Fast wake-up and data transfer method with progressive self-link adaptation for wireless communication, and apparatus, system, and non-transitory computer-readable storage device employing fast wake-up and data transfer method

Abstract

A method, on the side of a first communication node, for wireless communication with a second communication node, at least one of the first communication node and the second communication node being used for power consumption reduction of wireless communication-related activities, the method having the following steps: transmitting at least a first redundancy version of a data piece to the second communication node; the data piece is at least one selected from a group of: at least a first portion of a wake-up signal and a first data set, the at least first portion of the wake-up signal comprising control information for the first data set; the first redundancy version is one of a plurality of first candidate redundancy versions; each of the first candidate redundancy versions includes a different subset of a plurality of first encoded bits obtained by encoding the data piece using a first encoding method.

Description

A fast wake-up and data transmission method with progressive self-link adaptation for wireless communication, and an apparatus, system, and non-transitory computer-readable storage device employing the fast wake-up and data transmission method. Technical Field

[0001] This invention generally relates to communication systems, apparatus, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage devices, and more particularly to a fast wake-up and data transmission method with progressive self-link adaptation for wireless communication, as well as wireless communication apparatus, systems, and non-transitory computer-readable storage devices employing the fast wake-up and data transmission method. Background Technology

[0002] Wireless communication systems, such as mobile communication systems, are well-known to the public. In wireless communication systems, power consumption is usually an important concern, especially for user equipment (UE).

[0003] Energy saving will be a fundamental design requirement for 6G. The fifth-generation (5G) New Radio (NR) standard has consistently discussed UE (User Equipment) energy saving and network energy saving. Specifically, there are different power consumption modes with varying power levels, such as deep sleep, light sleep, and micro-sleep.

[0004] Energy efficiency will continue to be a key feature in 6G. However, due to the greater diversity of devices and applications and higher network density, effective energy-efficient design will be more challenging than in previous standards.

[0005] On the other hand, link adaptation has become an effective tool for transmitting communication at different rates under different channel conditions. This is crucial for devices operating in fading channels or in high-mobility environments. In 5G NR and previous standards, careful selection of modulation and coding schemes (MCS) is essential to enable communication to adapt to different channel conditions. Summary of the Invention

[0006] Embodiments of the present invention relate to communication systems, apparatus, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage devices employing fast wake-up and data transmission methods for wireless communication.

[0007] According to one aspect of the present invention, a first method is provided for wireless communication with a second communication node at a first communication node side, wherein power consumption for wireless communication-related activities of at least one of the first and second communication nodes is reduced, the first method comprising: transmitting at least a first redundant version of a data slice to the second communication node; the data slice being at least one selected from the group consisting of: at least a first portion of a wake-up signal and a first dataset, the at least first portion of the wake-up signal including control information for the first dataset; the first redundant version being one of a plurality of first candidate redundant versions; each of the first candidate redundant versions including a different subset of a plurality of first coded bits obtained by encoding the data slice using a first encoding method.

[0008] In some embodiments, at least one of the first communication node and the second communication node is in a sleep state during the transmission of the wake-up signal and the transmission of the first dataset.

[0009] In some embodiments, the first encoding method is a first rateless encoding method.

[0010] In some embodiments, the wake-up signal includes the first part and the second part; the first method further includes sending the second part of the wake-up signal to the second communication node.

[0011] In some embodiments, the second portion of the wake-up signal includes a chirp signal.

[0012] In some embodiments, the plurality of first candidate redundancy versions includes at least one pair of consecutive first candidate redundancy versions; the start bit of the first first candidate redundancy version in the pair of consecutive first candidate redundancy versions is the next bit immediately following the end bit of the second first candidate redundancy version in the pair of consecutive first candidate redundancy versions.

[0013] In some embodiments, each of the first candidate redundancy versions has a variable length determined based on available time and frequency resources.

[0014] In some embodiments, the first method further includes: receiving a negative acknowledgment; and sending a second redundant version.

[0015] In some embodiments, the first redundant version and the second redundant version are self-decoding.

[0016] In some embodiments, the second redundant version is one of the first candidate redundant versions that is different from the first redundant version.

[0017] In some embodiments, the plurality of first coded bits are obtained by encoding at least a first portion of the wake-up signal using the first encoding method.

[0018] In some embodiments, the length of the at least first portion of the wake-up signal is shorter than a first length threshold; the at least first portion of the wake-up signal is represented by either Manchester code or an on / off key.

[0019] In some embodiments, the first length threshold is 10 bits.

[0020] In some embodiments, the length of at least the first portion of the wake-up signal is longer than the first length threshold and shorter than the second length threshold; the first encoding method is an encoding method using polar codes.

[0021] In some embodiments, the second length threshold is 1000 bits.

[0022] In some embodiments, the length of at least the first portion of the wake-up signal is longer than the second length threshold; wherein the first encoding method is an encoding method using low-density parity-check codes.

[0023] In some embodiments, the first encoding method is an encoding method that uses either a low-density parity-check code or a polar code.

[0024] In some embodiments, the first encoding method is an encoding method using the low-density parity check code; the first redundancy version includes one or more system bits.

[0025] In some embodiments, the first redundancy version further includes one or more pilot symbols for obtaining updated channel measurements; the modulation and coding scheme for transmitting the second redundancy version is obtained based on the updated channel measurements.

[0026] In some embodiments, the modulation and coding scheme used to transmit the second redundant version is obtained based on soft acknowledgment / negative acknowledgment information used to transmit the first redundant version.

[0027] In some embodiments, the first method further includes: sending a third redundant version of the first dataset to the second communication node; the third redundant version is one of a plurality of second candidate redundant versions; each of the second candidate redundant versions includes a different subset of a plurality of second coded bits, the plurality of second coded bits being obtained by encoding the first dataset using a second encoding method.

[0028] In some embodiments, the second encoding method is a second rateless encoding method.

[0029] In some embodiments, sending the at least first redundancy version to the second communication node includes sending a plurality of the first candidate redundancy versions of the data slice to the second communication node.

[0030] In some embodiments, the data slice includes a plurality of coded blocks; the at least first redundancy version includes a plurality of first redundancy versions, each of the first redundancy versions corresponding to one of the plurality of coded blocks.

[0031] In some embodiments, the second redundant version is a redundant version of the combination of the coding blocks corresponding to the plurality of first redundant versions.

[0032] In some embodiments, sending the at least first redundant version to the second communication node includes: sending the first redundant version to the second communication node using a modulation order and a coding rate; the modulation order and the coding rate for sending the first redundant version are selected from a modulation and coding scheme table; the modulation and coding scheme table includes a plurality of modulation orders and a plurality of coding rates arranged in a plurality of records; each record includes one of the plurality of modulation orders and one of the plurality of coding rates.

[0033] In some embodiments, the maximum modulation order among the plurality of modulation orders is 4; for records with the same modulation order, the minimum channel coding rate of the record is higher than the minimum channel coding rate corresponding to the same modulation order in the table of connection-state modulation and coding schemes used in the connection state.

[0034] In some embodiments, the modulation and coding scheme table includes the following:

[0035] In some embodiments, a coding rate for transmitting the first redundant version is selected from a table of connection-state modulation and coding schemes used in the connection state using a modulation and coding scheme index; if the modulation order corresponding to the selected coding rate is less than an upper bound, then the modulation order for transmitting the first redundant version is the modulation order corresponding to the selected coding rate in the table of connection-state modulation and coding schemes, or if the modulation order corresponding to the selected coding rate is greater than an upper bound, then the modulation order for transmitting the first redundant version is an upper bound.

[0036] According to one aspect of the present invention, one or more circuits are provided for performing the first method described above.

[0037] According to one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus is provided comprising: one or more processors functionally connected to one or more memories for performing the first method described above.

[0038] According to one aspect of the present invention, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is provided, comprising a program, wherein, when executed by one or more processors, the program causes the one or more processors to perform the first method described above.

[0039] According to one aspect of the present invention, a second method is provided for wireless communication with a second communication node at a first communication node side, wherein power consumption for wireless communication-related activities of at least one of the first and second communication nodes is reduced, the second method comprising: receiving at least a first redundant version of a data slice from the second communication node; the data slice being at least one selected from the group consisting of: a first portion of a wake-up signal and a first dataset, the at least first portion of the wake-up signal including control information for the first dataset; the first redundant version being one of a plurality of first candidate redundant versions; each of the first candidate redundant versions including a different subset of a plurality of first coded bits obtained by encoding the data slice using a first encoding method.

[0040] In some embodiments, the first encoding method is a first rateless encoding method.

[0041] In some embodiments, the wake-up signal includes the first portion and the second portion; the second method further includes receiving the second portion of the wake-up signal from the second communication node.

[0042] In some embodiments, the second portion of the wake-up signal includes a chirp signal.

[0043] In some embodiments, the plurality of first candidate redundancy versions includes at least one pair of consecutive first candidate redundancy versions; the start bit of the first first candidate redundancy version in the pair of consecutive first candidate redundancy versions is the next bit immediately following the end bit of the second first candidate redundancy version in the pair of consecutive first candidate redundancy versions.

[0044] In some embodiments, each of the first candidate redundancy versions has a variable length determined based on available time and frequency resources.

[0045] In some embodiments, the second method further includes: sending a negative acknowledgment; and receiving a second redundant version.

[0046] In some embodiments, the first redundant version and the second redundant version are self-decoding.

[0047] In some embodiments, the second redundant version is one of the first candidate redundant versions that is different from the first redundant version.

[0048] In some embodiments, the plurality of first coded bits are obtained by encoding at least a first portion of the wake-up signal using the first encoding method.

[0049] In some embodiments, the length of the at least first portion of the wake-up signal is shorter than a first length threshold; the at least first portion of the wake-up signal is represented by either Manchester code or an on / off key.

[0050] In some embodiments, the first length threshold is 10 bits.

[0051] In some embodiments, the length of at least the first portion of the wake-up signal is longer than the first length threshold and shorter than the second length threshold; the first encoding method is an encoding method using polar codes.

[0052] In some embodiments, the second length threshold is 1000 bits.

[0053] In some embodiments, the length of at least the first portion of the wake-up signal is longer than the second length threshold; the first encoding method is an encoding method using low-density parity-check codes.

[0054] In some embodiments, the first encoding method is an encoding method that uses either a low-density parity-check code or a polar code.

[0055] In some embodiments, the first encoding method is an encoding method using the low-density parity check code; the first redundancy version includes one or more system bits.

[0056] In some embodiments, the first redundancy version further includes one or more pilot symbols for obtaining updated channel measurements; the modulation and coding scheme for transmitting the second redundancy version is obtained based on the updated channel measurements.

[0057] In some embodiments, the modulation and coding scheme used to transmit the second redundant version is obtained based on soft acknowledgment / negative acknowledgment information used to transmit the first redundant version.

[0058] In some embodiments, the second method further includes: receiving a third redundant version of the first dataset from the second communication node; the third redundant version is one of a plurality of second candidate redundant versions; each of the second candidate redundant versions includes a different subset of a plurality of second coded bits, the plurality of second coded bits being obtained by encoding the first dataset using a second encoding method.

[0059] In some embodiments, the second encoding method is a second rateless encoding method.

[0060] In some embodiments, receiving the at least first redundancy version from the second communication node includes receiving more than one first candidate redundancy version of the data slice from the second communication node.

[0061] In some embodiments, the data slice includes a plurality of coded blocks; the at least first redundancy version includes a plurality of first redundancy versions, each of the first redundancy versions corresponding to one of the plurality of coded blocks.

[0062] In some embodiments, the second redundant version is a redundant version of the combination of the coding blocks corresponding to the plurality of first redundant versions.

[0063] In some embodiments, receiving the at least first redundant version from the second communication node includes: receiving the first redundant version from the second communication node using a modulation order and a coding rate for transmitting the first redundant version; the modulation order and the coding rate for transmitting the first redundant version are selected from a modulation and coding scheme table; the modulation and coding scheme table includes a plurality of modulation orders and a plurality of coding rates arranged in a plurality of records; each record includes one of the plurality of modulation orders and one of the plurality of coding rates.

[0064] In some embodiments, the maximum modulation order among the plurality of modulation orders is 4; for records with the same modulation order, the minimum channel coding rate of the record is higher than the minimum channel coding rate corresponding to the same modulation order in the table of connection-state modulation and coding schemes used in the connection state.

[0065] In some embodiments, the modulation and coding scheme table includes the following:

[0066] In some embodiments, a coding rate for transmitting the first redundant version is selected from a table of connection-state modulation and coding schemes used in the connection state using a modulation and coding scheme index; if the modulation order corresponding to the selected coding rate is less than an upper bound, then the modulation order for transmitting the first redundant version is the modulation order corresponding to the selected coding rate in the table of connection-state modulation and coding schemes, or if the modulation order corresponding to the selected coding rate is greater than an upper bound, then the modulation order for transmitting the first redundant version is an upper bound.

[0067] According to one aspect of the present invention, one or more circuits are provided for performing the second method described above.

[0068] According to one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus is provided comprising: one or more processors functionally connected to one or more memories for performing the second method described above.

[0069] According to one aspect of the present invention, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is provided, comprising a program, wherein, when executed by one or more processors, the program causes the one or more processors to perform the second method described above.

[0070] According to one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus is provided for performing any of the above-described methods and embodiments thereof. Specifically, the apparatus includes one or more units for performing any of the above-described methods and embodiments thereof.

[0071] According to one aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program that, when executed by a device, causes the device to implement any of the methods described above and their embodiments.

[0072] According to one aspect of the present invention, a computer program product comprising one or more instructions is provided. When executed by a computer, the instructions cause the apparatus to perform any of the methods described above and their embodiments.

[0073] According to one aspect of the present invention, a computer program is provided. When executed by a computer, the computer program causes the apparatus to implement any of the methods described above and their embodiments.

[0074] According to one aspect of the present invention, a communication system is provided. The communication system includes a first communication node and / or a second communication node, the first communication node being configured to perform the method described above regarding the first communication node, and the second communication node being configured to perform the method described above regarding the second communication node.

[0075] According to one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus is provided for implementing the method in any possible implementation of the above aspect.

[0076] The fast wake-up and data transfer method with progressive self-link adaptation disclosed in this paper offers various advantages, such as: • Low power consumption ○ Reduction of lengthy wake-up processes and state transitions in traditional methods.

[0077] • Improve spectral efficiency and reduce latency. ○ If one or more initial channel parameters are accurate, the initial transmission can be fast and decoding can be successful.

[0078] ○ If one or more initial channel parameters are inaccurate, it is still possible to use the received signal to perform a soft combination with the subsequently received signal.

[0079] ○ High spectrum utilization. Attached Figure Description

[0080] To better understand the present invention, reference is made to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which: Figures 1A and 1B are simplified schematic diagrams illustrating the structure of a communication system according to some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 2A is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating the user equipment (UE), terrestrial transmit-and-receive point (T-TRP), and non-terrestrial transmit-and-receive point (NT-TRP) of the communication system shown in Figure 1A; Figure 2B is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a unit or module in the equipment of the communication system shown in Figure 1A, such as in the UE or TRP; Figure 3 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating the structure of the communication system shown in Figure 1A for integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) using multiple sensing and communication (SAC) nodes according to some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 4 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating the sensing management function (SMF) of the communication system shown in Figure 1A implemented as physically independent entities; Figure 5 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating the fifth generation (5G) new radio interface. Figure 6A is a schematic diagram illustrating the radio resource control (RRC) state of a UE in radio (NR); Figure 6B is a schematic diagram illustrating the state of a device such as a UE or TRP in some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a communication parameter map and its associated geographic map; Figure 8 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of a fast wake-up and downlink (DL) data transmission method in some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a DL data burst used in the method shown in Figure 8 in some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a DL data burst used in the method shown in Figure 8 in some other embodiments of the present invention; Figure 11 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of a fast wake-up and data transmission method for waking up a TRP and then performing uplink (UL) data transmission in some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a UL data burst used in the fast wake-up and data transmission method shown in Figure 11 in some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a UL data burst used in the fast wake-up and data transmission method shown in Figure 11 in some other embodiments of the present invention.Figure 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of the UL data burst used in the fast wake-up and data transmission method shown in Figure 11, according to some other embodiments of the present invention; Figure 15 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of a fast wake-up and data transmission method according to some embodiments of the present invention for waking up the TRP and UE, and then simultaneously performing UL and DL data transmission; Figure 16A is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of the UL and DL data burst used in the fast wake-up and data transmission method shown in Figure 15, according to some embodiments of the present invention, wherein the fast wake-up and data transmission method implements full-duplex (FD) or sub-band FD fast wake-up and data transmission; Figure 16B is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of the UL and DL data burst used in the fast wake-up and data transmission method shown in Figure 15, according to some other embodiments of the present invention; Figure 17 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of the fast wake-up and data transmission method shown in Figures 8, 11, and 15; Figure 18 illustrates a conventional redundancy version. Figure 19A is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a flexible RV (Version, RV) of some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 19B is a schematic diagram illustrating an alternative interpretation of the flexible RV shown in Figure 19A; Figure 20 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a flexible RV of some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 21 is a schematic diagram illustrating a portion of a DL data burst using multiple RVs in some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 22 is a schematic diagram illustrating dividing a large data bearer and / or control information bearer field of a data burst into multiple code blocks (CBs) and encoding each CB using a rateless coding method to obtain multiple RVs in some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 23 is a schematic diagram illustrating the transmission of a portion of a DL data burst of multiple RVs shown in Figure 22 in some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 24 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of a fast wake-up and data transmission method for selecting a coding rate and modulation order from a connection state MCS table for a first transmission of data bearer and control information bearer fields in some embodiments of the present invention; Figure 25 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of signal transmission using the fast wake-up and data transmission method shown in Figure 24. Detailed Implementation

[0081] A. System Architecture A-1. Overall System Architecture Referring to Figure 1A, a simplified schematic diagram of a communication system is provided as a non-limiting illustrative example. Communication system 100 includes a radio access network (RAN) 104. RAN 104 may be a next-generation (e.g., sixth-generation (6G) or higher) RAN, or a traditional (e.g., fifth-generation (5G), fourth-generation (4G), third-generation (3G), or second-generation (2G)) RAN. One or more user equipment (UEs) 114A to 114J (generally referred to as 114) may interconnect with each other or connect to one or more network nodes 102A in RAN 104. Core network 112 may be part of the communication system and may depend on or be independent of the radio access technology used in communication system 100. In addition, communication system 100 includes a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 106, the Internet 108, and other networks 110.

[0082] Figure 1B illustrates an exemplary communication system 100. Generally, the communication system 100 enables multiple wireless or wired components to transmit data and other content. The purpose of the communication system 100 may be to provide content such as voice, data, video, and / or text via broadcast, multicast, and / or unicast. The communication system 100 can operate by sharing resources such as carrier spectrum bandwidth among its constituent units. The communication system 100 may include terrestrial communication systems and / or non-terrestrial communication systems. The communication system 100 can provide a wide range of communication services and applications (such as earth monitoring, remote sensing, passive sensing and positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery, and / or mobility). The communication system 100 can provide high availability and robustness through the joint operation of terrestrial and non-terrestrial communication systems. For example, integrating a non-terrestrial communication system (or components thereof) into a terrestrial communication system can create a heterogeneous network that can be considered as comprising multiple layers. Those skilled in the art will understand that heterogeneous networks can achieve improved overall performance through efficient multi-link joint operation between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks, more flexible function sharing, and faster physical layer link switching.

[0083] Terrestrial and non-terrestrial communication systems can be considered subsystems of communication system 100. In the example shown, communication system 100 includes UE 114, RAN 104A (also referred to as the "terrestrial communication network"), non-terrestrial communication network 104B, core network 112, public switched telephone network (PSTN) 106, Internet 108, and other networks 110. RAN 104A includes a corresponding base station (BS) 102A, which can generally be referred to as a terrestrial transmit-and-receive point (T-TRP) 102A. Non-terrestrial communication network 104B includes an access node 102B, which can generally be referred to as a non-terrestrial transmit-and-receive point (NT-TRP) 102B. T-TRP 102A and NT-TRP 102B can generally be referred to as TRPs or access nodes 102.

[0084] Any UE 114 can alternatively or additionally be used to connect, access, or communicate with any other T-TRP 102A, NT-TRP 102B, Internet 108, core network 112, PSTN 106, other network 110, or any combination thereof. In some examples, UE 114 can perform uplink (UL) and / or downlink (DL) transmissions with T-TRP 102A via terrestrial interface 118A. In some examples, UE 114 can perform UL and / or DL ​​transmissions with NT-TRP 102B via non-terrestrial interface 118B. In some examples, UE 114 can also communicate directly with each other via one or more sidelink air interfaces 118C.

[0085] Air interfaces 118A and 118C can use similar communication technologies, such as any applicable wireless access technology. For example, communication system 100 can implement one or more channel access methods in air interfaces 118A and 118C, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA; also known as discrete Fourier transform spread OFDMA (DFT-s-OFDMA)). Air interfaces 118A and 118C can utilize other higher-dimensional signal spaces, which may include combinations of orthogonal and / or non-orthogonal dimensions.

[0086] The non-terrestrial air interface 118B enables communication between UE 114 and one or more NT-TRP 102Bs via a wireless link or a simple link. For some examples, the link is a dedicated connection for unicast transmission, a connection for broadcast transmission, or a connection between a group of UE 114 and one or more NT-TRP 102Bs for multicast transmission.

[0087] RAN 104A communicates with core network 112 to provide various services to UE 114, such as voice, data, and other services. RAN 104A and / or core network 112 can communicate directly or indirectly with one or more other RANs (not shown), which may or may not be directly served by core network 112, and may or may not use the same radio access technology as RAN 104A. Core network 112 can also serve as a gateway access between (i) RANs 104A and / or UEs 114 and between (ii) other networks (e.g., PSTN 106, Internet 108, and other networks 110). Additionally, some or all of UEs 114 may be capable of communicating with different wireless networks via different radio links using different radio technologies and / or protocols. UE 114 can communicate with service providers or switches (not shown) and Internet 108 via wired communication channels without wireless communication (or may also communicate wirelessly). PSTN 106 may include a circuit-switched telephone network for providing plain old telephone service (POTS). Internet 108 may include a computer network and / or subnet (internal network) and include protocols such as Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), and User Datagram Protocol (UDP). UE 114 may be a multimode device capable of operating according to various radio access technologies and includes multiple transceivers required to support these technologies.

[0088] A-2. Basic Component Structure Figure 2A illustrates examples of UE 114, T-TRP 102A, and NT-TRP 102B. UE 114 is used to connect people, objects, and / or machines. UE 114 can be widely used in various scenarios, such as cellular communication, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), peer-to-peer, machine-to-machine (M2M), machine-type communications (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), metaverse, digital twins, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearable devices, smart transportation, smart cities, drones, robots, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery and / or mobility, etc.

[0089] Each UE 114 represents any suitable end-user equipment for wireless operation and may include (or be referred to as): user equipment, wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), mobile station, fixed or mobile subscriber unit, cellular phone, station (STA), machine type communication (MTC) device, personal digital assistant (PDA), smartphone, laptop, computer, tablet, wireless sensor, consumer electronics device, smart book, vehicle, automobile, truck, bus, train, IoT device, wearable device (such as watch, glasses and / or head-mounted device, etc.), industrial equipment, robot, or means of the above devices or constituting the above devices (e.g., communication module, modem or chip), etc. Future generations of UE 114 may use other terms to refer to them. Each UE 114 connected to T-TRP 102A and / or NT-TRP102B can be dynamically or semi-statically turned on (i.e., established, activated, or enabled), turned off (i.e., released, deactivated, or disabled), and / or configured in response to one or more of connectivity availability and connectivity necessity.

[0090] In some implementations, the T-TRP 102A may have other names, such as base station, base transceiver station (BTS), wireless base station, network node, network equipment, network-side equipment, transmit / receive node, NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), home eNodeB, next-generation NodeB (gNB), transmission point (TP), site controller, access point (AP) or wireless router, relay station, remote radio head, ground node, ground network equipment or ground base station, base band unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), positioning node, etc. The T-TRP 102A can be a macro BS, pico BS, relay node, donor node, or a combination thereof. T-TRP 102A can refer to the aforementioned equipment or to a component within the aforementioned equipment (e.g., a communication module, modem, chip, etc.).

[0091] In some embodiments, the various parts of T-TRP 102A can be distributed. For example, some modules in T-TRP 102A may be located remotely from the device housing the antenna of T-TRP 102A and may be coupled to the device housing the antenna via a communication link (not shown) sometimes referred to as the fronthaul (e.g., a common public radio interface (CPRI)). Therefore, in some embodiments, the term "T-TRP 102A" may also refer to modules on the network side that perform processing operations such as UE 114 location determination, resource allocation (scheduling), message generation, and encoding / decoding, which are not necessarily part of the device housing the antenna of T-TRP 102A. These modules may also be coupled to other T-TRPs. In some embodiments, T-TRP 102A may actually be multiple T-TRPs operating together to serve UE 114 through cooperative multicast or similar methods.

[0092] T-TRP 102A includes one or more circuits (such as one or more electronic circuits and / or one or more optical circuits) forming various components. For example, T-TRP 102 may include at least one transmitter 144 and at least one receiver 146 coupled to one or more antennas 148. Only one antenna 148 is shown. One, some, or all of the antennas may alternatively be panels. Transmitter 144 and receiver 146 may be integrated as a transceiver. T-TRP 102A may also include at least one processor 142 for performing operations related to: preparing DL transmissions to be transmitted to UE 114, processing UL transmissions received from UE 114, preparing backhaul transmissions to be transmitted to NT-TRP 102B, and processing transmissions received from NT-TRP 102B via backhaul. Processing operations related to preparing to transmit DL transmissions or backhaul transmissions may include operations such as encoding, modulation, precoding (e.g., multiple input multiple output (MIMO) precoding), transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to transmissions received in the UL or via backhaul may include operations such as receiving beamforming, demodulating, and decoding received symbols. Processor 142 may also perform operations related to network access (e.g., initial access) and / or DL ​​synchronization, such as generating the contents of a synchronization signal block (SSB) and / or generating system information. In some embodiments, processor 142 also generates beam direction indications, such as a BAI, that can be scheduled for transmission by scheduler 154. Processor 142 performs other network-side processing operations described herein, such as determining the location of UE 114 and / or determining the deployment location of NT-TRP 102B. In some embodiments, processor 142 may generate signaling to configure one or more parameters of UE 114 and / or one or more parameters of NT-TRP 102B. Any signaling generated by processor 142 is transmitted by transmitter 144. Note that the term "signaling" as used herein may also be referred to as control signaling. Dynamic signaling can be transmitted in control channels such as the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), while static or semi-static higher-layer signaling can be included in packets that are transmitted in data channels such as the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). In this case, the signaling can be called higher-layer signaling, static signaling, or semi-static signaling.Higher-layer signaling can also refer to radio resource control (RRC) protocol signaling or media access control-control element (MAC-CE) signaling.

[0093] Scheduler 154 may be coupled to processor 142. Scheduler 154 may be included within or operate separately from T-TRP 102A, and may schedule UL, DL, and / or backhaul transports, including issuing scheduling authorizations and / or configuring schedule-free (e.g., “configured authorizations”) resources. T-TRP 102A may also include memory 150 for storing information and data. Memory 150 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by T-TRP 102A. For example, memory 150 may store software instructions or modules for implementing some or all of the functions and / or embodiments described herein, and executed by processor 142.

[0094] Although not shown, processor 142 may be part of transmitter 144 and / or receiver 146. Furthermore, although not shown, processor 142 may implement scheduler 154. Although not shown, memory 150 may be part of processor 142.

[0095] The processing components of processor 142, scheduler 154, transmitter 144, and receiver 146 can all be implemented by the same or different processors for executing instructions stored in memory (e.g., memory 150). Alternatively, some or all of the processing components of processor 142, scheduler 154, transmitter 144, and receiver 146 can be implemented using dedicated circuitry, such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), graphics processing units (GPUs), or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

[0096] Although the NT-TRP 102B is shown as an example of a drone only, it can be implemented in any suitable non-terrestrial form, such as satellites and high-altitude platforms including international mobile communication base stations and unmanned aerial vehicles. Furthermore, in some implementations, the NT-TRP 102B may have other names, such as non-terrestrial node, non-terrestrial network equipment, or non-terrestrial base station.

[0097] The NT-TRP 102B includes one or more circuits (such as one or more electronic circuits and / or one or more optical circuits) forming various components and may have a similar structure to the T-TRP 102A. For example, the NT-TRP 102B may include a transmitter 144 and a receiver 146 coupled to one or more antennas 148. Only one antenna 148 is shown in the figure to avoid congestion. One, some, or all of the antennas may alternatively be panels. The transmitter 144 and receiver 146 may be integrated as a transceiver. The NT-TRP 102B also includes at least one processor 142 for performing operations related to: preparing DL transmissions to be transmitted to UE 114, processing UL transmissions received from UE 114, preparing backhaul transmissions to be transmitted to the T-TRP 102A, and processing transmissions received from the T-TRP 102A via backhaul. Processing operations related to preparing to transmit DL transmissions or backhaul transmissions may include operations such as encoding, modulation, precoding (e.g., MIMO precoding), transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to transmissions received in the UL or via backhaul may include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulation, and decoding of received symbols. In some embodiments, processor 142 performs transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming based on beam direction information (e.g., BAI) received from T-TRP 102A. In some embodiments, processor 142 may generate signaling to configure one or more parameters of UE 114. In some embodiments, NT-TRP 102B implements physical layer processing but does not implement higher-level functions such as medium access control (MAC) or radio link control (RLC) layer functions. Since this is only an example, in general, NT-TRP 102B may implement higher-level functions in addition to physical layer processing.

[0098] The NT-TRP 102B also includes a memory 150 for storing information and data. Although not shown, a processor 142 may be part of a transmitter 144 and / or a receiver 146. Although not shown, the memory 150 may be part of a processor 142.

[0099] The processing components of processor 142, transmitter 144, and receiver 146 can all be implemented by the same or different processors for executing instructions stored in memory (e.g., memory 150). Alternatively, some or all of the processing components of processor 142, transmitter 144, and receiver 146 can be implemented using dedicated circuitry, such as a programmable FPGA, hardware accelerator (e.g., a GPU or artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator), or ASIC. In some embodiments, NT-TRP 102B can actually be multiple NT-TRPs operating together to serve UE 114 via cooperative multicast or similar methods.

[0100] T-TRP 102A, NT-TRP 102B and / or UE 114 may include other components, but these components have been omitted for clarity.

[0101] UE 114 includes one or more circuits (such as one or more electronic circuits and / or one or more optical circuits) forming various components. More specifically, UE 114 includes a transmitter 200 and a receiver 202 coupled to one or more antennas 204. Only one antenna 204 is shown in the figure to avoid congestion. One, some, or all of the antennas may alternatively be panels. The transmitter 200 and receiver 202 may be integrated as a transceiver, etc. The transceiver is used to modulate data or other content for transmission by at least one antenna 204 or via a network interface controller (NIC). The transceiver is also used to demodulate data or other content received by at least one antenna 204. Each transceiver includes any suitable structure to generate signals for wireless or wired transmission and / or process signals received wirelessly or wiredly. Each antenna 204 includes any suitable structure to transmit and / or receive wireless or wired signals.

[0102] UE 114 includes at least one memory 208. Memory 208 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by UE 114. For example, memory 208 may store software instructions or modules for implementing some or all of the functions and / or embodiments described herein, and executed by at least one processing unit (e.g., at least one processor 210). Each memory 208 includes one or more of any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile storage and retrieval devices. Any suitable type of memory can be used, such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard disk, optical disk, subscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory stick, secure digital (SD) memory card, and processor cache, etc.

[0103] UE 114 may also include one or more input / output devices (not shown) or interfaces (e.g., a wired interface connected to the Internet 108 in Figure 1A). The input / output devices support interaction with users or other devices in the network. Each input / output device includes any suitable structure for providing or receiving information from the user and / or for network interface communication. Suitable structures include, for example, speakers, microphones, keypads, keyboards, displays, touchscreens, and / or network interfaces.

[0104] UE 114 also includes at least one processor 210 for performing operations including: operations related to preparing UL transmissions to be transmitted to T-TRP 102A and / or NT-TRP 102B; operations related to processing DL transmissions received from T-TRP 102A and / or NT-TRP 102B; and operations related to processing sidelink transmissions to and from another UE 114. Processing operations related to preparing UL transmissions may include operations such as encoding, modulation, transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing DL transmissions may include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulation, and decoding of received symbols. According to this embodiment, DL transmissions may be received by receiver 202 (possibly using receive beamforming), and processor 210 may extract signaling from the DL transmissions (e.g., by detecting and / or decoding signaling). Examples of signaling may be reference signals transmitted by T-TRP 102A and / or NT-TRP 102B. In some embodiments, processor 142 performs transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming based on beam direction indications (e.g., beam angle information (BAI)) received from T-TRP 102. In some embodiments, processor 210 may perform operations related to network access (e.g., initial access) and / or DL ​​synchronization, such as operations related to detecting synchronization sequences and / or decoding and obtaining system information. In some embodiments, processor 210 may perform channel estimation using reference signals received from T-TRP 102A and / or NT-TRP 102B.

[0105] Although not shown, processor 210 may form part of transmitter 200 and / or receiver 202. Although not shown, memory 208 may form part of processor 210.

[0106] The processing components of processor 210, transmitter 200, and receiver 202 can all be implemented by the same or different processors, which execute instructions stored in memory (e.g., memory 208). Alternatively, some or all of the processing components of processor 210, transmitter 200, and receiver 202 can be implemented using dedicated circuitry, such as a programmable FPGA, ASIC, or hardware accelerator like a GPU or AI accelerator.

[0107] A-3. Basic Module Structure According to Figure 2B, one or more steps in the embodiments provided herein can be performed by corresponding units or modules. Figure 2B illustrates units or modules in a device, such as UE 114 or TRP 102. For example, a signal can be transmitted by a transmitting unit or transmitting module. A signal can be received by a receiving unit or receiving module. A signal can be processed by a processing unit or processing module. Other steps can be performed by an AI module or machine learning (ML) module. The corresponding units or modules can be implemented using hardware, one or more components or devices executing software, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more of these units or modules can be integrated circuits. Examples of integrated circuits include programmable FPGAs, GPUs, or ASICs. For example, one or more of these units or modules can be logical functions, such as logical functions executed by circuits, by a portion of an integrated circuit, or by software instructions executed by a processor. It should be understood that if these modules are implemented, for example, using software executed by a processor, the processor can retrieve these modules, in whole or in part, as needed, individually or collectively for processing, in one or more instances, and these modules themselves can include instructions for further deployment and instantiation.

[0108] Additional details regarding UE 114 and TRP 102 are known to those skilled in the art. Therefore, these details are omitted here.

[0109] A-4. Intelligent Air Interface An air interface typically includes numerous components and associated parameters that collectively specify how transmissions are sent and / or received between two or more communication devices via a wireless communication link. For example, an air interface may include one or more waveforms, one or more frame structures, one or more multiple access schemes, one or more protocols, one or more coding schemes, and / or one or more modulation schemes that define the transmission of information (e.g., data) via a wireless communication link. The wireless communication link may support a link between the RAN and the UE (e.g., a "Uu" link), and / or the wireless communication link may support a link between devices, such as a link between two user equipment units (e.g., a "sidelink"), and / or the wireless communication link may support a link between a non-terrestrial (NT) communication network and the UE. Below are some examples of the aforementioned components: ○ Waveform components can specify the shape and form of the signal being transmitted. Waveform options may include orthogonal multiple access waveforms and non-orthogonal multiple access waveforms. Non-limiting examples of such waveform options include orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), filtered OFDM (f-OFDM), time-domain windowed OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), universal filtered multicarrier (UFMC), generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM), wavelet packet modulation (WPM), faster than Nyquist (FTN) waveforms, frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW), chirped waveforms, and low peak to average power ratio waveforms (low PAPR WF).

[0110] The frame structure component can specify the configuration of a single frame or a group of frames. It can indicate one or more of the following parameters: time, frequency, pilot signature, code, or other parameters for a frame or a group of frames. Further details on frame structure are discussed below.

[0111] The multiple access scheme component can specify multiple access technology options, including technologies that limit how communication devices share common physical channels, such as: TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, SC-FDMA, low-density signature multicarrier code division multiple access (LDS-MC-CDMA), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), pattern division multiple access (PDMA), lattice partition multiple access (LPMA), resource spread multiple access (RSMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA). Furthermore, multiple access technology options can include: scheduled access versus unscheduled access, also known as configured licensed access or unlicensed access; non-orthogonal multiple access versus orthogonal multiple access, for example, through dedicated channel resources (e.g., not shared between multiple communication devices); contention-based shared channel resources versus non-contention-based shared channel resources; and radio-based cognitive access.

[0112] ○ The Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) protocol component can specify how transmission and / or retransmission are performed. Non-limiting examples of transmission and / or retransmission mechanism options include mechanisms for specifying the size of the scheduled data pipeline, signaling mechanisms for transmission and / or retransmission, and retransmission mechanisms.

[0113] The coding and modulation components specify how information in transmission is encoded / decoded and modulated / demodulated for transmission / reception. Encoding can refer to methods of error detection and forward error correction. Non-limiting examples of coding options include Reed-Muller (RM) codes, turbine lattice codes, turbine product codes, fountain codes, low-density parity-check codes, and polar codes. Modulation can simply refer to a star diagram (e.g., including modulation techniques and orders), or more specifically to various types of advanced modulation methods, such as layered modulation and low PAPR modulation.

[0114] In some embodiments, the air interface can be a "one-size-fits-all" concept. For example, once the air interface is defined, the components within it cannot be changed or adjusted. In some implementations, only a limited set of parameters or modes of the air interface can be configured, such as cyclic prefix (CP) length or MIMO mode. In some embodiments, the air interface design can provide a unified or flexible framework to support licensed and unlicensed access in frequency bands below 6 GHz and above 6 GHz (e.g., mmWave). For example, the flexibility of a configurable air interface provided by scalable system parameters (numerology) and symbol duration can allow for optimization of transmission parameters for different spectrum bands and different services / devices. Furthermore, a unified air interface may be self-contained in the frequency domain; a self-contained frequency domain design can support more flexible RAN slicing through channel resource sharing between different services in terms of frequency and time.

[0115] A-5. Frame Structure. Frame structure is a feature of the physical layer of wireless communication, defining the time-domain signal transmission structure to achieve timing reference and timing alignment of basic time-domain transmission units, etc. Wireless communication between communication devices can take place on time-frequency resources controlled by the frame structure. Alternatively, frame structure may sometimes be referred to as wireless frame structure.

[0116] Depending on the frame structure and / or the frame configuration within the frame structure, frequency division duplex (FDD) communication and / or time division duplex (TDD) communication and / or full duplex (FD) communication (including sub-band full duplex) communication are possible. FDD communication refers to transmissions in different directions (e.g., UL and DL) occurring in different frequency bands. TDD communication refers to transmissions in different directions (e.g., UL and DL) occurring within different durations. FD communication refers to transmission and reception occurring on the same time-frequency resources; that is, a device can simultaneously transmit and receive on the same frequency resources.

[0117] An example of a frame structure is the frame structure in Long-Term Evolution (LTE), which has the following specifications: each frame is 10 milliseconds (ms) long; each frame has 10 subframes, each of which is one (1) ms long; each subframe includes two time slots, each of which is 0.5 ms long; each time slot is used to transmit seven (7) OFDM symbols (assuming normal CP); each OFDM symbol has a symbol duration and a specific bandwidth (or partial bandwidth or bandwidth partition) associated with the number of subcarriers and the subcarrier spacing; the frame structure is based on OFDM waveform parameters such as subcarrier spacing and CP length (where CP has a fixed length or finite length option); the handover gap between UL and DL under TDD must be an integer time of the OFDM symbol duration.

[0118] Another example of a frame structure is the frame structure in the fifth-generation (5G) new radio (NR), which has the following specifications: supports multiple subcarrier intervals, each corresponding to a specific system parameter; the frame structure depends on the system parameter, but in any case, the frame length is set to 10 ms, consisting of 10 subframes, each of which is one (1) ms; the time slots are defined to include 14 OFDM symbols; and the time slot length depends on the system parameter. For example, the NR frame structure for a normal CP 15 kHz subcarrier interval (“System Parameter 1”) and the NR frame structure for a normal CP 30 kHz subcarrier interval (“System Parameter 2”) are different. For the 15 kHz subcarrier interval, the time slot length is one (1) ms; for the 30 kHz subcarrier interval, the time slot length is 0.5 ms. The NR frame structure may be more flexible than the LTE frame structure.

[0119] Another example of a frame structure is an exemplary flexible frame structure, for example, for 6G networks or next-generation networks. In a flexible frame structure, a symbol block can be defined as a minimum duration that can be scheduled within the flexible frame structure. A symbol block can be a transmission unit with optional redundant portions (e.g., CP portions) and information portions (e.g., data portions). An OFDM symbol is an example of a symbol block. Alternatively, a symbol block can be referred to as a symbol. Embodiments of flexible frame structures include various configurable parameters, such as frame length, subframe length, and / or symbol block length. In some embodiments of flexible frame structures, a non-exhaustive list of possible configurable parameters includes: (1) Frame: The frame length is not limited to 10 ms; the frame length can be configurable and vary over time. In some embodiments, each frame includes one or more DL synchronization channels and / or one or more DL broadcast channels, each of which can be transmitted in different directions using different beamforming. The frame length can have more than one possible value and is configured based on the application scenario. For example, autonomous vehicles may require relatively fast initial access, in which case the frame length corresponding to the autonomous vehicle application can be set to 5 ms. For example, home smart meters may not require rapid initial access; in this case, the frame length for the smart meter application can be set to 20 ms.

[0120] (2) Subframe duration: Subframes may or may not be defined within a flexible frame structure, depending on the implementation. For example, a frame may be defined to include time slots but not subframes. In a frame with defined subframes, for example, for temporal alignment, the duration of the subframes may be configurable. For example, subframes may be configured to have lengths of 0.1 ms, 0.2 ms, 0.5 ms, one (1) ms, two (2) ms, or five (5) ms. In some embodiments, if subframes are not needed in a particular scenario, the subframe length may be defined to be the same as the frame length, or it may not be defined.

[0121] (3) Time Slot Configuration: Time slots may or may not be defined within a flexible frame structure, depending on the implementation. In frames with defined time slots, the limitations of the time slots (e.g., in terms of duration and / or number of symbol blocks) can be configurable. In one embodiment, the time slot configuration is common to all UEs or a group of UEs. In this case, the time slot configuration information can be sent to the UE in a broadcast channel or one or more common control channels. In other embodiments, the time slot configuration can be UE-specific, in which case the time slot configuration information can be sent in a UE-specific control channel. In some embodiments, time slot configuration signaling can be sent together with frame configuration signaling and / or subframe configuration signaling. In other embodiments, time slot configuration can be sent independently of frame configuration signaling and / or subframe configuration signaling. Generally, time slot configuration can be system-common, base station-common, UE group-common, or UE-specific.

[0122] (4) Subcarrier spacing (SCS): SCS is a parameter in the scalable system parameters, allowing the SCS to range from 15 kHz to 480 kHz. The SCS can vary with the spectral frequency and / or maximum UE velocity to minimize the effects of Doppler shift and phase noise. In some examples, separate transmit and receive frames may exist, and the SCS of symbols in the receive frame structure can be configured independently of the SCS of symbols in the transmit frame structure. The SCS in the receive frame may differ from the SCS in the transmit frame. In some examples, the SCS of each transmit frame may be half the SCS of each receive frame. If there is a difference in the SCS between the receive and transmit frames, this difference does not necessarily need to be scaled by a factor of 2, for example, when using the inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) instead of the fast Fourier transform (FFT) to achieve more flexible symbol durations. Other examples of frame structures can be used with different SCS.

[0123] (5) Flexible transmission duration of the basic transmission unit: The basic transmission unit can be a symbol block (also called a symbol), which typically includes a redundant portion (called CP) and an information (e.g., data) portion, but in some embodiments, the CP can be omitted from the symbol block. The CP length can be flexible and configurable. The CP length can be fixed within a frame or flexible within a frame. The CP length may vary between one frame and another, or between one set of frames and another set of frames, or between one subframe and another subframe, or between one time slot and another time slot, or dynamically between one schedule and another schedule. The information (e.g., data) portion can be flexible and configurable. Another possible parameter related to the symbol block that can be defined is the ratio of the CP duration to the information (e.g., data) duration. In some embodiments, the symbol block length can be adjusted based on channel conditions (e.g., multipath delay, Doppler) and / or delay requirements and / or available duration. As another example, the symbol block length can be adjusted to suit the available duration in a frame.

[0124] (6) Flexible handover gap: A frame may include a DL portion for DL ​​transmission of the base station and a UL portion for UL transmission of the UE. A gap may exist between each UL portion and DL portion, which is called a handover gap. The handover gap length (duration) may be configurable. The handover gap duration may be fixed within a frame or flexible within a frame, and the handover gap duration may vary between one frame and another, or between one set of frames and another set of frames, or between one subframe and another subframe, or between one time slot and another time slot, or dynamically between one schedule and another schedule.

[0125] A-6. Cells, carriers, partial bandwidths, and occupied bandwidth base stations, among other equipment, can provide cell coverage. Wireless communication with the equipment can be conducted over one or more carrier frequencies. A carrier frequency may be referred to as a carrier. Alternatively, a carrier may be referred to as a component carrier (CC). Characteristics of a carrier may include its bandwidth and reference frequency, such as the center frequency, minimum frequency, or maximum frequency of the carrier. A carrier may be on licensed spectrum or on unlicensed spectrum. Wireless communication with the equipment may additionally or alternatively occur on one or more partial bandwidths (BWPs) or specific subbands comprising one or more Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) or other basic units of the frequency domain. For example, a carrier may have one or more BWPs. More generally, wireless communication with the equipment can occur over a spectrum. A spectrum may include one or more carriers and / or one or more BWPs.

[0126] A cell may include one or more DL resources, and optionally one or more UL resources, or a cell may include one or more UL resources, and optionally one or more DL resources, or a cell may include both one or more DL resources and one or more UL resources. For example, a cell may include only one DL carrier / BWP, or only one UL carrier / BWP, or multiple DL carriers / BWP, or multiple UL carriers / BWP, or one DL carrier / BWP and one UL carrier / BWP, or one DL carrier / BWP and multiple UL carriers / BWP, or multiple DL carriers / BWP and one UL carrier / BWP, or multiple DL carriers / BWP and multiple UL carriers / BWP. In some embodiments, alternatively or additionally, a cell may include one or more sidelink resources, which include sidelink transmit and receive resources.

[0127] A BWP is a set of continuous or discontinuous frequency subcarriers on a carrier, or a set of continuous or discontinuous frequency subcarriers on multiple carriers, or a set of discontinuous or continuous frequency subcarriers, which may have one or more carriers.

[0128] In some embodiments, a carrier may have one or more BWPs. For example, a carrier may have a bandwidth of 20 MHz and consist of one BWP and / or have a bandwidth of 80 MHz and consist of two adjacent consecutive BWPs, etc. In other embodiments, a BWP may have one or more carriers. For example, a BWP may have a bandwidth of 40 MHz and consist of two adjacent consecutive carriers, wherein each carrier has a bandwidth of 20 MHz. In some embodiments, a BWP may include discontinuous spectrum resources consisting of multiple discontinuous carriers, wherein the first carrier of the multiple discontinuous carriers may be in the mmWave band, the second carrier may be in a low-frequency band (such as the 2 GHz band), the third carrier (if present) may be in the terahertz (THz) band, and the fourth carrier (if present) may be in the visible light band. Resources within a carrier belonging to a BWP may be contiguous or discontinuous. In some embodiments, a BWP has discontinuous spectrum resources on a single carrier.

[0129] Wireless communication can occur over occupied bandwidth. Occupied bandwidth can be defined as the width of a frequency band such that the average transmitted power below the lower frequency limit and above the upper frequency limit is equal to a specified percentage β / 2 of the total average transmitted power, for example, β / 2 is 0.5%.

[0130] The carrier, BWP, or occupied bandwidth can be dynamically indicated by network devices (e.g., base stations) in physical layer control signaling such as downlink control information (DCI), or semi-statically indicated in RRC signaling or MAC layer, or predefined according to the application scenario; or determined by the UE as a function of other parameters known to the UE, or fixed through standards, etc.

[0131] A-7. Timing Reference Points In the current network, frame timing and synchronization are established based on synchronization signals, such as the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and the secondary synchronization signal (SSS). It is worth noting that known frame timing and synchronization strategies involve adding timestamps to frame boundaries, for example, (xx0:yy0:zz), where xx0, yy0, and zz in the timestamps can represent hours, minutes, seconds, etc., respectively.

[0132] It is anticipated that different applications and use cases in future networks may involve using frames, time slots, and symbols with different periods to meet different requirements, functions, and quality of service (QoS) types. Therefore, using frames with different periods to meet these applications may pose challenges to frame timing alignment between different frame structures. For example, consider TDD configurations between adjacent carrier frequency bands or sub-bands (or portions of bandwidth) of a channel or carrier bandwidth that are frame timing aligned.

[0133] In some embodiments, frame timing alignment and / or realignment may include timing alignment and / or realignment based on symbols, time slots, or subframes within a frame, or frame boundaries (therefore, frame timing alignment / realignment has a broader meaning here and is not limited to timing alignment / realignment based solely on frame boundaries). Furthermore, relative timing with respect to a frame or frame boundary can be interpreted in a broader sense, meaning that a frame boundary refers to the timing point of a frame element within a frame, such as a symbol, time slot, or subframe within a frame, or the start or end of a frame. In the following text, the phrases “(frame) timing alignment or timing realignment” and “relative timing with respect to frame boundaries” are used in the more general sense described above.

[0134] In some embodiments, a network device such as base station 102 (hereinafter referred to as TRP 102) may send signaling carrying a timing realignment indication message. The timing realignment indication message includes information that enables the receiving UE 114 to determine a timing reference point. Based on the timing reference point, the frame transmission of UE 114 can achieve alignment. In some embodiments, the aligned frames are located in different subbands of a carrier frequency band. In some other embodiments, aligned frames are found in adjacent carrier frequency bands.

[0135] On the TRP 102 side, one or more types of signaling can be used to indicate timing realignment (or / and timing correction) messages. Two exemplary types of signaling are provided here to illustrate these schemes. The first exemplary type of signaling may be referred to as cell-specific signaling, examples of which include group common signaling and broadcast signaling. The second exemplary type of signaling may be referred to as UE-specific signaling. One or a combination of these two types of signaling can be used to send timing realignment indication messages. Timing realignment indication messages can notify one or more UEs 114 of the configuration of timing reference points. In the following text, the reference to the term "UE" can be understood as referring to a broad category of general wireless communication devices (i.e., network receiving nodes, such as wireless devices, sensors, gateways, routers, etc.) served by TRP 102 within the cell. A timing reference point is a timing reference moment that can be represented by relative timing based on timing points in a frame (e.g., symbols, slots, or subframes in a frame, or the start or end boundary of a frame). For simplicity, the term "frame boundary" is used below to refer to the boundary of possible symbols, slots, or subframes within a frame or the frame itself. Therefore, the timing reference point can be represented using relative timing based on the current frame boundary (e.g., the start of the current frame). Alternatively, the timing reference point can be represented using absolute timing based on some standard timing reference, such as the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) (e.g., Global Positioning System (GPS)) and / or Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). In the absolute timing version of the timing reference point, the timing reference point can be explicitly stated.

[0136] The timing reference point can support timing adjustments on the UE 114 side. Timing adjustments can be implemented to improve the clock accuracy on the UE 114 side. Alternatively or additionally, the timing reference point can support adjustments in future transmissions originating from UE 114. These adjustments can be illustrated as realigning transmitted frames at the timing reference point. It should be noted that realigning transmitted frames at the timing reference point can include timing realigning for one or more UE 114s and one or more BS 102s (in a cell or a group of cells) at the timing reference point based on symbols, time slots, or subframes within the frame, or the start boundary of the frame.

[0137] On the UE 114 side, UE 114 can monitor timing realignment indication messages. In response to receiving a timing realignment indication message, UE 114 can obtain a timing reference point and perform steps to achieve frame realignment at the timing reference point. For example, these steps may include starting the transmission of subsequent frames at the timing reference point.

[0138] Alternatively, before monitoring the timing realignment indication message, UE 114 can send a timing realignment request, i.e., a timing realignment request message, to TRP 102, causing TRP 102 to send a timing realignment indication message. In response to receiving the timing realignment request message, TRP 102 can send a timing realignment indication message to UE 114 including information about the timing reference point, thereby enabling UE 114 to perform timing realignment (or / and timing adjustment including clock timing error correction), wherein timing realignment is performed for UE 114 and one or more TRPs 102 in a cell (or a group of cells) based on the symbols, time slots, or subframes or the start boundary of the frame (e.g.) within the frame.

[0139] In some embodiments, the TRP 102 associated with a given cell may transmit a timing realignment indication message. The timing realignment indication message may include sufficient information to enable the message's receiver to obtain a timing reference point. The timing reference point may be used by one or more UEs 114 in the given cell when performing timing realignment (or / and timing adjustments including clock timing error correction).

[0140] In some embodiments, the timing reference point can be represented in the timing realignment indication message relative to a frame boundary (wherein the frame boundary can be a symbol, time slot, or subframe within a frame, or the boundary of a frame). The timing realignment indication message may include a relative timing indication Δt. The relative timing indication Δt represents the timing reference point as a specific duration, Δt, following the frame boundary of a given frame. Since frame boundaries are crucial for UE 114 to determine the timing reference point, UE 114 must know the given frame with the frame boundary of interest. Accordingly, the timing realignment indication message may also include the system frame number (SFN) of the given frame.

[0141] In 5G NR, the SFN is a value ranging from 0 to 1023 (inclusive). Accordingly, 10 bits can be used to represent the SFN. When the SFN is carried by the SSB, 6 of the 10 bits used for the SFN can be carried in the master information block (MIB), and the remaining 4 bits can be carried in the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) payload.

[0142] Optionally, the timing realignment indication message may also include other parameters. For example, other parameters may include the minimum time offset. The minimum time offset may be the duration of time preceding the timing reference point. UE 114 may use the minimum time offset as an indication that the DL signaling including the timing realignment indication message can provide UE 114 with sufficient time to detect the timing realignment indication message, thereby obtaining information about the timing reference point.

[0143] A-8. Precoding As used herein, precoding can refer to any one or more encoding or modulation operations that transform an input signal into an output signal. Precoding can be performed in different domains and typically transforms an input signal in a first domain into an output signal in a second domain. Precoding can include linear operations.

[0144] A-9. Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) MIMO technology allows an antenna array consisting of multiple antennas to perform signal transmission and reception to meet high transmission rate requirements. UE 114 and / or TRP 102 can use MIMO to communicate on radio resource blocks. MIMO utilizes multiple antennas on the transmitter and / or receiver to transmit radio resource blocks via parallel radio signals. MIMO can beamform parallel radio signals for reliable multipath transmission of radio resource blocks. MIMO can also bond parallel radio signals carrying different data to increase the data rate of radio resource blocks.

[0145] In recent years, MIMO (Massive MIMO) wireless communication systems (such as the aforementioned TRP 102 with a large number of antennas) have received widespread attention from academia and industry. In massive MIMO systems, the TRP 102 can typically be configured with more than ten antenna elements (e.g., antenna 148 shown in Figure 2A) and simultaneously serve dozens of UEs 114. The large number of antenna elements in the TRP 102 can significantly increase the spatial degrees of freedom in wireless communication, greatly improve transmission rate, spectral efficiency, and power efficiency, and largely eliminate inter-cell interference. The increased number of antennas allows each antenna element to be manufactured in a smaller size and at a lower cost. Utilizing the spatial degrees of freedom provided by the large number of antenna elements, each cell's TRP 102 can communicate simultaneously with multiple UEs 114 within the cell on the same time-frequency resources, thereby significantly improving spectral efficiency. The large number of antenna elements in the TRP 102 also improves the spatial directivity of UL and DL transmissions for each user, thereby significantly reducing the transmission power of the TRP 102 and / or UEs 114 and greatly improving power efficiency. When the number of antennas in TRP 102 is sufficient, the random channels between each UE 114 and TRP 102 can be nearly orthogonal, and interference and noise between cells and users can be eliminated. These advantages make massive MIMO a promising application area.

[0146] A MIMO system may include a receiver connected to a receiving (Rx) antenna, a transmitter connected to a transmitting (Tx) antenna, and a signal processor connected to both the transmitter and the receiver. Each of the Rx and Tx antennas may include multiple antennas. For example, an Rx antenna may have a uniform linear array (ULA) antenna array, in which multiple antennas are arranged in rows at uniform intervals. When a radio frequency (RF) signal is transmitted through a Tx antenna, the Rx antenna can receive signals reflected and returned from a forward-facing target.

[0147] A non-exhaustive list of possible units or possible configurable parameters or MIMO systems in some embodiments includes: panels: units of antenna groups or antenna arrays or antenna subarrays, whose Tx beams or Rx beams can be controlled independently.

[0148] Beam: A beam is formed by performing amplitude and / or phase weighting on data transmitted or received at least one antenna port, or it can be formed using another method, such as adjusting the relevant parameters of the antenna elements. A beam can include a Tx beam and / or an Rx beam. The transmit beam represents the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after the signal is transmitted through the antenna. The receive beam represents the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space of the wireless signal received from the antenna. Beam information can be a beam identifier, one or more antenna port identifiers, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource identifier, an SSB resource identifier, a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource identifier, a codebook indicator, a beam direction indicator, and / or other reference signal resource identifiers, etc.

[0149] A-10. An integrated terrestrial communication system combining a terrestrial network (TN) and a non-terrestrial network (NTN) can also be called a land-based or ground-based communication system, but the terrestrial communication system can be implemented on or under water, either alternatively or as an alternative. Non-terrestrial communication systems can use non-terrestrial nodes to extend the coverage of cellular networks and bridge coverage gaps in underserved areas, which is crucial for ensuring seamless global coverage and providing mobile broadband service to areas with no or insufficient service. At this point, it is virtually impossible to deploy terrestrial access points / base station infrastructure in oceans, mountains, forests, or other remote areas.

[0150] Terrestrial communication systems can be wireless communications using 5G technology and / or next-generation wireless technologies (e.g., 6G or higher). In some examples, terrestrial communication systems may also support some traditional wireless technologies (e.g., 3G or 4G). Non-terrestrial communication systems can be communication systems using satellite constellations such as traditional geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites, which broadcast public / popular content to local servers. Non-terrestrial communication systems can be communication systems using low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, which strike a better balance between large coverage areas and propagation path loss / latency. Non-terrestrial communication systems can be communication systems using very low earth orbit (VLEO) stabilized satellite technology, which significantly reduces the cost of launching satellites into low orbit. Non-terrestrial communication systems can be communication systems using high altitude platforms (HAPs), which provide low path loss air interfaces for users with limited power budgets. Non-terrestrial communication systems can be communication systems using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) (or unmanned aerial systems (UAS)). UAVs can be densely deployed because their coverage can be limited to local areas, such as airborne, balloon, quadcopter, and / or drone vehicles. In some embodiments, GEO satellites, LEO satellites, UAVs, HAPs, and VLEOs can be horizontal and two-dimensional. In some examples, UAVs, HAPs, and VLEOs are coupled to integrate satellite communications into cellular networks. Emerging three-dimensional (3D) vertical networks consist of numerous mobile (excluding geostationary satellites) and high-altitude access points such as UAVs, HAPs, and VLEOs.

[0151] A-11. Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning (AI / ML) AI technology can be applied to communications, including AI / ML-based communications at the physical layer and / or at higher levels such as the MAC layer. For example, at the physical layer, AI / ML-based communications may aim to optimize component design and / or improve algorithm performance. For the MAC layer, AI / ML-based communications can leverage AI / ML capabilities to learn, predict, and / or make decisions to solve complex optimization problems using potentially better strategies and / or optimal solutions, such as optimizing functions in the MAC layer, such as intelligent TRP management, intelligent beam management, intelligent channel resource allocation, intelligent power control, intelligent spectrum utilization, intelligent modulation and coding scheme (MCS), intelligent HARQ strategy, and / or intelligent transmit / receive (Tx / Rx) mode adaptation, etc.

[0152] Here are some terms used in the AI / ML field: • Data Collection: Data is a very important component of AI / ML technology. Data collection refers to the process by which network nodes, management entities, or user-defined users (UEs) collect data for AI / ML model training, data analysis, and inference purposes.

[0153] • AI / ML Model Training: AI / ML model training refers to the process of training an AI / ML model by learning the input / output relationship in a data-driven manner and then using the trained AI / ML model for inference.

[0154] • AI / ML model inference: The process of using a trained AI / ML model to produce a set of outputs based on a set of inputs.

[0155] • AI / ML Model Validation: As a sub-process of training, validation is used to evaluate the quality of AI / ML models using a different dataset than the one used for model training. Validation can help in selecting model parameters that generalize well beyond the dataset used for model training. The trained model parameters can be further tuned through the validation process.

[0156] • AI / ML Model Testing: Similar to validation, testing is also a sub-process of training. It is used to evaluate the performance of the final AI / ML model using a different dataset than that used for model training and validation. Unlike AI / ML model validation, testing does not assume subsequent adjustments to the model.

[0157] • Online training: Online training refers to an AI / ML training process in which the model used for inference is typically trained continuously (in near real-time) as new training samples arrive.

[0158] • Offline training: An AI / ML training process in which a model is trained on a collected dataset, and the trained model is then used for inference or transmitted for inference.

[0159] • AI / ML Model Delivery / Transfer: A general term referring to the delivery of an AI / ML model from one entity to another in any way. Delivering an AI / ML model over the air includes providing parameters of the model structure known to the receiving end, as well as providing a new model with parameters. Delivery may include a complete model or a partial model.

[0160] • Lifecycle management (LCM): When training and / or inferring AI / ML models on a device, the entire AI / ML process needs to be monitored and managed to ensure the performance gains achieved through AI / ML technology. For example, due to the randomness of wireless channels and the mobility of UEs, the propagation environment of wireless signals changes frequently. However, it is difficult for AI / ML models to maintain optimal performance in all scenarios, and performance may even degrade sharply in some scenarios. Therefore, lifecycle management (LCM) of AI / ML models is crucial for the sustainable operation of AI / ML over the NR air interface.

[0161] Lifecycle management encompasses the entire process of applying AI / ML technologies across one or more nodes. Specifically, lifecycle management includes at least one of the following sub-processes: data collection, model training, model identification, model registration, model deployment, model configuration, model inference, model selection, model activation, deactivation, model switching, model rollback, model monitoring, model update, model transmission / delivery, and UE capability reporting.

[0162] Model monitoring can be based on inference accuracy, including metrics related to key performance indicators (KPIs), or on system performance, including metrics related to system performance KPIs, such as accuracy and relevance, overhead, complexity (computational and memory costs), latency (timeliness of monitoring results, from model failure to recovery), and power consumption. Furthermore, data distribution may change after deployment due to environmental variations; therefore, models based on input or output data distribution should also be considered.

[0163] • Supervised learning: The goal of supervised learning algorithms is to train a model that maps feature vectors (inputs) to labels (outputs) based on training data that includes example feature-label pairs. Supervised learning analyzes the training data and generates an inference function that can be used to map inference data.

[0164] Supervised learning can be further divided into two types: classification and regression. Classification is used when the output of the AI / ML model is categorical data (i.e., with two or more classes). Regression is used when the output of the AI / ML model is real numbers or continuous values.

[0165] • Unsupervised learning: Unlike supervised learning, where AI / ML models learn to map inputs to target outputs, unsupervised methods learn concise representations of input data without labeled data. These representations can be used for data exploration, analysis, or the generation of new data. A typical example of unsupervised learning is clustering, which explores the hidden structure of the input data and provides classification results.

[0166] • Reinforcement Learning: Reinforcement learning is used to solve sequential decision-making problems. It's the process of training an agent's actions based on inputs (states) and feedback signals (rewards) from the environment. In reinforcement learning, the agent interacts with the environment by performing actions to maximize cumulative rewards. Each time the agent performs an action, the current state of the environment may transition to a new state, which in turn brings a corresponding reward. The agent can then perform the next action based on the received reward and the new state in the environment. During the training phase, the agent interacts with the environment to accumulate experience. Because direct interaction with real systems is costly, the environment is typically simulated by a simulator. During the inference phase, the agent can use the optimal decision rules learned from the training phase to achieve the maximum cumulative reward.

[0167] • Federated learning: Federated learning (FL) is a machine learning technique used to train AI / ML models using a central node (e.g., a server) and multiple distributed edge nodes (e.g., UE, next-generation NodeB, "gNB").

[0168] Based on wireless FL technology, the server can provide edge nodes with a set of model parameters (e.g., weights, biases, gradients) describing the global AI / ML model. Edge nodes can use these received global AI / ML model parameters to initialize a local AI / ML model. Subsequently, the edge node can use local data samples to train the local AI / ML model, resulting in a trained local AI / ML model. The edge node can then provide the server with a set of AI / ML model parameters describing the local AI / ML model.

[0169] Upon receiving multiple sets of AI / ML model parameters describing the corresponding local AI / ML models at multiple edge nodes, the server can aggregate the local AI / ML model parameters reported from multiple UEs and update the global AI / ML model based on this aggregation. Subsequent iterations proceed very similarly to the first iteration. The server can send the aggregated global model to multiple edge nodes. This process is repeated multiple times until the global AI / ML model is finally determined, for example, when the AI / ML model converges or meets the training stopping condition.

[0170] It is worth noting that wireless FL technology does not involve the exchange of local data samples. In fact, local data samples are retained at the corresponding edge nodes.

[0171] AI technologies (including ML technologies) can be applied in communications, including AI-based communication at the physical layer and / or the MAC layer. For the physical layer, AI communication may aim to optimize component design and / or improve algorithm performance. For example, AI can be used to achieve: channel coding, channel modeling, channel estimation, channel decoding, modulation, demodulation, MIMO, waveform generation, multiple access, physical layer unit parameter optimization and updating, beamforming, tracking, sensing and / or localization, etc. For the MAC layer, AI communication can leverage AI capabilities to learn, predict, and / or make decisions to solve complex optimization problems using potentially better strategies and / or optimal solutions, such as optimizing functions within the MAC layer. For example, AI can be used to achieve: intelligent TRP management, intelligent beam management, intelligent channel resource allocation, intelligent power control, intelligent spectrum utilization, intelligent MCS, intelligent HARQ strategies, and / or intelligent transmit / receive mode adaptation, etc.

[0172] AI architectures can include multiple nodes, which may be organized in either a centralized or distributed mode, both of which can be deployed in access networks, core networks, edge computing systems, or third-party networks. Centralized training and computing architectures may be subject to significant communication overhead and strict user data privacy constraints. Distributed training and computing architectures can include several frameworks, such as distributed machine learning and federated learning. In some embodiments, the AI ​​architecture may include an intelligent controller that can perform as a single agent or multiple agents based on joint or individual optimization. New protocols and signaling mechanisms are needed to personalize the corresponding interface links using customized parameters to meet specific requirements, while minimizing signaling overhead and maximizing the overall system spectral efficiency through personalized AI technologies.

[0173] The new protocols and signaling mechanisms are provided to operate within and switch between different operating modes (including switching between AI and non-AI modes), and also to provide measurement and feedback to accommodate different possible measurements and information that may require feedback, depending on the implementation.

[0174] An air interface that uses AI as part of its implementation (e.g., optimizing one or more components of the air interface) will be referred to herein as an "AI-enabled air interface". In some embodiments, two types of AI operations may exist in an AI-enabled air interface: both the network and the UE learn; or only the network learns.

[0175] B. Sensing in Communication Systems B-1. Sensing Technology As mentioned above, communication system 100 or its communication devices often need or tend to understand their environment, which can be achieved through sensing.

[0176] Perception is a technology for acquiring information about one's surroundings, such as information about objects, including, for example, the object's position, speed, distance, orientation, shape, and / or texture. Generally, perception can be broadly categorized as: • RF perception: transmitting RF signals and acquiring surrounding information by receiving and processing those RF signals, or their echoes or other reflections; • Non-RF perception: acquiring surrounding information using non-RF signals (such as cameras or other sensors).

[0177] RF sensing can be further classified as: • Active sensing (also referred to as "device-based sensing"): The sensing device sends an RF signal to the target device. The target device detects the RF signal, obtains sensing information from the RF signal or by measuring some intermediate information therein, and then feeds the sensing information back to the sensing device.

[0178] • Passive sensing (also known as "device-free sensing"): The sensing device sends an RF signal to an object, detects the echo of the RF signal (i.e., the reflected RF signal), and obtains the sensed information from the echo.

[0179] An example of passive sensing is a radar system, where sensing devices can transmit RF signals to locate, detect, and track target objects. Radar systems are typically implemented as standalone systems for specific applications.

[0180] In passive sensing, objects such as environmental IoT devices (which are smaller and less expensive than traditional IoT devices) may or may not include certain identifier (ID) information (such as RF tags).

[0181] Generally, from the perspective of the transmitter and receiver, there are three types of sensing: • Monostatic sensing, where the transmitter and receiver are the same device; • Bistatic sensing, where the transmitter and receiver are different devices; for example, TRP 102 can be used as a transmitter to transmit RF signals for sensing, while UE 114 can be used as a receiver to receive RF signals; • Multistatic sensing, which can be decomposed into multiple bistatic Tx-Rx pairs; for example, TRP 102 can transmit RF signals for sensing, while two UEs 114 (such as UE1 and UE2) can receive RF signals, thus forming a first Tx-Rx pair between TRP 102 and UE1, and a second Tx-Rx pair between TRP 102 and UE2.

[0182] B-2. In cellular communication networks, UE location information is frequently used to improve various network performance metrics. These metrics may include, for example, capacity, agility, and / or efficiency. These improvements can be achieved when network units utilize the location, behavior, and / or mobility patterns of UE 114, within a context of prior information describing the radio environment in which UE 114 operates.

[0183] As described above, the sensing system can be used to help collect UE pose information, including its position in a reference system, its speed and direction of movement in the reference system, orientation information, and / or information about the wireless environment. For example, sensing integration can be used to determine UE pose information. In some embodiments, when using sensing integration, system 100 may include a framework and corresponding interaction protocol for information exchange between UE 114 and the sensing system / sensing coordinator.

[0184] Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) can continuously track the UE's position while simultaneously building and / or updating an environmental map (e.g., a communication parameter map as described below). SLAM methods will not only enable advanced cross-reality (XR) applications but also enhance navigation for autonomous objects such as vehicles and drones. Because SLAM can simultaneously acquire the UE's position and an environmental map, it is a promising technology for implementing perception functions in integrated sensing systems.

[0185] SLAM can utilize different types of sensors for various purposes, such as using two-dimensional (2D) and / or 3D cameras to obtain visual features of the environment, and using light detection and ranging (LIDAR) to obtain ranging and / or depth information. Wireless SLAM is a more recent development, based on RF sensors (i.e., sensors based on wireless signals). While vision-based SLAM and LIDAR-based SLAM can achieve high-resolution environmental maps, they can be susceptible to weather and lighting conditions. On the other hand, wireless-based SLAM provides lower-resolution environmental maps but is unaffected by weather and lighting conditions.

[0186] In SLAM, all processing functions related to localization and environmental map building / updating are typically performed locally on the UE side. Due to the relatively limited computing power and power consumption of the UE 114, this presents a significant challenge to the practical implementation of SLAM. Furthermore, locally processed SLAM does not utilize information from other nodes in the network, such as from the BS or TRP 102. The resulting environmental map typically has a low resolution.

[0187] Furthermore, both terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks can enable a range of new services and applications, such as earth monitoring, remote sensing, passive sensing and positioning, navigation, tracking, automated delivery, and / or mobility. Terrestrial-based and non-terrestrial-based sensing can provide intelligent context-aware networks to enhance the UE experience. For example, terrestrial-based and non-terrestrial-based sensing may involve opportunities for positioning and sensing applications based on a new set of features and service capabilities. Applications such as THz imaging and spectroscopy have the potential to provide continuous, real-time physiological information for future digital health technologies through dynamic, non-invasive, and contactless measurements. SLAM methods will not only enable advanced cross-reality applications but also enhance navigation for autonomous objects such as vehicles and drones. In future terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks, measured channel data and sensing positioning data can be obtained through high bandwidth, new spectrum, dense networks, and more light-of-sight (LOS) links. Based on this data, communication parameter maps can be created, where channel information is linked to its corresponding positioning or environmental information, to provide enhanced physical layer designs.

[0188] RAN 104 can provide UE 114 with a communication parameter map to help UE 114 improve its sensing capabilities (e.g., increase sensing accuracy or reduce sensing complexity) or assist UE communication, such as MIMO or beamforming processes. Additionally, the communication parameter map corresponding to UE 114 may also change when UE 114's location / geographical information changes or its surrounding environment changes. If RAN 104 can provide UE 114 with up-to-date knowledge of the communication parameter map based on these changes, it can reduce UE 114's processing latency or processing complexity, and correspondingly improve sensing or communication performance.

[0189] C. Sensor Integration C-1. Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) The word RADAR originates from the phrase "radio detection and ranging"; however, different forms of capitalization (i.e., Radar and radar) are equally applicable and are currently more common. Radar is typically used to detect the presence and location of objects. A radar system radiates radio frequency energy and receives the echoes of energy reflected from one or more targets. The system determines a given target based on the echoes returned from it. The radiated energy can be in the form of energy pulses or continuous waves, which can be represented or defined by specific waveforms. Examples of waveforms used in radar include frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) and ultra-wideband (UWB) waveforms.

[0190] Radar systems can be monostatic, bistatic, or multistatic. In a monostatic radar system, the radar transmitter and receiver are located in the same location, for example, integrated into a single transceiver. In a bistatic radar system, the transmitter and receiver are spatially separated by a distance equal to or greater than the expected target distance (often referred to as the range). In a multistatic radar system, two or more radar components are spatially distributed but share a common coverage area. Multistatic radar is also known as multisite or mesh radar.

[0191] Ground-based radar applications face challenges such as multipath propagation and shadow attenuation. Another challenge is identifiability, as ground targets share similar physical properties. Integrating sensing into communication systems is likely to encounter similar, or even more, challenges.

[0192] C-2. Introduction: In cellular communication networks, UE location information is frequently used to improve various network performance metrics. These performance metrics may include capacity, agility, and efficiency. These improvements can be achieved when network units utilize the UE's location, behavior, and / or mobility patterns within a priori information describing the wireless environment in which the UE operates.

[0193] Sensing systems can be used to help collect UE information, including the UE's position in a reference frame (such as a global coordinate system, a local coordinate system, or a reference frame relative to one or more reference points), the UE's speed and direction of movement in the reference frame, orientation information, and / or information about the wireless environment. In this paper, the term "position" is also referred to as "location," and the two terms are used interchangeably. Well-known examples of sensing systems include radio detection and ranging (RADAR) and light detection and ranging (LIDAR). While sensing systems can be separated from communication systems, it can be advantageous to use a sensor-integrated system to collect information, which can reduce the hardware (and cost) of the system, as well as the time, frequency, or spatial resources required to perform both sensing and communication functions. However, using communication system hardware to sense objects (such as sensing objects and their position or location, shape, orientation, and / or pose) and environmental information is a highly challenging open problem. The difficulty of this problem is related to factors such as the limited resolution of communication systems, the dynamic nature of the environment, and the large number of objects whose electromagnetic properties and positions need to be estimated.

[0194] Therefore, integrated sensing and communication (ISAC; also known as integrated sensing, joint sensing communication and other similar names) is an ideal feature in existing and future communication systems.

[0195] C-3. Sensing Nodes and Sensing Management Functions As shown in Figure 3, either or both of UE 114 and TRP 102 can be sensing nodes in system 100. A sensing node is a network entity that performs sensing by sending and receiving sensing signals. Some sensing nodes are communication devices that perform both communication and sensing. However, some sensing nodes may not communicate but are dedicated solely to sensing. Sensing agent 232 is an example of a sensing node dedicated solely to sensing. Unlike UE 114 and TRP 102, sensing agent 232 does not send or receive communication signals. However, sensing agent 232 can transmit configuration information, sensing information, signaling information, or other information within communication system 100. Sensing agent 232 can communicate with core network 112 to transmit information with the rest of communication system 100. For example, sensing agent 232 can determine the location of UE 114 and send this information to TRP 102 via core network 112. Although only one sensing agent 232 is shown in Figure 3, any number of sensing agents can be implemented in the communication system 100. In some embodiments, one or more sensing agents can be implemented in one or more RANs 104.

[0196] Sensing nodes can combine sensing-based technologies with reference signal-based technologies to enhance the determination of UE-related information. This type of sensing node can also be called a sensing management function (SMF). In some networks, the SMF can also be called a location management function (LMF). In some embodiments, the SMF can be implemented as a physically independent entity located in the core network 112 and connected to multiple TRPs 102. In other embodiments, the SMF can be implemented as a logical entity co-located within the TRPs 102 through logic executed by the processor 142.

[0197] As shown in Figure 4, the SMF 176, when implemented as a physically independent entity, includes at least one processor 290, at least one transmitter 282, at least one receiver 284, one or more antennas 286, and at least one memory 288. Transceivers (not shown) may be used instead of transmitters 282 and receivers 284. A scheduler 283 may be coupled to the processor 290. The scheduler 283 may be included within the SMF 176 or may operate separately from the SMF 176. The processor 290 implements various processing operations of the SMF 176, such as signal encoding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, or any other functions. The processor 290 may also be used to implement some or all of the functions and / or embodiments detailed above. Each processor 290 includes any suitable processing or computing device for performing one or more operations. For example, each processor 290 may include a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, FPGA, or ASIC.

[0198] Object determination techniques based on reference signals may involve an "active" pose estimation mode. In an active pose estimation mode, the querier of pose information (i.e., UE 114) participates in the process of determining its own pose. The querier can send or receive (or send and receive) signals specific to the pose determination process. GNSS-based (such as GPS) positioning techniques are other examples of active pose estimation modes.

[0199] Conversely, radar-based sensing technologies, for example, can be considered to involve a "passive" pose determination mode. In a passive pose determination mode, the target is completely unaware of the pose determination process.

[0200] By integrating sensing and communication into a single system, the system no longer needs to operate according to a single mode. Therefore, combining sensing-based technologies with reference signal-based technologies can produce enhanced object determination capabilities.

[0201] For example, enhanced object determination capabilities can include obtaining UE channel subspace information, which is particularly useful for reconstructing UE channels at sensing nodes, especially for beam-based operations and communications. The UE channel subspace is a subset of the entire algebraic space defined in the spatial domain, containing the entire channel from the TP to the UE. Therefore, the UE channel subspace can very accurately define the channel from the TP to the UE. Signals transmitted in other subspaces contribute negligibly to the UE channel. Understanding the UE channel subspace helps reduce the workload required for UE-side channel measurement and network-side channel reconstruction. Therefore, combining sensing-based techniques with reference signal-based techniques can significantly reduce the overhead of UE channel reconstruction compared to traditional methods. Subspace information can also facilitate subspace-based sensing, thereby reducing sensing complexity and improving sensing accuracy.

[0202] C-4. Sensing Channel: In some embodiments of integrated sensing and communication, sensing and communication use the same radio access technology (RAT). This avoids the need to multiplex two different RATs under a single carrier spectrum, or to provide two different carrier spectrums for two different RATs.

[0203] In embodiments that integrate sensing and communication into a single RAT, a first set of channels can be used to transmit sensing signals, while a second set of channels can be used to transmit communication signals. In some embodiments, each channel in the first set of channels and each channel in the second set of channels is a logical channel, a transport channel, or a physical channel.

[0204] At the physical layer, communication and sensing can be performed through separate physical channels. For example, a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH-C) can be designated for data communication, while a second physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH-S) can be designated for sensing, such as for sensing data sharing and / or sensing reference signals in cooperative sensing. Similarly, different physical uplink shared channels (PUSCH), PUSCH-C, and PUSCH-S can be designated for UL communication and sensing. For example, sensing result reporting and sensing data sharing can use PUSCH-S.

[0205] For example, communication and sensing can use the same PDSCH and PUSCH, where different logical layer channels and / or transport layer channels are defined for communication and sensing. It should also be noted that one or more control channels and one or more data channels used for sensing can have the same or different channel structures (formats), occupying the same or different frequency bands or portions of the bandwidth.

[0206] In yet another example, the common physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and the common physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) are used to carry control information for both sensing and communication. Alternatively, different physical layer control channels can be used to carry different control information for communication and sensing. For example, PUCCH-S and PUCCH-C can be used for uplink control for sensing and communication respectively, and PDCCH-S and PDCCH-C can be used for downlink control for sensing and communication respectively.

[0207] Sensing and communication can be performed using different combinations of shared channels and dedicated channels at the physical layer, transport layer, and logic layer.

[0208] C-5. Half-duplex and full-duplex communication nodes can be either half-duplex or full-duplex. Half-duplex nodes cannot use the same physical resources (time and / or frequency, etc.) to transmit and receive simultaneously; conversely, full-duplex nodes can use the same physical resources to transmit and receive. Existing commercial wireless communication networks are all half-duplex networks. Even if full-duplex communication networks become a reality in the future, it is expected that at least some nodes in the network will still be half-duplex nodes because half-duplex devices are less complex, less expensive, and consume less power. Specifically, achieving full-duplex at high frequencies (e.g., millimeter-wave bands) is more challenging, and also very challenging for small, low-cost devices (such as femtocell base stations 102 and UE 114).

[0209] Half-duplex nodes present limitations in communication networks, posing further challenges to integrating sensing and communication into devices and systems. For example, both half-duplex and full-duplex nodes can perform bistatic or multistatic sensing, but monostatic sensing typically requires the sensing node to have full-duplex capability. Half-duplex nodes can perform monostatic sensing, but with certain limitations, such as in pulse radars with specific duty cycles and ranging capabilities.

[0210] C-6. Sensing Signal Waveform and Frame Structure The properties of a sensing signal, or a signal used for both sensing and communication, include the signal's waveform and frame structure. The frame structure defines the signal's time-domain boundaries. The waveform describes the shape of the signal as a function of time and frequency. Examples of waveforms that can be used for sensing signals include UWB pulses, FMCW or "chirp," OFDM, CP-OFDM, and Discrete Fourier Transform Spread (DFT-s)-OFDM.

[0211] D. Fast Wake-up and Data Transmission Methods D-1. Fast Wake-up and Data Transmission Methods and Data Structures In existing mobile communication systems such as 5G NR, UE power saving and network power saving have been considered and discussed (to some extent) in the 5G NR standard, where different power consumption modes with different power consumption levels (e.g., deep sleep, light sleep, micro sleep) can be used.

[0212] For example, in 5G NR, UE 114 can transition between three RRC states: RRC_CONNECTED, RRC_INACTIVE, and RRC_IDLE. As shown in Figure 5, when UE 114 is powered on, it first undergoes cell search and initial access to establish a connection with RAN 104. During this process, UE 114 performs an RRC connection establishment procedure to establish a connection with RAN 104's TRP 102 for data communication and / or making / receiving telephone calls. Then, UE 114 enters the RRC_CONNECTED state 302. In this state, UE 114 can use connected mode discontinuous reception (C-DRX) to periodically monitor the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). This reduces some activity between two PDCCH monitoring actions, thereby reducing UE power consumption. For example, C-DRX cycles can be used to put UE 114 into micro-sleep, light sleep, or deep sleep modes. As those skilled in the art will understand, microsleep, light sleep, and deep sleep are defined based on the components that are turned off. For example, UE 114 in deep sleep mode may turn off the RF chain, so that UE 114 cannot monitor or receive control channels or data channels.

[0213] When UE 114 reduces its activity over a period of time, UE 114 can enter the RRC_INACTIVE state 304 by releasing the communication resources assigned to it and suspending the RRC connection.

[0214] As specified in the third generation partnership project (3GPP), UE 114 in RRC_INACTIVE state 304 is typically in a dormant state, where UE 114 can shut down some communication-related components and operate with reduced power consumption. In RRC_INACTIVE state 304, the non-access stratum (NAS) layer maintains connectivity and the RRC is not fully released.

[0215] UE 114 does not perform large-scale data transmission / reception in RRC_INACTIVE state 304. Instead, it requires UE 114 to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state 302 through the RRC recovery procedure and then perform data transmission.

[0216] UE 114 can perform small data transmission (SDT; for example, monitoring paging messages from RAN 104 or sending small data packets) without transitioning to the RRC_CONNECTED state, thereby saving power for UEs with reduced activity. As specified in 3GPP, UE 114 in RRC_INACTIVE state 304 can perform SDT via random access (RA-SDT) or SDT via configured grant access (CG-SDT).

[0217] UE 114, which is in RRC_INACTIVE state 304, can transition to RRC_CONNECTED state 302 by restoring the RRC connection.

[0218] When UE 114 is inactive for an extended period while in RRC_INACTIVE state 304, it can release the RRC connection and enter RRC_IDLE state 306 to reduce paging detection and measurement frequency, thereby further reducing its power consumption. UE 114 can transition to RRC_CONNECTED state 302 by re-establishing the RRC connection. UE 114 in RRC_CONNECTED state 302 can also directly enter RRC_IDLE state 306 after a long period of inactivity by releasing the RRC connection.

[0219] In older mobile communication standards such as LTE, UE 114 can transition only between RRC_CONNECTED state 302 and RRC_IDLE state 306 (i.e., without RRC_INACTIVE state 304).

[0220] A wakeup signal (WUS) can be used to wake up UE 114 in RRC_INACTIVE state 304 or RRC_IDLE state 306 to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state 302. However, the WUS used in existing mobile communication systems may result in different wakeup times for different RRC states. Furthermore, to wake up UE 114 and begin data transmission, conventional methods involving additional activities require numerous steps, such as: • System re-entry (e.g., resynchronization, system information updates, etc.) for UE 114 in RRC_INACTIVE state 304 or RRC_IDLE state 306, and for UE 114 with long sleep periods; • State transition for UE 114 in RRC_INACTIVE state 304 or RRC_IDLE state 306; • Channel acquisition or channel measurement for MIMO and / or beamforming (BF); • Channel quality indicator (CQI) measurement and feedback for link adaptation; • RRC configuration updates.

[0221] The additional activity introduced may result in significant power consumption.

[0222] To standardize link adaptation, a mechanism with accurate channel estimation, support for a rich set of coding rates and modulation orders, and flexible channel rate matching is designed in 5G NR and previous standards. With the aid of channel estimation, including channel quality measurements, the transmitter can dynamically change the coding rate and modulation order, and notify the receiver's MCS via MCS indexing.

[0223] Current energy-saving designs are not very effective in several scenarios. For example, waking up a device and initiating data transmission requires many steps, which introduce additional latency and power consumption, thus negating the ultimate benefits of energy saving.

[0224] Current link adaptation methods require relatively accurate channel estimation. This necessitates a comprehensive process to acquire channel quality data, which serves as input to the MCS determination algorithm. However, link adaptation may fail if accurate channel estimation is unavailable, or if only a coarse estimate is obtained.

[0225] According to one aspect of the present invention, a fast wake-up and data transmission method (also referred to as a "single-time self-contained data transmission method" or simply a "single-time data transmission method") is disclosed. The fast wake-up and data transmission method uses a fast data burst transmission method to send data bursts arranged according to a single-time data burst structure from UE 114 to TRP 102 (or from TRP 102 to UE 114) to provide a single-step wake-up and communication mechanism (also referred to as "wake-up-to-communication"). In various embodiments, methods for initial MCS and other transmission parameter determination, progressive precoding and / or BF adaptive methods, and progressive link adaptive methods can also be used for fast wake-up.

[0226] In this paper, the fast wake-up and data transmission method is a simplified process performed by TRP 102 and UE 114, wherein at least one of TRP 102 and UE 114 is in a power-constrained or reduced state during wireless communication-related activities; for example, in a sleep state with limited or reduced wireless communication capabilities for “wake-up to communication” (described later).

[0227] Figure 6A illustrates the states of a device (e.g., UE 114 or TRP 102) according to some embodiments of the present invention. As shown, the device can transition between a connected state 342 (similar to RRC_CONNECTED state 302), a low-power state or sleep state 344, and an idle state 346 (which can be similar to RRC_IDLE state 306, although the device can enter idle state 346 after an extended inactivity period longer than the inactivity period of entering RRC_IDLE state 306). The transition between connected state 342 and idle state 346 is similar to the transition between RRC_CONNECTED state 302 and RRC_IDLE state 306.

[0228] In these embodiments, sleep state 344 is an operating state or mode when one or more components of the device are turned off for energy saving. A device in sleep state typically has significantly reduced activity, and its ability to send and receive signals, measure or probe communication channels, and / or sense the environment is also significantly reduced. Different sleep levels turn off different components or apply low-capability components, such as power amplifiers (PAs), low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), and / or integrated circuits (ICs) in transmitter and receiver units. In some embodiments, it may be preferable to turn off as many circuit components as possible and keep only a few components on to maintain the transmission / reception of internal clocks and necessary signals (e.g., LCM signals) to keep the device "active".

[0229] As will be described in more detail later, when TRP 102 and / or UE 114 are in sleep state 344, TRP 102 and / or UE 114 can use a fast wake-up and data transmission method to quickly transmit one or more wake-up signals between them to wake up the "sleep" device (i.e., TRP 102 and / or UE 114 in sleep state) and to transmit data between them before the sleep device transitions to the connected state.

[0230] Data transfer between them may include one or more datasets, each dataset including one or more data fields, and may be sent from TRP 102 to UE 114 (i.e., DL data transfer), or from UE 114 to TRP 102.

[0231] For example, TRP 102 can send a fast wake-up signal to UE 114, which is in a sleep state, and then send one or more datasets. The fast wake-up signal includes control information such as time-frequency resources for subsequent data transmission. UE 114 uses the control information in the fast wake-up signal and also uses information stored before UE 114 entered a sleep state (e.g., MIMO-related information and / or initial MCS, etc.) to receive data sent from TRP 102 without transitioning to a connected state. UE 114 can send an acknowledgment (ACK) to TRP 102 indicating successful data reception, or a negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating unsuccessful data reception, allowing TRP 102 to retransmit data.

[0232] After receiving data, UE 114 may enter a state of increased power consumption, less restricted, unrestricted or even full power consumption (regarding wireless communication related activities) and have enhanced or even full wireless communication capabilities (e.g., switching to a connected state), or return to a sleep state (i.e., remain in a sleep state) after receiving a release indication or after a predefined or preconfigured timeout.

[0233] As another example, UE 114 can send a wake-up preamble (used as a wake-up signal) to wake up TRP 102 from its sleep state. UE 114 then sends one or more datasets to TRP 102 using grant-free (GF; also known as “configuration-granted”) transmissions (i.e., using time-frequency resources reserved before TRP 102 entered sleep mode). UE 114 can wait for ACK / NACK feedback from TRP 102 to determine if data retransmission is necessary. Alternatively, UE 114 can return to sleep without waiting for ACK / NACK feedback.

[0234] As another example, a UE 114 in sleep mode can send a wake-up preamble to TRP 102 to indicate its wake-up, and then send one or more datasets to TRP 102 using grant-free (GF) transmission (i.e., using time-frequency resources reserved before TRP 102 entered sleep mode). UE 114 can wait for ACK / NACK feedback from TRP 102 to decide whether data retransmission is necessary. Alternatively, UE 114 can return to sleep after the dataset transmission without waiting for ACK / NACK feedback.

[0235] In some embodiments, TRP 102 may send a fast wake-up signal to UE 114 as described above, and then send some data. UE 114 may receive data without transitioning to a connected state, and simultaneously send some data to TRP 102 using GF transmission, thereby achieving full duplex (FD) or subband FD. Alternatively, when UE 114 receives DL data from TRP 102, UE may also receive one or more updated transmission parameters from DCI sent from TRP 102, and send some data to TRP 102 using one or more updated transmission parameters (i.e., in licensed mode), simultaneously achieving full duplex (FD) or subband FD. DCI may include one or more updated transmission parameters, allowing UE to continue using one or more new parameters for data transmission / reception.

[0236] Similarly, UE 114 can send a preamble to TRP 102 using the GF transmission described above, and then send some data. TRP 102 can receive data without switching to a connected state, and simultaneously send some data to UE 114, thus achieving full duplex (FD) or subband FD.

[0237] In some embodiments, a sleep-state device (e.g., UE 114) may perform some (e.g., minimal) communication-related measurements (e.g., channel measurements) based on a wake-up signal (e.g., a reference signal, RS; such as CSI-RS and / or demodulation reference signal, DMRS, etc. embedded in the wake-up signal). As those skilled in the art will understand, complete channel measurements typically require a significant amount of time, especially for MIMO with a large number of antennas. Therefore, in these embodiments, the communication-related measurements performed by the sleep-state device may be fast, partial (or incomplete) communication-related measurements (i.e., measuring only a subset of one or more communication-related parameters) to reduce overhead and / or power consumption. Soft ACK / NACK may be used to feed back the communication-related measurements to the other side (e.g., TRP 102). Herein, soft ACK / NACK refers to multi-bit feedback, where its payload includes an ACK or NACK report (i.e., for ACK or NACK, depending on the success or failure of message reception / decoding) and channel information such as channel state information (CSI).

[0238] Alternatively or additionally, the device in sleep mode can perform communication-related measurements based on the RS embedded in the first dataset and send the communication-related measurements to the other side to progressively adapt the channel (i.e., progressive link adaptation), so that subsequent data transmission / reception can use one or more updated communication-related parameters to improve performance. Similarly, the device in sleep mode can also perform communication-related measurements based on the RS embedded in the subsequent dataset to progressively or incrementally adapt the link between TRP 102 and UE 114.

[0239] Furthermore, as will be described in more detail later, in some embodiments, the LCM signal transmitted between TRP 102 and UE 114 can also be used for communication-related measurements, thereby enabling progressive link adaptation throughout the sleep state.

[0240] As those skilled in the art will understand, sleep state 344 can be similar to RRC_INACTIVE state 304 or RRC_IDLE state 306 in terms of how the device can enter this state (e.g., inactivity for a period of time) and how the device in this state can shut down one or more components for energy saving. However, sleep state 344 differs from RRC_INACTIVE state 304 or RRC_IDLE state 306 in many ways, such as how the device reduces Tx / Rx capabilities or shuts down Tx / Rx functions and components, how the device sends and / or receives necessary signals (e.g., LCM signals) to remain "active", how the device maintains information for quick wake-up, and how the device responds to quick wake-up signals and immediately receives / sends data.

[0241] In some embodiments shown in Figure 6B, the device may transition from connected state 342 to sleep state 344 (i.e., no idle state 346) simply by means of connected state 342.

[0242] When UE 114 and / or TRP 102 are in sleep state 344, lifecycle management (LCM) signals can be periodically sent from TRP 102 to UE 114 (denoted as "DL LCM") and / or from UE 114 to TRP 102 (denoted as "UL LCM") to perform measurements (e.g., channel measurements and / or sensing measurements, etc.), track the location of UE 114 and / or maintain basic synchronization between UE 114 and TRP 102, etc., to keep the "sleeping" UE 114 and / or TRP 102 "active".

[0243] To enable rapid wake-up, UE 114 and / or TRP 102 may store necessary information when entering sleep state 344. For example, in some embodiments, UE 114 may store necessary communication-related information for rapid wake-up, such as UE connection ID, one or more predefined communication parameters for initial control and data transmission and reception, such as MIMO configuration, MCS settings, adjacent TRP related information, and / or one or more power control parameters.

[0244] Therefore, upon wake-up, UE 114 and / or TRP 102 can immediately begin data transmission using the stored communication-related information without requiring a channel measurement cycle to obtain the current channel state and other relevant settings and / or parameters (e.g., without obtaining current channel measurements, MIMO optimization, and / or link adaptation, etc.). This stored communication-related information can be location-dependent and can be obtained in various ways.

[0245] Those skilled in the art will understand that communication-related information can be obtained by any suitable method, such as based on historical RF signal measurements performed by one or more UEs, through sensing such as environmental awareness, sensor integration, SLAM, and / or reconnaissance. For example, as described above, TRP 102 (or RAN 104) can collect and use its own communication-related information (e.g., channel and / or sensing data), and / or collect and use communication-related information from UE 114. TRP 102 and / or UE 114 can also track the location of UE 114. Therefore, TRP 102 (or RAN 104) can use the collected communication-related information (e.g., measured channel data and sensing location data) to construct and repeatedly update a higher-resolution communication parameter map (also known as an “RF map”) of a site or area, in which channel information is associated with its corresponding location or environmental information, to provide an enhanced physical layer design based on this map.

[0246] TRP 102 may repeatedly (e.g., periodically or as needed) send a map of communication parameters around the current location of each UE 114 to the UE 114, or send a map of communication parameters around the current location of each UE 114 to the UE 114 at least before they enter a sleep state.

[0247] UE 114 stores the received communication parameter map or a portion thereof for later quick wake-up. Typically, when UE 114 is waking up, it has limited prior channel knowledge. Therefore, UE 114 can obtain communication-related information about its current location from its stored communication parameter map or a portion thereof to immediately send and receive data with TRP 102. In the following text, for ease of description, the communication parameter map or a portion thereof stored by the UE will be collectively referred to as the UE's communication parameter map.

[0248] As shown in Figure 7, the communication parameter map 372 is related to the geographic map 362 of the site or region.

[0249] In this document, the term "communication parameter map" refers to communication-related information such as wireless environment information. It may also be called a wireless environment map, radio frequency (RF) map, wireless map, wireless-based map, radio signal-based map, or other maps with similar meanings. All these terms with similar meanings may be used interchangeably in this invention.

[0250] The term "geographic map" as used herein refers to geographic and / or geometric information, and may also be referred to as location / geometric / geographic information or a map (G-map), or some intermediate result of location / geometric / geographic information after processing, or other maps with similar meanings. In this invention, the terms "geographic map" and "G-map" are used interchangeably.

[0251] Furthermore, the term "map" as used herein refers to a form of indication and may be replaced by other names such as list, matrix, group, set, range, region, relation, lookup table, and / or information. The term "mapping" refers to a relation and may be replaced by other names such as relation, match, and / or lookup table.

[0252] Further description of these terms and the details of these maps can be found in PCT International Application No. PCT / CN2023 / 130336, filed on November 8, 2023, entitled “METHOD, APPARATUS, AND SYSTEM FOR MAPPING BETWEEN RADIOENVIRONMENT INFORMATION AND GEOMETRY INFORMATION”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0253] The geographic map 362 is divided into one or more sub-regions or zones 364. Each zone 364 includes necessary geographic information, such as the 2D and / or 3D location of the zone 364, the surrounding geometry of the zone 364, the geometric indication of the zone 364 relative to a reference point, and / or preprocessed geometry or geography, etc.

[0254] The communication parameter map 372 includes one or more entries 374 (also referred to as “blocks” or “elements”), each entry 374 being associated with one or more regions 364 that have similar communication-related information, such as ray tracing or multipath information, channel information, beamforming information for one or more beams (e.g., absolute beam angle, relative beam angle, beam gradient and / or beamwidth, etc.), one or more MIMO parameters, MCS (e.g., long-term MCS), path loss and / or one or more power control parameters (e.g., one or more long-term power control parameters), etc., and stores this communication-related information for the associated one or more regions 364. Therefore, when an entry in the communication parameter map 372 (e.g., entry 374A in Figure 7) is associated with multiple regions of the geographic map 362 (e.g., regions 364A and 364B in Figure 7), the multiple regions 364A and 364B have similar communication-related information. Furthermore, although the geographic map 362 and region 364 shown in Figure 7 are rectangular in various embodiments, the geographic map 362 and its region 364 can be any suitable shape (which can be regular and / or irregular) and / or any suitable form. Similarly, the communication parameter map 372 can also be any suitable shape and / or any suitable form, such as a list, lookup table, array, matrix, and / or 2D or 3D map, etc.

[0255] Each entry 374 of the communication parameter map 372 may store communication-related information of one or more associated areas 364, but not the geographic information of one or more associated areas 364. In this case, the UE 114 may need to store both the geographic map 362 and the communication parameter map 372 (or a portion of two maps around the UE's current location).

[0256] Alternatively or additionally, each entry 374 of the communication parameter map 372 may store geographic information of one or more associated areas 364 and their communication-related information. In this case, the UE 114 may store only the communication parameter map 372 or a portion thereof, and may not need to store the geographic map 362.

[0257] As disclosed in U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 543,378, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, UE 114 can perform a fast wake-up and data transmission method for fast wake-up and single data burst transmission.

[0258] Figure 8 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of a fast wake-up and data transmission method 400A performed by TRP 102 and UE 114 according to some embodiments of the present invention. The fast wake-up and data transmission method is used to wake up UE 114 in sleep state 344 and send one or more DL datasets (i.e., DL data transmissions) from TRP 102 to UE 114 without a state transition.

[0259] At step 402, for example, a fast wake-up signal sent from TRP 102 to UE 114 wakes up UE 114. The fast wake-up signal provides different wake-up time budgets, for example, depending on different sleep lengths. In these embodiments, the fast wake-up signal carries control information such as an indication of time-frequency resources for transmitting the first dataset. The fast wake-up signal may also carry additional information, such as timing indications and one or more initial transmission parameters, such as MCS, quasi-co-located (QCLed) beamforming, and / or one or more QoS-related parameters (e.g., one or more latency requirements, and / or one or more reliability requirements, etc.). Those skilled in the art will understand that in some embodiments, this additional information may be stored in a communication parameter map, so the fast wake-up signal does not need to carry additional information.

[0260] At step 404, a first DL dataset having one or more DL data fields is sent from TRP 102 to UE114. The first DL dataset is organized according to a self-contained data burst structure, including a self-contained multipurpose reference signal (RS; e.g., CSI-RS or demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for channel estimation, channel acquisition, phase noise compensation, and / or time and frequency synchronization, etc.

[0261] In some embodiments, the transmission of the first DL dataset is based on control information in the fast wake-up signal and communication parameter map (e.g., using initial BF / MIMO configuration, initial MCS, and initial power control based on information in the fast wake-up signal and communication parameter map).

[0262] At step 406, UE 114 uses information retrieved from the fast wake-up signal and the communication parameter map to receive the first DL dataset (i.e., there is no separate RS transmission cycle, therefore no channel measurement update after the fast wake-up signal and before the first data transmission), and performs channel measurements based on the received first dataset. For example, channel state information (CSI) can be updated based on the received first dataset (or the RS therein), DMRS, decoded data, and / or new environment / channel awareness results, etc. The updated channel measurements are fed back to TRP 102.

[0263] At step 408, TRP 102 uses updated channel measurements to optimize the connection between UE 114 and TRP 102, such as BF optimization, MIMO optimization, and / or link adaptation, for subsequent data transmission, such as the transmission of a second dataset. Those skilled in the art will understand that the “optimization” in this step is based on updated channel measurements and does not necessarily achieve an optimization result that maximizes data transmission performance (which will ultimately be achieved in the connected state). However, this “limited” optimization can be repeated in subsequent data transmissions to achieve progressive link adaptation.

[0264] For example, in BF and / or MIMO optimization, the MCS can be adjusted based on updated channel measurements used for subsequent data transmission. Furthermore, BF and / or MIMO optimization can be based on one or more updated channel measurements, one or more new environmental and / or channel-aware results, the required data rate, and / or one or more energy-saving requirements, etc.

[0265] At step 410, TRP 102 sends one or more optimized communication parameters obtained at step 408 to UE 114, and uses the one or more optimized communication parameters to perform a second data transmission to UE 114. Therefore, UE 114 transitions to connection state 342 and receives the second data transmission from TRP 102.

[0266] Therefore, the fast wake-up and data transmission method 400A provides a method for communicating immediately after wake-up to achieve "on arrival communication" (i.e., data transmission immediately after the arrival of the fast wake-up signal) without a state transition (i.e., before transitioning from sleep state 344 to connected state 342).

[0267] Those skilled in the art will understand that in some embodiments, steps 406 to 410 may be omitted. In other words, UE 114 may return to "sleep" after receiving the first dataset.

[0268] In some embodiments, step 410 may be omitted. In other words, after receiving the first dataset, UE114 may update the channel measurement and feed it back to TRP, then return to "sleep". TRP 102 may perform step 408 for MIMO optimization and link adaptation, but will not perform step 410 to send any more datasets.

[0269] Figure 9 illustrates the structure of a DL data burst 440A transmitted from TRP 102 to UE 114 in a fast wake-up and data transmission method 400A according to some embodiments of the present invention. As shown, the DL data burst 440A includes multiple fields, such as a fast wake-up signal 442, an optional automatic gain control (AGC) header 444, and one or more DL data fields 446 (each of which may include one or more RSs). Each field may employ one or more basic time-domain scheduling units, such as one or more time slots, one or more sub-time slots, or one or more symbols. As will be described in more detail later, one or more DL data fields 446 may be divided into a first dataset 446A and a second dataset 446B transmitted using different parameters.

[0270] In these embodiments, the fast wake-up signal 442 is in a simplified DCI format (e.g., with fewer fields or bits compared to a conventionally scheduled DCI, which may be feasible because the fast wake-up signal 442 is used to schedule initial transmissions under estimated channel conditions and because transmission capabilities such as MIMO, bandwidth, and / or MCS are reduced), and can be considered as a scheduling request signal. In some embodiments, the fast wake-up signal 442 includes an indication of time-frequency resources assigned to the first DL dataset 446A.

[0271] In various embodiments, the fast wake-up signal 442 may be a single WUS or may be two levels of WUS, including a first level WUS such as a first level paging signal for waking up a receiving device (e.g., UE 114) and a second level WUS such as a second level paging signal for scheduling the transmission of one or more DL data fields 446.

[0272] More specifically, the second-level WUS may include indications of time-frequency resources for transmitting the first dataset 446A, initial BF and / or MIMO information, initial MCS, and / or HARQ, etc. For example, the second-level WUS may include a simplified DCI (including the total number of one or more time slots and / or the index of one or more time slots, bandwidth, and / or carrier index or indication, etc.), or may include information related to subsequent PDCCH (including a simplified DCI indicating time-frequency resources for transmitting the first dataset 446A).

[0273] Optionally, the second-level WUS may also include indications of the configuration of a positioning reference signal (PRS), CSI-RS, and / or other measurement reference signals. These measurement reference signal configurations can be used for channel measurements, which are fed back to TRP 102 after the first data transmission (e.g., the first dataset 446A shown in FIG. 9; described in more detail later), allowing TRP 102 to update one or more communication-related parameters for subsequent data transmissions (e.g., the second dataset 446B shown in FIG. 9) to improve performance.

[0274] Optionally, the second-level WUS may also include an absolute timing reference.

[0275] The use of a two-stage fast wake-up signal can further reduce wake-up signal detection power consumption, because the second-stage WUS is only executed after the first-stage WUS is successfully detected. Since the first-stage WUS does not contain control information, it can simply be, for example, a sequence or other type of signature. Of course, in some embodiments, the fast wake-up signal 442 can be a single-stage WUS containing, for example, the control information and UE ID described above.

[0276] The AGC header 444 enables the UE 114 to adjust the dynamic range of the received power. The AGC header 444 is optional, which means that in some embodiments, the data burst 440A may not include the AGC header 444.

[0277] The quick wake-up signal 442 and the optional AGC header 444 are sent at step 402 (although the AGC header 444 can alternatively be considered as being sent at step 404).

[0278] In some embodiments, when data burst 440A includes multiple DL data fields 446 (e.g., DL data fields 446-1 to 446-4 shown in FIG. 9), the DL data fields 446 can be divided into, for example, a first DL dataset 446A (sent at step 404) containing one or more DL data fields 446-1 and 446-2, and a second DL dataset 446B (sent at step 410) containing one or more DL data fields 446-3 and 446-4. The first DL dataset 446A and the second DL dataset 446B are time-separated by a time interval 454, so that the UE 114 sends UL feedback to the TRP 102, including uplink control information (UCI) and / or UL data 462 (indicated by dashed lines). A time gap 464 (referred to as a "DL / UL switching gap") can be maintained between adjacent datasets and UCI / UL data 462, for example, a time gap 464A between the first DL dataset 446A and UCI / UL data 462, and a time gap 464B between UCI / UL data 462 and the second DL dataset 446B, to reduce or eliminate interference. The time gap 464 can be configured according to, for example, the switching time required by the device and / or propagation delay.

[0279] In some embodiments, each of one or more DL data fields 446 may include one or more data symbols and one or more RS symbols, wherein the one or more RS symbols may include any suitable RS, such as DMRS, phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), and / or channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), etc. Furthermore, the one or more RS symbols may be in any suitable location in the DL data field 446, such as in a dedicated symbol location, or multiplexed with data symbols in the same OFDM symbol.

[0280] Figure 10 illustrates the structure of a DL data burst 440A transmitted from TRP 102 to UE 114 in a fast wake-up and data transmission method 400A according to some embodiments of the present invention, wherein TRP 102 has full-duplex capability or subband full-duplex capability. The DL data burst 440A includes multiple fields, such as WUS 442, an optional AGC header 444, and one or more DL data fields 446 (e.g., DL data fields 446-1 to 446-4), which are similar to those shown in Figure 9. Similarly, the DL data fields 446 can be divided into a first DL dataset 446A (transmitted at step 404) containing one or more DL data fields 446-1 and 446-2, and a second DL dataset 446B (transmitted at step 410) containing one or more DL data fields 446-3 and 446-4.

[0281] UCI and UL data fields 462 (similar to the data fields shown in Figure 9) can be transmitted from UE 114 to TRP 102 within the duration of the first DL dataset 446A (e.g., within the duration of the second DL data field 446-2 after a delay 464 from the start time of the second DL data field 446-2), and can occupy a portion of the bandwidth (as shown in Figure 10) or the entire bandwidth. The time / frequency resources used for transmitting UCI and UL data fields 462 during the DL data transmission cycle can be pre-configured or notified via a wake-up signal or subsequent DCI signal. The delay 464 can be configured by RRC and can be updated by DCI.

[0282] Figure 11 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of a fast wake-up and data transmission method 400B performed by TRP 102 and UE 114 according to some embodiments of the present invention. The fast wake-up and data transmission method is used to wake up TRP 102 in sleep state 344 and send one or more UL datasets from UE 114 to TRP 102 (i.e., UL data transmission) before TRP 102 transitions to connected state 342.

[0283] At step 402, TRP 102 is woken up, for example, by a fast wake-up signal (e.g., a wake-up preamble) sent from UE 114 to TRP 102. At step 404, a first UL dataset (i.e., a first data transmission) having one or more UL data fields is sent from UE 114 to TRP 102. The first UL dataset is organized according to a self-contained data burst structure and includes a self-contained multipurpose RS, which includes channel estimation, channel acquisition, phase noise compensation, and / or time and frequency synchronization, etc.

[0284] In these embodiments, data transmission may begin with unlicensed (also referred to as “configuration-licensed”) transmission (e.g., transmission in the first one or more time slots is unlicensed), with information obtained from a communication parameter map stored in UE 114 (e.g., MIMO-related information), and subsequent data transmission may be licensed transmission.

[0285] At step 406, TRP 102 receives the first UL dataset and performs channel measurements based on the first UL dataset. For example, the CSI can be updated based on the received first UL dataset (or RS therein), DMRS, decoded data, and / or new environment / channel awareness results, etc.

[0286] At step 408, TRP 102 uses updated channel measurements to optimize the connection between UE 114 and TRP 102, such as BF optimization, MIMO optimization, and / or link adaptation, for subsequent UL data transmission (e.g., a second UL dataset). Those skilled in the art will understand that the “optimization” in this step is based on updated channel measurements and does not necessarily achieve an optimization result that maximizes data transmission performance (which will ultimately be achieved in the connected state). However, this “limited” optimization can be repeated in subsequent data transmissions to achieve progressive link adaptation.

[0287] For example, in BF and / or MIMO optimization, the MCS can be adjusted based on updated channel measurements used for subsequent UL data transmission. Furthermore, BF and / or MIMO optimization can be based on one or more updated channel measurements, one or more new environmental and / or channel awareness results, the required data rate, and / or one or more energy-saving requirements, etc. TRP 102 can send to UE 114 the updated one or more channel measurements and / or optimized one or more communication parameters obtained in steps 406 and 408.

[0288] After the first data transmission step 404, UE 114 can return to "sleep" (i.e., remain in sleep state 344) without waiting for feedback from TRP.

[0289] Alternatively, at step 410, UE 114 may receive feedback from TRP to determine whether a retransmission is necessary. UE 114 also receives one or more optimized communication parameters from TRP 102 and uses the received optimized communication parameters to send more data.

[0290] Figure 12 illustrates the structure of a UL data burst 500A transmitted from UE 114 to TRP 102 in a fast wake-up and data transmission method 400B according to some embodiments of the present invention. As shown, the UL data burst 500A includes multiple fields, such as a fast wake-up preamble 502 (or simply referred to as a “preamble”), which includes a fast wake-up signal for waking up TRP 102, an optional AGC header 504, and a set of one or more UL data fields 506 (including, for example, UL data fields 506-1 and 506-2, each of which may include one or more RSs). The preamble 502 and the optional AGC header 504 are transmitted at step 402 as shown in Figure 11, and the UL dataset 506 (i.e., the first data transmission) is transmitted at step 404. A DL ACK 508 may be transmitted from TRP 102 to UE 114 after a DL / UL handover gap 510 starting from the end time of the UL dataset 506. In this example, UE 114 receives one or more updated transmission parameters from TRP 102 and keeps itself in a sleep state after the first data transmission 404.

[0291] The preamble 502 can be used for UL timing synchronization, UE identification, initial channel estimation and / or acquisition, location measurement or update, and / or sense measurement or update, etc. In some embodiments, the preamble is also used as a WUS to wake up TRP 102. Alternatively, the WUS used to wake up TRP 102 can be used as the preamble 502.

[0292] In some embodiments, the power control when transmitting preamble 502 can be configured semi-statically based on, for example, the long-term path loss of the UE (e.g., system information block (SIB) or RRC, etc.), or can be configured by the UE 114 or otherwise determined.

[0293] The AGC header 504 is optional, meaning that in some embodiments, the UL data burst 500A includes the AGC header 504 for adjusting the dynamic range of the received power in the TRP 102, or in some other embodiments, the UL data burst 500A does not include any AGC header 504.

[0294] Similar to DL data field 446, in some embodiments, UL data field 506 (e.g., first UL data field 506-1 or second UL data field 506-2) may include one or more data symbols and one or more RS symbols (wherein, the RS symbol may be any suitable RS, such as DMRS and / or SRS, etc.), and may also include one or more DCI subfields. Furthermore, one or more RS symbols may be in any suitable location within UL data field 506, such as in a dedicated symbol location, or multiplexed with data symbols in the same OFDM symbol or DFT-s-OFDM symbol.

[0295] Figure 13 illustrates the structure of a UL data burst 500A transmitted from UE 114 to TRP 102 in a fast wake-up and data transmission method 400B according to some embodiments of the present invention. As shown, the UL data burst 500A includes multiple fields, such as a preamble 502 for a fast wake-up signal to wake up TRP 102, an optional AGC header 504, and a set of one or more UL data fields 506. The preamble 502 and the optional AGC header 504 are transmitted at step 402 as shown in Figure 11. One or more UL data fields 506 include, for example, a first UL dataset 506A (including one or more UL data fields, such as UL data fields 506-1 and 506-2) (i.e., the first data transmission) transmitted at step 404, and a second UL dataset 506B (including one or more UL data fields, such as UL data fields 506-3 and 506-4) (i.e., the second data transmission) transmitted at step 410.

[0296] The first UL dataset 506A and the second UL dataset 506B are time-separated by a period of time 512, so that TRP 102 sends DL feedback 508 (which can be DCI and DL ACK) to UE 114. DL / UL handover gaps 510 can be maintained between adjacent data burst portions and UCI / UL data 462, for example, DL / UL handover gap 510A between the first UL dataset 506A and DCI / DL ACK 508, and DL / UL handover gap 510B between DCI / DL ACK 508 and the second UL dataset 506B, to reduce or eliminate interference. DL / UL handover gaps 510 can be configured according to, for example, the handover time required by the device and / or propagation delay.

[0297] Figure 14 illustrates the structure of a UL data burst 500A transmitted from UE 114 to TRP 102 in a fast wake-up and data transmission method 400B according to some embodiments of the present invention. As shown, the UL data burst 500A includes multiple fields, such as a preamble 502 for a fast wake-up signal to wake up TRP 102, an optional AGC header 504, and one or more UL data fields 506. The preamble 502 and the optional AGC header 504 are transmitted at step 402 as shown in Figure 11. One or more UL data fields 506 include, for example, a first UL dataset 506A (including one or more UL data fields, such as UL data fields 506-1 and 506-2) (i.e., the first data transmission) transmitted at step 404, and a second UL dataset 506B (including one or more UL data fields, such as UL data fields 506-3 and 506-4) (i.e., the second data transmission) transmitted at step 410.

[0298] DCI and DL ACK 508 (similar to DCI and DL ACK 508 shown in Figure 12) can be transmitted from TRP 102 to UE 114 within the duration of the first UL dataset 506A (e.g., within the duration of the second UL data field 506-2 after a delay 510 from the start time of the second UL data field 506-2), and can occupy a portion of the bandwidth (as shown in Figure 14) or the entire bandwidth. The DL / UL handover gap 510 can be configured by RRC and can be updated by DCI.

[0299] Figure 15 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of a fast wake-up and data transmission method 400C performed by TRP 102 and UE 114 according to some embodiments of the present invention. This fast wake-up and data transmission method is used to wake up TRP 102 and UE 114 from a sleep state 344 and to transmit one or more UL datasets from UE 114 to TRP 102 (i.e., UL data transmission) and one or more DL datasets from TRP 102 to UE 114 (i.e., DL data transmission) before TRP 102 and UE 114 transition to a connected state 342. In these embodiments, TRP 102 may transmit DL data burst 440 (e.g., any one of the described DL data bursts 440A or 440B) to UE 114 using a DL carrier, and substantially simultaneously, UE 114 may transmit UL data burst 500 (e.g., any one of the described DL data bursts 500A or 500B) to TRP 102 using a UL carrier, thereby achieving full-duplex (FD) or subband FD fast wake-up and data transmission. DL data burst 440 and UL data burst 500 thus form a virtual FD pair 520.

[0300] The fast wake-up and data transmission method 400C is essentially a combination of the fast wake-up and data transmission methods 400A and 400B shown in Figures 8 and 11. More specifically, step 402 corresponds to the step of the fast wake-up and data transmission method 400A shown in Figure 9 and the corresponding step of the fast wake-up and data transmission method 400B, and each of steps 404 and 410 is, for example, a combination of the corresponding step of the fast wake-up and data transmission method 400A shown in Figure 8 and the corresponding step of the fast wake-up and data transmission method 400B shown in Figure 11. Steps 406 and 408 of the fast wake-up and data transmission method 400C can be performed by TRP 102, UE 104, or both.

[0301] The structures of the UL and DL data bursts in these embodiments are shown in Figures 16A and 16B. The difference is that in Figure 16A, TRP 102 sends a fast wake-up signal 442 to UE 114 via the DL carrier, while in Figure 16B, UE 114 sends a wake-up preamble 502 to TRP 102.

[0302] In some embodiments similar to the one shown in Figure 8, UE 114 may send a wake-up preamble to TRP 102, and then TRP 102 may send one or more data fields 446 to UE 114 in a manner similar to that described above.

[0303] In some embodiments similar to the one shown in Figure 11, TRP 102 may send a fast wake-up signal to UE 114, and then UE 114 may send one or more data fields 446 to TRP 102 in a manner similar to that described above.

[0304] As shown in Figure 17, the fast wake-up and data transmission methods 400A to 400C can be summarized as follows: Fast wake-up and data transmission method 400 includes the following steps: • Fast wake-up signal transmission and reception (step 402), which can be DL transmission (from TRP 102 to UE 114) or UL transmission (from UE 114 to TRP 102); • First data transmission and reception (step 404), which can be DL transmission (from TRP 102 to UE 114) or UL transmission (from UE 114 to TRP 102); • Channel measurement update, MIMO optimization, and link adaptation (steps 406 and 408); • Second data transmission and reception using one or more updated communication parameters (step 410), wherein the transmission direction can be the same as or different from the transmission direction of the first data transmission.

[0305] The fast wake-up and data transmission method disclosed in this paper achieves energy saving by simplifying the connection restoration process. The fast wake-up and data transmission method disclosed in this paper has the following technical features: • Single-burst data structure; • Single-step wake-up; • Wake-up-to-communication mechanism; • New initial MCS determination mechanism; • Progressive precoding / BF adaptation and link adaptation.

[0306] More specifically, in various embodiments, the fast wake-up and data transfer method disclosed herein has the following technical features: • A self-contained data burst structure, which simplifies the data burst structure used in conventional wake-up methods (such as existing standards): By using a self-contained data burst structure, the fast wake-up and data transfer method undergoes a wake-up... Data transmission Measurement Update The process of MIMO optimization and link adaptation. The self-contained data burst structure also includes a self-contained multipurpose RS for channel estimation, channel acquisition, phase noise compensation, and / or time and frequency synchronization.

[0307] • Fast Paging / Wake-up Signals (FPPS) reduce the steps of traditional wake-up methods or combine several steps of traditional wake-up methods. FPPS can include a two-stage paging / wake-up signal, where the first stage is used for wake-up and the second stage is used for the first data burst scheduling. FPPS can carry timing indications and one or more initial transmission parameters such as MCS, QCLed beamforming, one or more QoS-related parameters such as latency, and / or one or more reliability requirements. FPPS can provide different wake-up time budgets based on the length of sleep.

[0308] • Single data transmission, including various UE behaviors and signaling designs, such as: ○ Immediate communication after wake-up (reducing signaling interaction) to achieve “communicate on arrival” without state transition, grant-free (GF) first UL data transmission and grant-based (GB) subsequent data transmission (e.g., second data transmission).

[0309] ○ A single data transmission based on information from a paging and / or local communication parameter map, which provides, for example, an initial BF / MIMO configuration and an initial MCS.

[0310] ○ Perform BF / MIMIO optimized CSI updates for subsequent data transmissions in the same data burst based on feedback from the first received data / reference signal (e.g., based on DMRS or based on decoded data).

[0311] ○ BF / MIMO optimization based on channel measurement feedback, for adjusting the MCS according to channel measurement feedback for subsequent data transmission in the same data burst and rate-compatible HARQ based on rateless coding, to approach the optimal MCS.

[0312] • Link adaptation: Through link adaptation, the initial MCS can be selected based on long-term channel estimates obtained from, for example, a communication parameter map or previous channel measurement results. In the initial MCS selection, due to potentially imperfect time synchronization, channel quality estimation, and beam management, only a subset of low modulation levels (e.g., QPSK or 16 QAM) may be selected. The initial transmission coding rate does not have the same limitation as the modulation order. Thus, the coding rate and modulation order may not be in the same record (e.g., the same row) of the MCS table, as done in existing standards. For a wide range of coding rates (between the minimum coding rate Rmin and the maximum coding rate Rmax), a flexible rate code (with a fixed payload size K) based on rateless codes (e.g., low-density parity check (LDPC) codes or polar codes) can be used for coding rate adaptation. The transmitter can first transmit N1 bits, and subsequently transmit N2 bits. The receiver can first opportunistically decode the N1 bits, and if the first decoding attempt of the N1 bits fails, jointly decode the N1 + N2 bits. The advantage of rateless coding is that it can automatically adapt to the channel capacity.

[0313] In this paper, a rateless code is a code that can encode K information bits into Nmax code bits, where a subset of Ms (Ms < Nmax) code bits is also a codeword that can be decoded by the decoder. The subset can be obtained in a nested manner. For example, if M1 < M2, the M1 subset is always a subset of the M2 subset. A rateless code can also be referred to as a "nested flexible length code".

[0314] Through link adaptation, the MCS for subsequent data transmission can be adjusted according to newly obtained channel measurement information or previous available information or more accurate sensing results, according to the enhanced MIMO scale or BF precision, optionally according to the soft ACK / NACK carrying decoding quality information or quantized channel measurement information.

[0315] • Low-power paging / wake-up signal, which may be a chirp signal carrying information.

[0316] • Fast feedback: A data burst or data set can include at least one DL / UL or UL / DL switching gap. The fast wake-up and data transmission methods disclosed in this paper can provide full-duplex, sub-band full-duplex, or multi-carrier-based virtual full-duplex transmission to achieve fast feedback without introducing frequent switching between DL and UL.

[0317] • LCM (Live Active Message) signals are used to track UE location and / or maintain basic synchronization, etc. LCM signals can be based on separate low-power Tx / Rx and have configurable monitoring periods.

[0318] • Wake-up signal monitoring can be configured before the UE enters sleep mode.

[0319] D-2. Fast Wake-up and Data Transmission Method with Progressive Self-Link Adaptation The embodiments described below focus on a link-adaptive method for the aforementioned fast wake-up and data transmission method, for self-contained data burst transmission, which may not achieve accurate channel estimation due to insufficient time budget for pilot transmission.

[0320] In traditional methods, accurate channel estimation can be obtained, and near-optimal MCS selection is performed to choose from a predefined set of target coding rates and modulation orders, where the transmitter expects the receiver to successfully decode with a high probability (e.g., 0.9 or higher). Therefore, the coding rate and modulation order are matched to provide good performance. Each record (e.g., each row) in the MCS table represents both the coding rate and the modulation order, with a low coding rate associated with a small modulation order.

[0321] In the following embodiments, the fast wake-up and data transmission method can perform the first data transmission based on inaccurate channel estimation, wherein the MCS is selected for a flexible target coding rate and modulation, and the transmitter (e.g., TRP 102 or UE 114 transmitting data) only expects the receiver (e.g., the corresponding UE 114 or TRP 102 receiving the transmitted data) to make a best effort to decode. The advantage of rateless codes (LDPC codes or polar codes) is that they construct flexible rate codes (with a fixed payload size K) for a wide range of coding rates (between the minimum coding rate Rmin and the maximum coding rate Rmax), providing near-optimal properties at all coding rates within this range and enabling the receiver to decode at any rate below the channel capacity. Therefore, the transmitter can first transmit N1 bits, followed by N2 bits. The receiver can first opportunistically decode N1 bits, and if the first attempt fails, jointly decode N1 + N2 bits.

[0322] The methods disclosed herein can be implemented in next-generation mobile and wireless network services, cloud and edge computing services, and sensing services. These methods may be particularly useful for devices with energy-saving considerations, such as battery-powered phones, tablets, sensors, and / or IoT devices.

[0323] In some embodiments, the fast wake-up and data transfer method uses rateless coding-based HARQ to approximate the optimal MCS and sends at least some of the data bearer and / or control information bearer fields.

[0324] When using HARQ, the data bits to be transmitted are encoded using methods such as LDPC (Forward Error Correction, FEC). The encoded bits are then punctured or rate-matched to select a subset of the encoded bits for transmission or retransmission. The RV (Redirect Resource Controller) determines which encoded bits are selected for transmission / retransmission. Different RVs result in different subsets of encoded bits selected for transmission / retransmission.

[0325] For example, Figure 18 illustrates a conventional RV. As shown, the data bits to be transmitted are encoded using LDPC. The encoded bits are stored in a circular buffer. Each of the RVs (RV0 to RV3) indicates a subset of the encoded bits starting from a predefined bit position.

[0326] When using HARQ, the transmitter first selects an RV (e.g., RV0) for transmission.

[0327] If the receiver successfully receives and decodes the received data (i.e., RV0), the receiver sends an ACK to the transmitter without retransmission.

[0328] If the receiver cannot decode RV0, it stores RV0 and sends a negative acknowledgment (NACK) to the transmitter. The transmitter then selects another RV (e.g., RV1) for retransmission. The receiver receives RV1 and attempts to decode the combination of RV0 and RV1 (denoted as RV0+RV1). If the receiver successfully decodes RV0+RV1, it sends an ACK to the transmitter without retransmission.

[0329] If the receiver cannot decode RV0+RV1, it also stores RV1 and sends a NACK to the transmitter. The transmitter then selects another RV (e.g., RV3) for retransmission. The receiver receives RV3 and attempts to decode the combination of RV0+RV1+RV3. If the receiver successfully decodes RV0+RV1+RV3, it sends an ACK to the transmitter without retransmission.

[0330] This process is repeated until all RVs are sent to the receiver.

[0331] In various embodiments, the data carrying and / or control information carrying data may refer to the fast wake-up signal 442, the first DL dataset 446A (e.g., the first DL data field 446-1 and the second DL data field 446-2), the second DL dataset 446B, the fast wake-up preamble 502, the first UL dataset 506A (e.g., the first UL data field 506-1 and the second UL data field 506-2), and / or the second UL dataset 506B.

[0332] As described above, the fast wake-up signal 442 can be a control information carrying signal. For example, in some embodiments, the fast wake-up signal 442 is in a simplified DCI format (e.g., with fewer fields or bits compared to a conventionally scheduled DCI, which may be feasible because the fast wake-up signal 442 is used to schedule the initial transmission under estimated channel conditions, and because it reduces transmission capabilities such as MIMO, bandwidth, and / or MCS).

[0333] The fast wake-up signal 442 can be a two-level fast wake-up signal, including a first-level WUS such as a first-level paging signal for waking up a receiving device (e.g., UE 114) and a second-level WUS such as a second-level paging signal for scheduling the transmission of a first DL dataset 446A.

[0334] More specifically, the second-level WUS may include indications of time-frequency resources (e.g., DCI, including the total number of one or more time slots and / or the index of one or more time slots, bandwidth, and / or carrier index or indication, etc.) for each of the one or more DL data fields of the first DL dataset 446A, initial BF and / or MIMO information, initial MCS and / or HARQ, etc. Optionally, the second-level WUS may also include indications of the configuration of a positioning reference signal (PRS), CSI-RS, and / or other measurement reference signals. Optionally, the second-level WUS may also include an absolute timing reference.

[0335] The use of a two-stage fast wake-up signal can further reduce wake-up signal detection power consumption, because the second-stage WUS is only executed after the first-stage WUS is successfully detected. Since the first-stage WUS does not contain control information, it can simply be, for example, a sequence or other type of signature. Of course, in some embodiments, the fast wake-up signal 442 can be a single-stage WUS containing, for example, control information and a UE ID.

[0336] Similarly, the fast wake-up preamble 502 may also contain control information for the first UL dataset 506A.

[0337] Taking the fast wake-up signal 442 or the fast wake-up preamble 502 (both referred to as "fast wake-up signal" for ease of description) as an example, the fast wake-up and data transmission method uses HARQ with rateless coding (e.g., LDPC code or polar code) and flexible RVs to encode and transmit at least the control information bearer portion of the fast wake-up signal (e.g., the second level WUS if the fast wake-up signal is a two-level fast wake-up signal), wherein multiple flexible RVs of the rateless fast wake-up signal are used for transmission and, if necessary, for one or more retransmissions.

[0338] Those skilled in the art will understand that any suitable rateless coding method can be used to encode the wake-up signal.

[0339] For example, in some embodiments where the wake-up signal is very short (e.g., shorter than a first length threshold, such as 10 bits), the wake-up signal may not be encoded using a rateless coding method. Instead, a suitable method, such as Manchester coding or on-off keying (OOK), can be used to digitally modulate the wake-up signal. Of course, in some other embodiments, a rateless coding method can also be used to encode the very short wake-up signal using Manchester coding or OOK.

[0340] In some embodiments where the wake-up signal is short (e.g., shorter than a second length threshold (e.g., 1000 bits), but longer than a first length threshold), polar codes can be used to encode the wake-up signal.

[0341] In some embodiments where the wake-up signal is long (e.g., longer than a second length threshold, which may occur, for example, when the wake-up signal is jointly encoded with a first dataset; described in more detail below), LDPC codes may be used to encode the wake-up signal (or more specifically, to jointly encode the wake-up signal and the first dataset).

[0342] After encoding, multiple RVs are defined within the encoded bits. In other words, each of the multiple RVs comprises a different subset of the encoded bits. As described above, a first RV can be sent, and then subsequent RVs can be sent if the previously sent RV is not successfully decoded.

[0343] In these embodiments, each flexible RV has a flexible or variable length (i.e., not a predefined length) and / or is preferably self-decoding. In this document, the term "self-decoding" means that the decoder can decode an RV without relying on another RV (e.g., a previously received RV). The length of the flexible RV can vary depending on the rateless coding method used and is determined before transmitting the flexible RV according to available time and frequency resources.

[0344] In other words, the multiple flexible RVs include: a first set of one or more RVs for initial transmission, which, if the first set includes multiple RVs, is used for the first one or more retransmissions of the wake-up signal; and a second set of one or more RVs for subsequent retransmissions. The first set of RVs is preferably more robust and self-decoding than the second set of RVs. For example, if LDPC codes are used, each of the first set of RVs may include at least some system bits, regardless of the length of the RV, while the second set of RVs does not have this requirement.

[0345] As shown in Figure 19A, in these embodiments, the starting bit position of the first transmitted RV (e.g., RV0) can be predefined or randomly selected (e.g., starting from the b0th coded bit). Each subsequent transmitted RV starts from the bit position immediately following the end position of the previously transmitted RV. For example, the second transmitted RV (e.g., RV1) starts from the (b0+L0)th coded bit (where L0 is the length of RV0); the third transmitted RV (e.g., RV2) starts from the (b0+L0+L1)th coded bit; and so on. Those skilled in the art will understand that the total length of the transmitted RVs can be equal to the length of the coded bits (as shown in Figure 19A), shorter than the length of the coded bits (meaning some coded bits are not transmitted), or longer than the length of the coded bits (meaning some coded bits are transmitted more than once).

[0346] Because the intervals between consecutive transmissions are very short, consecutively transmitted / retransmitted RVs can also be considered or regarded as different parts of the same RV (transmitted separately). For example, consecutively transmitted RV0 and RV1 in Figure 19A can be regarded as two parts of the same RV0 in Figure 19B, RV0-1 and RV0-2. Consecutively transmitted RV2 and RV3 in Figure 19A can be regarded as two parts of the same RV1 in Figure 19B, RV1-1 and RV1-2.

[0347] In some embodiments, the encoded bits may not need to be placed in a circular buffer. Instead, the encoded bits can be arranged linearly, as shown in Figure 20. Multiple RVs (e.g., RV0, RV1, RV2, and RV3) can be defined as described above, wherein the first RV, RV0, starts from the first encoded bit, each subsequently transmitted RV starts from the bit position immediately following the end position of the previously transmitted RV, and the last RV, RV3, ends before or at the last encoded bit. In other words, the sum of the lengths of the multiple RVs is less than or equal to the length of the encoded bits, for example, L0 + L1 + L2 + L3 ≤ L E Where L0, L1, L2, and L3 are the lengths of RV0, RV1, Rv2, and RV3, respectively, and L... E It is the length of the encoded bits.

[0348] In some embodiments, not all RVs must start from the next bit position immediately following the end position of the previously sent RV, and subsets of consecutive RVs may overlap in a manner similar to regular RVs as shown in Figure 18 (i.e., a subsequently sent RV may start before the end position of the previously sent RV).

[0349] Other data-carrying and / or control information-carrying fields can be encoded and sent in a similar manner.

[0350] Therefore, for data bearer or control information bearer fields, such as the transmitter of TRP 102, its RV can be sent to a receiver such as UE 114. UE 114 receives the RV and sends a soft ACK / NACK back to the transmitter based on the decoding result. Then, TRP 102 decides whether to send another RV for the same field or continue sending the next field.

[0351] In some embodiments, the RV may further include one or more pilot symbols and / or subcarriers, which the UE 114 may use to update channel measurements for feedback to the TRP via soft ACK / NACK. The TRP 102 may refine the MCS for subsequent transmissions based on the newly acquired channel measurement information.

[0352] In some embodiments, decoding of the transmitted RV can be used to obtain more accurate channel estimation results. For example, the MCS of subsequent RVs can be obtained based on soft ACK / NACK information fed back to the transmitter, which includes decoding quality information of the transmitted RV or quantized channel measurement information.

[0353] In some embodiments, each data bearer and / or control information bearer field can be encoded individually or jointly. For example, the fast wake-up signal and the first dataset can be concatenated into a block for rateless encoding as described above.

[0354] In some embodiments, the fast wake-up and data transmission method uses a rateless code (e.g., a polar code or an LDPC code) with multiple flexible RVs to transmit at least some of the data bearer and / or control information bearer fields.

[0355] For example, Figure 21 shows a portion of the DL data burst 440A. In these embodiments, the fast wake-up signal 442 includes a first-level chirp-based wake-up signal 442A and a second-level wake-up signal. The second-level wake-up signal and the first DL dataset are jointly encoded using LDPC (e.g., LDPC as defined in 5G NR), where multiple RVs are defined for this purpose as described above.

[0356] TRP 102 transmits multiple RVs 702A and 702B (and optional 702C) of the second-level wake-up signal and the first DL dataset as part of a DL data burst 440A, instead of transmitting one RV and waiting for ACK or NACK to decide whether to transmit subsequent RVs. The first RV 702A immediately follows the first-level wake-up signal 442A, both being self-contained transmissions. The second RV 702B and the optional third RV 702C are also subsequently transmitted, which is helpful because the probability of decoding failure of the first RV 702A on the UE side may be high.

[0357] UE 114 receives RVs 702A to 702C and sends a soft ACK / NACK to the transmitter based on the joint decoding result of the received RVs 702A to 702C. Then, TRP 102 decides whether to send another RV of the same field or continue sending the next field.

[0358] In some embodiments, at least one of RV 702A to 702C may further include pilot symbols and / or subcarriers, which can be used by UE 114 to update channel measurements to feed back to TRP via soft ACK / NACK. TRP 102 can refine the MCS for subsequent transmissions based on the newly acquired channel measurement information.

[0359] In some embodiments, decoding of RVs 702A to 702C can be used to obtain more accurate channel estimation results. For example, the MCS of subsequent RVs can be obtained based on soft ACK / NACK information fed back to the transmitter, which includes decoding quality information of RVs 702A to 702C, or quantized channel measurement information.

[0360] Because the first transmission may suffer from severe signal distortion, which can be detrimental to soft combination decoding with subsequent transmissions, the RVs transmitted in the first and second transmissions (e.g., RVs 702A and 702B shown in Figure 21) can be self-decoding RVs. For example, in 5G NR LDPC, two self-decoding RVs with RV IDs 0 and 2 can be used for the first and second RV transmissions. RVs in subsequent transmissions may not require self-decoding capability.

[0361] In some embodiments, code-block (CB) external coding can be further applied to rateless code blocks to generate multiple RVs with different parity CBs. The coding gain is generated by the larger total code length resulting from coupling multiple CBs.

[0362] More specifically, as shown in Figure 22, the large data bearer and / or control information bearer field 712 can be divided into multiple CBs 714. Each CB 714 is encoded using a rateless coding method to obtain multiple RVs 716. Each RV 716 has its own parity check.

[0363] TRP 102 may transmit RV 716 for at least a subset of CB 714 each time, and if a NACK is received from UE 114, retransmit the cross-CB RV for at least a subset of CB 714.

[0364] For example, as shown in Figure 23, in the first transmission, TRP 103 sends multiple RVs 716A to 716D, each RV for a corresponding CB 714A to 714D in the data bearer and / or control information bearer field 712. Then, if TRP 102 receives a NACK 718 from UE 114, TRP 102 generates a cross-connect CB RV 720 for the combination of CBs 714A to 714D, and retransmits the cross-connect CB RV 720 in the second transmission (i.e., the first retransmission).

[0365] In the above description, DL data burst 440A is used as an example. Those skilled in the art will understand that the same rateless coding method can also be used for DL ​​data burst 440B, UL data burst 500A and / or UL data burst 500B.

[0366] In some embodiments, the fast wake-up and data transmission method may use progressive link adaptation to approach the optimal MCS. In these embodiments, the fast wake-up and data transmission method may first perform an initial MCS selection based on a long-term channel estimate for the first transmission of the data bearer and control information bearer fields (e.g., a second-level wake-up signal), and then progressively adjust the MCS in subsequent transmissions of the data bearer and control information bearer fields.

[0367] During the initial MCS selection, the transmitter (e.g., TRP 102 or UE 114) may utilize historical channel statistics or measurements (e.g., obtained from a communication parameter map). However, these measurements may be outdated and inaccurate, and may have other problems, such as potentially imperfect time synchronization, channel quality estimation, and beam management.

[0368] In some embodiments, when at least one of TRP 102 and UE 114 is in a sleep state, the fast wake-up and data transmission method may use a long-term MCS with a lower maximum modulation order to transmit data bearer and control information bearer fields.

[0369] More specifically, in these embodiments, the long-term MCS can be defined separately to determine the coding rate and modulation order of the first transmission of the data bearer and control information bearer fields for the following reasons: • Due to the opportunistic nature of the initial transmission, a coding rate higher than the standard can be selected. If channel conditions are good and channel estimation is accurate, the transmission can be successfully decoded. In the event of initial decoding failure, subsequent transmissions can be used for soft combination.

[0370] • Due to inaccurate channel estimation, signal distortion occurs. A lower modulation order than the standard can be chosen to better distinguish different symbols in a QAM constellation. Furthermore, a lower modulation order also takes into account subsequent transmissions, which can result in a lower effective coding rate.

[0371] Compared to the traditional MCS table (which can be used in the connected state), each row of the long-term MCS table includes a modulation order below the standard and a coding rate above the standard.

[0372] More specifically, the long-term MCS table includes only low modulation orders, such as 1, 2, and / or 4 (i.e., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), and / or 16-constellation quadrature amplitude modulation (16 QAM)). Each modulation order in the long-term MCS table corresponds to one or more channel coding rates. For each modulation order, its corresponding minimum channel coding rate is higher than the minimum channel coding rate corresponding to the same modulation order in the MCS table used in connected states (e.g., a conventional MCS table).

[0373] For example, Table 1 shows an example of a long-term MCS table. The maximum modulation order in the table is 4 or 16 QAM. The minimum channel coding rate for modulation order 2 is 340 (i.e., 340 / 1024 = 0.33), which is higher than the minimum channel coding rate of 120 or 30 for modulation order 2 in the traditional MCS table used in 5G NR. The minimum channel coding rate for modulation order 4 is 567 (i.e., 567 / 1024 = 0.55), which is higher than the minimum channel coding rate of 340 or 378 for modulation order 4 in the traditional MCS table used in 5G NR.

[0374]

[0375] In some embodiments, the fast wake-up and data transmission method may use an MCS table (referred to as a "connected-state MCS table"; e.g., a conventional MCS table) designed for use when both TRP 102 and UE 114 are in a connected state for transmissions, such as the first transmission of the data bearer and control information bearer fields, when at least one of TRP 102 and UE 114 is in a sleep state. In these embodiments, the fast wake-up and data transmission method uses different or additional methods (compared to conventional methods) to determine the coding rate and modulation order for the first transmission of the data bearer and control information bearer fields.

[0376] More specifically, when the connected-state MCS table is used for the first transmission of the data and control information bearer fields, the fast wake-up and data transmission method applies an upper bound (e.g., less than or equal to 4) to the modulation order selected for robust demodulation purposes. This upper bound is much smaller than the maximum modulation order in the connected-state MCS table (e.g., 10 (i.e., 1024 QAM)).

[0377] On the other hand, since the transmitter does not entirely depend on successful decoding in the first transmission, the initial channel coding rate does not need to be limited to the channel coding rate corresponding to the modulation order selected in the connected state MCS table, and a higher channel coding rate can be selected. For example, in some embodiments, the initial channel coding rate can be determined by the estimated CQI. Therefore, the selected coding rate and modulation order may not be in the same row of the connected state MCS table.

[0378] Figure 24 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of a fast wake-up and data transmission method for selecting the coding rate and modulation order from the connection state MCS table for the first transmission of the data bearer and control information bearer fields. Figure 25 is an example of signal transmission using the fast wake-up and data transmission method shown in Figure 24.

[0379] After sending the first-level wake-up signal 442A, step 722 is executed. At step 722, the transmitter uses the MCS index to look up the connection state MCS table to select the channel coding rate. The MCS index can be a predefined MCS index used for the first transmission or an MCS index based on the estimated channel (e.g., based on CSI).

[0380] At step 724, if the modulation order associated with the selected channel coding rate in the connection state MCS table is greater than or more than the upper bound (the "Yes" branch of step 724), then the upper bound is selected as the modulation order (step 726).

[0381] If the modulation order associated with the selected channel coding rate in the connection state MCS table is not greater than the upper bound (the "No" branch of step 724), then the modulation order associated with the selected channel coding rate in the connection state MCS table is selected as the modulation order (step 728).

[0382] At step 730, the selected channel coding rate and modulation order are used for the first RV to perform the first transmission (702A in FIG23).

[0383] As mentioned above, decoding of the first RV at the receiver side may be opportunistic, with a high failure probability. However, the receiver can use the first RV to refine synchronization and channel estimation, and provide channel measurement feedback through soft ACK / NACK.

[0384] After the first RV transmission, the transmitter can receive channel measurement feedback from the receiver via soft ACK / NACK. Therefore, subsequent RV transmissions, such as the second RV transmission 702B and the third RV transmission 702C in Figure 23 (if the previous RV transmission failed), can use the connection state MCS table in the same way as conventional methods so that the overall transmission gradually approaches the optimal MCS.

[0385] In the above embodiments, various embodiments of a fast wake-up and data transmission method with progressive self-linking adaptation are disclosed, wherein the fast wake-up and data transmission method may include some or all of the following features: • rateless coding based on coarse initial channel estimation ○ Adjustment of MCS according to channel measurement feedback for subsequent data transmission in the same data burst.

[0386] ○ Use rateless coding-based HARQ to approximate the optimal MCS based on channel measurement feedback.

[0387] • Link Adaptive ○ Selection based on the initial MCS based on long-term channel estimation.

[0388] ○ The subsequent data transmission MCS can be adjusted.

[0389] The fast wake-up and data transmission method with progressive self-link adaptation disclosed in this paper can provide various advantages, such as: • low power consumption ○ reduced lengthy wake-up processes and state transitions in traditional methods.

[0390] • Improve spectral efficiency and reduce latency. ○ If one or more initial channel parameters are accurate, the initial transmission can be fast and decoding can be successful.

[0391] ○ If one or more initial channel parameters are inaccurate, the received signal can still be soft-combined with the subsequently received signal.

[0392] ○ High spectrum utilization.

[0393] As those skilled in the art will understand, state transitions typically incur some overhead. Therefore, in some embodiments, TRP 102 and / or UE 114 do not transition between different states. Instead, TRP 102 and / or UE 114 may perform the fast wake-up and data transmission methods disclosed herein when at least one of TRP 102 and / or UE 114 has limited or reduced power consumption for wireless communication-related activities (in other words, has limited or reduced wireless communication capabilities). After data transmission / reception, the power consumption level of one or more devices for wireless communication-related activities remains unchanged or changes to increased power consumption, less limited power consumption, unlimited power consumption, or even full power consumption (i.e., has enhanced or even full wireless communication capabilities). While devices with limited or reduced power consumption for wireless communication-related activities may resemble the RRC_INACTIVE state and devices, and devices with increased, less limited, unlimited, or even full power consumption for wireless communication-related activities may resemble the RRC_CONNECTED state, the “stateless” embodiments disclosed herein differ significantly from RRC states in that, in the “stateless” embodiments disclosed herein, devices do not require state transitions, thereby eliminating the associated overhead.

[0394] As those skilled in the art will understand, the various devices, equipment, components, and / or modules that perform communication functions in the communication system 100 can generally be referred to as "communication nodes" or simply "nodes". For example, TRP 102 and UE 114 are communication nodes, wherein TRP 102 can also be referred to as a "network node" or "access node" because TRP 102 provides UE access to RAN 102 or otherwise enables UE access to RAN 102.

[0395] The above methods are applicable to a wide range of communication networks, such as 5G+, 6G, Wi-Fi® (Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance in Austin, Texas, USA), non-terrestrial networks (NTN), and distributed or self-organizing networks.

[0396] E. Acronyms

[0397] F. Definition of some terms In this document, the term “single self-contained data transmission” or “single data transmission” specifically refers to a simplified process for rapid data transmission, including receiving a wake-up signal, performing minimum channel measurements, and sending / receiving a relatively small amount of data.

[0398] In this document, the term “predefined” (e.g., “predefined item” such as “predefined” parameter) refers to an item defined prior to the execution of the fast wake-up and data transfer method disclosed herein (e.g., defined as system design parameters, such as those defined by relevant standards).

[0399] In this document, the term "pre-configuration" (e.g., a "pre-configuration item" such as a "pre-configuration" parameter) refers to an item configured before something even happens (e.g., by TRP 102). For example, in some embodiments, pre-configuration items may be configured before TRP 102 and / or UE 114 enter a power reduction or sleep state. In some embodiments, pre-configuration items may be configured before sending a wake-up signal or wake-up preamble.

[0400] In this document, each of the expressions “at least one of A, B and C” and “at least one of A, B or C” means “A, B, C or a combination thereof”, or “at least one selected from the group A, B and C”.

[0401] This document describes various embodiments of the fast wake-up and data transmission method. In these various embodiments, the fast wake-up and data transmission method disclosed herein can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof, and can be implemented in any suitable form. Depending on the functionality of the various features of the method disclosed herein, some features can be implemented on the network side (e.g., in one or more TRPs), some other features can be implemented on the UE side, and / or other features can be implemented simultaneously on both the TRP and UE sides. Depending on the specific functionality of the various features of the method disclosed herein, some features can be implemented on the transmitting side (e.g., in one or more TRPs and / or one or more UEs used for transmitting), some other features can be implemented on the receiving side (e.g., in one or more TRPs and / or one or more UEs used for receiving), and / or other features can be implemented simultaneously on both the transmitting and receiving sides.

[0402] For example, in some embodiments, the fast wake-up and data transfer methods disclosed herein can be implemented as computer-executable instructions (in the form of software, firmware, or a combination thereof) stored in one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices, such that when executed, these instructions cause one or more physical components (e.g., one or more circuits) to perform the fast wake-up and data transfer methods disclosed herein.

[0403] For example, in some embodiments, an apparatus including one or more processors can be used to perform the methods disclosed herein, wherein the one or more processors are functionally connected to one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices or media, the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices or media storing computer-executable instructions of the methods disclosed herein, and the one or more processors can read the computer-executable instructions from the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices or media and execute the instructions to perform the methods disclosed herein.

[0404] In some embodiments, an apparatus may not have any processor or computer-readable storage device or medium. Instead, the apparatus may include any other suitable physical or virtual (explained below) components for implementing the methods disclosed herein.

[0405] In some embodiments, computer-executable instructions for implementing the methods disclosed herein may be one or more computer programs, one or more program products, or a combination thereof.

[0406] In some embodiments, the methods disclosed herein can be implemented as one or more circuits, one or more components, one or more units, one or more modules, one or more integrated-circuit (IC) chips, one or more chipsets, one or more devices, one or more apparatuses, and / or one or more systems, etc.

[0407] One or more circuits, components, units, modules, IC chips, chipsets, devices, apparatuses, or systems can be physical, virtual, or a combination thereof. In this document, the term "virtual" (e.g., "virtual device") refers to a circuit, component, unit, module, chipset, device, apparatus, system, etc., which is simulated or modeled or otherwise formed using suitable software or firmware to appear "real" or physical.

[0408] Those skilled in the art will understand that the above embodiments and / or their features can be customized, split, and / or combined as needed or required. Furthermore, while embodiments have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art will understand that variations and modifications can be made without departing from the scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication with a second communication node on the side of a first communication node, characterized in that, The power consumption of at least one of the first and second communication nodes for wireless communication-related activities is reduced, the method comprising: transmitting at least a first redundant version of a data slice to the second communication node; wherein the data slice is at least one selected from the group consisting of: at least a first portion of a wake-up signal and a first dataset, the at least first portion of the wake-up signal including control information for the first dataset; wherein the first redundant version is one of a plurality of first candidate redundant versions; wherein each of the first candidate redundant versions includes a different subset of a plurality of first coded bits, the plurality of first coded bits being obtained by encoding the data slice using a first encoding method.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, At least one of the first communication node and the second communication node is in a sleep state during the transmission of the wake-up signal and the transmission of the first dataset.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first encoding method is a first rateless encoding method.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The wake-up signal includes the first part and the second part; wherein, the method further includes: sending the second part of the wake-up signal to the second communication node.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The plurality of first candidate redundancy versions includes at least one pair of consecutive first candidate redundancy versions; wherein, the start bit of the first first candidate redundancy version in the pair of consecutive first candidate redundancy versions is the next bit immediately following the end bit of the second first candidate redundancy version in the pair of consecutive first candidate redundancy versions.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, Each of the first candidate redundant versions has a variable length determined based on available time and frequency resources.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, Also includes: Receive negative confirmation; send a second redundant version.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, Both the first redundant version and the second redundant version are self-decoding.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that, The second redundant version is one of the first candidate redundant versions that is different from the first redundant version.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The plurality of first encoded bits are obtained by encoding at least a first portion of the wake-up signal using the first encoding method.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The length of at least the first portion of the wake-up signal is shorter than a first length threshold; wherein the at least the first portion of the wake-up signal is represented by either Manchester code or an on / off key.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The length of at least the first portion of the wake-up signal is longer than the first length threshold and shorter than the second length threshold; wherein the first encoding method is an encoding method using polar codes.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The length of at least the first portion of the wake-up signal is longer than the second length threshold; wherein the first encoding method is an encoding method using low-density parity-check codes.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The first encoding method is an encoding method that uses either a low-density parity-check code or a polar code.

15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that, The first encoding method is the encoding method using the low-density parity-check code; wherein the first redundancy version includes one or more system bits.

16. The method according to claim 7 or any one of claims 8 to 15 dependent on claim 7, characterized in that, The first redundancy version further includes one or more pilot symbols for obtaining updated channel measurements; wherein the modulation and coding scheme for transmitting the second redundancy version is obtained based on the updated channel measurements.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The modulation and coding scheme used to transmit the second redundant version is obtained based on soft acknowledgment / negative acknowledgment information used to transmit the first redundant version.

18. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, characterized in that, Also includes: A third redundant version of the first dataset is sent to the second communication node; wherein the third redundant version is one of a plurality of second candidate redundant versions; wherein each of the second candidate redundant versions includes a different subset of a plurality of second coded bits, the plurality of second coded bits being obtained by encoding the first dataset using a second encoding method.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, The second encoding method is the second rateless encoding method.

20. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 19, characterized in that, Sending the at least first redundancy version to the second communication node includes sending multiple first candidate redundancy versions of the data slice to the second communication node.

21. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 20, characterized in that, The data slice includes multiple coded blocks; wherein the at least first redundant version includes multiple sets of first redundant versions, each set of first redundant versions corresponding to one of the multiple coded blocks.

22. The method according to claim 21, which is dependent on claim 7, characterized in that, The second redundant version is a redundant version of the combination of the coding blocks corresponding to the plurality of first redundant versions.

23. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 22, characterized in that, Sending the at least first redundant version to the second communication node includes: sending the first redundant version to the second communication node using a modulation order and a coding rate; wherein the modulation order and the coding rate used to send the first redundant version are selected from a modulation and coding scheme table; wherein the modulation and coding scheme table includes a plurality of modulation orders and a plurality of coding rates arranged in a plurality of records; wherein each record includes one of the plurality of modulation orders and one of the plurality of coding rates.

24. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that, The maximum modulation order among the plurality of modulation orders is 4; for records with the same modulation order, the minimum channel coding rate of the record is higher than the minimum channel coding rate corresponding to the same modulation order in the table of connection-state modulation and coding schemes used in the connection state.

25. The method according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that, The modulation and coding scheme table includes the following: 。 26. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that, The coding rate used to transmit the first redundant version is selected from a table of connection-state modulation and coding schemes used in the connection state using a modulation and coding scheme index; wherein, if the modulation order corresponding to the selected coding rate is less than an upper bound, the modulation order used to transmit the first redundant version is the modulation order corresponding to the selected coding rate in the table of connection-state modulation and coding schemes, or if the modulation order corresponding to the selected coding rate is greater than the upper bound, the modulation order used to transmit the first redundant version is the upper bound.

27. A method for wireless communication with a second communication node on the side of a first communication node, characterized in that, The power consumption of at least one of the first and second communication nodes for wireless communication-related activities is reduced, the method comprising: receiving at least a first redundant version of a data slice from the second communication node; wherein the data slice is at least one selected from a group of: a first portion of a wake-up signal and a first dataset, the at least first portion of the wake-up signal including control information for the first dataset; wherein the first redundant version is one of a plurality of first candidate redundant versions; wherein each of the first candidate redundant versions includes a different subset of a plurality of first coded bits, the plurality of first coded bits being obtained by encoding the data slice using a first encoding method.

28. The method according to claim 27, characterized in that, At least one of the first communication node and the second communication node is in a sleep state during the transmission of the wake-up signal and the transmission of the first dataset.

29. The method according to claim 27 or 28, characterized in that, The first encoding method is a first rateless encoding method.

30. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 29, characterized in that, The wake-up signal includes the first part and the second part; wherein, the method further includes: receiving the second part of the wake-up signal from the second communication node.

31. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 30, characterized in that, The plurality of first candidate redundancy versions includes at least one pair of consecutive first candidate redundancy versions; wherein, the start bit of the first first candidate redundancy version in the pair of consecutive first candidate redundancy versions is the next bit immediately following the end bit of the second first candidate redundancy version in the pair of consecutive first candidate redundancy versions.

32. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 31, characterized in that, Each of the first candidate redundant versions has a variable length determined based on available time and frequency resources.

33. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 32, characterized in that, Also includes: Send a negative acknowledgment and receive the second redundant version.

34. The method according to claim 33, characterized in that, Both the first redundant version and the second redundant version are self-decoding.

35. The method according to claim 33 or 34, characterized in that, The second redundant version is one of the first candidate redundant versions that is different from the first redundant version.

36. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 35, characterized in that, The plurality of first encoded bits are obtained by encoding at least a first portion of the wake-up signal using the first encoding method.

37. The method according to claim 36, characterized in that, The length of at least the first portion of the wake-up signal is shorter than a first length threshold; wherein the at least the first portion of the wake-up signal is represented by either Manchester code or an on / off key.

38. The method according to claim 37, characterized in that, The length of at least the first portion of the wake-up signal is longer than the first length threshold and shorter than the second length threshold; wherein the first encoding method is an encoding method using polar codes.

39. The method according to claim 38, characterized in that, The length of at least the first portion of the wake-up signal is longer than the second length threshold; wherein the first encoding method is an encoding method using low-density parity-check codes.

40. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 35, characterized in that, The first encoding method is an encoding method that uses either a low-density parity-check code or a polar code.

41. The method according to claim 39 or 40, characterized in that, The first encoding method is the encoding method using the low-density parity-check code; wherein the first redundancy version includes one or more system bits.

42. The method according to claim 33 or any one of claims 34 to 41 dependent on claim 33, characterized in that, The first redundancy version further includes one or more pilot symbols for obtaining updated channel measurements; wherein the modulation and coding scheme for transmitting the second redundancy version is obtained based on the updated channel measurements.

43. The method according to claim 42, characterized in that, The modulation and coding scheme used to transmit the second redundant version is obtained based on soft acknowledgment / negative acknowledgment information used to transmit the first redundant version.

44. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 43, characterized in that, Also includes: A third redundant version of the first dataset is received from the second communication node; wherein the third redundant version is one of a plurality of second candidate redundant versions; wherein each of the second candidate redundant versions includes a different subset of a plurality of second coded bits, the plurality of second coded bits being obtained by encoding the first dataset using a second encoding method.

45. The method according to claim 44, characterized in that, The second encoding method is the second rateless encoding method.

46. ​​The method according to any one of claims 27 to 45, characterized in that, Receiving the at least first redundant version from the second communication node includes receiving more than one first redundant version of the data slice from the second communication node.

47. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 46, characterized in that, The data slice includes multiple coded blocks; wherein the at least first redundant version includes multiple sets of first redundant versions, each set of first redundant versions corresponding to one of the multiple coded blocks.

48. The method according to claim 47, which is dependent on claim 33, characterized in that, The second redundant version is a redundant version of the combination of the coding blocks corresponding to the plurality of first redundant versions.

49. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 48, characterized in that, Receiving the at least first redundant version from the second communication node includes: receiving the first redundant version from the second communication node using a modulation order and a coding rate for transmitting the first redundant version; wherein the modulation order and the coding rate for transmitting the first redundant version are selected from a modulation and coding scheme table; wherein the modulation and coding scheme table includes a plurality of modulation orders and a plurality of coding rates arranged in a plurality of records; wherein each record includes one of the plurality of modulation orders and one of the plurality of coding rates.

50. The method according to claim 49, characterized in that, The maximum modulation order among the plurality of modulation orders is 4; for records with the same modulation order, the minimum channel coding rate of the record is higher than the minimum channel coding rate corresponding to the same modulation order in the table of connection-state modulation and coding schemes used in the connection state.

51. The method according to claim 49 or 50, characterized in that, The modulation and coding scheme table includes the following: 。 52. The method according to claim 49, characterized in that, The coding rate used to transmit the first redundant version is selected from a table of connection-state modulation and coding schemes used in the connection state using a modulation and coding scheme index; wherein, if the modulation order corresponding to the selected coding rate is less than an upper bound, the modulation order used to transmit the first redundant version is the modulation order corresponding to the selected coding rate in the table of connection-state modulation and coding schemes, or if the modulation order corresponding to the selected coding rate is greater than the upper bound, the modulation order used to transmit the first redundant version is the upper bound.

53. An apparatus, characterized in that, include: One or more processors are functionally connected to one or more memories for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 52.

54. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, Includes a program, wherein when executed by one or more processors, the program causes the one or more processors to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 52.

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