated with the combined uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation, identifiers associated with the multiple UEs 115-b, a list of UEs among the multiple UEs 115-b scheduled by the combined uplink grant, a list of modulation and coding scheme orders for each UE 115-b in the list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, an indication of a sidelink grant, or any combination thereof.

[0147] At 365, device 310 may receive, via an access link, a sidelink grant from network entity 105-b for forwarding the combined uplink grant to multiple user equipments (UEs).

[0148] At 370, device 310 may send individual uplink grants to the multiple UEs 115-b based on the combined uplink grant according to the sidelink grant. In some examples, the individual uplink grant indicates a bandwidth part for the one or more uplink transmissions, a common resource allocation for the one or more uplink transmissions, precoding information for the one or more uplink transmissions, or any combination thereof.

[0149] At 375, device 310 may configure the metasurface 215 via a control signal to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the multiple UEs 115-b to network entity 105-b according to the individual uplink grant. In some examples, the control signal may indicate redirecting the one or more uplink transmissions and may be based on the one or more metasurface configurations.

[0150] At 380, the multiple UEs 115-b may send uplink transmissions to the metasurface 215-a, which may change the corresponding channels of the uplink transmissions to redirect (e.g., reflect, refract, diffract, or otherwise change or redirect) the uplink transmissions to network entity 105-b.

[0151] Figure 4 An example of a process flow 400 supporting metasurface-enabled multiple access control in accordance with one or more examples disclosed herein is illustrated. Process flow 400 may implement aspects of the present disclosure described herein. The elements described in process flow 400 (e.g., network entity 105-b, device 310, multiple UEs 115-b, and metasurface 215-a) may be examples of similarly named elements described herein.

[0152] In the following description of process flow 400, operations between various entities or components may be performed in different orders or at different times. Some operations may also be excluded from process flow 400, or additional operations may be added. Although each entity or component is shown as performing the operations of process flow 400, some aspects of some operations may also be performed by other entities or components of process flow 400 or by entities or components not depicted in the process flow or any combination thereof.

[0153] At 420, network entity 105-b may receive a request to enable metasurface 215-a multiple access for a plurality of UEs 115-b, and the request may include an indication of the plurality of UEs 115-b. In some examples, the request may also include an identifier associated with device 310, an identifier associated with the plurality of UEs 115-b, one or more identifiers for individual UEs among the plurality of UEs 115-b, or any combination thereof. Additionally or alternatively, the request may also include one or more channel measurement reports for one or more channels between metasurface 215-a and the plurality of UEs 115-b.

[0154] At 425, network entity 105-b may send a response message to enable metasurface 215-a multiple access for the plurality of UEs 115-b based on the indication of the plurality of UEs 115-b.

[0155] At 430, network entity 105-b may receive, via an access link, an indication of a plurality of UEs associated with metasurface 215-a controlled by device 310.

[0156] At 435, network entity 105-b may receive an indication of a multiple access scheme associated with the plurality of UEs 115-b.

[0157] At 440, network entity 105-b may send, via an access link, a combined uplink grant for the plurality of UEs 115-b. In some examples, the combined uplink grant may include: an indication of a bandwidth part associated with the combined uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation, an identifier associated with the plurality of UEs 115-b, a list of UEs among the plurality of UEs 115-b scheduled by the combined uplink grant, a list of modulation and coding scheme orders for each UE in the list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, an indication of a sidelink grant, or any combination thereof.

[0158] At 445, network entity 105-b may send, via an access link, a sidelink grant for device 310 to relay to the plurality of UEs 115-b. In some examples, device 310 may forward individual UE grants to the plurality of UEs 115-b.

[0159] At 450, network entity 105-b may monitor one or more uplink transmissions from multiple UEs 115-b via the metasurface 215-a according to the combined uplink grant. In some examples, the one or more uplink transmissions include multiple uplink transmissions. For example, the one or more uplink transmissions may be uplink transmissions from multiple UEs 115-b that have received separate UL grants, and the uplink transmissions may be sent according to the separate UL grants.

[0160] At 455, network entity 105-b may perform a successive interference cancellation process on the multiple uplink transmissions to decode one or more of the multiple uplink transmissions.

[0161] Figure 5 An example of a process flow 500 that supports metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein is illustrated. The process flow 500 may implement various aspects of the present disclosure described herein. The elements described in the process flow 500 (e.g., UE 115-b, network entity 105-b, device 310, and metasurface 215-a) may be examples of similarly named elements described herein.

[0162] In the following description of the process flow 500, operations between various entities or elements may be performed in different orders or at different times. Some operations may also be excluded from the process flow 500, or other operations may be added. Although the various entities or elements are shown as performing the operations of the process flow 500, some aspects of some operations may also be performed by other entities or elements of the process flow 500 or by entities or elements not depicted in the process flow or any combination thereof.

[0163] At 520, UE 115-b may receive a notification enabling uplink multi-access communication for multiple UEs that may include the UE, and monitor uplink grants based on receiving the notification.

[0164] At 525, UE 115-b may receive a channel measurement request via a sidelink channel, the channel measurement request indicating sidelink resources for channel measurement.

[0165] At 530, UE 115-b may send a channel measurement report to device 310, the channel measurement report indicating channel measurements of the channel between the UE and the metasurface 215-a associated with device 310. In some examples, the channel measurement report may indicate a requested metasurface configuration for the metasurface 215-a based on the channel measurements.

[0166] At 535, UE 115-b may send a cell-specific identifier associated with the UE and a cell identifier associated with the UE.

[0167] At 540, UE 115-b may monitor an uplink grant for a transmission to be redirected from the UE to network entity 105-b by the metasurface 215-a.

[0168] At 545, UE 115-b may receive an uplink grant from device 310 according to a sidelink grant. In some examples, the uplink grant includes: an indication of a bandwidth part associated with the uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation common to a plurality of UEs that may include the UE, precoding information for the uplink transmission, or any combination thereof.

[0169] At 550, UE 115-b may send an uplink transmission according to the uplink grant.

[0170] Figure 6 Block diagram 600 illustrates a device 605 that supports metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples as disclosed herein. Device 605 may be an example of aspects of a metasurface controller as described herein. Device 605 may include a receiver 610, a transmitter 615, and a communication manager 620. Device 605 may also include a processor. Each of these components may communicate with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0171] Receiver 610 may provide components for receiving information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to metasurface-enabled multiple access control). The information may be passed to other components of device 605. Receiver 610 may utilize a single antenna or an array of multiple antennas.

[0172] Transmitter 615 may provide components for transmitting signals generated by other components of device 605. For example, transmitter 615 may transmit information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to metasurface-enabled multiple access control). In some implementations, transmitter 615 may be co-located with receiver 610 in a transceiver module. Transmitter 615 may utilize a single antenna or an array of multiple antennas.

[0173] The communication manager 620, the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or various combinations thereof or their various components can be examples of components for performing aspects of the metasurface-enabled multiple access control as described herein. For example, the communication manager 620, the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or various combinations or components thereof can support methods for performing one or more of the functions described herein.

[0174] In some examples, the communication manager 620, the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or various combinations or components thereof can be implemented in hardware (e.g., in a communication management circuit). The hardware can include a processor, a DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an FPGA, or other programmable logic device, a microcontroller, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof configured to or otherwise supporting components for performing the functions described in this disclosure. In some examples, the processor and the memory coupled to the processor can be configured to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., by the processor executing instructions stored in the memory).

[0175] Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, the communication manager 620, the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or various combinations or components thereof can be implemented in code executed by a processor (e.g., implemented as communication management software or firmware). If implemented in code executed by a processor, the functions of the communication manager 620, the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or various combinations or components thereof can be performed by a general-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an FPGA, a microcontroller, or any combination of these or other programmable logic devices configured as or otherwise supporting components for performing the functions described in this disclosure.

[0176] In some examples, the communication manager 620 can be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receive, obtain, monitor, output, transmit) using or otherwise in cooperation with the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or both. For example, the communication manager 620 can receive information from the receiver 610, convey information to the transmitter 615, or integrate in combination with the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.

[0177] Additionally or alternatively, according to examples as disclosed herein, communication manager 620 may support wireless communication at a device. For example, communication manager 620 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving, via an access link, a sidelink grant from a network entity for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a set of multiple user equipments (UEs). Communication manager 620 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending, based on the combined uplink grant, individual uplink grants to the set of multiple UEs according to the sidelink grant. Communication manager 620 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: configuring, via a control signal, a metasurface to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs to the network entity according to the individual uplink grant.

[0178] By including or configuring communication manager 620 according to examples as described herein, device 605 (e.g., a processor that controls or otherwise couples to receiver 610, transmitter 615, communication manager 620, or a combination thereof) may support techniques for reducing processing, reducing power consumption, more efficiently utilizing communication resources, or any combination thereof.

[0179] Figure 7 Block diagram 700 illustrates a device 705 that supports enabling metasurface-based multiple access control according to one or more examples as disclosed herein. Device 705 may be an example of aspects of device 605 or metasurface controller 210 as described herein. Device 705 may include a receiver 710, a transmitter 715, and a communication manager 720. Device 705 may also include a processor. Each of these components may communicate with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0180] Receiver 710 may provide components for receiving information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels associated with enabling metasurface-based multiple access control). The information may be passed to other components of device 705. Receiver 710 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

[0181] Transmitter 715 may provide components for transmitting signals generated by other components of device 705. For example, transmitter 715 may transmit information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels associated with enabling metasurface-based multiple access control). In some particular implementations, transmitter 715 may be co-located with receiver 710 in a transceiver module. Transmitter 715 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

[0182] Device 705 or its various components can be examples of components for performing aspects of hypersurface-enabled multiple access control as described herein. For example, communication manager 720 can include a sidelink grant component 725, a separate uplink grant component 730, a hypersurface control component 735, or any combination thereof. Communication manager 720 can be an example of aspects of communication manager 620 as described herein. In some examples, communication manager 720 or its various components can be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receive, obtain, monitor, output, transmit) using or otherwise in cooperation with receiver 710, transmitter 715, or both. For example, communication manager 720 can receive information from receiver 710, convey information to transmitter 715, or integrate in combination with receiver 710, transmitter 715, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.

[0183] According to examples disclosed herein, communication manager 720 can support wireless communication at a device. Sidelink grant component 725 can be configured as or otherwise support a component for the action of receiving, via an access link, a sidelink grant from a network entity for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a set of multiple user equipments (UEs). Separate uplink grant component 730 can be configured as or otherwise support a component for the action of sending, based on the combined uplink grant and in accordance with the sidelink grant, separate uplink grants to the set of multiple UEs. Hypersurface control component 735 can be configured as or otherwise support a component for the action of configuring a hypersurface via a control signal to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs to the network entity in accordance with the separate uplink grants.

[0184] Figure 8 Block diagram 800 illustrates a communication manager 820 that supports hypersurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein. Communication manager 820 can be an example of aspects of communication manager 620, communication manager 720, or both as described herein. Communication manager 820 or its various components can be examples of components for performing aspects of hypersurface-enabled multiple access control as described herein. For example, communication manager 820 can include a sidelink grant component 825, a separate uplink grant component 830, a hypersurface control component 835, a UE indication component 840, a combined uplink grant component 845, an MA enable component 850, an MA scheme component 855, a measurement component 860, or any combination thereof. Each of these components can communicate directly or indirectly with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0185] Additionally or alternatively, according to examples as disclosed herein, the communication manager 820 may support wireless communication at the device. The sidelink grant component 825 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving, via an access link, a sidelink grant from a network entity for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a set of multiple user equipments (UEs). The individual uplink grant component 830 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending, based on the combined uplink grant and according to the sidelink grant, individual uplink grants to the set of multiple UEs. The metasurface control component 835 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: configuring, via a control signal, a metasurface to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs to the network entity according to the individual uplink grant.

[0186] In some examples, the UE indication component 840 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending, via the access link, an indication of the set of multiple UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity. In some examples, the combined uplink grant component 845 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving, via the access link, a combined uplink grant for the set of multiple UEs from the network entity.

[0187] In some examples, the MA enabling component 850 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending, via the access link, a request to the network entity to enable a multiple access communication scheme for the set of multiple UEs via the metasurface. In some examples, the MA enabling component 850 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving, based on the request, a response message indicating that the multiple access communication scheme is enabled for the set of multiple UEs, wherein sending the individual uplink grant is based on receiving the response message.

[0188] In some examples, the request further includes an identifier associated with the device, an identifier associated with the set of multiple UEs, one or more identifiers for individual UEs in the set of multiple UEs, or any combination thereof.

[0189] In some examples, the request further includes one or more channel measurement reports for one or more channels between the metasurface and one or more UEs in the set of multiple UEs.

[0190] In some examples, the MA enabling component 850 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending, based on the response message, an indication to the set of multiple UEs that the multiple access with the enabled metasurface for the set of multiple UEs has been enabled.

[0191] In some examples, the MA scheme component 855 may be configured as or otherwise support a component for the following actions: sending an indication of a multiple access scheme associated with the set of multiple UEs.

[0192] In some examples, the combined uplink grant includes: an indication of a bandwidth part associated with the combined uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation, an identifier associated with the set of multiple UEs, a list of UEs in the set of multiple UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, a list of modulation and coding scheme orders for each UE in the list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, an indication of the sidelink grant, or any combination thereof.

[0193] In some examples, a separate uplink grant indication is for a bandwidth part for the one or more uplink transmissions, a common resource allocation for the one or more uplink transmissions, precoding information for the one or more uplink transmissions, or any combination thereof.

[0194] In some examples, the measurement component 860 may be configured as or otherwise support a component for the following actions: receiving one or more measurement reports for one or more channels associated with the set of multiple UEs and the metasurface. In some examples, the UE indication component 840 may be configured as or otherwise support a component for the following actions: sending an indication of the set of multiple UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity via the access link, wherein based on the one or more measurement reports, the indication of the set of multiple UEs includes an indication of a multiple access group of the set of multiple UEs.

[0195] In some examples, the UE indication component 840 may be configured as or otherwise support a component for the following actions: sending an indication of the set of multiple UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity via the access link. In some examples, the UE indication component 840 may be configured as or otherwise support a component for the following actions: receiving one or more cell-specific identifiers associated with the set of multiple UEs and one or more cell identifiers associated with the set of multiple UEs, wherein based on the one or more cell-specific identifiers and the one or more cell identifiers, the indication of the set of multiple UEs includes an indication of a multiple access group including the set of multiple UEs.

[0196] In some examples, the metasurface control component 835 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving, for individual UEs in the set of multiple UEs, one or more metasurface configurations from the set of multiple UEs. In some examples, the metasurface control component 835 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: configuring the metasurface to redirect the one or more uplink transmissions based on the one or more metasurface configurations via the control signal.

[0197] In some examples, the device is a metasurface controller.

[0198] Figure 9 FIG. illustrates a system 900 including a device 905 that supports metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples as disclosed herein. The device 905 may be an example of, or include components of, the device 605, the device 705, or a metasurface controller as described herein. The device 905 may include components for two-way voice and data communication, including components for sending and receiving communications, such as a communication manager 920, an I / O controller 910, a transceiver 915, an antenna 925, a memory 930, code 935, and a processor 940. These components may be electronically communicatively coupled via one or more buses (e.g., bus 945) or otherwise (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically).

[0199] The I / O controller 910 may manage input and output signals of the device 905. The I / O controller 910 may also manage peripheral devices not integrated into the device 905. In some implementations, the I / O controller 910 may represent a physical connection or port to an external peripheral device. In some implementations, the I / O controller 910 may utilize an operating system, such as or another known operating system. Additionally or alternatively, the I / O controller 910 may represent, or interact with, a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, or similar device. In some implementations, the I / O controller 910 may be implemented as part of a processor or processing system (such as the processor 940). In some implementations, a user may interact with the device 905 via the I / O controller 910 or via hardware components controlled by the I / O controller 910.

[0200] In some specific implementations, device 905 may include a single antenna 925. However, in some other specific implementations, device 905 may have more than one antenna 925, and the more than one antenna may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions. Transceiver 915 may perform two-way communication via one or more antennas 925, wired or wireless links, as described herein. For example, transceiver 915 may represent a wireless transceiver and may perform two-way communication with another wireless transceiver. Transceiver 915 may also include a modem for modulating packets for providing the modulated packets to one or more antennas 925 for transmission, and for demodulating packets received from one or more antennas 925. In some specific implementations, transceiver 915 may include one or more interfaces, such as one or more interfaces coupled to one or more antennas 925 configured to support various receiving or obtaining operations, or one or more interfaces coupled to one or more antennas 925 configured to support various transmitting or output operations, or a combination thereof. In some specific implementations, transceiver 915 may include one or more processors or memory components or be configured to be coupled to the one or more processors or memory components, and the one or more processors or memory components are capable of operating to perform or support operations based on received or obtained information or signals, or generate information or other signals for transmission or other output, or any combination thereof. In some specific implementations, transceiver 915, or transceiver 915 and one or more antennas 925, or transceiver 915 and one or more antennas 925 and one or more processors or memory components (e.g., processor 940, or memory 930, or both) may be included in a chip or chip assembly installed in device 905.

[0201] Memory 930 may include RAM and ROM. Memory 930 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code 935 including instructions that, when executed by processor 940, cause device 905 to perform the various functions described herein. Code 935 may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or another type of memory. In some specific implementations, code 935 may not be directly executable by processor 940, but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to perform the functions described herein. In some specific implementations, memory 930 may particularly include BIOS, which may control basic hardware or software operations, such as interactions with peripheral components or devices.

[0202] Processor 940 may include intelligent hardware devices (e.g., general-purpose processors, DSPs, ASICs, CPUs, FPGAs, microcontrollers, programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof). In some cases, processor 940 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In some other cases, the memory controller may be integrated into processor 940. Processor 940 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., memory 930) to cause device 905 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting hyper-surface-enabled multiple access control). For example, device 905 or components of device 905 may include processor 940 and memory 930 coupled to processor 940, which are configured to perform the various functions described herein. Processor 940 may be an example of a cloud computing platform (e.g., one or more physical nodes and supporting software such as an operating system, virtual machine, or container instance) that may (e.g., by executing code 935) host functions for performing the functions of device 905. Processor 940 may be any one or more suitable processors capable of executing scripts or instructions of one or more software programs stored in device 905 (such as within memory 930). In some particular implementations, processor 940 may be a component of a processing system. A processing system generally may refer to a system or series of machines or components that receive inputs and process those inputs to produce a set of outputs (which may be passed to other systems or components of, for example, device 905). For example, the processing system of device 905 may refer to a system that includes various other components or sub-components of device 905 (such as processor 940, or transceiver 915, or communication manager 920, or a combination of other components or components of device 905). The processing system of device 905 may interface with other components of device 905 and may process information (such as inputs or signals) received from other components or output information to other components. For example, a chip or modem of device 905 may include a processing system and one or more interfaces for outputting information or for obtaining information or both. One or more interfaces may be implemented as or otherwise include a first interface configured to output information and a second interface configured to obtain information or the same interface configured to output information and obtain information, as well as other particular implementations. In some particular implementations, one or more interfaces may refer to an interface between the processing system of a chip or modem and a transmitter such that device 905 may transmit information output from the chip or modem. Additionally or alternatively, in some particular implementations, one or more interfaces may refer to an interface between the processing system of a chip or modem and a receiver such that device 905 may obtain information or signal inputs, and the information may be passed to the processing system.One of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the first interface may also obtain information or signal input, and the second interface may also output information or signal output.

[0203] Additionally or alternatively, according to the examples disclosed herein, the communication manager 920 may support wireless communication at the device. For example, the communication manager 920 may be configured as or otherwise support a component for the following actions: receiving, via an access link, a sidelink grant for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a set of multiple user equipments (UEs) from a network entity. The communication manager 920 may be configured as or otherwise support a component for the following actions: sending, based on the combined uplink grant, individual uplink grants to the set of multiple UEs according to the sidelink grant. The communication manager 920 may be configured as or otherwise support a component for the following actions: configuring, via a control signal, a metasurface to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs to the network entity according to the individual uplink grant.

[0204] By including or configuring a communication manager 920 according to the examples described herein, the device 905 may support techniques for improving communication reliability, reducing latency, improving the user experience associated with reduced processing, reducing power consumption, more efficiently utilizing communication resources, improving coordination between devices, extending battery life, improving the utilization of processing capabilities, or any combination thereof.

[0205] In some particular implementations, the communication manager 920 may be configured to use or otherwise cooperate with the transceiver 915, one or more antennas 925, or any combination thereof to perform various operations (e.g., receive, monitor, transmit). Although the communication manager 920 is illustrated as a component of the transceiver 915, in some particular implementations, one or more of the functions described with reference to the communication manager 920 may be supported or performed by the transceiver 915, the processor 940, the memory 930, the code 935, or any combination thereof. For example, the code 935 may include instructions executable by the processor 940 to cause the device 905 to perform various aspects of enabling metasurface-based multiple access control as described herein, or the processor 940 and the memory 930 may be otherwise configured to perform or support such operations.

[0206] Figure 10FIG. 1000 is a block diagram illustrating a device 1005 that supports hyper-surface enabled multiple access control in accordance with one or more examples as disclosed herein. The device 1005 may be an example of aspects of a network entity 105 as described herein. The device 1005 may include a receiver 1010, a transmitter 1015, and a communication manager 1020. The device 1005 may also include a processor. Each of these components may communicate with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0207] The receiver 1010 may provide components for obtaining (e.g., receiving, determining, identifying) information associated with various channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels, channels associated with a protocol stack) such as user data, control information, or any combination thereof (e.g., I / Q samples, symbols, packets, protocol data units, service data units). The information may be passed to other components of the device 1005. In some examples, the receiver 1010 may support obtaining information by receiving signals via one or more antennas. Additionally or alternatively, the receiver 1010 may support obtaining information by receiving signals via one or more wired (e.g., electrical, fiber optic) interfaces, wireless interfaces, or any combination thereof.

[0208] The transmitter 1015 may provide components for outputting (e.g., transmitting, providing, conveying, delivering) information generated by other components of the device 1005. For example, the transmitter 1015 may output information associated with various channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels, channels associated with a protocol stack) such as user data, control information, or any combination thereof (e.g., I / Q samples, symbols, packets, protocol data units, service data units). In some examples, the transmitter 1015 may support outputting information by transmitting signals via one or more antennas. Additionally or alternatively, the transmitter 1015 may support outputting information by transmitting signals via one or more wired (e.g., electrical, fiber optic) interfaces, wireless interfaces, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the transmitter 1015 and the receiver 1010 may be co-located in a transceiver that may include a modem or be coupled to a modem.

[0209] The communication manager 1020, the receiver 1010, the transmitter 1015, or various combinations thereof or their various components may be examples of components for performing various aspects of hyper-surface enabled multiple access control as described herein. For example, the communication manager 1020, the receiver 1010, the transmitter 1015, or various combinations thereof or components may support methods for performing one or more of the functions described herein.

[0210] In some examples, the communication manager 1020, the receiver 1010, the transmitter 1015, or various combinations or components thereof may be implemented in hardware (e.g., in a communication management circuit). The hardware may include a processor, a DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an FPGA, or other programmable logic device, a microcontroller, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof configured to or otherwise supporting components for performing the functions described in this disclosure. In some examples, the processor and memory coupled to the processor may be configured to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., by the processor executing instructions stored in the memory).

[0211] Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, the communication manager 1020, the receiver 1010, the transmitter 1015, or various combinations or components thereof may be implemented in code executed by a processor (e.g., implemented as communication management software or firmware). If implemented in code executed by a processor, the functions of the communication manager 1020, the receiver 1010, the transmitter 1015, or various combinations or components thereof may be performed by a general-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an FPGA, a microcontroller, or any combination of these or other programmable logic devices configured as or otherwise supporting components for performing the functions described in this disclosure.

[0212] In some examples, the communication manager 1020 may be configured to use or otherwise cooperate with the receiver 1010, the transmitter 1015, or both to perform various operations (e.g., receive, obtain, monitor, output, transmit). For example, the communication manager 1020 may receive information from the receiver 1010, convey information to the transmitter 1015, or integrate with the receiver 1010, the transmitter 1015, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.

[0213] Additionally or alternatively, according to examples as disclosed herein, the communication manager 1020 may support wireless communication at a network entity. For example, the communication manager 1020 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving, via an access link, an indication of a set of multiple user equipments (UEs) associated with a metasurface controlled by the device; transmitting, via the access link, an uplink grant for a combination of the set of multiple UEs; sending, via the access link, a sidelink grant to the device for relaying by the device to the set of multiple UEs; and monitoring, via the metasurface, one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs according to the combination of the uplink grant.

[0214] By including or configuring the communication manager 1020 according to examples as described herein, the device 1005 (e.g., a processor that controls or is otherwise coupled to the receiver 1010, the transmitter 1015, the communication manager 1020, or a combination thereof) may support techniques for reducing processing, reducing power consumption, more efficiently utilizing communication resources, or any combination thereof.

[0215] Figure 11 Block diagram 1100 illustrates a device 1105 that supports metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples as disclosed herein. The device 1105 may be an example of aspects of the device 1005 or the network entity 105 as described herein. The device 1105 may include a receiver 1110, a transmitter 1115, and a communication manager 1120. The device 1105 may also include a processor. Each of these components may communicate with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0216] The receiver 1110 may provide components for obtaining (e.g., receiving, determining, identifying) information associated with various channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels, channels associated with a protocol stack) such as user data, control information, or any combination thereof (e.g., I / Q samples, symbols, packets, protocol data units, service data units). The information may be passed to other components of the device 1105. In some examples, the receiver 1110 may support obtaining information by receiving signals via one or more antennas. Additionally or alternatively, the receiver 1110 may support obtaining information by receiving signals via one or more wired (e.g., electrical, fiber optic) interfaces, wireless interfaces, or any combination thereof.

[0217] Transmitter 1115 may provide a component for outputting (e.g., transmitting, providing, conveying, delivering) information generated by other components of device 1105. For example, transmitter 1115 may output information associated with various channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels, channels associated with a protocol stack) such as user data, control information, or any combination thereof (e.g., I / Q samples, symbols, packets, protocol data units, service data units). In some examples, transmitter 1115 may support outputting information by transmitting signals via one or more antennas. Additionally or alternatively, transmitter 1115 may support outputting information by transmitting signals via one or more wired (e.g., electrical, optical fiber) interfaces, wireless interfaces, or any combination thereof. In some examples, transmitter 1115 and receiver 1110 may be co-located in a transceiver, which may include a modem or be coupled to a modem.

[0218] Device 1105 or its various components may be examples of components for performing aspects of enabling metasurface-based multiple access control as described herein. For example, communication manager 1120 may include UE indication component 1125, combined uplink grant component 1130, sidelink grant component 1135, uplink transmission component 1140, or any combination thereof. Communication manager 1120 may be an example of aspects of communication manager 1020 as described herein. In some examples, communication manager 1120 or its various components may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receive, obtain, monitor, output, transmit) using or otherwise in cooperation with receiver 1110, transmitter 1115, or both. For example, communication manager 1120 may receive information from receiver 1110, convey information to transmitter 1115, or integrate in combination with receiver 1110, transmitter 1115, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.

[0219] According to an example as disclosed herein, the communication manager 1120 may support wireless communication at a network entity. The UE indication component 1125 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving, via an access link, an indication of a set of multiple user equipments (UEs) associated with a metasurface controlled by the device. The combined uplink grant component 1130 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: transmitting, via the access link, a combined uplink grant for the set of multiple UEs. The sidelink grant component 1135 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: transmitting, via the access link, a sidelink grant for relaying by the device to the set of multiple UEs. The uplink transmission component 1140 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: monitoring one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs via the metasurface according to the combined uplink grant.

[0220] Figure 12 Block diagram 1200 illustrates a communication manager 1220 that supports metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples as disclosed herein. The communication manager 1220 may be an example of aspects of the communication manager 1020, the communication manager 1120, or both as described herein. The communication manager 1220 or its various components may be examples of components for performing aspects of metasurface-enabled multiple access control as described herein. For example, the communication manager 1220 may include a UE indication component 1225, a combined uplink grant component 1230, a sidelink grant component 1235, an uplink transmission component 1240, an MA enabling component 1245, an MA scheme component 1250, an SIC component 1255, or any combination thereof. Each of these components may communicate directly or indirectly with each other (e.g., via one or more buses), and this communication may include communication within protocol layers of a protocol stack, communication associated with logical channels of the protocol stack (e.g., between protocol layers of the protocol stack, within a device, component, or virtualized component associated with the network entity 105, between devices, components, or virtualized components associated with the network entity 105), or any combination thereof.

[0221] Additionally or alternatively, according to examples as disclosed herein, the communication manager 1220 may support wireless communication at a network entity. The UE indication component 1225 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving, via an access link, an indication of a set of multiple user equipments (UEs) associated with a metasurface controlled by the device. The combined uplink grant component 1230 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending, via the access link, a combined uplink grant for the set of multiple UEs. The sidelink grant component 1235 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending, via the access link, a sidelink grant for relaying by the device to the set of multiple UEs. The uplink transmission component 1240 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: monitoring one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs via the metasurface according to the combined uplink grant.

[0222] In some examples, the MA enabling component 1245 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving a request to enable multi-access of the enabled metasurface for the set of multiple UEs, the request including an indication of the set of multiple UEs. In some examples, the MA enabling component 1245 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending, based on the indication of the set of multiple UEs, a response message to enable the multi-access of the enabled metasurface for the set of multiple UEs.

[0223] In some examples, the request further includes an identifier associated with the device, an identifier associated with the set of multiple UEs, one or more identifiers for individual UEs in the set of multiple UEs, or any combination thereof.

[0224] In some examples, the request further includes one or more channel measurement reports for one or more channels between the metasurface and the set of multiple UEs.

[0225] In some examples, the MA scheme component 1250 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving an indication of a multi-access scheme associated with the set of multiple UEs.

[0226] In some examples, the combined uplink grant includes: an indication of a bandwidth part associated with the combined uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation, an identifier associated with the set of multiple UEs, a list of UEs in the set of multiple UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, a list of modulation and coding scheme orders for each UE in the list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, an indication of the sidelink grant, or any combination thereof.

[0227] In some examples, the one or more uplink transmissions include multiple uplink transmissions, and the SIC component 1255 may be configured as or otherwise support a component for performing a successive interference cancellation process on the multiple uplink transmissions to decode one or more of the multiple uplink transmissions.

[0228] Figure 13 FIG. illustrates a system 1300 including a device 1305 that supports enabling metasurface-based multiple access control, according to one or more examples disclosed herein. The device 1305 may be an example of the device 1005, the device 1105, or the network entity 105 described herein, or include components thereof. The device 1305 may communicate with one or more network entities 105, one or more UEs 115, or any combination thereof, which communication may include communication via one or more wired interfaces, via one or more wireless interfaces, or any combination thereof. The device 1305 may include components that support outputting and obtaining communication, such as a communication manager 1320, a transceiver 1310, an antenna 1315, a memory 1325, code 1330, and a processor 1335. These components may be electronically communicatively coupled via one or more buses (e.g., bus 1340) or otherwise (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically).

[0229] The transceiver 1310 may support bidirectional communication via a wired link, a wireless link, or both as described herein. In some examples, the transceiver 1310 may include a wired transceiver and may communicate bidirectionally with another wired transceiver. Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, the transceiver 1310 may include a wireless transceiver and may communicate bidirectionally with another wireless transceiver. In some examples, the device 1305 may include one or more antennas 1315, which may be capable of (e.g., concurrently) sending or receiving wireless transmissions. The transceiver 1310 may also include a modem for modulating a signal (e.g., via one or more antennas 1315, via a wired transmitter) to provide the modulated signal for transmission, for receiving the modulated signal (e.g., from one or more antennas 1315, from a wired receiver), and for demodulating the signal. In some implementations, the transceiver 1310 may include one or more interfaces, such as one or more interfaces coupled to one or more antennas 1315 configured to support various receiving or obtaining operations, or one or more interfaces coupled to one or more antennas 1315 configured to support various sending or outputting operations, or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the transceiver 1310 may include or be configured to be coupled to one or more processors or memory components, which are operable to perform or support operations based on received or obtained information or signals, or to generate information or other signals for transmission or other output, or any combination thereof. In some implementations, the transceiver 1310, or the transceiver 1310 and one or more antennas 1315, or the transceiver 1310 and one or more antennas 1315 and one or more processors or memory components (e.g., processor 1335, or memory 1325, or both) may be included in a chip or chip assembly installed in the device 1305. In some examples, the transceiver may be operable to support communications via one or more communication links (eg, communication link 125, backhaul communication link 120, midhaul communication link 162, fronthaul communication link 168).

[0230] The memory 1325 may include RAM and ROM. The memory 1325 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code 1330 that includes instructions which, when executed by the processor 1335, cause the device 1305 to perform the various functions described herein. The code 1330 may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or another type of memory. In some cases, the code 1330 may not be directly executable by the processor 1335 but may (e.g., when compiled and executed) cause the computer to perform the functions described herein. In some cases, the memory 1325 may contain a BIOS or the like, which may control basic hardware or software operations (such as interactions with peripheral components or devices).

[0231] The processor 1335 may include intelligent hardware devices (e.g., general-purpose processors, DSPs, ASICs, CPUs, FPGAs, microcontrollers, programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof). In some cases, the processor 1335 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In some other cases, the memory controller may be integrated into the processor 1335. The processor 1335 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., memory 1325) to cause the device 1305 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting metasurface-enabled multiple access control). For example, the device 1305 or components of the device 1305 may include the processor 1335 and the memory 1325 coupled to the processor 1335, and the processor 1335 and the memory 1325 are configured to perform the various functions described herein. The processor 1335 may be an example of a cloud computing platform (e.g., one or more physical nodes and supporting software such as an operating system, virtual machines, or container instances) that may host (e.g., by executing code 1330) functions for performing the functions of the device 1305. The processor 1335 may be any one or more suitable processors capable of executing scripts or instructions of one or more software programs stored in the device 1305 (such as within the memory 1325). In some specific implementations, the processor 1335 may be a component of a processing system. A processing system generally may refer to a system or series of machines or components that receive inputs and process these inputs to produce a set of outputs (which may be passed to other systems or components of, for example, the device 1305). For example, the processing system of the device 1305 may refer to a system including various other components or sub-components of the device 1305 (such as the processor 1335, or the transceiver 1310, or the communication manager 1320, or a combination of other components or components of the device 1305). The processing system of the device 1305 may interface with other components of the device 1305 and may process information (such as inputs or signals) received from other components or output information to other components. For example, a chip or modem of the device 1305 may include a processing system and one or more interfaces for outputting information or for obtaining information or both. One or more interfaces may be implemented as or otherwise include a first interface configured to output information and a second interface configured to obtain information or the same interface configured to output information and obtain information, and other specific implementations. In some specific implementations, one or more interfaces may refer to an interface between the processing system of a chip or modem and a transmitter such that the device 1305 may transmit information output from the chip or modem. Additionally or alternatively, in some specific implementations, one or more interfaces may refer to an interface between the processing system of a chip or modem and a receiver such that the device 1305 may obtain information or signal inputs, and the information may be passed to the processing system.One of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the first interface may also obtain information or signal inputs, and the second interface may also output information or signal outputs.

[0232] In some examples, bus 1340 may support communications within a protocol layer of a protocol stack (e.g., within a protocol layer). In some examples, bus 1340 may support communications associated with a logical channel of a protocol stack (e.g., between protocol layers of a protocol stack), which may include communications performed within components of device 1305, or communications performed between different components of device 1305 that may be co-located or may be located at different locations (e.g., where device 1305 may refer to a system in which one or more of communication manager 1320, transceiver 1310, memory 1325, code 1330, and processor 1335 may be located in one component or divided among different components).

[0233] In some examples, communication manager 1320 may manage aspects of communication with core network 130 (e.g., via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links). For example, communication manager 1320 may manage the transfer of data communication for client devices such as one or more UEs 115. In some examples, communication manager 1320 may manage communication with other network entities 105, and may include a controller or scheduler for coordinating with other network entities 105 to control communication with UE 115. In some examples, communication manager 1320 may support the X2 interface within the LTE / LTE-A wireless communication network technology to provide communication between network entities 105.

[0234] Additionally or alternatively, according to examples disclosed herein, communication manager 1320 may support wireless communication at a network entity. For example, communication manager 1320 may be configured as or otherwise support components for: receiving, via an access link, an indication of a set of multiple user equipments (UEs) associated with a metasurface controlled by a device. Communication manager 1320 may be configured as or otherwise support components for: sending, via the access link, an uplink grant for a combination of the set of multiple UEs. Communication manager 1320 may be configured as or otherwise support components for: sending, via the access link, a sidelink grant to the device for relaying by the device to the set of multiple UEs. Communication manager 1320 may be configured as or otherwise support components for: monitoring one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs via the metasurface according to the combination of uplink grants.

[0235] By including or configuring a communication manager 1320 according to examples as described herein, the device 1305 may support techniques for improving communication reliability, reducing latency, improving the user experience associated with reduced processing, reducing power consumption, more efficiently utilizing communication resources, improving coordination between devices, extending battery life, improving the utilization of processing capabilities, or any combination thereof.

[0236] In some examples, the communication manager 1320 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receive, obtain, monitor, output, transmit) using or otherwise in cooperation with the transceiver 1310, one or more antennas 1315 (e.g., where applicable), or any combination thereof. Although the communication manager 1320 is illustrated as a separate component, in some examples, one or more of the functions described with reference to the communication manager 1320 may be supported or performed by the transceiver 1310, the processor 1335, the memory 1325, the code 1330, or any combination thereof. For example, the code 1330 may include instructions executable by the processor 1335 to cause the device 1305 to perform aspects of enabling metasurface-based multiple access control as described herein, or the processor 1335 and the memory 1325 may otherwise be configured to perform or support such operations.

[0237] Figure 14 Block diagram 1400 illustrates a device 1405 supporting metasurface-based multiple access control according to one or more examples as disclosed herein. The device 1405 may be an example of aspects of the UE 115 as described herein. The device 1405 may include a receiver 1410, a transmitter 1415, and a communication manager 1420. The device 1405 may also include a processor. Each of these components may communicate with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0238] The receiver 1410 may provide means for receiving information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels associated with enabling metasurface-based multiple access control). The information may be passed to other components of the device 1405. The receiver 1410 may utilize a single antenna or a collection of multiple antennas.

[0239] The transmitter 1415 may provide means for transmitting signals generated by other components of the device 1405. For example, the transmitter 1415 may transmit information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels associated with enabling metasurface-based multiple access control). In some examples, the transmitter 1415 may be co-located with the receiver 1410 in a transceiver module. The transmitter 1415 may utilize a single antenna or a collection of multiple antennas.

[0240] The communication manager 1420, the receiver 1410, the transmitter 1415, or various combinations thereof or their various components can be examples of components for performing aspects of the metasurface-enabled multiple access control as described herein. For example, the communication manager 1420, the receiver 1410, the transmitter 1415, or various combinations or components thereof can support methods for performing one or more of the functions described herein.

[0241] In some examples, the communication manager 1420, the receiver 1410, the transmitter 1415, or various combinations or components thereof can be implemented in hardware (e.g., in a communication management circuit). The hardware can include a processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, a microcontroller, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof configured to or otherwise supporting components for performing the functions described in this disclosure. In some examples, the processor and the memory coupled to the processor can be configured to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., by the processor executing instructions stored in the memory).

[0242] Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, the communication manager 1420, the receiver 1410, the transmitter 1415, or various combinations or components thereof can be implemented in code executed by a processor (e.g., implemented as communication management software or firmware). If implemented in code executed by a processor, the functions of the communication manager 1420, the receiver 1410, the transmitter 1415, or various combinations or components thereof can be performed by a general purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an FPGA, a microcontroller, or any combination of these or other programmable logic devices configured as or otherwise supporting components for performing the functions described in this disclosure.

[0243] In some examples, the communication manager 1420 can be configured to use or otherwise cooperate with the receiver 1410, the transmitter 1415, or both to perform various operations (e.g., receive, obtain, monitor, output, transmit). For example, the communication manager 1420 can receive information from the receiver 1410, convey information to the transmitter 1415, or integrate in combination with the receiver 1410, the transmitter 1415, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.

[0244] Additionally or alternatively, according to examples as disclosed herein, the communication manager 1420 may support wireless communication at a UE. For example, the communication manager 1420 may be configured as or otherwise support a component for the following actions: sending a channel measurement report to a device, the channel measurement report indicating channel measurements of a channel between the UE and a metasurface associated with the device. For example, the communication manager 1420 may be configured as or otherwise support a component for the following actions: monitoring an uplink grant for a transmission to be redirected from the UE to a network entity by the metasurface. The communication manager 1420 may be configured as or otherwise support a component for the following actions: sending an uplink transmission according to the uplink grant.

[0245] By including or configuring a communication manager 1420 according to examples as described herein, a device 1405 (e.g., a processor that controls or is otherwise coupled to a receiver 1410, a transmitter 1415, a communication manager 1420, or a combination thereof) may support techniques for reducing processing, reducing power consumption, more efficiently utilizing communication resources, or any combination thereof.

[0246] Figure 15 Block diagram 1500 illustrates a device 1505 that supports metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples as disclosed herein. The device 1505 may be an example of aspects of the device 1405 or the UE 115 as described herein. The device 1505 may include a receiver 1510, a transmitter 1515, and a communication manager 1520. The device 1505 may also include a processor. Each of these components may communicate with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0247] The receiver 1510 may provide a component for receiving information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to metasurface-enabled multiple access control). The information may be passed to other components of the device 1505. The receiver 1510 may utilize a single antenna or an array of multiple antennas.

[0248] The transmitter 1515 may provide a component for transmitting signals generated by other components of the device 1505. For example, the transmitter 1515 may transmit information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to metasurface-enabled multiple access control). In some examples, the transmitter 1515 may be co-located with the receiver 1510 in a transceiver module. The transmitter 1515 may utilize a single antenna or an array of multiple antennas.

[0249] Device 1505 or its various components can be examples of components for performing aspects of hypersurface-enabled multiple access control as described herein. For example, communication manager 1520 can include channel measurement component 1525, uplink grant component 1530, uplink transmission component 1535, or any combination thereof. Communication manager 1520 can be an example of aspects of communication manager 1420 as described herein. In some examples, communication manager 1520 or its various components can be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receive, obtain, monitor, output, transmit) using or otherwise in cooperation with receiver 1510, transmitter 1515, or both. For example, communication manager 1520 can receive information from receiver 1510, convey information to transmitter 1515, or integrate in combination with receiver 1510, transmitter 1515, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.

[0250] According to examples disclosed herein, communication manager 1520 can support wireless communication at a UE. Channel measurement component 1525 can be configured as or otherwise support a component for the action of sending a channel measurement report to a device, the channel measurement report indicating channel measurements of a channel between the UE and a hypersurface associated with the device. Uplink grant component 1530 can be configured as or otherwise support a component for the action of monitoring an uplink grant for a transmission to be redirected by the hypersurface from the UE to a network entity. Uplink transmission component 1535 can be configured as or otherwise support a component for the action of sending an uplink transmission according to the uplink grant.

[0251] Figure 16 Block diagram 1600 illustrates communication manager 1620 supporting hypersurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein. Communication manager 1620 can be an example of aspects of communication manager 1420, communication manager 1520, or both as described herein. Communication manager 1620 or its various components can be examples of components for performing aspects of hypersurface-enabled multiple access control as described herein. For example, communication manager 1620 can include channel measurement component 1625, uplink grant component 1630, uplink transmission component 1635, MA enablement component 1640, UE identifier component 1645, or any combination thereof. Each of these components can communicate directly or indirectly with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0252] Additionally or alternatively, according to examples as disclosed herein, communication manager 1620 may support wireless communication at a UE. Channel measurement component 1625 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending a channel measurement report to a device, the channel measurement report indicating channel measurements of a channel between the UE and a metasurface associated with the device. Uplink grant component 1630 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: monitoring an uplink grant for a transmission to be redirected by the metasurface from the UE to a network entity. Uplink transmission component 1635 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending an uplink transmission according to the uplink grant.

[0253] In some examples, MA enabling component 1640 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving a notification enabling uplink multi-access communication for a set of multiple UEs including the UE, wherein monitoring the uplink grant is based on receiving the notification.

[0254] In some examples, channel measurement component 1625 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving a channel measurement request via a sidelink channel, the channel measurement request indicating sidelink resources for the channel measurement.

[0255] In some examples, the channel measurement report indicates a requested metasurface configuration for the metasurface based on the channel measurements.

[0256] In some examples, uplink grant component 1630 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: receiving the uplink grant from the device according to a sidelink grant.

[0257] In some examples, the uplink grant includes: an indication of a bandwidth part associated with the uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation common to a set of multiple UEs including the UE, precoding information for the uplink transmission, or any combination thereof.

[0258] In some examples, UE identifier component 1645 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending a cell-specific identifier associated with the UE and a cell identifier associated with the UE.

[0259] Figure 17FIG. illustrates a system 1700 including a device 1705 that supports enabling hyper-surface-based multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein. The device 1705 may be an example of the device 1405, the device 1505, or the UE 115 described herein, or include components thereof. The device 1705 may communicate (e.g., wirelessly) with one or more network entities 105, one or more UEs 115, or any combination thereof. The device 1705 may include components for two-way voice and data communication, including components for sending and receiving communications, such as a communication manager 1720, an input / output (I / O) controller 1710, a transceiver 1715, an antenna 1725, a memory 1730, code 1735, and a processor 1740. These components may be electronically communicated or otherwise (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically) coupled via one or more buses (e.g., bus 1745).

[0260] The I / O controller 1710 may manage input signals and output signals of the device 1705. The I / O controller 1710 may also manage peripheral devices not integrated into the device 1705. In some cases, the I / O controller 1710 may represent a physical connection or port to an external peripheral device. In some cases, the I / O controller 1710 may utilize an operating system, such as or another known operating system. Additionally or alternatively, the I / O controller 1710 may represent or interact with a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, or similar devices. In some cases, the I / O controller 1710 may be implemented as part of a processor (such as the processor 1740). In some cases, a user may interact with the device 1705 via the I / O controller 1710 or via hardware components controlled by the I / O controller 1710.

[0261] In some cases, device 1705 may include a single antenna 1725. However, in some other cases, device 1705 may have more than one antenna 1725, and the more than one antenna may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions. Transceiver 1715 may perform two-way communication via one or more antennas 1725, a wired link, or a wireless link as described herein. For example, transceiver 1715 may represent a wireless transceiver and may perform two-way communication with another wireless transceiver. Transceiver 1715 may also include a modem that is configured to: modulate packets; provide the modulated packets to one or more antennas 1725 for transmission; and demodulate packets received from one or more antennas 1725. Transceiver 1715 or transceiver 1715 and one or more antennas 1725 may be examples of transmitter 1415, transmitter 1515, receiver 1410, receiver 1510, or any combination thereof or components thereof as described herein.

[0262] Memory 1730 may include random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM). Memory 1730 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code 1735 that includes instructions that, when executed by processor 1740, cause device 1705 to perform the various functions described herein. Code 1735 may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or another type of memory. In some cases, code 1735 may not be directly executable by processor 1740 but may (e.g., when compiled and executed) cause a computer to perform the functions described herein. In some cases, memory 1730 may contain a basic input / output system (BIOS) and the like, which may control basic hardware or software operations (such as interactions with peripheral components or devices).

[0263] Processor 1740 may include intelligent hardware devices (e.g., a general-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, an FPGA, a programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic components, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof). In some cases, processor 1740 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In some other cases, the memory controller may be integrated into processor 1740. Processor 1740 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., memory 1730) to cause device 1705 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks that support metasurface-enabled multiple access control). For example, device 1705 or components of device 1705 may include processor 1740 and memory 1730 coupled or coupled to processor 1740, and processor 1740 and memory 1730 are configured to perform the various functions described herein.

[0264] Additionally or alternatively, according to examples as disclosed herein, the communication manager 1720 may support wireless communication at a UE. For example, the communication manager 1720 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending a channel measurement report to a device, the channel measurement report indicating channel measurements of a channel between the UE and a metasurface associated with the device. For example, the communication manager 1720 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: monitoring an uplink grant for a transmission to be redirected from the UE to a network entity by the metasurface. The communication manager 1720 may be configured as or otherwise support components for the following actions: sending an uplink transmission according to the uplink grant.

[0265] By including or configuring the communication manager 1720 according to examples as described herein, the device 1705 may support techniques for improving communication reliability, reducing latency, improving the user experience associated with reduced processing, reducing power consumption, more efficiently utilizing communication resources, improving coordination between devices, extending battery life, improving the utilization of processing capabilities, or any combination thereof.

[0266] In some examples, the communication manager 1720 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receive, monitor, send) using or otherwise in conjunction with the transceiver 1715, one or more antennas 1725, or any combination thereof. Although the communication manager 1720 is illustrated as a separate component, in some examples, one or more functions described with reference to the communication manager 1720 may be supported or performed by the processor 1740, the memory 1730, the code 1735, or any combination thereof. For example, the code 1735 may include instructions executable by the processor 1740 to cause the device 1705 to perform aspects of metasurface-enabled multiple access control as described herein, or the processor 1740 and the memory 1730 may otherwise be configured to perform or support such operations.

[0267] Figure 18 A flowchart of a method 1800 for supporting metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples as disclosed herein is illustrated. The operations of the method 1800 may be implemented by a metasurface controller or components thereof as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 1800 may be performed by a metasurface controller as described with reference to Figures 1 to 9 described. In some examples, the metasurface controller may execute an instruction set to control functional elements of the metasurface controller to perform the described functions. Additionally or alternatively, the metasurface controller may use dedicated hardware to perform aspects of the described functions.

[0268] At 1805, the method may include: receiving, via an access link, a sidelink grant for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a set of multiple user equipments (UEs) from a network entity. The operations at 1805 may be performed in accordance with the examples disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations at 1805 may be performed by a sidelink grant component 825 as described with reference to Figure 8 The sidelink grant component 825 is described as follows.

[0269] At 1810, the method may include: sending, based on the combined uplink grant, individual uplink grants to the set of multiple UEs according to the sidelink grant. The operations at 1810 may be performed in accordance with the examples disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations at 1810 may be performed by an individual uplink grant component 830 as described with reference to Figure 8 The individual uplink grant component 830 is described as follows.

[0270] At 1815, the method may include: configuring a metasurface via a control signal to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs to the network entity according to the individual uplink grant. The operations at 1815 may be performed in accordance with the examples disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations at 1815 may be performed by a metasurface control component 835 as described with reference to Figure 8 The metasurface control component 835 is described as follows.

[0271] Figure 19 Illustrated is a flowchart of a method 1900 for supporting metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein. The operations of method 1900 may be implemented by a network entity or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of method 1900 may be performed by a network entity as described with reference to Figures 1 to 5 And Figures 10 to 13 The network entity described as follows. In some examples, the network entity may execute an instruction set to control functional elements of the network entity to perform the described functions. Additionally or alternatively, the network entity may use dedicated hardware to perform aspects of the described functions.

[0272] At 1905, the method may include: receiving, via an access link, an indication of a set of multiple user equipments (UEs) associated with a metasurface controlled by a device. The operations at 1905 may be performed in accordance with the examples disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations at 1905 may be performed by a UE indication component 1225 as described with reference to Figure 12 The UE indication component 1225 is described as follows.

[0273] At 1910, the method may include: sending, via the access link, a combined uplink grant for the set of multiple UEs. The operations at 1910 may be performed in accordance with the examples disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations at 1910 may be performed by a component as described with reference toFigure 12 The described combined uplink grant component 1230 performs it.

[0274] At 1915, the method may include: sending, via the access link, a sidelink grant for the device to relay to the set of multiple UEs. The operation of 1915 may be performed according to the examples disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1915 may be performed by the sidelink grant component 1235 as described with reference to Figure 12 The described sidelink grant component 1235 performs it.

[0275] At 1920, the method may include: monitoring one or more uplink transmissions from the set of multiple UEs via the metasurface according to the combined uplink grant. The operation of 1920 may be performed according to the examples disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1920 may be performed by the uplink transmission component 1240 as described with reference to Figure 12 The described uplink transmission component 1240 performs it.

[0276] Figure 20 Illustrates a flowchart of a method 2000 for supporting metasurface-enabled multiple access control according to one or more examples disclosed herein. The operations of method 2000 may be implemented by a UE or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of method 2000 may be performed by the UE 115 as described with reference to Figures 1 to 5 and Figures 14 to 17 The described UE 115 performs it. In some examples, the UE may execute an instruction set to control the functional elements of the UE to perform the described functions. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may use dedicated hardware to perform aspects of the described functions.

[0277] At 2005, the method may include: sending a channel measurement report to the device, the channel measurement report indicating a channel measurement of the channel between the UE and the metasurface associated with the device. The operation of 2005 may be performed according to the examples disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 2005 may be performed by the channel measurement component 1625 as described with reference to Figure 16 The described channel measurement component 1625 performs it.

[0278] At 2010, the method may include: monitoring an uplink grant for a transmission to be redirected from the UE to a network entity by the metasurface. The operation of 2010 may be performed according to the examples disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 2010 may be performed by the uplink grant component 1630 as described with reference to Figure 16 The described uplink grant component 1630 performs it.

[0279] At 2015, the method may include: transmitting an uplink transmission according to the uplink grant. The operations of 2015 may be performed according to the examples disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 2015 may be performed by the uplink transmission component 1635 as described with reference to Figure 16 as described.

[0280] An overview of aspects of the present disclosure is provided below:

[0281] Aspect 1: A method for wireless communication at a device, the method including: receiving, via an access link, a sidelink grant for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a plurality of user equipments (UEs) from a network entity; transmitting, at least in part based on the combined uplink grant, separate uplink grants to the plurality of UEs according to the sidelink grant; and configuring a metasurface via a control signal to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the plurality of UEs to the network entity according to the separate uplink grants.

[0282] Aspect 2: The method according to aspect 1, the method further including: transmitting, via the access link, an indication of the plurality of UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity; and receiving, via the access link, a combined uplink grant for the plurality of UEs from the network entity.

[0283] Aspect 3: The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 2, the method further including: transmitting, via the access link, a request to enable a multi-access communication scheme for the plurality of UEs via the metasurface to the network entity; and receiving, at least in part based on the request, a response message indicating that the multi-access communication scheme is enabled for the plurality of UEs, wherein transmitting the separate uplink grants is at least in part based on receiving the response message.

[0284] Aspect 4: The method according to aspect 3, wherein the request further includes an identifier associated with the device, identifiers associated with the plurality of UEs, one or more identifiers for a separate UE among the plurality of UEs, or any combination thereof.

[0285] Aspect 5: The method according to any one of aspects 3 to 4, wherein the request further includes one or more channel measurement reports for one or more channels between the metasurface and one or more of the plurality of UEs.

[0286] Aspect 6: The method according to any one of aspects 3 to 5, the method further including: transmitting, at least in part based on the response message, an indication to the plurality of UEs that a metasurface-enabled multi-access for the plurality of UEs has been enabled.

[0287] Aspect 7: The method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 6, the method further comprising: sending an indication of a multiple access scheme associated with the plurality of UEs.

[0288] Aspect 8: The method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 7, wherein the combined uplink grant comprises: an indication of a bandwidth part associated with the combined uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation, an identifier associated with the plurality of UEs, a list of UEs among the plurality of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, a list of modulation and coding scheme orders for each UE in the list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, an indication of the sidelink grant, or any combination thereof.

[0289] Aspect 9: The method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 8, wherein the individual uplink grant indication is for a bandwidth part for the one or more uplink transmissions, a common resource allocation for the one or more uplink transmissions, pre-coding information for the one or more uplink transmissions, or any combination thereof.

[0290] Aspect 10: The method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 9, the method further comprising: receiving one or more measurement reports for one or more channels associated with the plurality of UEs and the metasurface; and sending, via the access link, an indication of the plurality of UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity, wherein the indication of the plurality of UEs comprises an indication of a multiple access group comprising the plurality of UEs, at least in part based on the one or more measurement reports.

[0291] Aspect 11: The method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 10, the method further comprising: sending, via the access link, an indication of the plurality of UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity; and receiving one or more cell-specific identifiers associated with the plurality of UEs and one or more cell identifiers associated with the plurality of UEs, wherein the indication of the plurality of UEs comprises an indication of a multiple access group comprising the plurality of UEs, at least in part based on the one or more cell-specific identifiers and the one or more cell identifiers.

[0292] Aspect 12: The method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 11, the method further comprising: receiving, from the plurality of UEs, one or more metasurface configurations for individual UEs among the plurality of UEs; wherein the control signal indicates redirecting the one or more uplink transmissions at least in part based on the one or more metasurface configurations.

[0293] Aspect 13: The method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 12, wherein the device is a metasurface controller.

[0294] Aspect 14: A method for wireless communication at a network entity, the method comprising: receiving, via an access link, an indication of a plurality of user equipments (UEs) associated with a metasurface controlled by the device; transmitting, via the access link, a combined uplink grant for the plurality of UEs; transmitting, via the access link, a sidelink grant for the device to relay to the plurality of UEs; and monitoring one or more uplink transmissions from the plurality of UEs via the metasurface according to the combined uplink grant.

[0295] Aspect 15: The method according to aspect 14, the method further comprising: receiving a request to enable metasurface-enabled multiple access for the plurality of UEs, the request including the indication of the plurality of UEs; and transmitting, at least in part based on the indication of the plurality of UEs, a response message enabling the metasurface-enabled multiple access for the plurality of UEs.

[0296] Aspect 16: The method according to aspect 15, wherein the request further comprises an identifier associated with the device, an identifier associated with the plurality of UEs, one or more identifiers for individual UEs among the plurality of UEs, or any combination thereof.

[0297] Aspect 17: The method according to any one of aspects 15 to 16, wherein the request further comprises one or more channel measurement reports for one or more channels between the metasurface and the plurality of UEs.

[0298] Aspect 18: The method according to any one of aspects 14 to 17, the method further comprising: receiving an indication of a multiple access scheme associated with the plurality of UEs.

[0299] Aspect 19: The method according to any one of aspects 14 to 18, wherein the combined uplink grant comprises: an indication of a bandwidth part associated with the combined uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation, an identifier associated with the plurality of UEs, a list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant among the plurality of UEs, a list of modulation and coding scheme orders for each UE in the list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, an indication of the sidelink grant, or any combination thereof.

[0300] Aspect 20: The method according to any one of aspects 14 to 19, wherein the one or more uplink transmissions comprise a plurality of uplink transmissions, and the method further comprises: performing a successive interference cancellation process on the plurality of uplink transmissions to decode one or more of the plurality of uplink transmissions.

[0301] Aspect 21: A method for wireless communication at a UE, the method comprising: sending a channel measurement report to a device, the channel measurement report indicating a channel measurement of a channel between the UE and a metasurface associated with the device; monitoring an uplink grant for transmission to be redirected from the UE to a network entity by the metasurface; and sending an uplink transmission according to the uplink grant.

[0302] Aspect 22: The method according to aspect 21, the method comprising: receiving a notification enabling uplink multi-access communication for a plurality of UEs including the UE, wherein monitoring the uplink grant is at least partially based on receiving the notification.

[0303] Aspect 23: The method according to any one of aspects 21 to 22, the method further comprising: receiving a channel measurement request via a sidelink channel, the channel measurement request indicating sidelink resources for the channel measurement.

[0304] Aspect 24: The method according to any one of aspects 21 to 23, wherein the channel measurement report indicates a requested metasurface configuration for the metasurface at least partially based on the channel measurement.

[0305] Aspect 25: The method according to any one of aspects 21 to 24, the method further comprising: receiving the uplink grant from the device according to a sidelink grant.

[0306] Aspect 26: The method according to aspect 25, wherein the uplink grant includes: an indication of a bandwidth part associated with the uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation common to a plurality of UEs including the UE, pre-coding information for the uplink transmission, or any combination thereof.

[0307] Aspect 27: The method according to any one of aspects 21 to 26, the method further comprising: sending a cell-specific identifier associated with the UE and a cell identifier associated with the UE.

[0308] Aspect 28: A device for wireless communication at a device, the device comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the device to perform the method according to any one of aspects 1 to 13.

[0309] Aspect 29: A device for wireless communication at a device, the device comprising: at least one component for performing the method according to any one of aspects 1 to 13.

[0310] Aspect 30: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a device, the code including instructions executable by a processor to perform the method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 13.

[0311] Aspect 31: An apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity, the apparatus including: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to perform the method according to any one of Aspects 14 to 20.

[0312] Aspect 32: An apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity, the apparatus including: at least one component for performing the method according to any one of Aspects 14 to 20.

[0313] Aspect 33: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a network entity, the code including instructions executable by a processor to perform the method according to any one of Aspects 14 to 20.

[0314] Aspect 34: An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, the apparatus including: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to perform the method according to any one of Aspects 21 to 27.

[0315] Aspect 35: An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, the apparatus including: at least one component for performing the method according to any one of Aspects 21 to 27.

[0316] Aspect 36: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a UE, the code including instructions executable by a processor to perform the method according to any one of Aspects 21 to 27.

[0317] It should be noted that the methods described herein depict possible specific implementations, and the operations and steps may be rearranged or otherwise modified and other specific implementations are possible. Additionally, aspects from two or more of the methods may be combined.

[0318] Although aspects of LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR systems may be described for example purposes and the terms LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR may be used in much of the description, the techniques described herein may also apply to networks other than LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR networks. For example, the described techniques may apply to a variety of other wireless communication systems such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM, and other systems and radio technologies not explicitly mentioned herein.

[0319] The information and signals described herein may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and methods. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips mentioned throughout the specification may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0320] The various illustrative blocks and components described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed using a general purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, CPU, FPGA, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration).

[0321] The functions described herein may be implemented using hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored or transmitted using one or more instructions or codes of a computer-readable medium. Other examples and specific implementations are within the scope of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, the functions described herein may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination of these. The features implementing the functions may also be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of the functions are implemented at different physical locations.

[0322] A computer-readable medium includes both a non-transitory computer storage medium and a communication medium including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one location to another. A non-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that is accessible by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, non-transitory computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, compact disc ROM (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transitory medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or a general purpose or special purpose processor. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of computer-readable medium. As used herein, disk and disc include CD, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc. Disk may reproduce data magnetically, and disc may reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of computer-readable medium.

[0323] As used herein, including in the claims, the term "or" as used in a list of items (e.g., a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as "at least one of" or "one or more of") indicates an inclusive listing such that, for example, a listing of at least one of A, B, or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C). Also, as used herein, the phrase "based on" should not be construed as a reference to a closed set of conditions. For example, an example step described as "based on condition A" may be based on both condition A and condition B without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In other words, as used herein, the phrase "based on" should be interpreted in the same manner as the phrase "at least partially based on".

[0324] The term "determine" encompasses a variety of actions, and thus "determine" can include operations, calculations, processing, derivation, investigation, lookups (such as looking up in a table, database, or other data structure), ascertainment, and the like. Further, "determine" can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data stored in a memory), etc. Moreover, "determine" can include parsing, obtaining, selecting, choosing, establishing, and other such like actions.

[0325] In the drawings, like components or features may have the same reference numeral. Additionally, various components of the same type may be distinguished by adding a dash and a second numeral used to differentiate between like components after the reference numeral. If only the first reference numeral is used in the specification, the description may apply to any one of the like components having the same first reference numeral, regardless of the second reference numeral or any other subsequent reference numerals.

[0326] The description set forth herein in conjunction with the drawings describes exemplary configurations and does not represent all examples that may be implemented or that are within the scope of the claims. The term "exemplary" as used herein means "serving as an example, instance, or illustration" and does not mean "preferred" or "advantageous over other examples." The detailed description includes specific details for providing an understanding of the described techniques. However, the techniques may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring the concepts of the described examples.

[0327] The present description is provided to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to make or use the present disclosure. Various modifications to the present disclosure will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. An apparatus for wireless communication at a device, the apparatus comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive, via an access link, a sidelink grant for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a plurality of user equipments (UEs) from a network entity; send, based at least in part on the combined uplink grant, individual uplink grants to the plurality of UEs according to the sidelink grant; and configure a metasurface via a control signal to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the plurality of UEs to the network entity according to the individual uplink grants.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: send, via the access link, an indication of the plurality of UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity; and receive, via the access link, a combined uplink grant for the plurality of UEs from the network entity.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: send, via the access link, a request to enable a multiple access communication scheme for the plurality of UEs via the metasurface to the network entity; and receive, at least in part based on the request, a response message indicating that the multiple access communication scheme is enabled for the plurality of UEs, wherein the individual uplink grants are sent at least in part based on receiving the response message.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the request further comprises an identifier associated with the device, identifiers associated with the plurality of UEs, one or more identifiers for individual UEs among the plurality of UEs, or any combination thereof.

5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the request further comprises one or more channel measurement reports for one or more channels between the metasurface and one or more of the plurality of UEs.

6. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: send, at least in part based on the response message, an indication to the plurality of UEs that multiple access via the metasurface has been enabled for the plurality of UEs.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: send an indication of a multiple access scheme associated with the plurality of UEs.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the combined uplink grant comprises: An indication of a bandwidth part associated with the combined uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation, identifiers associated with the plurality of UEs, a list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant among the plurality of UEs, a list of modulation and coding scheme orders for each UE in the list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, an indication of the sidelink grant, or any combination thereof.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the separate uplink grant indicates a bandwidth part for the one or more uplink transmissions, a common resource allocation for the one or more uplink transmissions, precoding information for the one or more uplink transmissions, or any combination thereof.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive one or more measurement reports for one or more channels associated with the plurality of UEs and the metasurface; and send, via the access link, an indication of the plurality of UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity, wherein the indication of the plurality of UEs includes an indication of a multiple access group including the plurality of UEs, at least in part based on the one or more measurement reports.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: send, via the access link, an indication of the plurality of UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity; and receive one or more cell-specific identifiers associated with the plurality of UEs and one or more cell identifiers associated with the plurality of UEs, wherein the indication of the plurality of UEs includes an indication of a multiple access group including the plurality of UEs, at least in part based on the one or more cell-specific identifiers and the one or more cell identifiers.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive, from the plurality of UEs, one or more metasurface configurations for a respective UE of the plurality of UEs; wherein the control signal indicates redirecting the one or more uplink transmissions, at least in part based on the one or more metasurface configurations.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the device is a metasurface controller.

14. An apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity, the apparatus comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive, via an access link, an indication of a plurality of user equipments (UEs) associated with a metasurface controlled by a device; send, via the access link, a combined uplink grant for the plurality of UEs; send, via the access link, a sidelink grant for relaying by the device to the plurality of UEs to the device; and monitor one or more uplink transmissions from the plurality of UEs via the metasurface according to the combined uplink grant.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive a request to enable multiple access of the metasurface for the plurality of UEs, the request including the indication of the plurality of UEs; and Send a response message enabling multi - access for the plurality of UEs based at least in part on the indication of the plurality of UEs.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the request further includes an identifier associated with the device, an identifier associated with the plurality of UEs, one or more identifiers for individual UEs among the plurality of UEs, or any combination thereof.

17. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the request further includes one or more channel measurement reports for one or more channels between the metasurface and the plurality of UEs.

18. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: Receive an indication of a multiple - access scheme associated with the plurality of UEs.

19. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the combined uplink grant comprises: An indication of a bandwidth part associated with the combined uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation, an identifier associated with the plurality of UEs, a list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant among the plurality of UEs, a list of modulation and coding scheme orders for each UE in the list of UEs scheduled by the combined uplink grant, an indication of the sidelink grant, or any combination thereof.

20. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the one or more uplink transmissions include a plurality of uplink transmissions, and the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: Perform a successive interference cancellation process on the plurality of uplink transmissions to decode one or more of the plurality of uplink transmissions.

21. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: A processor; A memory coupled to the processor; And Instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: Send a channel measurement report indicating channel measurements of a channel between the UE and a metasurface associated with the device; Monitor for an uplink grant for a transmission to be redirected by the metasurface from the UE to a network entity; And Send an uplink transmission according to the uplink grant.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: Receive a notification enabling uplink multi - access communication for a plurality of UEs including the UE, wherein monitoring the uplink grant is at least partially based on receiving the notification.

23. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: Receive a channel measurement request via a sidelink channel, the channel measurement request indicating sidelink resources for the channel measurement.

24. The channel measurement report according to claim 21, wherein the channel measurement report indicates a requested metasurface configuration for the metasurface based at least in part on the channel measurements.

25. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: Receive the uplink grant from the device according to the sidelink grant.

26. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the uplink grant comprises: An indication of a bandwidth part associated with the uplink grant, an indication of a common resource allocation common to a plurality of UEs including the UE, pre-coding information for the uplink transmission, or any combination thereof.

27. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: Transmit a cell-specific identifier associated with the UE and a cell identifier associated with the UE.

28. A method for wireless communication at a device, the method comprising: Receiving, via an access link, a sidelink grant from a network entity for forwarding a combined uplink grant to a plurality of user equipments (UEs); Transmitting, at least in part based on the combined uplink grant, individual uplink grants to the plurality of UEs according to the sidelink grant; And Configuring, via a control signal, a metasurface to redirect one or more uplink transmissions from the plurality of UEs to the network entity according to the individual uplink grant.

29. The method according to claim 28, the method further comprising: Sending, via the access link, an indication of the plurality of UEs associated with the metasurface to the network entity; And Receiving, via the access link, a combined uplink grant for the plurality of UEs from the network entity.

30. The method according to claim 28, the method further comprising: Sending, via the access link, a request to enable a multiple access communication scheme for the plurality of UEs via the metasurface to the network entity; And Receiving, at least in part based on the request, a response message indicating that the multiple access communication scheme is enabled for the plurality of UEs, wherein transmitting the individual uplink grant is at least in part based on receiving the response message.

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