Energy harvesting information reporting

Abstract

Systems and techniques for wireless communication are provided. For example, an energy harvesting (EH)-capable device for wireless communication may provide EH information to a network entity corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of the EH-capable device. The EH-capable device may receive a first radio frequency (RF) signal from the network entity, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information. The EH-capable device may perform energy harvesting using the first RF signal.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some specific implementations, examples for wireless energy transfer are described. Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication systems are deployed to provide various telecommunication services including telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasting, etc. Wireless communication systems have evolved through several generations, including the first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), the second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including transitional 2.5G networks), the third generation (3G) high-speed data wireless service with Internet capabilities, the fourth generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE), WiMax), and the fifth generation (5G) service (e.g., New Radio (NR)). Currently, many different types of wireless communication systems are in use, including cellular systems and Personal Communication Service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), etc. Summary of the Invention

[0003] A simplified summary of the invention related to one or more aspects disclosed herein is presented below. Accordingly, the following summary should not be considered an exhaustive overview of all contemplated aspects, nor should it be considered to identify key or critical elements of all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. Thus, the sole purpose of the following summary is to present some concepts related to one or more aspects of the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form prior to the detailed description presented below.

[0004] Systems, methods, devices, and computer-readable media for performing wireless communication are disclosed. According to at least one illustrative example, a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities for wireless communication is provided. The device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities includes: at least one memory; and circuitry coupled to the at least one memory. The circuitry is configured to: provide EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of the device having EH capabilities to a network entity; receive a first radio frequency (RF) signal from the network entity, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information; and use the first RF signal to perform energy harvesting.

[0005] In another illustrative example, a method of wireless communication performed by a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities is provided. The method includes: providing EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of the EH-capable device to a network entity; receiving a first radio frequency (RF) signal from the network entity, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information; and using the first RF signal to perform energy harvesting.

[0006] In another illustrative example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium for a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities is provided. Instructions are stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: provide EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of the EH-capable device to a network entity; receive a first radio frequency (RF) signal from the network entity, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information; and use the first RF signal to perform energy harvesting.

[0007] In another illustrative example, a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities for wireless communication is provided. The apparatus includes: means for providing EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of the EH-capable device to a network entity; means for receiving a first radio frequency (RF) signal from the network entity, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information; and means for using the first RF signal to perform energy harvesting.

[0008] In another illustrative example, a network entity for wireless communication is provided. The network entity includes at least one memory and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory. The at least one processor is configured to: receive EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities from the device; and send a first radio frequency (RF) signal to the EH-capable device, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information.

[0009] In another illustrative example, a method for a network entity to perform wireless communication is provided. The method includes: receiving EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities from the device; and sending a first radio frequency (RF) signal to the EH-capable device, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information.

[0010] In another illustrative example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium of a network entity is provided, on which instructions are stored that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: receive EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities from the device having EH capabilities; and send a first radio frequency (RF) signal to the device having EH capabilities, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information.

[0011] In another illustrative example, a network entity for wireless communication is provided. The network entity includes: means for receiving EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities from the device having EH capabilities; and means for sending a first radio frequency (RF) signal to the device having EH capabilities, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information.

[0012] Aspects generally include methods, apparatuses, systems, computer program products, non-transitory computer-readable media, user equipment, base stations, wireless communication devices, and / or processing systems, as fully described herein with reference to the drawings and the specification and as illustrated in the drawings and the specification.

[0013] Aspects generally include methods, apparatuses, systems, computer program products, non-transitory computer-readable media, user equipment, base stations, wireless communication devices, and / or processing systems, as fully described herein with reference to the drawings and the specification and as illustrated in the drawings and the specification.

[0014] The features and technical advantages of the examples according to the present disclosure have been outlined rather broadly above so that the detailed description below may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter. The disclosed concepts and specific examples can be readily used as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for achieving the same purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. The characteristics of the concepts disclosed herein, both in their organization and operation methods and the associated advantages, will be better understood by considering the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Each of the drawings provided is for purposes of illustration and description and not as a definition of the limitations of the claims.

[0015] While aspects are described herein by way of illustration of some examples, those skilled in the art will understand that such aspects can be implemented in many different arrangements and scenarios. The techniques described herein can be implemented using different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and / or packaging arrangements. For example, some aspects can be implemented via an integrated chip or other non-module-component-based devices (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail / shopping devices, medical devices, and / or artificial intelligence devices). Aspects can be implemented in chip-level components, modular components, non-modular components, non-chip-level components, device-level components, and / or system-level components. Devices incorporating the described aspects and features can include additional components and features for implementing and practicing the claimed and described aspects. For example, the transmission and reception of wireless signals can include one or more components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antennas, radio frequency (RF) chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processors, interleavers, adders, and / or summers). The aspects described herein are intended to be practiced in a wide variety of devices, components, systems, distributed arrangements, and / or end-user devices of various sizes, shapes, and configurations.

[0016] Based on the figures and the detailed description, other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject matter should be understood in reference to the appropriate portions of the entire specification of this patent, any or all of the drawings, and each claim.

[0017] The foregoing and other features and aspects will become more apparent when reference is made to the following specification, claims, and accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] The drawings are presented to assist in describing the various aspects of the present disclosure, and the drawings are provided for illustration only and not to limit the aspects.

[0019] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication network according to some examples;

[0020] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating a design of a base station and a user equipment (UE) device according to some examples, the design enabling the transmission and processing of signals exchanged between the UE and the base station;

[0021] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a split base station according to some examples;

[0022] Figure 4is a block diagram illustrating components of a user equipment (UE) according to some examples;

[0023] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting device according to some examples;

[0024] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of small-signal operation of a Schottky diode barrier according to some examples;

[0025] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an energy harvesting characteristic between input power and harvested power according to some examples;

[0026] Figure 8A is a diagram illustrating an example of energy conversion efficiency associated with different frequencies and input power according to some examples;

[0027] Figure 8B is a diagram illustrating an example of energy conversion efficiency associated with different input power according to some examples;

[0028] Figure 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of characteristic information associated with input radio frequency (RF) power and harvested power according to some examples;

[0029] Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) that can indicate energy harvesting information according to some examples;

[0030] Figure 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process for wireless communication according to some examples;

[0031] Figure 12 is a flowchart illustrating a process for wireless communication according to some examples; and

[0032] Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computing system according to some examples. Detailed Description

[0033] For illustrative purposes, certain aspects of the present disclosure are provided below. Alternative aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the present disclosure. Some aspects described herein may be applied independently, and some of them may be applied in combination, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art. In the following description, specific details are set forth for purposes of explanation to provide a thorough understanding of the aspects of the present application. However, it is apparent that the aspects may be practiced without these specific details. The accompanying drawings and description are not intended to be restrictive.

[0034] The following description provides only example aspects and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the present disclosure. Instead, the following description of the example aspects will provide those skilled in the art with a description that can be used to implement the example aspects. It should be understood that various changes can be made to the functions and arrangements of the elements without departing from the scope of the present application as set forth in the appended claims.

[0035] A wireless communication network may be deployed to provide various communication services, such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcasting, any combination thereof, or other communication services. The wireless communication network may support both access links and sidelinks for communication between various wireless devices. An access link may refer to any communication link between a client device (e.g., a user equipment (UE), a station (STA), or other client device) and a base station (e.g., a 3GPP gNB for 5G / NR, a 3GPP eNB for 4G / LTE, a Wi-Fi access point (AP), or other base station). For example, an access link may support uplink signaling, downlink signaling, connection procedures, etc. An example of an access link is the Uu link or interface (also referred to as NR-Uu) between a 3GPP gNB and a UE.

[0036] In various wireless communication networks, various client devices that may be associated with different signaling and communication requirements may be utilized. For example, as 5G networks expand into industrial verticals and the number of deployed Internet of Things (IoT) devices grows, network service categories such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), and massive machine-type communication (mMTC) may be extended to better support various IoT devices, which may include passive IoT devices, semi-passive IoT devices, etc.

[0037] For example, passive IoT devices and semi-passive IoT devices are relatively low-cost UEs that can be used to implement one or more sensing and communication capabilities in an IoT network or deployment. In some examples, passive and / or semi-passive IoT sensors (e.g., devices) can be used to provide sensing capabilities for various processes and use cases such as asset management, logistics, warehousing, manufacturing, etc. Passive and semi-passive IoT devices can include one or more sensors, a processor or microcontroller, and an energy harvester for generating power based on incident downlink RF signals received at the passive or semi-passive IoT device.

[0038] Based on harvesting energy from incident downlink radio frequency (RF) signals (e.g., sent by network devices such as base stations, gNBs, etc.), energy harvesting devices (e.g., such as passive IoT devices, semi-passive IoT devices, etc.) can be provided as not having an energy storage element and / or can be provided as having a relatively small energy storage element (e.g., a battery, a capacitor, etc.). Due to the simplification of the manufacturing and deployment of energy harvesting devices associated with implementing wireless energy harvesting, energy harvesting devices can be deployed on a large scale.

[0039] In a wireless communication network environment (e.g., a cellular network, etc.), network devices (e.g., such as base stations or gNBs, etc.) can be used to send downlink RF signals to energy harvesting devices. In one illustrative example, a base station or gNB can read and / or write information stored on an energy harvesting IoT device by sending a downlink RF signal. The downlink RF signal can provide energy to the energy harvesting IoT device and can be used as a basis for an uplink signal carrying information sent back by the energy harvesting IoT device to the network device (e.g., based on reflecting or backscattering a portion of the incident downlink RF signal). The base station or gNB can read the reflected signal sent by the energy harvesting IoT device to decode the information sent by the IoT device (e.g., such as sensor information collected by one or more sensors included in the IoT device).

[0040] In some examples, for a given downlink signal with a given input RF power received at an energy harvesting device, a first portion of the input RF power is provided to the energy harvester of the device (e.g., where a certain percentage is converted into useful power based on the conversion efficiency of the harvester, while the remaining percentage is wasted or dissipated as heat, etc.). The remaining second portion of the input RF power can be used for backscattering in an uplink transmission (e.g., the second portion of the input power is reflected and modulated for uplink communication).

[0041] There is a need to improve the energy conversion efficiency associated with energy harvesting devices (e.g., including passive and semi-passive IoT devices). In some cases, there is a further need to provide a greater communication range associated with passive and / or semi-passive energy harvesting devices (e.g., passive and / or semi-passive IoT devices).

[0042] This document describes systems, apparatuses, processes (also referred to as methods), and computer-readable media (collectively referred to as "systems and technologies") that can be used to provide improved wireless energy harvesting and backscatter modulation-based communication between energy harvesting devices (e.g., passive, semi-passive, or active IoT devices, etc.) and network nodes or transmitters (e.g., gNB or base stations). For example, the systems and technologies described herein can be used to provide optimized or improved wireless energy transfer to an energy harvesting device based on an energy harvesting information report provided from the energy harvesting device to a corresponding network device (e.g., base station, transmitter, etc.). In some cases, based on an energy harvesting information report received from an energy harvesting device, a network device (e.g., also referred to as a "reader") can generate a downlink RF signal that is optimized for harvesting and / or backscatter modulation by the energy harvesting device.

[0043] In some examples, an energy harvesting device (e.g., passive IoT device, semi-passive IoT device, active IoT device, etc.) can generate and transmit one or more uplink messages that include energy harvesting information associated with the energy harvesting device. In some cases, the one or more uplink messages can be sent in a combined energy harvesting report and / or can be sent using one or more energy harvesting reports, each of which includes multiple sets or types of energy harvesting information. In some examples, a given energy harvesting device can be associated with energy harvesting characteristics based on the hardware configuration of the given energy harvesting device and / or based on the types of hardware components included in the given energy harvesting device. For example, different energy harvesting devices can achieve optimal or maximum energy conversion efficiency under different combinations of input RF power, input waveform center frequency, input waveform shape or type, etc. In some cases, the energy harvesting information sent by the energy harvesting device can indicate one or more (or all) of the hardware characteristics and / or operating characteristics of the energy harvesting device. For example, the energy harvesting information can indicate one or more (or all) of the optimal or maximum energy conversion efficiency of the energy harvesting device based on the input RF signal frequency, based on the input RF signal power, based on the incident waveform type, shape, or filtering, etc.

[0044] In some examples, the energy harvesting information may be associated with a rectifier included in the energy harvesting device, where the rectifier is used by the energy harvesting device to perform energy harvesting. In some cases, the energy harvesting information may indicate the relationship between the harvested power and the input RF power and / or frequency. In some cases, the energy harvesting information may be sent using one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages. For example, at least a portion of the energy harvesting information may be sent using a UE capability report. In some examples, some (or all) of the energy harvesting information may be sent using one or more medium access control (MAC) control elements (CEs). In some cases, the energy harvesting information may be sent by the energy harvesting device based on completion of the registration or setup process with the wireless communication network.

[0045] Additional aspects of the systems and techniques will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0046] As used herein, the phrase "based on" should not be construed to refer to a closed set of information, one or more conditions, one or more factors, etc. In other words, the phrase "based on A" (where "A" can be information, a condition, a factor, etc.) should be construed as "at least based on A", unless stated otherwise specifically.

[0047] As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "network entity" are not intended to be dedicated to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise specified. In general, a UE can be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, and / or tracking device, etc.), wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch, smart glasses, wearable ring, and / or extended reality (XR) device such as a virtual reality (VR) headset, augmented reality (AR) headset or glasses, or mixed reality (MR) headset), vehicle (e.g., a car, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), aircraft (e.g., an airplane, jet, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone, helicopter, airship, glider, etc.), and / or Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc., for a user to communicate via a wireless communication network. The UE can be mobile or can be stationary (e.g., at certain times), and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" can be interchangeably referred to as "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile device", "mobile terminal", "mobile station", or variants thereof. Generally, a UE can communicate with a core network via the RAN, and through the core network, the UE can connect to an external network such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for the UE, such as via a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on the IEEE 802.11 communication standard, etc.).

[0048] The network entity can be implemented in a centralized or monolithic base station architecture, or alternatively, in a split base station architecture, and can include one or more of a Central Unit (CU), a Distributed Unit (DU), a Radio Unit (RU), a Near Real-Time (Near RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), or a Non-Real-Time (Non RT) RIC. The base station (e.g., having a centralized / monolithic base station architecture or a split base station architecture) can operate according to one of several Radio Access Technologies (RATs) for communicating with the UE (depending on the network in which it is deployed), and can alternatively be referred to as an Access Point (AP), a network node, a NodeB (NB), an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next-generation eNB (ng-eNB), a New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. The base station can be mainly used to support the wireless access of the UE, including supporting the data, voice, and / or signaling connections of the supported UE. In some systems, the base station can provide edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, the base station can provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link by which the UE can transmit signals to the base station is referred to as an Uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link by which the base station can transmit signals to the UE is referred to as a Downlink (DL) or a Forward Link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term Traffic Channel (TCH) can refer to an uplink, reverse, or downlink, and / or a forward traffic channel.

[0049] The term "network entity" or "base station" (e.g., having an integrated / monolithic base station architecture or a split base station architecture) may refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, in the case where the term "network entity" or "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be a base station antenna corresponding to a cell (or a number of cell sectors) of the base station. In the case where the term "network entity" or "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, these physical TRPs may be an antenna array of the base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or in the case where the base station employs beamforming). In the case where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (e.g., a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (e.g., a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRPs may be a serving base station that receives a measurement report from a UE and a neighbor base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal (e.g., or simply "reference signal") the UE is measuring. Since, as used herein, a TRP is the point by which a base station transmits and receives radio signals, a reference to transmission from or reception at a base station should be understood to refer to a particular TRP of the base station.

[0050] In some specific implementations that support UE positioning, a network entity or base station may not support wireless access of the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections regarding the UE), but instead may alternatively send a reference signal to be measured by the UE and / or may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., in the case of sending a signal to the UE) and / or as a position measurement unit (e.g., in the case of receiving and measuring signals from the UE).

[0051] As described herein, a node (which may be referred to as a node, network node, network entity, or wireless node) may include, may be, or may be included in (e.g., as a component of) the following: a base station (e.g., any base station described herein), a UE (e.g., any UE described herein), a network controller, a device, an apparatus, a computing system, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a distributed unit (DU), a central unit (CU), a remote / radio unit (RU) (which may also be referred to as a remote radio unit (RRU)), and / or another processing entity configured to perform any of the techniques described herein. For example, a network node may be a UE. As another example, a network node may be a base station or a network entity. As yet another example, a first network node may be configured to communicate with a second network node or a third network node. In one aspect of this example, the first network node may be a UE, the second network node may be a base station, and the third network node may be a UE. In another aspect of this example, the first network node may be a UE, the second network node may be a base station, and the third network node may be a base station. In yet other aspects of this example, the first network node, the second network node, and the third network node may be different from these examples. Similarly, references to a UE, a base station, a device, an apparatus, a computing system, etc. may include the disclosure of a UE, a base station, a device, an apparatus, or a computing system, etc. as a network node. For example, the disclosure that a UE is configured to receive information from a base station also discloses that a first network node is configured to receive information from a second network node. Consistent with this disclosure, once a particular example has been extended in accordance with this disclosure (e.g., the disclosure that a UE is configured to receive information from a base station also discloses that a first network node is configured to receive information from a second network node), the broader example of the narrower example may be interpreted in reverse, but in a broad, open-ended manner. In the above example where the disclosure that a UE is configured to receive information from a base station also discloses that a first network node is configured to receive information from a second network node, the first network node may refer to a first UE, a first base station, a first device, a first apparatus, a first computing system, a first set of one or more components, or a first processing entity, etc. configured to receive information; and the second network node may refer to a second UE, a second base station, a second device, a second apparatus, a second computing system, a second set of one or more components, or a second processing entity, etc.

[0052] As described herein, different terms can be used in various aspects to describe the conveyance of information (e.g., any information, signal, etc.). The disclosure of one communication term includes the disclosure of other communication terms. For example, a first network node can be described as being configured to send information to a second network node. In this example and consistent with the present disclosure, the disclosure that the first network node is configured to send information to the second network node includes the disclosure that the first network node is configured to provide, transmit, output, convey, or send information to the second network node. Similarly, in this example and consistent with the present disclosure, the disclosure that the first network node is configured to send information to the second network node includes the disclosure that the second network node is configured to receive, obtain, or decode the information provided, transmitted, output, conveyed, or sent by the first network node.

[0053] An RF signal includes an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transmits information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may send a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of an RF signal through a multipath channel, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between the transmitter and the receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, where the context clearly indicates that the term "signal" refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply a "signal".

[0054] Various aspects of the systems and techniques described herein will be discussed below with reference to the figures. According to various aspects, Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication system 100 is illustrated. The wireless communication system 100 (e.g., may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 and various UEs 104. In some aspects, a base station 102 may also be referred to as a "network entity" or a "network node". One or more of the base stations 102 may be implemented in an aggregated or monolithic base station architecture. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the base stations 102 may be implemented in a disaggregated base station architecture and may include one or more of a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a radio unit (RU), a near real-time (near RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC), or a non-real-time (non RT) RIC. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (e.g., high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (e.g., low-power cellular base stations). In one aspect, a macrocell base station may include an eNB and / or an ng-eNB (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network), or a gNB (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to a New Radio (NR) network), or a combination of both, and a small cell base station may include a femtocell, a picocell, a microcell, etc.

[0055] Base station 102 can jointly form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) via a backhaul link 122, and interface with one or more location servers 172 (e.g., the one or more location servers can be part of the core network 170 or can be external to the core network 170) via the core network 170. Among other functions, base station 102 can perform functions related to one or more of the following: transmitting user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. Base stations 102 can communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via the EPC or 5GC) via a backhaul link 134, which can be wired and / or wireless.

[0056] Base station 102 can communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each base station in base station 102 can provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, the base stations 102 in each coverage area 110 can support one or more cells. A "cell" is a logical communication entity for communicating with a base station (e.g., on a certain frequency resource, referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.), and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI)) to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells can be configured according to different protocol types that can provide access for different types of UEs (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types). Since a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" can, depending on the context, refer to either or both the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it. Additionally, since a TRP is typically the physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" can be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" can also refer to the geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) of a base station, as long as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within a certain part of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0057] Although the geographical coverage areas 110 of adjacent macro cell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover area), some areas in the geographical coverage area 110 may substantially overlap with a larger geographical coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' may have a coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the coverage areas 110 of one or more macro cell base stations 102. A network including both small cell base stations and macro cell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. The heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB) that may provide services to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0058] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include an uplink (e.g., also referred to as a reverse link) transmission from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or a downlink (e.g., also referred to as a forward link) transmission from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. One or more carrier frequencies may be used to provide the communication link 120. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to the downlink and the uplink (e.g., a greater or lesser number of carriers may be allocated to the downlink compared to the uplink).

[0059] 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., one or more of the base station 102, the UE 104, etc.) to form or direct 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 implemented by combining signals communicated via the antenna elements of an antenna array such that some signals propagating in a particular orientation relative to the antenna array experience constructive interference while other signals experience destructive interference. The 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 direction (e.g., relative to the antenna array of the transmitting device or the receiving device or relative to some other direction).

[0060] A transmitting device and / or a receiving device (e.g., one or more of such as base station 102 and / or UE 104) may use beam scanning techniques as part of beamforming operations. For example, base station 102 (e.g., or other transmitting device) may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., antenna panels) to perform beamforming operations for directional communication with UE 104 (e.g., or other receiving device). Some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted multiple times in different directions by base station 102 (or other transmitting device). For example, base station 102 may transmit signals according to different sets of beamforming weights associated with different transmission directions. Transmissions in different beam directions may be used to identify (e.g., by the transmitting device such as base station 102, or by the receiving device such as UE 104) the beam direction so that base station 102 can perform subsequent transmissions or receptions.

[0061] Some signals (such as data signals associated with a specific receiving device) may be transmitted by base station 102 in a single beam direction (e.g., the direction associated with the receiving device such as UE 104). In some examples, the beam direction associated with the transmission along a single beam direction may be determined based on signals transmitted in one or more beam directions. For example, UE 104 may receive one or more of the signals transmitted by base station 102 in different directions and may report an indication of the signal received by UE 104 with the highest signal quality or other acceptable signal quality to base station 104.

[0062] In some examples, transmissions performed by a device (e.g., by base station 102 or UE 104) may use multiple beam directions, and the device may use a combination of digital precoding or radio frequency beamforming to generate a combined beam for transmission (e.g., from base station 102 to UE 104, from the transmitting device to the receiving device, etc.). UE 104 may report feedback indicating precoding weights for one or more beam directions, and the feedback may correspond to a configured number of beams across the system bandwidth or one or more subbands. Base station 102 may transmit reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signal (CRS), channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), etc.), which may or may not be precoded. UE 104 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 base station 102 in one or more directions, UE 104 may employ similar techniques to transmit signals multiple times in different directions (e.g., for identifying beam directions for subsequent transmissions or receptions by UE 104), or to transmit signals in a single direction (e.g., for transmitting data to a receiving device).

[0063] A receiving device (e.g., UE 104) may attempt multiple receive configurations (e.g., directional listening) when receiving various signals (such as synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) from a base station 102. For example, the receiving device may attempt multiple receive directions by: receiving via different antenna sub-arrays, processing the received signals according to different antenna sub-arrays, receiving according to different receive beamforming weight sets (e.g., different directional listening weight sets) applied to the signals received at multiple antenna elements of the antenna array, or processing the received signals according to different receive beamforming weight sets applied to the signals received at multiple antenna elements of the antenna array. Any of these may be referred to as "listening" according to different receive configurations or receive directions. In some examples, the receiving device may use a single receive configuration to receive along a single beam direction (e.g., when receiving a data signal). The single receive configuration may be aligned in a beam direction determined based on listening according to different receive 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).

[0064] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a WLAN AP 150 in communication with a WLAN station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 gigahertz (GHz)). When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure before communication to determine whether the channel is available. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may include devices (e.g., UEs, etc.) that communicate with one or more UEs 104, base stations 102, APs 150, etc. using the ultra-wideband (UWB) spectrum. The range of the UWB spectrum may be from 3.1 GHz to 10.5 GHz.

[0065] The small cell base station 102' may operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may employ LTE or NR technologies and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum as used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' adopting LTE and / or 5G in the unlicensed spectrum may boost the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, licensed-assisted access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0066] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180, which may operate at mmW frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with the UE 182. The mmW base station 180 may be implemented in an aggregated or monolithic base station architecture, or alternatively, in a disaggregated base station architecture (e.g., including one or more of a CU, DU, RU, near RT RIC, or non-RT RIC). Extremely high frequency (EHF) is a part of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz, with wavelengths between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz, with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, which is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communication using mmW and / or near mmW radio frequency bands has high path loss and a relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (e.g., transmitting and / or receiving) on the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Additionally, it should be understood that in an alternative configuration, one or more of the base stations 102 may also use mmW or near mmW and beamforming for transmission. Therefore, it should be understood that the foregoing illustration is merely an example and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0067] In some aspects related to 5G, the spectrum in which a wireless network node or entity (e.g., base station 102 / 180, UE 104 / 182) operates is divided into multiple frequency ranges: FR1 (e.g., from 450 megahertz (MHz) to 6,000 MHz), FR2 (e.g., from 24,250 MHz to 52,600 MHz), FR3 (e.g., above 52,600 MHz), and FR4 (e.g., between FR1 and FR2). In a multi-carrier system such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell, where the UE 104 / 182 performs the initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment process or initiates the RRC connection re-establishment process in this cell. The primary carrier carries all common control channels as well as UE-specific control channels and can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). The secondary carrier is the carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2), which can be configured and used to provide additional radio resources once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may only contain necessary signaling information and signals. For example, since the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are usually UE-specific, those UE-specific signaling information and signals may not exist in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell can have different downlink primary carriers. The same holds true for the uplink primary carrier. The network can change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Since a "serving cell" (e.g., whether it is a PCell or an SCell) corresponds to the carrier frequency or component carrier that some base station is using for communication, the terms "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. can be used interchangeably.

[0068] For example, still referring to Figure 1, one of the frequencies used by macro cell base station 102 can be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and other frequencies used by macro cell base station 102 and / or mmW base station 180 can be secondary carriers ("SCell"). In carrier aggregation, base station 102 and / or UE 104 can use a spectrum with a bandwidth of up to Y MHz (e.g., 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, 20 MHz, 100 MHz) per carrier, with a total of up to Yx MHz (e.g., x component carriers) in each direction for transmission. The component carriers can be adjacent to each other in the spectrum or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers can be asymmetric with respect to the downlink and uplink (e.g., a larger or smaller number of carriers can be allocated to the downlink compared to the uplink). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, compared to the data rate obtained with a single 20 MHz carrier, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system will theoretically result in a doubling of the data rate (e.g., 40 MHz).

[0069] To operate on multiple carrier frequencies, base station 102 and / or UE 104 can be equipped with multiple receivers and / or transmitters. For example, UE 104 can have two receivers, namely "Receiver 1" and "Receiver 2", where "Receiver 1" is a multi-band receiver that can be tuned to band (e.g., carrier frequency) "X" or band "Y", and "Receiver 2" is a single-band receiver that can be tuned to only band "Z". In this example, if UE 104 is being served in band "X", then band "X" will be referred to as the PCell or active carrier frequency, and "Receiver 1" will need to be tuned from band "X" to band "Y" (e.g., SCell) to measure band "Y" (and vice versa). In contrast, regardless of whether UE 104 is being served in band "X" or band "Y", due to the separate "Receiver 2", UE 104 can measure band "Z" without interrupting the service on band "X" or band "Y".

[0070] Wireless communication system 100 can further include UE 164, which can communicate with macro cell base station 102 on communication link 120 and / or communicate with mmW base station 180 on mmW communication link 184. For example, macro cell base station 102 can support a PCell and one or more SCell for UE 164, and mmW base station 180 can support one or more SCell for UE 164.

[0071] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, which is indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (e.g., referred to as "sidelinks"). In Figure 1 the example of, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of the UEs in UE 104 that is connected to one of the base stations in base station 102 (e.g., UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity through this link), and has a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 that is connected to WLAN AP 150 (e.g., UE 190 can indirectly obtain a WLAN-based Internet connection through this link). In one example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can use any well-known D2D RAT (such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), Wi-Fi Direct (Wi-Fi-D), etc.) to support.

[0072] Figure 2 A block diagram illustrating an example architecture 200 of base station 102 and UE 104 in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure, which enables the transmission and processing of signals exchanged between the UE and the base station. Example architecture 200 includes components of base station 102 and UE 104, and the base station and the UE can be Figure 1 one of the base stations in base station 102 shown and one of the UEs in UE 104 shown. Base station 102 may be equipped with T antennas 234a to 234t, and UE 104 may be equipped with R antennas 252a to 252r, where typically T≥1 and R≥1.

[0073] At base station 102, transmit processor 220 may receive data for one or more UEs from data source 212, select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) for the UE based on channel quality indicators (CQIs) received from each UE, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for the UE based on the selected MCS for each UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. Transmit processor 220 may also process system information (e.g., for semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI), etc.) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling, etc.), and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. Transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signal (CRS)) and synchronization signals (e.g., primary synchronization signal (PSS) and secondary synchronization signal (SSS)). Transmit (TX) multiple input multiple output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, control symbols, overhead symbols, and / or reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide T output symbol streams to T modulators (MOD) 232a through modulator 232t. Modulators 232a through 232t are shown as combined modulator-demodulators (MOD-DEMOD). In some cases, the modulator and demodulator may be separate components. Each of modulators 232a through 232t may process the corresponding output symbol stream (e.g., for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) schemes, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each of modulators 232a through 232t may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and up-convert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The T downlink signals may be transmitted from modulators 232a through 232t via T antennas 234a through 234t, respectively. According to certain aspects described in more detail below, position coding may be utilized to generate synchronization signals to convey additional information.

[0074] At the UE 104, antennas 252a through 252r may receive downlink signals from the base station 102 and / or other base stations, and may provide the received signals to one or more demodulators (DEMOD) 254a through 254r, respectively. Demodulators 254a through 254r are shown as combined modulator-demodulators (MOD-DEMOD). In some instances, the modulator and the demodulator may be separate components. Each of demodulators 254a through 254r may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, down-convert, and digitize) the received signals to obtain input samples. Each of demodulators 254a through 254r may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. The MIMO detector 256 may obtain the received symbols from all R demodulators 254a through 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols (if applicable), and provide the detected symbols. The receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide the decoded data for the UE 104 to the data sink 260, and provide the decoded control information and system information to the controller / processor 280. The channel processor may determine a reference signal received power (RSRP), a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a channel quality indicator (CQI), etc.

[0075] On the uplink, at the UE 104, the transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from the data source 262 and control information from the controller / processor 280 (e.g., for reports including RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, etc.). The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals (e.g., based on a β value or set of β values associated with the one or more reference signals). Symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by the TX MIMO processor 266, further processed by the modulators 254a through 254r (e.g., for DFT-s-OFDM, CP-OFDM, etc.), and transmitted to the base station 102. At the base station 102, uplink signals from the UE 104 and other UEs may be received by the antennas 234a through 234t, processed by the demodulators 232a through 232t, detected by the MIMO detector 236 (e.g., if applicable), and further processed by the receive processor 238 to obtain the decoded data and control information transmitted by the UE 104. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to the data sink 239 and provide the decoded control information to the controller (e.g., processor) 240. The base station 102 may include a communication unit 244 and communicate with the network controller 231 via the communication unit 244. The network controller 231 may include a communication unit 294, a controller / processor 290, and a memory 292.

[0076] In some aspects, one or more components of the UE 104 may be included in a housing. The controller 240 of the base station 102, the controller / processor 280 of the UE 104, and / or Figure 2 any other components may perform one or more techniques associated with the determination of an implicit UCI β value for NR.

[0077] The memories 242 and 282 may store data and program code for the base station 102 and the UE 104, respectively. The scheduler 246 may schedule the UE for data transmission on the downlink, uplink, and / or sidelink.

[0078] In some aspects, the deployment of a communication system such as a 5G New Radio (NR) system may be arranged in various ways with various components or parts. In a 5G NR system or network, network nodes, network entities, mobility elements of the network, radio access network (RAN) nodes, core network nodes, network elements, or network equipment (such as a base station (BS)) or one or more units (or one or more components) that perform base station functions may be implemented in an aggregated or disaggregated architecture. For example, a BS (e.g., such as a Node B (NB), evolved NB (eNB), NR BS, 5G NB, access point (AP), transmit-receive point (TRP), or cell, etc.) may be implemented as an aggregated base station (e.g., also referred to as a stand-alone BS or monolithic BS) or a disaggregated base station.

[0079] An aggregated base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A disaggregated base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed between two or more units (e.g., such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs)). In some aspects, a CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed among one or more other RAN nodes. A DU may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of the CU, DU, and RU may also be implemented as a virtual unit, i.e., a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0080] Base station type operations or network design may consider the aggregation characteristics of base station functionality. For example, a split base station can be used in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN (e.g., a network configuration such as those advocated by the O-RAN Alliance)), or a virtualized radio access network (e.g., vRAN, also known as cloud radio access network (C-RAN)). The split can include distributing functions across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as virtually distributing the functions of at least one unit, which can achieve flexibility in network design. The various units of a split base station or split RAN architecture can be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0081] Figure 3 FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example architecture of a split base station 300. The split base station 300 architecture may include one or more CUs 310, and the one or more central units (CUs) may communicate directly with the core network 320 via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 320 through one or more split base station units (e.g., a near real-time (near RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 325 via an E2 link, or a non-real-time (non RT) RIC 315 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 305, or both). The CU 310 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 330 via a corresponding midhaul link (such as an F1 interface). The DU 330 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 340 via a corresponding fronthaul link. The RU 340 may communicate with a corresponding UE 104 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some specific implementations, the UE 104 may be served simultaneously by multiple RUs 340.

[0082] Figure 3Each of these units shown and / or described herein (e.g., CU 310, DU 330, RU 340, and the near RT RIC 325, non-RT RIC 315, and SMO framework 305) may include one or more interfaces or may be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or transmit signals, data, or information (collectively signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units or the associated processor or controller that provides instructions to the communication interfaces of these units may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via the transmission medium. For example, the units may include a wired interface configured to receive or transmit signals to one or more of the other units via a wired transmission medium. Additionally, the unit may include a wireless interface that may include a receiver, transmitter, or transceiver (e.g., such as a radio frequency (RF) transceiver) configured to receive or transmit signals, or both, to or from one or more of the other units via a wireless transmission medium.

[0083] In some aspects, CU 310 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may utilize an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by CU 310. CU 310 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (e.g., central unit - user plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (e.g., central unit - control plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, CU 310 may be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP units may communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP units via an interface (such as the E1 interface). As needed, CU 310 may be implemented to communicate with DU 330 for network control and signaling.

[0084] The DU 330 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 340. In some aspects, the DU 330 may host one or more of the radio link control (RLC) layer, the media access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation, and demodulation, etc.) depending on the functional split (e.g., such as the functional split defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)). In some aspects, the DU 330 may also host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 330 or with control functions hosted by the CU 310.

[0085] The lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 340. In some deployments, the RUs 340 controlled by the DU 330 may correspond to logical nodes that host RF processing functions or low PHY layer functions (e.g., such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc.) or both based on a functional split (such as a lower layer functional split). In such architectures, the RUs 340 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communication with one or more UEs 104. In some embodiments, the real-time and non-real-time aspects of the control plane and user plane communication with the RUs 340 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 330. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the implementation of the DU 330 and the CU 310 in a cloud-based RAN architecture (such as a vRAN architecture).

[0086] The SMO framework 305 can be configured to support the RAN deployment and orchestration of non-virtualized network elements and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 305 can be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, and these dedicated physical resources can be managed via an operation and maintenance interface (e.g., such as the O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 305 can be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (e.g., such as the Open Cloud (O-Cloud) 390) to perform network element lifecycle management (e.g., such as instantiating virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (e.g., such as the O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements can include, but are not limited to, CU 310, DU 330, RU 340, and the Near RT RIC 325. In some specific implementations, the SMO framework 305 can communicate with the hardware aspect of the 4G RAN (such as the Open eNB (O-eNB) 311) via the O1 interface. Additionally, in some specific implementations, the SMO framework 305 can communicate directly with one or more RUs 340 via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 305 can also include a Non-RT RIC 315 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 305.

[0087] The Non-RT RIC 315 can be configured to include logical functions that can implement non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updates, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the Near RT RIC 325. The Non-RT RIC 315 can be coupled to or communicate with the Near RT RIC 325 (e.g., such as via the A1 interface). The Near RT RIC 325 can be configured to include logical functions that can achieve near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources through an interface (e.g., such as via the E2 interface) via data collection and actions, and this interface connects one or more CUs 310, one or more DUs 330, or both, and the O-eNB to the Near RT RIC 325.

[0088] In some specific implementations, to generate the AI / ML models to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 325, the non-RT RIC 315 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server. Such information can be utilized by the near-RT RIC 325 and can be received from non-network data sources or from network functions at the SMO framework 305 or the non-RT RIC 315. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 315 or the near-RT RIC 325 may be configured to tune the RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 315 may monitor the long-term trends and patterns of performance and employ an AI / ML model to perform corrective actions through the SMO framework 305 (e.g., reconfiguration such as via O1) or via the creation of RAN management policies (e.g., such as A1 policies).

[0089] Figure 4 An example of the computing system 470 of the wireless device 407 is illustrated. The wireless device 407 may include a client device such as a UE (e.g., UE 104, UE 152, UE 190) or other types of devices that can be used by an end user (e.g., a station (STA) configured to communicate using a Wi-Fi interface). For example, the wireless device 407 may include a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a tracking device, a wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch, glasses, an extended reality (XR) device (such as a virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), or mixed reality (MR) device), etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a vehicle, an aircraft, and / or another device configured to communicate via a wireless communication network. The computing system 470 includes software and hardware components that may be electrically coupled or communicatively coupled (e.g., or may communicate in other ways as appropriate) via a bus 489. For example, the computing system 470 includes one or more processors 484. The one or more processors 484 may include one or more CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, APs, GPUs, VPUs, NSPs, microcontrollers, dedicated hardware, any combination thereof, and / or other processing devices or systems. The one or more processors 484 may use the bus 489 to communicate between cores and / or with one or more memory devices 486.

[0090] The computing system 470 may also include one or more memory devices 486, one or more digital signal processors (DSPs) 482, one or more SIMs 474, one or more modems 476, one or more wireless transceivers 478, an antenna 487, one or more input devices 472 (e.g., a camera, a mouse, a keyboard, a touch-sensitive screen, a touchpad, a keypad, a microphone, etc.), and one or more output devices 480 (e.g., a display, a speaker, and / or a printer, etc.).

[0091] In some aspects, computing system 470 may include one or more RF interfaces configured to send and / or receive radio frequency (RF) signals. In some examples, the RF interface may include components such as a modem 476, a wireless transceiver 478, and / or an antenna 487. One or more wireless transceivers 478 may send and receive wireless signals (e.g., signal 488) via antenna 487 from one or more other devices such as other wireless devices, network devices (e.g., base stations such as eNBs and / or gNBs, Wi-Fi access points (APs) such as routers, range extenders, etc.), cloud networks, etc. In some examples, computing system 470 may include multiple antennas or antenna arrays that may facilitate simultaneous transmit and receive functionality. Antenna 487 may be an omnidirectional antenna such that radio frequency (RF) signals may be received from all directions and transmitted in all directions. The wireless signal 488 may be transmitted via a wireless network. The wireless network may be any wireless network such as a cellular or telecommunications network (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, etc.), a wireless local area network (e.g., a Wi-Fi network), a Bluetooth TM network and / or other networks.

[0092] In some examples, the wireless signal 488 may be sent directly to other wireless devices using sidelink communication (e.g., using a PC5 interface, using a DSRC interface, etc.). The wireless transceiver 478 may be configured to transmit RF signals via antenna 487 according to one or more transmit power parameters that may be associated with one or more regulatory modes for performing sidelink communication. The wireless transceiver 478 may also be configured to receive sidelink communication signals from other wireless devices having different signal parameters.

[0093] In some examples, one or more wireless transceivers 478 may include an RF front end that includes one or more components such as amplifiers, mixers for downconverting signals (e.g., also referred to as signal multipliers), frequency synthesizers (e.g., also referred to as oscillators) that provide signals to the mixers, baseband filters, analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), one or more power amplifiers, and other components. The RF front end generally may handle the selection of the wireless signal 488 and the conversion of the wireless signal to a baseband frequency or an intermediate frequency and may convert the RF signal to the digital domain.

[0094] In some cases, computing system 470 may include a codec (or CODEC) configured to encode and / or decode data sent and / or received using one or more wireless transceivers 478. In some cases, computing system 470 may include an encryption - decryption device or component configured to encrypt and / or decrypt data sent and / or received by one or more wireless transceivers 478 (e.g., according to AES and / or DES standards).

[0095] One or more SIMs 474 may each securely store the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number and associated keys assigned to a user of the wireless device 407. The IMSI and keys may be used to identify and authenticate the subscriber when accessing a network provided by a network service provider or carrier associated with the one or more SIMs 474. One or more modems 476 may modulate one or more signals to encode information for transmission using one or more wireless transceivers 478. One or more modems 476 may also demodulate signals received by one or more wireless transceivers 478 to decode the transmitted information. In some examples, one or more modems 476 may include a Wi-Fi modem, a 4G (or LTE) modem, a 5G (or NR) modem, and / or other types of modems. One or more modems 476 and one or more wireless transceivers 478 may be used to communicate data of the one or more SIMs 474.

[0096] The computing system 470 may also include one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media or storage devices (e.g., one or more memory devices 486) (and / or communicate with them), which may include, but are not limited to, local and / or network-accessible storage, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices such as RAM and / or ROM, which may be programmable, flash-updateable, etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including but not limited to various file systems, database structures, etc.

[0097] In various aspects, functionality may be stored as one or more computer program products (e.g., instructions or code) in the memory device 486 and executed by one or more processors 484 and / or one or more DSPs 482. The computing system 470 may also include software elements (e.g., located within one or more memory devices 486), including, for example, an operating system, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code, such as one or more applications, which may include computer programs that implement the functionality provided by the various aspects, and / or may be designed to implement methods and / or configure systems as described herein.

[0098] Figure 5FIG. 0 is an illustration of an example of an architecture of a radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting device 500 according to some examples. As will be described in more detail below, the RF energy harvesting device 500 can harvest RF energy from one or more RF signals received using the antenna 590. As used herein, the term "energy harvesting" can be used interchangeably with "power harvesting". In some aspects, an "energy harvesting device" can be a device capable of performing energy harvesting (EH). For example, as used herein, the term "energy harvesting device" can be used interchangeably with the term "device with EH capabilities" or "device with energy harvesting capabilities". In some aspects, the energy harvesting device 500 can be implemented as an Internet of Things (IoT) device, can be implemented as a sensor, etc., as will be described in more detail below. For example, the energy harvesting device 500 can be an ambient IoT device. As used herein, an energy harvesting device (e.g., a device with EH capabilities) may also be referred to as an "ambient IoT device". In other examples, the energy harvesting device 500 can be implemented as a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag or various other RFID devices.

[0099] The energy harvesting device 500 includes one or more antennas 590 that can be used to transmit and receive one or more wireless signals. For example, the energy harvesting device 500 can use the antenna 590 to receive one or more downlink signals and transmit one or more uplink signals. The impedance matching component 510 can be used to match the impedance of the antenna 590 with the impedance of one or more (or all) of the receiving components included in the energy harvesting device 500. In some examples, the receiving components of the energy harvesting device 500 can include a demodulator 520 (e.g., for demodulating the received downlink signals), an energy harvester 530 (e.g., for harvesting RF energy from the received downlink signals), a regulator 540, a microcontroller unit (MCU) 550, a modulator 560 (e.g., for generating uplink signals). In some cases, the receiving components of the energy harvesting device 500 can also include one or more sensors 570.

[0100] The downlink signals can be received from one or more transmitters. For example, the energy harvesting device 500 can receive downlink signals from a network node or network entity included in the same wireless network as the energy harvesting device 500. In some cases, the network entity can be a base station, gNB, etc. that communicates with the energy harvesting device 500 using a cellular communication network. For example, the cellular communication network can be implemented according to 3G, 4G, 5G, and / or other cellular standards (e.g., including future standards such as 6G and above).

[0101] In some cases, ambient IoT devices can be implemented as passive or semi - passive energy harvesting devices. For example, an ambient IoT device using the same or a similar architecture as energy harvesting device 500 can be implemented as a passive or semi - passive energy harvesting device (e.g., a passive or semi - passive device with EH capabilities), which performs passive uplink communication by modulating and reflecting the downlink signal received via antenna 590. Passive or semi - passive energy harvesting devices can also be referred to as devices with passive or semi - passive EH capabilities respectively. For example, passive and semi - passive energy harvesting devices may not be able to generate and send uplink signals without first receiving a downlink signal that can be modulated and reflected. In other examples, energy harvesting device 500 can be implemented as an active energy harvesting device (e.g., also referred to as an "active device" or an "active device with EH capabilities"), which uses a powered transceiver to perform active uplink communication. An active energy harvesting device is capable of generating and sending uplink signals without first receiving a downlink signal (e.g., by using a power source on the device to power its powered transceiver).

[0102] A passive energy harvesting device (e.g., also referred to as a "passive device with EH capabilities") does not include an energy storage element (e.g., such as a battery, capacitor, etc.) or other power sources on the device, and can be powered only by the RF energy collected from the downlink signal (e.g., using energy harvester 530). A semi - passive energy harvesting device can include one or more energy storage elements and / or other power sources on the device. The energy storage element of a semi - passive energy harvesting device can be used to enhance or supplement the RF energy collected from the downlink signal, but in some cases, the energy stored in the energy storage element may not be sufficient to send an uplink communication without first receiving a downlink communication. An active energy harvesting device can include one or more energy storage elements or other power sources on the device, which can power the uplink communication without using the supplemented collected RF energy. The energy storage element of an active energy harvesting device can be charged using the collected RF energy.

[0103] As mentioned above, passive and semi - passive energy harvesting devices send uplink communication by performing backscatter modulation to modulate and reflect the received downlink signal. The received downlink signal is used for both providing power (e.g., performing demodulation, local processing, and modulation) and for the carrier of the uplink communication (e.g., the reflection of the downlink signal). For example, a portion of the downlink signal will be backscattered as the uplink signal, while the remaining portion of the downlink signal can be used for energy harvesting.

[0104] An active energy harvesting device can transmit uplink communication without performing backscatter modulation and without receiving a corresponding downlink signal (e.g., the active energy harvesting device includes an energy storage element for providing power and a powered transceiver for generating a carrier for uplink communication). In the absence of a downlink signal, passive and semi-passive energy harvesting devices cannot transmit uplink signals (e.g., passive communication). The active energy harvesting device does not rely on receiving a downlink signal to transmit an uplink signal and can transmit an uplink signal as needed (e.g., active communication).

[0105] In an example where the energy harvesting device 500 is implemented as a passive or semi-passive energy harvesting device, the antenna 590 can be used to receive a continuous carrier downlink signal and modulate it (e.g., re-modulate) for uplink communication. In some cases, the modulator 560 can be used to modulate the reflected (e.g., backscattered) portion of the downlink signal. For example, the continuous carrier can be a continuous sine wave (e.g., sine or cosine waveform), and the modulator 560 can perform modulation based on changing one or more of the amplitude and phase of the backscattered reflection. Based on the modulation of the backscattered reflection, the modulator 560 can encode digital symbols (e.g., such as binary symbols or more complex symbol systems) indicative of uplink communication or data messages. For example, the uplink communication can indicate sensor data or other information associated with one or more sensors 570 included in the energy harvesting device 500.

[0106] As previously mentioned, the impedance matching component 510 can be used to match the impedance of the antenna 590 to the receiving component of the energy harvesting device 500 when receiving a downlink signal (e.g., when receiving a continuous carrier). In some examples, during backscatter operation (e.g., when transmitting an uplink signal), modulation can be performed based on intentionally mismatching the antenna input impedance such that a portion of the incident downlink signal is scattered back. The phase and amplitude of the backscattered reflection can be determined based on the impedance load on the antenna 590. Based on changing the antenna impedance (e.g., changing the impedance mismatch between the antenna 590 and the remaining components of the energy harvesting device 500), digital symbols and / or binary information can be encoded (e.g., modulated) onto the backscattered reflection. The modulator 560 can be used to perform changing the antenna impedance to modulate the phase and / or amplitude of the backscattered reflection.

[0107] As Figure 5As illustrated, a portion of the downlink signal received using antenna 590 can be provided to demodulator 520, which performs demodulation and provides the downlink communication (e.g., carried or modulated on the downlink signal) to microcontroller unit (MCU) 550 or other processors included in energy harvesting device 500. The remaining portion of the downlink signal received using antenna 590 can be provided to energy harvester 530, which harvests RF energy from the downlink signal. For example, energy harvester 530 can harvest RF energy based on performing AC to DC (alternating current to direct current) conversion, where an AC current is generated from the sinusoidal carrier of the downlink signal and the converted DC current is used to power energy harvesting device 500. In some aspects, energy harvester 530 can include one or more rectifiers for performing AC to DC conversion. The rectifier can include one or more diodes or thin film transistors (TFTs). In an illustrative example, energy harvester 530 can include one or more Schottky diode-based rectifiers. In some cases, energy harvester 530 can include one or more TFT-based rectifiers.

[0108] The output of energy harvester 530 is a DC current generated (e.g., harvested) from the portion of the downlink signal provided to energy harvester 530. In some aspects, the DC current output of energy harvester 530 can vary with the input provided to energy harvester 530. For example, an increase in the input current to energy harvester 530 can be associated with an increase in the output DC current generated by energy harvester 530. In some cases, MCU 550 can be associated with a narrow band of acceptable DC current values. Regulator 540 can be used to eliminate or otherwise reduce the variation in the DC current generated by the output of energy harvester 530. For example, regulator 540 can eliminate or smooth spikes (e.g., increases) in the DC current output by energy harvester 530 (e.g., such that the DC current provided as input to MCU 550 by regulator 540 remains below a first threshold). In some cases, regulator 540 can eliminate or otherwise compensate for a drop or reduction in the DC current output by energy harvester 530 (e.g., such that the DC current provided as input to MCU 550 by regulator 540 remains above a second threshold).

[0109] In some aspects, the DC current collected (e.g., generated by the energy harvester 530 and regulated up or down as needed by the regulator 530) can be used to power the MCU 550 and one or more additional components included in the energy harvesting device 500. For example, the collected DC current can additionally be used to power one or more (or all) of the impedance matching 510, demodulator 520, regulator 540, MCU 550, sensor 570, modulator 560, etc. For example, the sensor 570 and the modulator 560 can receive at least a portion of the collected DC current remaining after the MCU 550 (e.g., not consumed by the MCU 550). In some cases, the collected DC current output by the regulator 540 can be provided to the MCU 550, modulator 560, and sensor 570 in series, parallel, or a combination thereof.

[0110] In some examples, the sensor 570 can be used to obtain sensor data (e.g., sensor data associated with the environment in which the energy harvesting device 500 is located). The sensor 570 can include one or more sensors, which can be of the same or different types. In some aspects, one or more (or all) of the sensors in the sensor 570 can be configured to obtain sensor data based on control information included in the downlink signal received using the antenna 590. For example, one or more of the sensors in the sensor 570 can be configured based on downlink communication obtained by demodulating the received downlink signal using the demodulator 520. In one illustrative example, sensor data can be transmitted based on modulating the backscatter reflection (e.g., changing one or more of its amplitude and / or phase) of a continuous carrier received at the antenna 590 using the modulator 560. Based on the modulation of the backscatter reflection, the modulator 560 can encode digital symbols (e.g., such as binary symbols or more complex symbol systems) indicating uplink communication or data messages. In some examples, the modulator 560 can generate an uplink backscatter modulation signal based on directly receiving sensor data from the sensor 570. In some examples, the modulator 560 can generate an uplink backscatter modulation signal based on sensor data received from the MCU 550 (e.g., based on the MCU 550 directly receiving sensor data from the sensor 570).

[0111] Figure 6 FIG. 600 is a diagram illustrating an example of a small signal rectification operation that can be associated with performing energy harvesting according to some examples. In one illustrative example, the small signal rectification operation can be a small signal rectification operation associated with a Schottky diode barrier (e.g., a Schottky diode used to perform rectification associated with the Figure 5 energy harvester 530 shown).

[0112] In some cases, the rectification process in a diode barrier associated with performing energy harvesting (e.g., a Schottky diode or other diode) can be classified as small-signal operation and large-signal operation. For example, large-signal operation is associated with rectifying an input signal having a relatively large-amplitude signal (e.g., a downlink signal received at an energy harvesting device including a diode), the relatively large-amplitude signal causing the diode to operate in its resistive region. Small-signal operation (e.g., such as the example small-signal operation shown in Figure 6 ) can be associated with rectifying an input signal having a relatively small-amplitude signal (e.g., or a portion thereof), such that the diode does not operate in its resistive region.

[0113] For example, the small-signal operation of the rectification process in a Schottky diode barrier can be associated with three different operating regions, as shown in Figure 6 . In a first operating region 610, the diode behavior can be approximated as a quadratic relationship. For example, in the first operating region 610, the output signal of the diode can be proportional to the square of the input signal of the diode. In some cases, the first operating region 610 can also be referred to as the square-law region. In a second operating region 620, the diode behavior can become more influenced by other contributions, and the relationship between the output-input signals of the diode can transition from quadratic to linear. In some cases, the second operating region 620 can also be referred to as the transition region. In a third operating region 630, the output signal of the diode can be proportional to the input signal of the diode (e.g., a linear relationship between the input signal and the output signal of the diode) and no DC component is generated. The third operating region 630 can also be referred to as the resistive region.

[0114] Figure 7 FIG. 700 is a diagram illustrating examples of input power-harvested power conversion models that can be associated with various energy harvesting devices (e.g., such as the energy harvesting device 500 illustrated in the example above in Figure 5 ). Diagram 700 includes a first power conversion model 710, a second power conversion model 720, a third power conversion model 730, a fourth power conversion model 740, and a fifth power conversion model 750. In some aspects, different energy harvesting devices can be associated with different models between input power (e.g., the total RF energy or power of the portion of the received downlink signal provided to the energy harvester 530 shown in Figure 5 ) and harvested power (e.g., the RF energy or power harvested and output by the energy harvester 530). In some aspects, the power conversion models 710-750 can be associated with passive, semi-passive, and / or active energy harvesting devices.

[0115] The first power conversion model 710 may be associated with a first type or category of energy harvesting device. For example, an energy harvesting device having the first power conversion model 710 may provide harvested power as a continuous, linear, increasing function of the input RF power.

[0116] The second power conversion model 720 may be associated with a second type or category of energy harvesting device. For example, an energy harvesting device having the second power conversion model 720 may provide harvested power as a continuous, non-linear, increasing function of the input RF power.

[0117] The third power conversion model 730 may be associated with a third type or category of energy harvesting device. For example, assuming the input RF power is above a sensitivity threshold an energy harvesting device having the third power conversion model 730 may provide harvested power as a continuous, linear, increasing function of the input RF power. The sensitivity threshold may represent the minimum input RF power at which the energy harvesting device can perform harvesting (e.g., can harvest a non-zero amount of power). When the input RF power is below the sensitivity threshold the harvested power is zero.

[0118] The fourth power conversion model 740 may be associated with a fourth type or category of energy harvesting device. For example, assuming the input RF power is above the sensitivity threshold and below the saturation threshold an energy harvesting device having the fourth power conversion model 740 may provide harvested power as a continuous, linear, increasing function of the input RF power. As shown, the saturation threshold is greater than the sensitivity threshold When the input RF power is below the sensitivity threshold the harvested power is zero. When the input RF power is above the saturation threshold the harvested power output saturates (e.g., remains approximately constant for any input RF power above the saturation threshold).

[0119] The fifth power conversion model 750 may be associated with a fifth type or category of energy harvesting device. For example, for input RF power between the sensitivity threshold and the saturation threshold an energy harvesting device having the fifth power conversion model 750 may provide harvested power as a continuous, non-linear increasing function of the input RF power.

[0120] In some examples, the efficiency of the energy harvesting device may be determined as the percentage of the input RF power that is converted into harvested power. Figure 8AFIG. 800a is a diagram illustrating examples of energy conversion efficiency versus frequency (e.g., of the input waveform of an energy harvesting device) for different input powers. For example, a first efficiency - frequency relationship 810 is shown for an input RF power of - 10 dBm (decibel - milliwatt), a second efficiency - frequency relationship 820 is shown for an input RF power of - 20 dBm, and a third efficiency - frequency relationship 830 is shown for an input RF power of - 30 dBm.

[0121] Figure 8A The three depicted efficiency - frequency relationships 810, 820, 830 may each be associated with an optimal operating frequency or optimal operating frequency band at which the energy conversion efficiency of the corresponding energy harvesting device is maximized. For example, for an input RF power of - 30 dBm, an energy harvesting device having the third energy conversion model 830 may maximize its energy conversion efficiency when the input RF waveform is centered at a frequency of 0.86 GHz. As another example, for an input RF power of - 20 dBm, an energy harvesting device having the second energy conversion model 820 may maximize its energy conversion efficiency when the input RF waveform is centered at a frequency of 0.87 GHz. As yet another example, for an input RF power of - 10 dBm, an energy harvesting device having the first energy conversion model 810 may maximize its energy conversion efficiency when the input RF waveform is centered at a frequency of 0.89 GHz.

[0122] In some aspects, the efficiency of an energy harvesting device may vary based on the input RF power (e.g., the RF power of a downlink signal received at the antenna of the energy harvesting device) and the center frequency of the input RF waveform. For example, as Figure 8A illustrated, the maximum or peak efficiency of an energy harvesting device receiving a relatively low input RF power may be less than the maximum or peak efficiency of an energy harvesting device receiving a relatively high input RF power (e.g., at - 30 dBm, the peak efficiency of the energy conversion model 830 is less than 10%, at - 20 dBm, the peak efficiency of the energy conversion model 820 is approximately 25%, and at - 10 dBm, the peak efficiency of the energy conversion model 810 is approximately 45%). In some cases, for frequencies greater than the optimal input center frequency, the conversion efficiency decreases, and for frequencies less than the optimal input center frequency, the conversion efficiency also decreases.

[0123] In some aspects, the conversion efficiency of an energy harvesting device may be associated with one or more energy conversion characteristics (e.g., also referred to as energy harvesting characteristics). For example, one or more characteristics may indicate the relationship between the conversion efficiency of the energy harvesting device and the input frequency. In an illustrative example, the energy harvesting device may have an approximately constant conversion efficiency over a narrowband operating bandwidth (e.g., such as 20 MHz or less). In such examples, the energy harvesting device may receive RF energy from a multi-frequency sinusoidal downlink wave with a uniform power distribution.

[0124] In another illustrative example, an energy harvesting device with a broadband operating bandwidth (e.g., such as 20 MHz or greater) may have a conversion efficiency that is a non-linear function of the input frequency over the broadband. In such examples, the energy harvesting device may receive RF energy based on a Gaussian and / or raised cosine filter used in combination with (e.g., on top of) the multi-frequency sinusoidal downlink wave described above for the narrowband operating bandwidth.

[0125] In some aspects, the energy conversion efficiency of the energy harvesting device may vary continuously with the input RF power. For example, Figure 8B is a diagram 800b illustrating an example of the energy conversion efficiency (%) versus the input power P in (dBm) for three different input frequencies. As illustrated, for each of the three input frequencies, the energy conversion efficiency is zero for input powers less than approximately -13 dBm. For example, -13 dBm may represent a sensitivity threshold where the harvested power is zero for input RF powers below this sensitivity threshold.

[0126] Continuing Figure 8B the example, for input RF powers between -13 dBm and -5 dBm, the conversion efficiency may be approximately linear (e.g., the conversion efficiency may increase by an approximately constant or linear amount as the input RF power increases from -13 dBm to -5 dBm). As illustrated, as the input RF power increases from -5 dBm to -1 dBm, the conversion efficiency may decrease approximately linearly, and then as the input RF power increases from -1 dBm to 5 dBm, the conversion efficiency may increase approximately linearly again. For input RF powers above 5 dBm, the conversion efficiency again experiences an approximately linear decrease as the input RF power increases.

[0127] In some cases, existing methods of wireless energy harvesting (e.g., energy harvesting associated with RFID tags and / or RFID devices) are associated with short-range embodiments. For example, an RFID device (and / or a passive IoT device implementing RFID-based communication and energy harvesting) may support wireless energy harvesting and backscatter modulation over a distance of 10 meters or less. For a transmitter and an energy harvesting device separated by more than 10 meters, wireless energy harvesting and backscatter modulation may be difficult to achieve due to insufficient link budget issues.

[0128] There is a need for systems and techniques that can be used to provide improved wireless energy harvesting and backscatter modulation-based communication between an energy harvesting device (e.g., a passive, semi-passive, or active IoT device, etc.) and a network node or transmitter (e.g., a gNB or a base station). There is also a need for systems and techniques that can be used to provide wireless energy harvesting and backscatter modulation-based communication over a greater range than existing RFID-based methods. For example, a passive or semi-passive IoT device may include one or more sensors and may be used to perform tasks such as asset management, logistics tracking, warehousing, manufacturing, etc. In such examples, a passive (or semi-passive) IoT device may typically be located at a distance greater than 10 meters from a corresponding base station or transmitter.

[0129] As will be discussed in more depth below, the systems and techniques described herein can be used to provide optimized or improved wireless energy transfer for an energy harvesting (EH)-capable device based on an energy harvesting information report (e.g., EH information) provided from the EH-capable device to a corresponding network entity (e.g., a base station, a transmitter, etc.). For example, based on the EH information received from an EH-capable device, a network entity (e.g., also referred to as a "reader") may generate a downlink RF signal that is optimized for EH collection and / or backscatter modulation by the EH-capable device. For example, the network entity may generate an RF signal based on the EH information to improve the energy harvesting efficiency associated with the RF signal (e.g., to improve the efficiency of energy harvesting performed by the EH-capable device using the RF signal). For example, the RF signal generated by the network entity may correspond to one or more EH characteristics of the EH-capable device, where these EH characteristics are indicated by the EH information sent from the EH-capable device to the network entity.

[0130] For example, a device with EH capabilities (e.g., such as an environmental IoT device) may provide EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of the EH-capable device to a network entity. The EH-capable device may receive an RF signal based on the EH information from the network entity and may use the RF signal received from the network entity to perform energy harvesting. As will be described in more depth below, the RF signal may be optimized based on one or more EH characteristics of the EH-capable device (e.g., as indicated by the EH information provided by the EH-capable device) and / or using the one or more EH characteristics. For example, an RF signal may be generated based on the EH information to provide an input RF power to the EH-capable device that is greater than a sensitivity threshold associated with the EH-capable device and / or less than a saturation threshold associated with the EH-capable device. In another example, an RF signal may be generated based on the EH information to have a center frequency corresponding to an optimal operating frequency of the EH-capable device for performing energy harvesting. For example, the RF signal may have a center frequency corresponding to a maximum energy conversion efficiency (e.g., maximum energy harvesting efficiency) of the EH-capable device.

[0131] In some existing methods, the downlink (e.g., also referred to as the "power link") from a network device to an energy harvesting device can be the bottleneck link in the link budget between the network device and the energy harvesting device. For example, an energy harvesting circuit (e.g., such as Figure 5 the illustrated energy harvester 530) may require a relatively high input power to perform energy harvesting. In some aspects, the input power to the energy harvesting circuit may have a lower limit of -20 dBm or greater (e.g., sensitivity threshold). In some examples, the energy harvesting circuit may have a sensitivity threshold of -10 dBm. In some cases, an input power of -20 dBm or less may be associated with a conversion efficiency of less than 1% (e.g., at the energy harvester). Multipath reflections may cause the downlink energy signal to fade before being received by the energy harvesting device, which may reduce the range of the energy signal transmitted by the network device, may reduce the range of the backscatter-modulated uplink signal transmitted by the energy harvesting device, or both.

[0132] In an illustrative example, an energy harvesting information report indicating one or more energy harvesting characteristics of an energy harvesting device may be sent to a network device (e.g., a base station, gNB, reader, etc.) associated with the energy harvesting device. In some aspects, the energy harvesting information report may be used to provide an optimized or improved power link transmission from the network device to the energy harvesting device. Based on the optimized or improved wireless energy transfer to the energy harvesting device, the energy harvesting device may transmit a backscatter-modulated uplink transmission within an increased range.

[0133] For example, for a given downlink signal with a given input RF power received at an energy harvesting device, a first portion of the input RF power is provided to the energy harvester of the device (e.g., where a certain percentage is converted to useful power based on the conversion efficiency of the harvester, and the remaining percentage is wasted or dissipated as heat, etc.). The remaining second portion of the input RF power can be used for backscatter uplink transmission (e.g., the second portion of the input power is reflected and modulated for uplink communication).

[0134] By optimizing or increasing the conversion efficiency at the energy harvesting device, the energy harvesting device can obtain the same amount of useful power from a smaller portion of the given input RF power (e.g., a 25% conversion efficiency applied to 50% of the input RF power is equal to a 50% conversion efficiency applied to 25% of the input RF power). In an illustrative example, a base station or other transmitter can receive an energy harvesting information report from the energy harvesting device, where the report indicates one or more energy harvesting characteristics of the energy harvesting device. Based on the energy harvesting information report, the base station can transmit a downlink RF signal that is optimized based on the energy harvesting characteristics of the device associated with the energy harvesting information report. For example, the energy harvesting information can indicate the optimal center frequency of the energy harvester of the device, and the base station can transmit a downlink RF signal at the optimal center frequency of the energy harvester of the device. In some aspects, based on the energy harvesting device more efficiently harvesting downlink RF power, an increased amount of downlink RF power remains available for backscatter uplink transmission by the energy harvesting device.

[0135] In an illustrative example, an energy harvesting device (e.g., a passive IoT device, a semi - passive IoT device, an active IoT device, etc.) can generate and transmit one or more uplink messages that include energy harvesting information associated with the energy harvesting device. In some cases, the one or more uplink messages can be sent in a combined energy harvesting report and / or can be sent using one or more energy harvesting reports, each of which includes multiple sets or types of energy harvesting information. As previously described, a given energy harvesting device can be associated with energy harvesting characteristics based on the hardware configuration of the given energy harvesting device and / or based on the types of hardware components included in the given energy harvesting device. For example, different energy harvesting devices can achieve optimal or maximum energy conversion efficiency under different combinations of input RF power, input waveform center frequency, input waveform shape or type, etc.

[0136] In an illustrative example, the energy harvesting report may include energy harvesting information that indicates one or more characteristics of a rectifier included in a corresponding energy harvesting device (e.g., included in the energy harvesting device that sends the energy harvesting report). For example, the energy harvesting information may indicate that a Schottky diode-based rectifier is included in the corresponding energy harvesting device, that a TFT-based rectifier is included in the corresponding energy harvesting device, and so on. In some aspects, the rectifier type information may be directly included in the energy harvesting information (e.g., the energy harvesting information may include information such as "Schottky" or "TFT"). In some cases, the energy harvesting information may include a selection or indication of a particular type of rectifier selected from a set of pre-determined rectifiers known to both a network device (e.g., gNB) and the energy harvesting device.

[0137] In some aspects, the energy harvesting information may indicate the relationship between the operating frequency of the rectifier of the energy harvesting device and the RF harvesting efficiency (e.g., conversion efficiency). In an illustrative example, the energy harvesting information may indicate the optimal operating frequency of the rectifier of the energy harvesting device (e.g., such as the optimal operating frequency discussed in the example with respect to Figure 8A ). In some cases, the optimal operating frequency may be the frequency at which the rectifier of the energy harvesting device achieves the maximum conversion efficiency.

[0138] In some examples, the energy harvesting information may additionally or alternatively indicate the bandwidth and / or cut-off frequency associated with the rectifier of the energy harvesting device. In some examples, the energy harvesting information may be based on the type of rectifier included in the energy harvesting device. For example, if the energy harvesting device includes a Schottky diode-based rectifier, the energy harvesting information may indicate the cut-off frequency of the Schottky diode-based rectifier. In an example where the energy harvesting device includes a TFT-based rectifier, the energy harvesting information may indicate the transition frequency of the TFT-based rectifier (e.g., the maximum (or oscillating) frequency of the TFT-based rectifier).

[0139] In some aspects, the energy harvesting information may additionally or alternatively indicate an energy conversion efficiency function or characteristic associated with the energy harvesting device and / or the rectifier included in the energy harvesting device. For example, the energy harvesting information may indicate the relationship between the conversion efficiency of the energy harvesting device and the input frequency of the power link transmission received by the energy harvesting device (e.g., a downlink transmission from a network device or gNB). In one illustrative example, the energy harvesting device may have an approximately constant conversion efficiency over a narrowband operating bandwidth (e.g., such as 20 MHz or less). In some aspects, the energy harvesting information may indicate that the energy harvesting device is associated with a constant conversion efficiency without specifying a corresponding bandwidth. In some cases, the energy harvesting information may indicate that the energy harvesting device is associated with a constant conversion efficiency and may indicate one or more corresponding bandwidths or frequency ranges of the constant conversion efficiency. As previously mentioned, in such examples, a network device (e.g., a base station or gNB) that receives the energy harvesting information may generate a power link (e.g., downlink) transmission signal in response, the power link (e.g., downlink) transmission signal including a continuous multi-sine wave that has a uniform power distribution over the bandwidth in which the energy harvesting device has a constant conversion efficiency.

[0140] In another illustrative example, an energy harvesting device having a broadband operating bandwidth (e.g., such as 20 MHz or greater) may have a conversion efficiency that is a non-linear function of the input frequency over the broadband. In such examples, the energy harvesting information may indicate that the energy harvesting device has a non-linear conversion efficiency - input frequency relationship and / or may indicate the frequency range in which the energy harvesting device has a non-linear conversion efficiency - input frequency relationship. Based on receiving the energy harvesting information indicating the relationship between the non-linear conversion efficiency and the input frequency, a network device (e.g., a base station or gNB) may generate and transmit a power link (e.g., downlink) transmission signal in response based on using one or more Gaussian filters and / or raised cosine filters in combination with the multi-sine downlink wave described above for the narrowband operating bandwidth (e.g., on top of it).

[0141] In another illustrative example, the energy harvesting information may indicate the energy waveform and / or the type of specified filter to be used by a network device (e.g., a base station or gNB) when transmitting a signal for generating a power link (e.g., a downlink) for a given energy harvesting device. In some examples, the energy harvesting information may include a request indicating the type of waveform and / or the specified filter requested by the energy harvesting device. For example, the energy harvesting information may indicate that a matched filter should be used to generate a downlink power transmission signal having an amplitude and phase that match the channel used for transmitting the downlink power transmission signal. In some aspects, the energy harvesting information may indicate that a uniform power matched filter should be used to generate a downlink power transmission signal having a phase that matches the transmission channel and an amplitude that is constant across frequencies. In some examples, the energy harvesting information may indicate that an adaptive single sine wave (ASS) waveform should be used for the downlink power transmission signal. For example, an adaptive single sine waveform may be generated such that the amplitude and phase match a specified frequency. In some cases, the energy harvesting information may indicate that an adaptive single sine wave waveform should be utilized and may also indicate the specified frequency to which the amplitude and phase should match.

[0142] In some aspects, some (or all) of the energy harvesting information sent from an energy harvesting device to a network device (e.g., a base station or gNB) may be pre-determined information that is known to or locally stored by the energy harvesting device. For example, the energy harvesting information may be stored in a memory included on the energy harvesting device such that the energy harvesting device can send the energy harvesting information to one or more network devices as needed. In some examples, the energy harvesting device may access and send its energy harvesting information in response to a request or trigger received from a network entity, as will be described in more detail below. In some examples, the energy harvesting device may access and send its energy harvesting information in response to establishing an initial connection with a network entity and / or a wireless communication network (e.g., a cellular network, etc.), as will also be described in more detail below.

[0143] In some examples, the energy harvesting information may be pre-determined based on the hardware configuration and / or hardware components of a given energy harvesting device. For example, two energy harvesting devices may each include the same Schottky diode-based rectifier, but may be associated with different energy harvesting information. For example, the same Schottky diode-based rectifier may be tuned or configured for different operating frequencies of two energy harvesting devices (e.g., based on the applications, use cases, etc. associated with each energy harvesting device). The operating information associated with each energy harvesting device may be stored in the memory of the energy harvesting device, or otherwise configured as pre-determined information at the energy harvesting device, such that the operating information of the rectifier of the device may be included in the energy harvesting information sent from the energy harvesting device to a network device (e.g., a base station or gNB). In some examples, the energy harvesting information associated with the energy harvesting device may be stored in the memory, or otherwise configured as pre-determined information during the manufacturing of the energy harvesting device (e.g., as manufacturer-provided EH information stored in at least one memory of the device with EH capabilities), during the initial setup or configuration of the energy harvesting device, etc.

[0144] In one illustrative example, the energy harvesting information may indicate the characteristics of the input RF power received by the energy harvesting device and the harvested power generated by the energy harvesting device, or the relationship between them. For example, the energy harvesting information may indicate one or more of the relationships described above with respect to Figure 7 and / or Figure 8B . In some aspects, the energy harvesting information may indicate the category or type of the input power - harvested power conversion model associated with the energy harvesting device.

[0145] For example, the energy harvesting information may indicate whether the energy harvesting device can generate harvested power as a continuous, linear, increasing function of the input RF power (e.g., may indicate whether the energy harvesting device is associated with Figure 7 the first power conversion model 710 illustrated).

[0146] In another example, the energy harvesting information may indicate whether the energy harvesting device can generate harvested power as a continuous, non-linear, increasing function of the input RF power (e.g., may indicate whether the energy harvesting device is associated with Figure 7 the second power conversion model 720 illustrated).

[0147] In another example, assuming the input RF power is higher than the sensitivity threshold the energy harvesting information may indicate whether the energy harvesting device can generate harvested power as a continuous, linear, increasing function of the input RF power (e.g., may indicate whether the energy harvesting device is associated with Figure 7associated with the illustrated third power conversion model 730). In some aspects, the energy harvesting information may indicate that the energy harvesting device generates harvested power as a continuous, linear, increasing function of the input RF power, and may also indicate a sensitivity threshold associated with the energy harvesting device value (e.g., where for any input RF power below the sensitivity threshold the harvested power is zero).

[0148] In another example, assuming that the input RF power is both above the sensitivity threshold and below the saturation threshold the energy harvesting information may indicate whether the energy harvesting device can generate harvested power as a continuous, linear, increasing function of the input RF power (e.g., may indicate whether the energy harvesting device is associated with Figure 7 the illustrated fourth power conversion model 740). In some aspects, the energy harvesting information may also indicate the value of the sensitivity threshold associated with the energy harvesting device the value of the saturation threshold associated with the energy harvesting device or both. In some cases, these two thresholds may be indicated separately or independently. In some aspects, one of the two thresholds may be indicated as a power value (e.g., in dBm), and the remaining one of the two thresholds may be indicated as a difference value. As previously mentioned, the saturation threshold may be greater than the sensitivity threshold When the input RF power is below the sensitivity threshold the harvested power is zero. When the input RF power is above the saturation threshold the harvested power output saturates (e.g., remains approximately constant for any input RF power above the saturation threshold).

[0149] In another example, assuming that the input RF power is both above the sensitivity threshold and below the saturation threshold the energy harvesting information may indicate whether the energy harvesting device can generate harvested power as a continuous, non - linear, increasing function of the input RF power (e.g., may indicate whether the energy harvesting device is associated with Figure 7 the illustrated fifth power conversion model 750). In some aspects, the energy harvesting information may also indicate the value of the sensitivity threshold associated with the energy harvesting device the value of the saturation threshold associated with the energy harvesting device or both. In some cases, these two thresholds may be indicated separately or independently. In some aspects, one of the two thresholds may be indicated as a power value (e.g., in dBm), and the remaining one of the two thresholds may be indicated as a difference value.

[0150] In some cases, when the energy harvesting device generates harvested power as a non - linear function of the input RF power (e.g., according to the second model 720, where the harvested power is a continuous, non - linear, increasing function of the input RF power; or according to the fifth model 750, where the harvested power is a continuous, non - linear, increasing function of the input RF power with a lower sensitivity threshold and a higher saturation threshold), the energy harvesting information may also indicate one or more segmented input RF power ranges for which the harvested power generated by the energy harvesting device can be approximated as a linear function of the input RF power.

[0151] For example, Figure 9 is diagram 900, which illustrates an example of the relationship between the input RF power and the harvested power generated by the energy harvesting device. In some aspects, the energy harvesting information may indicate one or more input RF power values b0, b1, b2 …… b M-1 , b M , which are associated with a transition or change in the relationship between the input RF power and the corresponding harvested power generated by the energy harvesting device. In an illustrative example, a first piece - wise linear approximation of the harvested power (e.g., on the y - axis) may be made between the input RF power values b0 and b1 (e.g., on the x - axis). A second piece - wise linear approximation of the harvested power may be made between the input RF power values b1 and b2. A third piece - wise linear approximation of the harvested power may be made between the input RF power values b M-1 and b M . In such examples, the energy harvesting information may also include the gradient of the linear approximation within each segmented frequency range. For example, the energy harvesting information may indicate one or more segmented frequency ranges based on including the start frequency value, the end frequency value, and / or the range length value of each segmented frequency range.

[0152] In an illustrative example, the energy harvesting information may also indicate one or more relationships between the input RF power and the energy conversion efficiency of the energy harvesting device. For example, the energy harvesting information may indicate when the harvested power will increase as the input RF power increases, when the harvested power will decrease as the input RF power increases, etc. In some examples, the energy harvesting information may indicate one or more transition points in the relationship between the harvested power and the input RF power based on one or more of the input power values depicted as b Figure 9 In some examples, the energy harvesting information may indicate the optimal operating point of the input RF power at which the energy conversion efficiency of the energy harvesting device is maximized. For example, the energy harvesting information may include the optimal input RF power value corresponding to the maximum or optimal energy conversion efficiency at the energy harvesting device. M

[0153] In some examples, the energy harvesting information may additionally or alternatively indicate the supported charging mode (e.g., the type of supported charging mode for a given energy harvesting device). For example, the energy harvesting information may indicate whether the energy harvesting device can support intermittent charging, continuous charging, both intermittent and continuous charging, or neither (e.g., the supported charging mode types may include intermittent charging, continuous charging, both intermittent and continuous charging, neither intermittent nor continuous charging, etc.). For example, a passive energy harvesting device (e.g., a passive IoT device) does not include a battery or other energy storage element and may only support continuous charging. A semi-passive energy harvesting device (e.g., a semi-passive IoT device) may include a battery or other energy storage element and may support intermittent charging if the size of the energy storage element is sufficient to provide power to the semi-passive IoT device for transmission during a period when intermittent charging is not received from a network device (e.g., a gNB or a base station). In other examples, a semi-passive IoT device may only support continuous charging (e.g., if the energy storage element is relatively small, the power that may be stored may not be sufficient to provide for transmission by the semi-passive IoT device in the case of receiving intermittent charging from a gNB or a base station). In some examples, an active energy harvesting device (e.g., an active IoT device) includes a battery or other energy storage element and may support continuous charging, intermittent charging, or both. In some examples, the energy harvesting information may also indicate whether a given energy harvesting device is passive, semi-passive, or active.

[0154] In some aspects, the energy harvesting information may also indicate the maximum peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) associated with charging the energy harvesting device and / or may also indicate the minimum required PAPR associated with charging the energy harvesting device.

[0155] In some examples, for an energy harvesting device that supports intermittent charging, the energy harvesting information may also indicate one or more (or all) of the following: the AC ripple associated with the intermittent charging of the energy harvesting device, the type of rectifier associated with the charging (e.g., a half-wave rectifier, a full-wave rectifier, a bridge rectifier, etc.), and / or the maximum supported duration between two peaks of the received downlink energy waveform for performing the intermittent charging of the energy harvesting device.

[0156] In another illustrative example, the energy harvesting information may additionally or alternatively include antenna-related information associated with the energy harvesting device. For example, the energy harvesting information may include information related to Figure 5Antenna-related information associated with antenna 590 illustrated in energy harvesting architecture 500. In some aspects, the antenna-related information indicated in the energy harvesting information may include one or more of the following: antenna radiation pattern (e.g., omnidirectional, directional, pencil beam, sector beam, cosecant squared beam, etc.), antenna gain (e.g., high value, low value, absolute value, etc.), linear polarization of the antenna (e.g., vertical polarization, horizontal polarization, or slant polarization), circular polarization of the antenna (e.g., left-hand circular polarization, right-hand circular polarization, elliptical polarization, etc.), and / or frequency characteristics of the antenna (e.g., operating frequency, bandwidth, etc.).

[0157] As previously mentioned, the energy harvesting information may be stored as pre-determined information associated with the energy harvesting device. In one illustrative example, the energy harvesting device may access its locally stored and pre-determined energy harvesting information and transmit at least a portion of the energy harvesting information during an initial registration process with a wireless network. For example, when the wireless network is a cellular network, the energy harvesting device may use one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages to transmit at least a portion of its energy harvesting information.

[0158] In some aspects, one or more RRC messages may be used to convey a UE capability report to a network (e.g., a base station or gNB included in the network), where the UE capability report includes at least a portion of the energy harvesting information of the energy harvesting device. During an initial registration process with a cellular network, a UE capability report RRC message may be transmitted from a UE (e.g., the energy harvesting device). In one illustrative example, the UE capability report may be extended to include one or more items of energy harvesting information associated with the energy harvesting device. For example, an "ER-Parameters" item may be added to the UE capability report RRC message, which includes at least the energy harvesting information indicating the supported charging modes of the energy harvesting device and a rectifier device included in or used by the energy harvesting device. In some aspects, the UE capability report may be extended to include an intermittent charging indication (e.g., indicating whether the energy harvesting device supports intermittent charging) and a rectifier type (e.g., indicating whether the energy harvesting device includes a half-wave rectifier, full-wave rectifier, bridge rectifier, etc.).

[0159] In some aspects, the energy harvesting information that is not included in and / or not transmitted using the RRC message and / or UE capability report may be transmitted via one or more corresponding medium access control (MAC) control elements (CEs). For example, Figure 10FIG. 1000 is an illustration of an example of a MAC-CE that may be used to send some (or all) of the energy harvesting information associated with an energy harvesting device, as will be described in more detail below.

[0160] In one illustrative example, the energy harvesting information may be sent as an energy harvesting report that includes one or more MAC CEs. For example, the energy harvesting report may include one or more (or all) of the following: Figure 10 The illustrated first set of MAC CEs 1010, second set of MAC CEs 1020, third set of MAC CEs 1030, fourth set of MAC CEs 1040, and fifth set of MAC CEs 1050.

[0161] In some aspects, when the UE capability report and / or RRC message is used to send at least a portion of the energy harvesting information, one or more MAC CEs may be reserved for energy harvesting information elements that may be sent via RRC. For example, when intermittent charging information and rectifier type information are sent in the UE capability report or RRC message (e.g., as described above), the first set of MAC CEs 1010 may be empty.

[0162] In other examples, the UE capability report and / or RRC message may not be used to send the energy harvesting information, and all of the energy harvesting information in the energy harvesting information may be sent using MAC CEs. In such examples, the first set of MAC CEs 1010 may be generated and sent (e.g., by the energy harvesting device) to include supported charging mode information 1016 and to include rectifier type information 1014. As illustrated, at least a portion 1012 of the first set of MAC CEs 1010 may remain reserved for additional energy harvesting information elements or messages not described in the above examples.

[0163] In some aspects, in examples where the charging mode and rectifier type information is sent via the UE capability report or RRC message and in examples where the charging mode and rectifier type information is sent via the first set of MAC CEs 1010, the sets of MAC CEs 1020 to 1050 may be generated and sent by the energy harvesting device.

[0164] In some examples, the second set of MAC CEs 1020 may include one or more MAC CEs associated with energy harvesting information that indicates the optimal operating frequency and / or bandwidth characteristics of the energy harvesting device.

[0165] In some examples, the third set of MAC CEs 1030 may include one or more MAC CEs associated with energy harvesting information that indicates one or more characteristics between the input RF power received by the energy harvesting device and the harvested power generated by the energy harvesting device. For example, MAC CE 1032 may be signaled, which indicates the operating class of the energy harvesting device; MAC CE 1034 may be signaled, which indicates the saturation threshold associated with the rectifier or energy harvester of the energy harvesting device (e.g., ); MAC CE 1036 may be signaled, which indicates the sensitivity threshold associated with the rectifier or energy harvester of the energy harvesting device and / or MAC CE 1038 may be signaled, which indicates the relationship between the input RF power received at the energy harvesting device and the energy conversion efficiency associated with the energy harvesting device harvesting the input RF power.

[0166] In some examples, the fourth set of MAC CEs 1040 may include one or more MAC CEs associated with energy harvesting information that indicates one or more antenna-related characteristics of the energy harvesting device. For example, MAC CE 1042 may be signaled, which indicates the antenna radiation pattern (e.g., omnidirectional, directional, pencil beam, sector beam, cosecant squared beam, etc.). MAC CE 1044 may be signaled, which indicates the antenna polarization (e.g., vertical polarization, horizontal polarization, or slant linear polarization; left-hand circular polarization, right-hand circular polarization, or elliptical polarization; etc.). MAC CE 1046 may be signaled, which indicates the antenna gain (e.g., high value, low value, absolute value). MAC CE 1048 may be signaled, which indicates one or more frequency characteristics (e.g., operating frequency, bandwidth, etc.) of the antennas included in the energy harvesting device. In some aspects, the fourth set of MAC CEs 1040 may also include one or more reserved MAC CEs 1041, which may be signaled to indicate one or more additional items of antenna-related energy harvesting information associated with the energy harvesting device (e.g., multi-antenna information, etc.).

[0167] In some examples, the fifth set of MAC CEs 1050 may include one or more MAC CEs indicating energy harvesting information related to charging of an energy harvesting device. For example, MAC CE 1052 may be signaled, which indicates the maximum PAPR supported when charging the energy harvesting device (e.g., when charging using the charging mode type indicated by MAC CE 1016). MAC CE 1054 may be signaled, which indicates the minimum required PAPR associated with charging the energy harvesting device. MAC CE 1056 may be signaled, which indicates the maximum supported duration between two peaks of a downlink energy waveform for providing charging (e.g., intermittent charging) to the energy harvesting device.

[0168] In an illustrative example, the energy harvesting information associated with a given energy harvesting device may be transmitted as an energy harvesting report including multiple MAC CEs (e.g., each set of MAC CEs 1010 to 1050). In some aspects, the energy harvesting device may be triggered to send the energy harvesting report and / or some (or all) of the multiple MAC CEs based on a predetermined network registration process performed when the energy harvesting device initially connects to a wireless network (e.g., the same wireless network or cellular network including the network device, base station, or gNB from which the energy harvesting device receives the downlink RF power signal transmission) and registers with it. For example, the network registration process performed by the energy harvesting device may be preconfigured such that the energy harvesting device sends its energy harvesting information in a set of network resources available after the establishment of the connection between the energy harvesting device and the network. In some aspects, after the energy harvesting device has completed the initial connection and / or registration with the network, the energy harvesting device may use a first scheduled resource to send a predetermined set of energy harvesting information. For example, the energy harvesting device may use the first scheduled resource to send Figure 11 one or more (or all) of the illustrated MAC CEs after establishing the network connection. In an illustrative example, dedicated downlink control information (DCI) may be introduced and sent to one or more energy harvesting devices connected to the network. For example, the dedicated DCI may be sent by a network device, base station, gNB, etc., as described above for providing power link (e.g., downlink) RF signal transmission to the energy harvesting device. In some aspects, the energy harvesting device may generate and send an energy harvesting report (e.g., one or more (or all) of the above MAC CEs) in response to receiving the dedicated DCI from the network device.

[0169] Figure 11is a flowchart illustrating an example of process 1100 for wireless communication. Process 1100 may be performed by a first network node or by a component or system of the first network node (e.g., a chipset). The first network node may be a UE (e.g., a mobile device such as a mobile phone, a network-connected wearable device such as a watch, an extended reality device such as a virtual reality (VR) device or an augmented reality (AR) device, a vehicle or a component or system of a vehicle, or other types of UEs) or other types of network nodes. In some examples, process 1100 may be performed by a UE and / or an energy harvesting device (e.g., a device with EH capabilities). In some cases, the UE may be an energy harvesting device (e.g., a device with EH capabilities). The operations of process 1100 may be implemented as software components executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., Figure 13 's processor 1310 or other processors). Additionally, wireless communication of the device may be enabled to send and receive signals in process 1100, for example, via one or more antennas and / or one or more transceivers (e.g., Figure 2 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , etc., any one of the antennas and / or wireless transceivers).

[0170] At operation 1102, process 1100 includes: providing EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of a device with EH capabilities to a network entity. For example, a device with EH capabilities may be an energy harvesting device and / or a device capable of performing energy harvesting (EH). In some examples, the device with EH capabilities may be the same as or similar to the device with EH capabilities 500 of Figure 5 . In some cases, the device with EH capabilities may be implemented as an Internet of Things (IoT) device. For example, the device with EH capabilities may be an environmental IoT device. The device with EH capabilities may be implemented as a passive or semi-passive device with EH capabilities. In some cases, the device with EH capabilities may be implemented as an active device with EH capabilities.

[0171] In some examples, EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of a device with EH capabilities may be provided to a network entity (such as a base station). The one or more EH characteristics may include the type of rectifier included in the circuit for EH (e.g., the circuit of the device with EH capabilities). For example, the one or more EH characteristics may include the type of rectifier associated with the energy harvester 530 included in the device with EH capabilities 500 of Figure 5 .

[0172] For example, one or more EH characteristics may indicate that a Schottky diode-based rectifier is included in a device with EH capabilities, a TFT-based rectifier is included in a device with EH capabilities, and so on. In some aspects, the rectifier type EH characteristic may be directly included in the EH information (e.g., the EH information may include information such as "Schottky" or "TFT"). In some cases, the EH information may include a selection or indication of a particular type of rectifier selected from a set of predetermined rectifiers known to the device with EH capabilities and / or known to network entities associated with the device with EH capabilities.

[0173] In some examples, one or more EH characteristics including the type of rectifier included in the circuit for EH may be indicated using one or more MAC-CEs, which may be used to transmit some (or all) of the energy harvesting information associated with the device with EH capabilities. For example, one or more EH characteristics including the type of rectifier included in the circuit for EH may be indicated using Figure 10 one or more MAC CEs among the illustrated plurality of MAC CEs. In some cases, the rectifier type may be indicated using Figure 10 the depicted rectifier type information MAC CE 1014, where the rectifier type information MAC CE 1014 may be included in the first set of MAC CEs 1010 also depicted in Figure 10 the figure.

[0174] In some examples, one or more EH characteristics may include the energy harvesting efficiency of the circuit (e.g., of a device with EH capabilities) for one or more RF signal frequencies. For example, one or more EH characteristics may include Figure 5 the energy harvesting efficiency of one or more rectifiers included in the energy harvester 530 and / or may include Figure 5 the energy harvesting efficiency of the energy harvester 530 depicted in the figure. For example, one or more EH characteristics including the energy harvesting efficiency of the circuit for one or more RF signal frequencies may be indicated using Figure 10 one or more MAC CEs included in the second set of MAC CEs 1020 depicted in the figure. For example, one or more MAC CEs 1038 may indicate one or more relationships between the input RF power and the energy conversion efficiency associated with the energy harvesting performed by the device with EH capabilities.

[0175] In some cases, one or more EH characteristics may include one or more of the following: the optimal operating frequency of the circuit for EH, the operating bandwidth of the circuit for EH, or one or more operating frequencies of the circuit for EH. For example, one or more EH characteristics may indicate the relationship between the operating frequency of a rectifier included in a device with EH capabilities and the radio frequency (RF) harvesting efficiency (e.g., conversion efficiency). In one example, one or more EH characteristics may indicate the optimal operating frequency of a rectifier included in a device with EH capabilities (e.g., such as the optimal operating frequency discussed in the example regarding Figure 8A ). In some cases, the optimal operating frequency may be the frequency at which the rectifier of the energy harvesting device achieves maximum conversion efficiency. In some examples, one or more EH characteristics indicating the optimal operating frequency and / or operating bandwidth of the circuit for EH may be indicated using one or more MAC CEs included in the second set of MAC CEs Figure 10 . One or more EH characteristics indicating one or more operating frequencies of the circuit for EH may additionally or alternatively be indicated using one or more MAC CEs included in the second set of MAC CEs Figure 10 .

[0176] In some cases, the EH information may additionally or alternatively indicate an energy conversion efficiency function or characteristic associated with a device with EH capabilities and / or a rectifier included in the device with EH capabilities. For example, the EH information may correspond to one or more EH characteristics that include or otherwise indicate the relationship between the conversion efficiency of a device with EH capabilities and the input frequency of a power link transmission (e.g., a downlink transmission from a network entity) received by the device with EH capabilities. For example, a device with EH capabilities may have an approximately constant conversion efficiency over a narrowband operating bandwidth (e.g., such as 20 MHz or less). In some aspects, the EH information may indicate that a device with EH capabilities is associated with a constant conversion efficiency without specifying the corresponding bandwidth. In some cases, the EH information may indicate that a device with EH capabilities is associated with a constant conversion efficiency and may indicate one or more corresponding bandwidths or frequency ranges of the constant conversion efficiency. As previously mentioned, in such examples, a network entity (e.g., a base station or gNB) that receives the EH information may generate a power link (e.g., downlink) transmission signal in response, where the power link (e.g., downlink) transmission signal includes a continuous multi-sine wave that has a uniform power distribution over the bandwidth at which the device with EH capabilities has a constant conversion efficiency. For example, the continuous multi-sine wave form may be indicated as an EH characteristic of a device with EH capabilities, where one or more EH characteristics indicate that the continuous multi-sine wave form is the input RF signal waveform associated with the circuit for EH.

[0177] In another example, a device with EH capabilities having a wideband operating bandwidth (e.g., such as 20 MHz or greater) may have a conversion efficiency that is a non-linear function of the input frequency over the wideband. In such examples, the EH information may indicate that the device with EH capabilities has a non-linear conversion efficiency - input frequency relationship and / or may indicate the frequency range in which the device with EH capabilities has a non-linear conversion efficiency - input frequency relationship. Based on receiving EH information indicating a relationship between non-linear conversion efficiency and input frequency, a network entity (e.g., a base station or gNB) may generate and transmit a power link (e.g., downlink) transmission signal in response by using one or more Gaussian filters and / or raised cosine filters in combination with the multi-sine downlink wave (e.g., on top of it) described above for a narrowband operating bandwidth. For example, one or more Gaussian filters and / or one or more raised cosine filters may be indicated as the filter types associated with the circuitry for EH (e.g., may be indicated using one or more EH characteristics of the EH information).

[0178] In some examples, the EH information may correspond to one or more EH characteristics that may include or otherwise indicate the energy waveform and / or the type of specified filter to be used by a network entity (e.g., a base station or gNB) when generating a power link (e.g., downlink) transmission signal for a device with EH capabilities. In some examples, the EH information may include one or more EH characteristics that indicate the type of input RF signal waveform requested by the device with EH capabilities and / or the type of specified filter. For example, the EH characteristics of the EH information may indicate that a matched filter should be used to generate a downlink power transmission signal having an amplitude and phase that match the channel used for transmitting the downlink power transmission signal. In some aspects, the EH characteristics of the EH information may indicate that a uniform power matched filter should be used to generate a downlink power transmission signal having a phase that matches the transmission channel and an amplitude that is constant across frequencies. In some examples, the EH characteristics of the EH information may indicate that an adaptive single sine wave (ASS) waveform should be used for the downlink power transmission signal. For example, an adaptive single sine waveform may be generated to match the amplitude and phase to a specified frequency. In some cases, the EH characteristics of the EH information may indicate that an adaptive single sine wave waveform should be utilized and may also indicate the specified frequency to which the amplitude and phase should match.

[0179] In some examples, the EH information may correspond to an intermittent charging mode or a continuous charging mode associated with a device having EH capabilities. For example, the EH information may correspond to an intermittent or continuous charging mode associated with an energy storage (e.g., a battery) included in a device having EH capabilities, and / or may correspond to an intermittent or continuous charging mode associated with receive and transmit operations performed by the device having EH capabilities. For example, the EH information may include charging-related information associated with Figure 10 the fifth set of MAC CEs 1050 depicted, which may additionally or alternatively include a maximum PAPR MAC CE 1052, a minimum PAPR MAC CE 1054, and / or a MAC CE 1056 indicating the maximum supported duration between two peaks.

[0180] In some cases, one or more EH characteristics may include one or more antenna characteristics associated with an antenna included in a circuit for EH. For example, one or more antenna characteristics may be associated with the antenna 590 included in a device 500 having EH capabilities, Figure 5 as depicted. In some cases, one or more antenna characteristics may be indicated based on Figure 10 the fourth set of MAC CEs 1040. For example, the MAC CE 1042 may indicate an EH characteristic that includes an antenna radiation pattern (e.g., omnidirectional, directional, pencil beam, sector beam, cosecant squared beam, etc.). The MAC CE 1044 may indicate an EH characteristic that includes antenna polarization (e.g., vertical polarization, horizontal polarization, or slant linear polarization; left-hand circular polarization, right-hand circular polarization, or elliptical polarization; etc.). The MAC CE 1046 may indicate an EH characteristic that includes antenna gain (e.g., high value, low value, absolute value). The MAC CE 1048 may indicate an EH characteristic that includes one or more frequency characteristics (e.g., operating frequency, bandwidth, etc.) of an antenna included in an energy harvesting device. In some aspects, the EH characteristics may include one or more additional items of antenna-related EH information associated with a device having EH capabilities (e.g., such as multi-antenna information, etc.).

[0181] In some examples, a device having EH capabilities may provide EH information to a network entity, where the circuit of the device having EH capabilities is configured to transmit the EH information without using backscatter modulation. For example, the circuit of the device having EH capabilities may be configured to use an active transmitter included in the device having EH capabilities to transmit the EH information.

[0182] In some cases, the circuit may be configured to receive a second RF signal. To provide EH information to a network entity, the circuit may be configured to backscatter the second RF signal, where the backscattered second RF signal includes the EH information. For example, the backscattered second RF signal may be transmitted based on the modulator 560 and the antenna 590 of the device 500 with EH capabilities using Figure 5 to generate the backscattered second RF signal to include the EH information, where the backscattered second RF signal is based on the received second RF signal. In some examples, to backscatter the second RF signal, the circuit is configured to: obtain EH information at least from a memory of a device with EH capabilities, where the EH information includes pre-determined EH information; and backscatter the second RF signal to include the EH information. For example, the pre-determined EH information may be EH information provided by a manufacturer. In some cases, the second RF signal may be a radio frequency identification (RFID) query signal.

[0183] In some examples, the circuit may be configured to: receive a second RF signal; and to provide EH information to a network entity, generate one or more backscattered RF signals based on the second RF signal. The one or more backscattered RF signals may include at least one radio resource control (RRC) message indicating at least a first part of the EH information. In some examples, the second RF signal may include a user equipment (UE) capability report. The at least one RRC message may be a UE capability report that includes a charging mode type associated with a device with EH capabilities and a type of rectifier included in a circuit for EH. In some examples, the one or more backscattered RF signals include one or more medium access control (MAC) control elements (CEs) indicating a second part of the EH information.

[0184] In some cases, the circuit of a device with EH capabilities may be configured to: receive a second RF signal; and to provide EH information to a network entity, generate one or more backscattered RF signals based on the second RF signal, where the one or more backscattered RF signals include one or more MAC CEs indicating the EH information.

[0185] At operation 1104, process 1100 includes: receiving a first radio frequency (RF) signal from a network entity, where the first RF signal is based on EH information. For example, it may be used Figure 5The antenna 590 included in the exemplary device 500 with EH capabilities receives the first RF signal. In some examples, the first RF signal may be based on EH information to improve the EH efficiency associated with the first RF signal. For example, the first RF signal may be based on EH information to improve the EH efficiency associated with the EH-capable device that receives the first RF signal (e.g., where the EH-capable device performs energy harvesting based on the received first RF signal).

[0186] At operation 1106, process 1100 includes: performing energy harvesting using the first RF signal. For example, an EH-capable device may perform energy harvesting based on the first RF signal received using Figure 5 the antenna 590 and providing the received first RF signal as an input to the energy harvester 530 also depicted in the EH-capable device 500 that is also Figure 5 in. In some aspects, based on the first RF signal being generated (e.g., by a network entity) using the EH characteristics and / or other EH information of the EH-capable device, performing energy harvesting using the first RF signal may be associated with improved EH efficiency. For example, if the EH characteristics indicated to the network entity via EH information sent by the EH-capable device include the optimal operating frequency and / or optimal operating bandwidth of the EH-capable device, the first RF signal may be generated to correspond to the optimal operating frequency and / or optimal operating bandwidth of the EH-capable device. In another example, if the EH characteristics include the input RF signal waveform associated with the circuitry for EH and / or the filter type associated with the circuitry for EH, the first RF signal may be generated using the input RF signal waveform indicated by the EH-capable device in the EH information provided to the network entity, and / or the first RF signal may be generated using the filter type indicated by the EH-capable device in the EH information provided to the network entity.

[0187] Figure 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example of process 1200 for wireless communication. Process 1200 may be performed by a network entity or by a component or system of a network entity (e.g., a chipset). The network entity may be a base station, such as a gNB or other type of network entity. The operations of process 1200 may be implemented as software components executed and run on one or more processors (e.g., Figure 13 the processor 1310 or other processors). Additionally, the network entity may be enabled to transmit and receive signals in process 1200, for example, via one or more antennas and / or one or more transceivers (e.g., Figure 2 、 Figure 4 、 Figure 5 etc. Any one of the antennas and / or wireless transceivers).

[0188] At operation 1202, process 1200 includes: receiving, from a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities, EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of the device having EH capabilities. For example, the EH information may include pre-determined EH information. In some cases, the pre-determined EH information is EH information provided by a manufacturer. In some examples, at least one processor of a network entity may be configured to receive the EH information without using backscatter modulation.

[0189] In some examples, one or more EH characteristics may include the type of rectifier associated with the device having EH capabilities. In some cases, one or more EH characteristics may include the energy harvesting efficiency of the device having EH capabilities for one or more RF signal frequencies.

[0190] In some cases, one or more EH characteristics include one or more of the following: the optimal operating frequency of the device having EH capabilities for EH, the operating bandwidth of the device having EH capabilities for EH, or one or more operating frequencies of the device having EH capabilities for EH.

[0191] In some examples, one or more EH characteristics include one or more of the following: the input RF signal waveform associated with the device having EH capabilities, or the type of filter associated with the device having EH capabilities.

[0192] At operation 1204, process 1200 includes: sending a first radio frequency (RF) signal to the device having EH capabilities, where the first RF signal is based on the EH information. For example, the first RF signal may be based on the EH information to improve the EH efficiency associated with the first RF signal.

[0193] In some examples, at least one processor of a network entity may be configured to send a second RF signal to the device having EH capabilities. At least one processor of the network entity may also be configured to receive, from the device having EH capabilities, a backscattered RF signal associated with the second RF signal, where the backscattered RF signal includes EH information. In some examples, the second RF signal may be a radio frequency identification (RFID) query signal.

[0194] In some examples, the processes described herein (e.g., process 1100, process 1200, and / or other processes described herein) may be performed by a computing device or apparatus (e.g., a network node such as a UE, a base station, a part of a base station, etc.). For example, as indicated above, process 1100 may be performed by a UE and / or an energy harvesting device. In some examples, process 1100 may be performed by a device having the same as Figure 5The energy harvesting device shown or an energy harvesting device with the same or a similar architecture is used to perform the operation. In some examples, process 1200 may be performed by a network entity (such as a base station or gNB).

[0195] In some cases, a computing device or apparatus may include various components, such as one or more input devices, one or more output devices, one or more processors, one or more microprocessors, one or more microcomputers, one or more cameras, one or more sensors, and / or other components configured to perform the steps of the processes described herein. In some examples, the computing device may include a display, one or more network interfaces configured to communicate and / or receive data, any combination thereof, and / or other components. One or more network interfaces may be configured to communicate and / or receive wired and / or wireless data, including data according to 3G, 4G, 5G, and / or other cellular standards, data according to the WiFi (802.11x) standard, data according to the Bluetooth TM standard, data according to the Internet Protocol (IP) standard, and / or other types of data.

[0196] The components of the computing device may be implemented in circuitry. For example, the components may include electronic circuits or other electronic hardware, and / or may be implemented using electronic circuits or other electronic hardware, which may include one or more programmable electronic circuits (e.g., microprocessors, graphics processing units (GPUs), digital signal processors (DSPs), central processing units (CPUs), and / or other suitable electronic circuits), and / or may include computer software, firmware, or any combination thereof for performing the various operations described herein and / or may be implemented using computer software, firmware, or any combination thereof for performing the various operations described herein.

[0197] Processes 1100 and 1200 are illustrated as logic flowcharts, and the operations of the logic flowcharts represent sequences of operations that may be implemented in hardware, computer instructions, or a combination thereof. In the context of computer instructions, the operations represent computer-executable instructions stored on one or more computer-readable storage media that, when executed by one or more processors, perform the recited operations. Generally, computer-executable instructions include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform a particular function or implement a particular data type. The order of the described operations is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described operations may be combined in any order and / or in parallel to implement the process.

[0198] Additionally, process 1100, process 1200, and / or other processes described herein may be performed under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions and may be implemented as code (e.g., executable instructions, one or more computer programs, or one or more applications) executed jointly on one or more processors, by hardware, or a combination thereof. As indicated above, the code may be stored on a computer-readable or machine-readable storage medium, e.g., in the form of a computer program comprising a plurality of instructions executable by one or more processors. The computer-readable or machine-readable storage medium may be non-transitory.

[0199] Figure 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system for implementing certain aspects of the present technology. Specifically, Figure 13 illustrates an example of a computing system 1300, which can be any computing device, such as one that constitutes an internal computing system, a remote computing system, a camera, or any component thereof, where the components of the system communicate with each other using a connection 1305. The connection 1305 can be a physical connection using a bus or a direct connection into the processor 1310, such as in a chipset architecture. The connection 1305 can also be a virtual connection, a networked connection, or a logical connection.

[0200] In some aspects, the computing system 1300 is a distributed system, where the functions described in this disclosure can be distributed within one data center, multiple data centers, a peer-to-peer network, etc. In some aspects, one or more of the described system components represent many such components that each perform some or all of the functions the component is described for. In some aspects, the components can be physical or virtual devices.

[0201] The example system 1300 includes at least one processing unit (CPU or processor) 1310 and a connection 1305 that communicatively couples various system components including a system memory 1315 (such as read-only memory (ROM) 1320 and random access memory (RAM) 1325) to the processor 1310. The computing system 1300 may include a cache 1315 that is directly connected to, in close proximity to, or integrated as part of the processor 1310 for high-speed memory.

[0202] The processor 1310 may include any general-purpose processor and hardware services or software services, such as services 1332, 1334, and 1336 stored in a storage device 1330, which are configured to control the processor 1310 and a dedicated processor in which software instructions are incorporated into the actual processor design. The processor 1310 can be substantially a self-contained computing system that includes multiple cores or processors, buses, memory controllers, caches, etc. The multi-core processor can be symmetric or asymmetric.

[0203] To enable user interaction, computing system 1300 includes an input device 1345 that can represent any number of input mechanisms, such as a microphone for voice, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphical input, a keyboard, a mouse, motion input, voice, and the like. Computing system 1300 may also include an output device 1335 that can be one or more of a plurality of output mechanisms. In some cases, a multimodal system may enable a user to provide multiple types of input / output to communicate with computing system 1300.

[0204] Computing system 1300 may include a communication interface 1340 that generally may govern and manage user input and system output. The communication interface may perform or facilitate receiving and / or sending wired or wireless communications using wired and / or wireless transceivers, including using audio jack / plug, microphone jack / plug, Universal Serial Bus (USB) port / plug, Apple TM Lightning TM port / plug, Ethernet port / plug, fiber optic port / plug, proprietary wired port / plug, 3G, 4G, 5G, and / or other cellular data network wireless signaling, Bluetooth TM wireless signaling, Bluetooth TM Low Energy (BLE) wireless signaling, iBeacon TMThose communications of wireless signal transmission, radio frequency identification (RFID) wireless signal transmission, near field communication (NFC) wireless signal transmission, dedicated short range communication (DSRC) wireless signal transmission, 802.11 Wi-Fi wireless signal transmission, wireless local area network (WLAN) signal transmission, visible light communication (VLC), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), infrared (IR) communication wireless signal transmission, public switched telephone network (PSTN) signal transmission, integrated services digital network (ISDN) signal transmission, ad hoc network signal transmission, radio wave signal transmission, microwave signal transmission, infrared signal transmission, visible light signal transmission, ultraviolet light signal transmission, wireless signal transmission along the electromagnetic spectrum, or some combination thereof. The communication interface 1340 may also include one or more global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers or transceivers for determining the location of the computing system 1300 based on one or more signals received from one or more satellites associated with one or more GNSS systems. GNSS systems include, but are not limited to, the Global Positioning System (GPS) of the United States, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) of Russia, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) of China, and the Galileo GNSS of Europe. There are no restrictions on operating on any particular hardware arrangement, and thus the underlying features here can be easily replaced to obtain improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed.

[0205] The storage device 1330 can be a non-volatile and / or non-transitory and / or computer-readable memory device and can be a hard disk or other type of computer-readable medium that can store data accessible by a computer, such as a cassette tape, flash memory card, solid state memory device, digital versatile disc, cartridge, floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, magnetic stripe / magnetic strip, any other magnetic storage medium, flash memory, memristor memory, any other solid state memory, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) optical disc, rewritable compact disc (CD) optical disc, digital video disc (DVD) optical disc, Blu-ray disc (BDD) optical disc, holographic optical disc, another optical medium, secure digital (SD) card, micro secure digital (microSD) card, Memory Cards, smart card chips, EMV chips, subscriber identity module (SIM) cards, mini / micro / nano / pico SIM cards, other integrated circuit (IC) chips / cards, random access memory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash EPROM (FLASHEPROM), cache memory (e.g., level 1 (L1) cache, level 2 (L2) cache, level 3 (L3) cache, level 4 (L4) cache, level 5 (L5) cache, other (L#) cache), resistive random access memory (RRAM / ReRAM), phase change memory (PCM), spin transfer torque RAM (STT-RAM), other memory chips or cartridges and / or combinations thereof.

[0206] The storage device 1330 may include software services, servers, services, etc., and when the code defining such software is executed by the processor 1310, the code causes the system to perform functions. In some aspects, the hardware services that perform specific functions may include software components for performing the functions stored in a computer-readable medium connected to the necessary hardware components (such as the processor 1310, connection 1305, output device 1335, etc.). The term "computer-readable medium" includes, but is not limited to, portable or non-portable storage devices, optical storage devices, and various other media capable of storing, containing, or carrying instructions and / or data. The computer-readable medium may include non-transitory media in which data can be stored and does not include carrier waves and / or transient electronic signals propagated wirelessly or through a wired connection. Examples of non-transitory media may include, but are not limited to, magnetic disks or tapes, optical storage media (such as compact discs (CDs) or digital versatile discs (DVDs)), flash memory, memory or memory devices. The computer-readable medium may have code and / or machine-executable instructions stored thereon, and the code and / or machine-executable instructions may represent a process, function, subroutine, program, routine, subroutine, module, software package, class, or any combination of instructions, data structures, or program statements. By passing and / or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents, a code segment may be coupled to another code segment or hardware circuit. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or sent via any suitable means, including memory sharing, message passing, token passing, network sending, etc.

[0207] In the foregoing description, specific details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects and examples provided herein, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the present application is not limited thereto. Thus, although the exemplary aspects of the present application have been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that the various inventive concepts may be implemented and employed in other various ways, and the appended claims are not to be construed as including such variations unless limited by the prior art. The various features and aspects of the applications described above may be used singly or in combination. Additionally, the aspects may be utilized in any number of environments and applications beyond those described herein without departing from the broader scope of the specification. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. For purposes of illustration, the methods are described in a particular order. It should be appreciated that in alternative aspects, the methods may be performed in a different order than that described.

[0208] For clarity of explanation, in some instances, the present technology may be presented as including separate functional blocks that include devices, device components, steps, or routines in a method embodied in software or a combination of hardware and software. Additional components other than those shown in the figures and / or described herein may be used. For example, circuits, systems, networks, processes, and other components may be shown in block diagram form as components to avoid obscuring these aspects in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown without unnecessary detail to avoid obscuring the aspects.

[0209] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in different ways for each particular application, but such specific implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0210] The various aspects described above can be described as processes or methods that are depicted as flowcharts, flow diagrams, data flow diagrams, structure diagrams, or block diagrams. Although a flowchart depicts operations as a sequential process, many of the operations in the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations can be rearranged. A process is terminated when the operations of the process are completed, but the process can have additional steps not included in the figure. A process can correspond to a method, function, procedure, subroutine, subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, the termination of the process can correspond to the function returning to the calling function or the main function.

[0211] The processes and methods according to the examples described above can be implemented using computer-executable instructions stored or otherwise available from a computer-readable medium. Such instructions can include, for example, instructions and data that cause or otherwise configure a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or a processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. Portions of the computer resources used can be accessed via a network. The computer-executable instructions can be, for example, binary, intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, firmware, source code. Examples of computer-readable media that can be used to store instructions, the information used, and / or the information created during the methods according to the described examples include magnetic or optical disks, flash memory, USB devices with non-volatile memory, networked storage devices, etc.

[0212] In some aspects, computer-readable storage devices, media, and memories can include wires or wireless signals containing bitstreams, etc. However, when mentioned, non-transitory computer-readable storage media expressly exclude media such as power consumption, carrier signals, electromagnetic waves, and signals themselves.

[0213] Those skilled in the art should understand that information and signals can be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and methods. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout the above description can in some cases be represented, in part, depending on the specific application, in part, depending on the desired design, in part, depending on the corresponding technology, etc., by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0214] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed using hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or any combination thereof, and may take on any of a variety of form factors. When implemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the program code or code segments for performing the necessary tasks (e.g., a computer program product) may be stored in a computer-readable or machine-readable medium. The processor may execute the necessary tasks. Examples of form factors include: laptop devices, smart phones, mobile phones, tablet devices, or other small form factor personal computers, personal digital assistants, rack-mounted devices, stand-alone devices, etc. The functions described herein may also be embodied in a peripheral device or an add-in card. By further example, such functions may also be implemented on a circuit board in different chips or different processes executed on a single device.

[0215] Instructions, the medium for conveying such instructions, the computing resources for executing them, and other structures for supporting such computing resources are example components for providing the functions described in this disclosure.

[0216] The techniques described herein may also be implemented in electronic hardware, computer software, firmware, or any combination thereof. Such techniques may be implemented in any of a variety of devices, such as a general-purpose computer, a wireless communication device handset, or an integrated circuit device with multiple uses, including applications in wireless communication device handsets and other devices. Any features described as modules or components may be implemented together in an integrated logic device or separately as discrete but interoperable logic devices. If implemented in software, the techniques may be at least partially implemented by a computer-readable data storage medium including program code that includes instructions for performing one or more of the methods, algorithms, and / or operations described above when executed. The computer-readable data storage medium may form part of a computer program product, which may include packaging material. The computer-readable medium may include a memory or data storage medium, such as random access memory (RAM) (such as synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM)), read-only memory (ROM), non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, magnetic or optical data storage media, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the techniques may be at least partially implemented by a computer-readable communication medium that carries or conveys program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed, read, and / or executed by a computer, such as a propagated signal or wave.

[0217] The program code can be executed by a processor, which may include one or more processors, such as one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), general-purpose microprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other equivalent integrated or discrete logic circuits. Such a processor can be configured to perform any of the techniques described in this disclosure. A general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor; however, in an alternative, the processor can be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor can also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as 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. Thus, as used herein, the term "processor" can refer to any of the foregoing structures, any combination of the foregoing structures, or any other structure or device suitable for implementing the techniques described herein.

[0218] Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the less than ("<") and greater than (">") symbols or terms used herein can be replaced, respectively, with the less than or equal to ("≤") and greater than or equal to ("≥") symbols without departing from the scope of this description.

[0219] In cases where a component is described as "configured to" perform certain operations, such a configuration can be implemented, for example, by designing electronic circuitry or other hardware to perform the operations, by programming a programmable electronic circuit (e.g., a microprocessor or other suitable electronic circuit) to perform the operations, or any combination thereof.

[0220] The phrase "coupled to" or "communicatively coupled to" refers to any component being physically connected to another component directly or indirectly, and / or any component being in communication with another component directly or indirectly (e.g., connected to that other component via a wired or wireless connection and / or other suitable communication interface).

[0221] Claim language that recites "at least one of" a set and / or "one or more of" a set, or other language that indicates that one member of the set or multiple members of the set (in any combination) meet the claim. For example, claim language that recites "at least one of A and B" or "at least one of A or B" means A, B, or A and B. In another example, claim language that recites "at least one of A, B, and C" or "at least one of A, B, or C" means A, B, C, or A and B, or A and C, or B and C, or A and B and C, or any repetition that is information or data (e.g., A and A, B and B, C and C, A and A and B, etc.), or any other ordering, repetition, or combination of A, B, and C. The language "at least one of" a set and / or "one or more of" a set does not limit the set to the items listed in the set. For example, claim language that recites "at least one of A and B" or "at least one of A or B" may mean A, B, or A and B, and may additionally include items not listed in the set of A and B.

[0222] Exemplary aspects of the present disclosure include:

[0223] Aspect 1. A device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities for wireless communication, the device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities including: at least one memory; and circuitry coupled to the at least one memory, wherein the circuitry is configured to: provide EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of the device having EH capabilities to a network entity; receive a first radio frequency (RF) signal from the network entity, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information; and use the first RF signal to perform energy harvesting.

[0224] Aspect 2. The device having EH capabilities according to aspect 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to receive a second RF signal, and wherein, in order to provide the EH information to the network entity, the circuitry is configured to backscatter the second RF signal, wherein the backscattered second RF signal includes the EH information.

[0225] Aspect 3. The device having EH capabilities according to aspect 2, wherein, in order to backscatter the second RF signal, the circuitry is configured to: obtain the EH information from the at least one memory, wherein the EH information includes pre-determined EH information; and backscatter the second RF signal to include the EH information.

[0226] Aspect 4. The device having EH capabilities according to aspect 3, wherein the pre-determined EH information is EH information provided by a manufacturer.

[0227] Aspect 5. The device with EH capability according to any one of Aspects 2 to 5, wherein the second RF signal is a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) query signal.

[0228] Aspect 6. The device with EH capability according to any one of Aspects 1 to 5, wherein, in order to provide the EH information to the network entity, the circuit is configured to send the EH information without using backscatter modulation.

[0229] Aspect 7. The device with EH capability according to any one of Aspects 1 to 6, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information to improve the EH efficiency associated with the first RF signal.

[0230] Aspect 8. The device with EH capability according to any one of Aspects 1 to 7, wherein the circuit includes at least one processor.

[0231] Aspect 9. The device with EH capability according to any one of Aspects 1 to 8, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include the type of rectifier included in the circuit for EH.

[0232] Aspect 10. The device with EH capability according to any one of Aspects 1 to 9, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include the energy harvesting efficiency of the circuit for one or more RF signal frequencies.

[0233] Aspect 11. The device with EH capability according to Aspect 10, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include one or more of the following: the optimal operating frequency of the circuit for EH, the operating bandwidth of the circuit for EH, or one or more operating frequencies of the circuit for EH.

[0234] Aspect 12. The device with EH capability according to any one of Aspects 10 or 11, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include one or more of the following: the input RF signal waveform associated with the circuit for EH, or the type of filter associated with the circuit for EH.

[0235] Aspect 13. The device with EH capability according to any one of Aspects 1 to 12, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include the association between the input RF energy and the harvestable energy using the circuit for EH based on the input RF energy.

[0236] Aspect 14. The device with EH capability according to any one of Aspects 1 to 13, wherein the EH information corresponds to an intermittent charging mode or a continuous charging mode associated with the device with EH capability.

[0237] Aspect 15. The device with EH capabilities according to any one of Aspects 1 to 14, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include one or more antenna characteristics associated with an antenna included in the circuit for EH.

[0238] Aspect 16. The device with EH capabilities according to any one of Aspects 1 to 15, wherein the circuit is configured to receive a second RF signal, and wherein, in order to provide the EH information to the network entity, the circuit is configured to generate one or more backscattered RF signals based on the second RF signal, and wherein the one or more backscattered RF signals include at least one radio resource control (RRC) message indicating at least a first part of the EH information.

[0239] Aspect 17. The device with EH capabilities according to Aspect 16, wherein: the second RF signal includes a user equipment (UE) capability request; and the at least one RRC message is a UE capability report, and the UE capability report includes a charging mode type associated with the device with EH capabilities and a type of a rectifier included in the circuit for EH.

[0240] Aspect 18. The device with EH capabilities according to any one of Aspects 16 or 17, wherein the one or more backscattered RF signals include one or more medium access control (MAC) control elements (CEs) indicating a second part of the EH information.

[0241] Aspect 19. The device with EH capabilities according to any one of Aspects 1 to 18, wherein the circuit is configured to receive a second RF signal, and wherein, in order to provide the EH information to the network entity, the circuit is configured to generate one or more backscattered RF signals based on the second RF signal, and wherein the one or more backscattered RF signals include one or more medium access control (MAC) control elements (CEs) indicating the energy harvesting information.

[0242] Aspect 20. A network entity for wireless communication, the network entity comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being coupled to the at least one memory, the at least one processor being configured to: receive EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of a device with energy harvesting (EH) capabilities from the device with EH capabilities; and send a first radio frequency (RF) signal to the device with EH capabilities, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information.

[0243] Aspect 21. The network entity according to aspect 20, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: send a second RF signal to the EH-capable device; and receive, from the EH-capable device, a backscattered RF signal associated with the second RF signal, wherein the backscattered RF signal includes the EH information.

[0244] Aspect 22. The network entity according to any one of aspects 20 or 21, wherein the EH information includes pre-determined EH information.

[0245] Aspect 23. The network entity according to aspect 22, wherein the pre-determined EH information is EH information provided by the manufacturer.

[0246] Aspect 24. The network entity according to any one of aspects 21 to 23, wherein the second RF signal is a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) query signal.

[0247] Aspect 25. The network entity according to any one of aspects 20 to 24, wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive the EH information without using backscatter modulation.

[0248] Aspect 26. The network entity according to any one of aspects 20 to 25, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information to improve the EH efficiency associated with the first RF signal.

[0249] Aspect 27. The network entity according to any one of aspects 20 to 26, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include the type of rectifier associated with the EH-capable device.

[0250] Aspect 28. The network entity according to any one of aspects 20 to 27, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include the energy harvesting efficiency of the EH-capable device for one or more RF signal frequencies.

[0251] Aspect 29. The network entity according to any one of aspects 20 to 28, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include one or more of the following: the optimal operating frequency of the EH-capable device for EH, the operating bandwidth of the EH-capable device for EH, or one or more operating frequencies of the EH-capable device for EH.

[0252] Aspect 30. The network entity according to aspect 29, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include one or more of the following: the input RF signal waveform associated with the EH-capable device, or the type of filter associated with the EH-capable device.

[0253] Aspect 31. A method of wireless communication performed by a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities, the method comprising: providing EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of the device having EH capabilities to a network entity; receiving a first radio frequency (RF) signal from the network entity, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information; and using the first RF signal to perform energy harvesting.

[0254] Aspect 32. The method according to aspect 31, the method further comprising any one of aspects 2 to 19.

[0255] Aspect 33. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform any of the operations according to any one of aspects 1 to 19.

[0256] Aspect 34. A device comprising components for performing any of the operations according to any one of aspects 1 to 19.

[0257] Aspect 35. A method for a network entity to perform wireless communication, the method comprising: receiving EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities from the device having EH capabilities; and sending a first radio frequency (RF) signal to the device having EH capabilities, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information.

[0258] Aspect 36. The method according to aspect 33, the method further comprising any one of aspects 21 to 30.

[0259] Aspect 37. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform any of the operations according to any one of aspects 20 to 30.

[0260] Aspect 38. A device comprising components for performing any of the operations according to any one of aspects 20 to 30.

Claims

1. A device with energy harvesting (EH) capabilities for wireless communication, the device with energy harvesting (EH) capabilities comprising: At least one memory; And A circuit coupled to the at least one memory, wherein the circuit is configured to: Provide EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of the device with EH capabilities to a network entity; Receive a first radio frequency (RF) signal from the network entity, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information; And Use the first RF signal to perform energy harvesting.

2. The device with EH capability according to claim 1, wherein the circuit is configured to receive a second RF signal, and wherein, To provide the EH information to the network entity, the circuit is configured to backscatter a second RF signal, wherein the backscattered second RF signal includes the EH information.

3. The device with EH ability according to claim 2, wherein, To backscatter the second RF signal, the circuit is configured to: Obtain the EH information from the at least one memory, wherein the EH information includes pre-determined EH information; and Backscatter the second RF signal to include the EH information.

4. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 3, wherein the pre-determined EH information is EH information provided by the manufacturer.

5. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 2, wherein the second RF signal is a radio frequency identification (RFID) query signal.

6. The device with EH capability according to claim 1, wherein, To provide the EH information to the network entity, the circuit is configured to send the EH information without using backscatter modulation.

7. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 1, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information to improve the EH efficiency associated with the first RF signal.

8. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 1, wherein the circuit includes at least one processor.

9. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 1, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include the type of rectifier included in the circuit for EH.

10. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 1, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include the energy harvesting efficiency of the circuit for one or more RF signal frequencies.

11. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 10, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include one or more of the following: The optimal operating frequency of the circuit for EH, The operating bandwidth of the circuit for EH, or One or more operating frequencies of the circuit for EH.

12. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 10, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include one or more of the following: The input RF signal waveform associated with the circuit for EH, or The type of filter associated with the circuit for EH.

13. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 1, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include the association between the input RF energy and the collectible energy using the circuit for EH based on the input RF energy.

14. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 1, wherein the EH information corresponds to an intermittent charging mode or a continuous charging mode associated with the device with EH capabilities.

15. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 1, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include one or more antenna characteristics associated with an antenna included in the circuit for EH.

16. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 1, wherein the circuit is configured to receive a second RF signal, and wherein, To provide the EH information to the network entity, the circuit is configured to generate one or more backscattered RF signals based on the second RF signal, and wherein the one or more backscattered RF signals include at least one radio resource control (RRC) message indicating at least a first part of the EH information.

17. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 16, wherein: The second RF signal includes a user equipment (UE) capability request; and The at least one RRC message is a UE capability report, and the UE capability report includes a charging mode type associated with the device with EH capabilities and a type of a rectifier included in the circuit for EH.

18. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 16, wherein the one or more backscattered RF signals include one or more medium access control (MAC) control elements (CEs) indicating a second part of the EH information.

19. The device with EH capabilities according to claim 1, wherein the circuit is configured to receive a second RF signal, and wherein, To provide the EH information to the network entity, the circuit is configured to generate one or more backscattered RF signals based on the second RF signal, and wherein the one or more backscattered RF signals include one or more medium access control (MAC) control elements (CEs) indicating the energy harvesting information.

20. A network entity for wireless communication, the network entity comprising: At least one memory; And At least one processor, the at least one processor being coupled to the at least one memory and configured to: Receive EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of a device with energy harvesting (EH) capabilities from the device with EH capabilities; And Send a first radio frequency (RF) signal to the device with EH capabilities, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information.

21. The network entity according to claim 20, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Send a second RF signal to the device with EH capabilities; and Receive a backscattered RF signal associated with the second RF signal from the device with EH capabilities, wherein the backscattered RF signal includes the EH information.

22. The network entity according to claim 20, wherein the EH information includes pre-determined EH information.

23. The network entity according to claim 22, wherein the pre-determined EH information is EH information provided by a manufacturer.

24. The network entity according to claim 21, wherein the second RF signal is a radio frequency identification (RFID) query signal.

25. The network entity according to claim 20, wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive the EH information without using backscatter modulation.

26. The network entity according to claim 20, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information to improve the EH efficiency associated with the first RF signal.

27. The network entity according to claim 20, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include the type of rectifier associated with the EH-capable device.

28. The network entity according to claim 20, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include the energy harvesting efficiency of the EH-capable device for one or more RF signal frequencies.

29. The network entity according to claim 20, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include one or more of the following: The optimal operating frequency of the EH-capable device for EH, The operating bandwidth of the EH-capable device for EH, or One or more operating frequencies of the EH-capable device for EH.

30. The network entity according to claim 29, wherein the one or more EH characteristics include one or more of the following: The input RF signal waveform associated with the EH-capable device, or The type of filter associated with the EH-capable device.

31. A method of wireless communication performed by a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities, the method comprising: Providing EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of the EH-capable device to a network entity; Receiving a first radio frequency (RF) signal from the network entity, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information; And Using the first RF signal to perform energy harvesting.

32. A method for a network entity to perform wireless communication, the method comprising: Receiving EH information corresponding to one or more EH characteristics of a device having energy harvesting (EH) capabilities from the EH-capable device; And Sending a first radio frequency (RF) signal to the EH-capable device, wherein the first RF signal is based on the EH information.

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