INTERFERENZHANDHABUNG IN JOINT COMMUNICATION AND SENSING (JCAS) -SYSTEMEN

Abstract

Techniques for managing interference in Joint Communication and Sensing (JCAS) systems are described. In one embodiment, a sensing entity maps a first set of detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource lattice, mapping the first set of detection-modulated symbols to a set of comb-structured subcarriers across one or more consecutive OFDM symbols to reduce interference with a second set of modulated symbols within a same frequency bandwidth, and encoding a sensing signal comprising the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Description

RELATED CASE

[0001] This application claims the benefit of and priority to previously filed U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 63 / 423,635, filed November 8, 2022, entitled "INTERFERENCE HANDLING IN JOINT COMMUNICATION AND SENSING (JCAS) SYSTEMS," which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND

[0002] Joint Communication and Sensing (JCAS) is one of the key technologies envisioned for 6G communication systems to support the operation of both communication and sensing functions, potentially improving mutual performance with coordinated operation of the two functions. JCAS presents some unique challenges and design considerations. Regarding the coexistence of communication and sensing operations, a key challenge is to have a flexible design that can operate under different trade-offs in communication and sensing performance and hardware / complexity. Sensing signal resource attributes and structure, as well as resource multiplexing between sensing and communication services, are important parts of this challenge. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 illustrates an example of sensing and communication blocks according to one embodiment. Fig. 2 illustrates an example of intercell interference during detection according to one embodiment. Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary positioning reference signal (PRS) with three base stations according to one embodiment. The Fig. 4A-4D illustrate examples of downlink Comb-N PRS transmission patterns for PRS resources according to one embodiment. Fig. 5 illustrates an example of a range estimation for different target positions beyond the intersymbol interference-free area according to one embodiment. Fig. 6 illustrates an example of orthogonal signal mapping using comb-3 among three neighboring cells according to one embodiment. Fig. 7 illustrates a staggered comb-2 frequency domain resource structure over two consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols according to one embodiment. Fig. 8 illustrates an example of a zero-power channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) and a non-zero-power CSI-RS according to one embodiment. The Fig. 9A-9C illustrate downlink PRS muting options according to one embodiment. Fig. 10 illustrates an interference field of a view of a beam coming from one base station for a second base station according to one embodiment. Fig. Figure 11 illustrates the received interference power of a base station due to a beam from another base station versus azimuth angle of arrival according to one embodiment. Fig. 12 illustrates spatial multiplexing of sensing signals using the interference field of view concept according to one embodiment. Fig. 13 illustrates code domain multiplexing to mitigate intercell interference according to one embodiment. Fig. 14 illustrates user equipment according to one embodiment. Fig. 15 illustrates a base station according to one embodiment. Fig. 16 illustrates a logic flow according to one embodiment. Fig. 17 illustrates a logic flow according to one embodiment. Fig. 18 illustrates a logic flow according to one embodiment. Fig. 19 illustrates a wireless communication system according to one embodiment. Fig. 20 illustrates a wireless communication system according to one embodiment. Fig. 21 illustrates a system according to one embodiment. Fig. 22 illustrates a system according to one embodiment. Fig. 23 illustrates a system according to one embodiment. Fig. 24 illustrates computer-readable media according to one embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0003] Aspects related to the generation and initialization of the sensing signal are described herein, considering cases of both a position reference signal (PRS)-based sensing signal and a newly defined sensing signal. In addition to the aspects of the sensing signal resource and the multiplexing aspect of sensing signal generation (e.g., sequence-based signal generation and initialization), the handling of interference affecting sensing operation for a Joint Communication and Sensing system is described. The same or similar concepts / logic from a PRS design (or other existing communication signals) may also be applicable / extendable to sensing.

[0004] Embodiments may be implemented in various wireless communication systems, such as Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) systems, including, for example, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), 5G New Radio (NR), and 6G cellular networks. Various 3GPP documents define PRS, including specifications covering signal generation, mapping to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resources, and configurations such as muting, for a 5G NR and 6G system, including 3GPP Technical Standards (TS), Technical Reports (TR), Change Requests (CR), and / or Work Items (WI). Various embodiments discussed herein may be implemented in a wireless communication system, such as defined by 3GPP TS 138.214, V17.6.0, titled "NR; Physical Layer Procedures for Data (Release 17)", June 2023; 3GPP TS138.211, V17.5.0, entitled "NR; Physical Channels and Modulation (Release 17)", June 2023; 3GPP TS 37.355 V17.6.0 (2023-09); and other 3GPP standards developed as part of the technology evolution for 6G and 6G standardization. It is understood that the embodiments may be implemented according to other 3GPP TS, TR, CR, and WI, as well as other wireless standards published by other standards entities. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

[0005] The feasibility of reusing a New Radio (NR) positioning reference signal (PRS) for sensing purposes is established, and analogies and differences between the resource attributes of the NR PRS signal, as well as the desired resource structure for the sensing signal, have been identified. Furthermore, certain extensions and improvements to the NR PRS signal design have been made to enable and / or enhance sensing functionality / performance. Based on the similarities between the desired properties and regularities of the sensing signal and the supported patterns and structure of the PRS signal, if a new sensing signal is defined in the next generation of cellular systems, it is likely that it can also be used for positioning, especially if the design considers backward compatibility.Examples of a cellular system may include a system defined according to one or more standards of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) or other wireless standards. From the perspective of resource efficiency and overhead, it may not be desirable for both the positioning signal and the acquisition signal to be transmitted in the system, at least not at the same time. On the other hand, it is also logical to adapt the positioning reference signal to accommodate the acquisition requirements as much as possible. Taking these and other considerations into account, the following disclosure is made.

[0006] The words / abbreviations base station (BS), cell, next-generation B node (gNB), and transmit / receive point (TRP) have been used interchangeably to refer to the network entity that transmits / receives radio signals. Regardless, the concepts described herein are equally applicable to different forms of network entities. The terms sensing entity, sensing entities, sensing and communication entity, or sensing and communication entities are used herein to refer to a base station, cell, gNB, or TRP that performs sensing operations. • Transmit Reception Point (TRP): A set of geographically co-located antennas (for example, an antenna array with one or more antenna elements) that support transmit point and / or receive point functionality. • Transmission Point (TP): A set of geographically co-located transmission antennas (for example, an antenna array with one or more antenna elements) for a cell, part of a cell, or a PRS-only TP. • Transmission points can include base station (e.g., eNodeB) antennas, remote radio heads, a remote base station antenna, an antenna of a PRS-only TP that transmits only PRS signals for PRS-based Transport Block Size (TBS) positioning and is not connected to a cell as defined in 3GPP TS 137.355, and so on. A cell can be formed by one or more transmission points. For homogeneous deployment, each transmission point can correspond to a cell. Potential sensing frameworks / architectures in cellular systems

[0007] In future cellular systems, JCAS operations may be based on a base station (BS), a user equipment (UE), or both the base station and user equipment, depending on different detection applications, use cases, and capabilities. For example, the following cases may exist: • Case 1: The gNB (a New Radio (NR) base station) transmits the sensing radio signal and receives / measures / processes its reflections from objects / the environment in time, frequency, and spatial / angular domains. If the same gNB also receives / measures / processes the reflected signal, the scenario is known herein as a gNB-based monostatic sensing mode. If one or more other gNBs participate in the receiving / measurement / processing, the scenario is known herein as a gNB-based bistatic (multistatic) sensing mode by cooperative network nodes. • Case 2: The gNB transmits the sensing radio signal and the UE receives / measures / processes its reflections (bistatic sensing mode). • Case 3: The UE transmits a sensing radio signal and the same or one or more other UEs receive / measure its reflections (corresponding to UE-based monostatic or bi- / multistatic sensing modes).

[0008] In cases 1 and 2, the sensing signal can be based on the downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS) (or an extended or adapted version of the DL-PRS) or a newly designed sensing signal. It is also possible to combine cases 1 and / or 2, including the case where the UE receives / measures the gNB's radio signal for positioning determination purposes, for example, when the gNB's signal is based on a DL-PRS signal. As can be seen from the above cases, sensing operations can utilize transmission / reception from multiple nodes to perform coordinated environment or neighborhood sensing by multiple gNBs and / or UEs.

[0009] Furthermore, by enabling PRS-based acquisition, the JCAS system can support both base station-based monostatic acquisition and user equipment-based bistatic acquisition, where the base station acts as the PRS signal transmitter and the user equipment acts as the PRS signal acquisition receiver, as well as support user equipment-based positioning.

[0010] The disclosure herein is not limited to any particular sensing architecture or use case and is kept general where possible. In some embodiments, gNB-based sensing is the sensing scenario and architecture. Further, while the air interface signal design may be applicable to monostatic or bi- / multistatic sensing architectures, in some embodiments the air interface signal design is monostatic, with the base station using its own transmitted signals and their reflections to scan / monitor the environment, identify objects / targets, etc. This means that the transmitter and receiver for the sensing node would be the same network element, e.g., the same base station. Similarly, this disclosure is not limited to any particular family of use cases. Overview of the acquisition signal frame structure

[0011] Assume that SCS denotes the subcarrier spacing, K is the slow (Doppler) Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) size, OS denotes the OFDM symbol, and SRI is the symbol repetition interval. It is proposed that the following SRI values ​​and Doppler FFT sizes support the highest possible velocity estimation capabilities under different constraints and meet finer velocity resolutions while keeping the design as simple as possible without compromising the supported sensing performance.

[0012] For all carrier frequencies in a first frequency range (FR1), the following SRI and Doppler FFT quantities (K) are supported: • For SCS=15KHz, {SRI, K} = {7OS, 32}, {7OS, 64} • For SCS=30KHz, {SRI, K} = {14OS, 32}, {14OS, 64}, {7OS, 64}, {7OS, 128} • For SCS=60KHz, {SRI, K} = {28OS, 32}, {28OS, 64}, {14OS, 64}, {14OS, 128}

[0013] These result in an acquisition block duration of =SRI*K= 16.32 ms. For a second frequency range (FR2), the following SRI and Doppler FFT sizes (K) are supported: • For SCS=60kHz, for all carrier frequencies in FR2, {SRI, K} = {7OS, 64}, {7OS, 128}, resulting in an acquisition block duration = SRI*K = 8, 16ms. Furthermore, for a frequency <30GHz in FR2, {SRI, K} = {14OS, 32}, {14OS, 64}, {14OS, 128} are also supported, resulting in an acquisition block duration of 8, 16, 32ms. For a frequency > 50GHz in FR2, {SRI, K} = {7, 256} is also supported, resulting in an acquisition block duration of 32ms. • For SCS=120kHz, for all carrier frequencies in FR2, {SRI, K} = {14OS, 64}, {14OS, 128} are supported, resulting in an acquisition block duration of 8.16ms, and {SRI, K} = {7OS, 64}, {7OS, 128} are also supported, resulting in an acquisition block duration of 4.8ms. Furthermore, for a carrier frequency > 50GHz in FR2, K=256 is also supported, resulting in an acquisition block duration of 32.16ms for SRI = 14OS, 7OS, respectively.

[0014] The number of OFDM symbols in the SRI should provide a good balance between maximum detectable speed, acquisition repetition gain, flexibility / ability to support multiplexing between acquisition and communication, and field of view (FoV) coverage (depending on the desired number of beams and beamwidth). Furthermore, as can be seen from the proposed values ​​above, Doppler FFT sizes in FR1 are generally smaller, resulting in a smaller number of radio frames for acquisition and less constraints and unavailability for communication.Likewise, the PRS configuration can be extended to allow a single-symbol PRS resource to accommodate a larger number of symbols or more PRS resources (and directions) within the SRI for better FoV coverage and / or better processing gain, as well as more flexibility regarding the multiplexing of communication and sensing symbols.

[0015] Furthermore, the cyclic prefix (CP) durations are assumed to be the same as in NR communication and are also assumed for the OFDM symbols used for acquisition. In the case of using a different CP (and therefore a different symbol duration) between communication and acquisition (which may be primarily motivated when there is a need to support longer acquisition ranges (>100m) with higher SCS in FR2, where the current CPs may be short), in some embodiments, proper alignment between acquisition block durations and communication slot boundaries is obtained. As also discussed herein, a communication block may be defined by the total time interval over which no acquisition symbol takes place. The communication block boundaries are aligned with some known time units (symbol, slot, subframe, or frame as defined in NR).Similarly, a capture block is defined by the time interval within which at least some symbols are used for capture with a certain pattern (for example, the capture block may start and end with capture symbols, and in between, depending on the SRI, etc., some symbols are also dedicated to capture).

[0016] Fig. Figure 1 is a representative drawing illustrating acquisition and communication block 100 according to some embodiments. Symbol repetition intervals (SRI) are shown sandwiched between two communication blocks of physical resource block 102, with the acquisition block containing the SRI having an acquisition block duration of K x SRI. In the example shown, the acquisition block duration is three NR radio frames.

[0017] Below the acquisition and communication block 100, a section of the SRI is shown in more detail. In this example, the subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the SRI is 60 kHz. Time-domain block 104 of the SRI section includes acquisition symbols and communication symbols. In some embodiments, time-domain block 104 has a width of 35 symbols (28+7). In the 28-symbol section, the SRI varies depending on the carrier frequency. The seven-symbol section has a acquisition symbol at each end, with communication symbols in between, and the 21-symbol section 110 consists of communication symbols with a acquisition symbol at the end. In some embodiments, the SRI varies depending on the carrier frequency.

[0018] Frequency domain block 106 includes resource elements (RE) with a predefined frequency bandwidth 120 (according to the criteria given above). Some of the REs are acquisition symbols, and some of the REs are communication symbols, as shown.

[0019] The acquisition block boundary may be aligned with the communication block boundary in some NR-based units. In some embodiments, acquisition requires at least the symbols at the SRI boundaries. Other symbols within the SRI may be used for acquisition or for time-multiplexing the communication and acquisition operations. For this example, the SRI may be 7, 14, or 28 OFDM symbols. Intercell interference handling

[0020] For the base station-based monostatic sensing scenario, the inter-cell interference problem is that the base station receives signals from other base stations (including communication or sensing signals) as interference with its own desired reverberated and received sensing signal. Within a cell, the communication and sensing signals can be time-domain multiplexed, and therefore no interference is expected from the communication transmission (to / from UE) to the sensing operation.

[0021] Additional forms of interference include co-site, inter-sector, and self-interference between a base station's transmitter and receiver. For co-site, inter-sector interference, the problem is similar in many ways to the inter-cell interference problem, except that the interfering signal is much stronger because it is coupled through somewhat closely spaced antennas that are co-located but arranged to transmit in different directions. Thus, in some embodiments, time-domain isolation is often implemented for co-site, inter-sector interference.At least in the case where the PRS signal is used with potential extensions and adaptations to perform acquisition, the PRS sequences are mapped to different (e.g., orthogonal) time resources (different PRS resources corresponding to a PRS resource set in a cell are typically subjected to time-domain multiplexing), thus greatly reducing intra-cell interference. Co-site interference can also benefit from digital interference cancellation due to the close proximity and thus tighter timing achievable between cross-sector transmitters.

[0022] To address self-interference, in some embodiments, the design of the base station transmitter and receiver incorporates full-duplex operation into the design, so that the strong transmitter signal does not saturate the receiver. Physical separation between coplanar transmitter and receiver antenna panels allows for significant isolation, especially at higher frequencies. Additionally, RF-absorbing materials can be incorporated into the antenna panel design to increase transmit and receive isolation. Both analog and digital self-interference cancellation algorithms can be applied within the transmitter and receiver to reduce overall self-interference.

[0023] Since co-site, inter-sector, and self-interference can largely be addressed through timing control and careful design practices, the largest remaining source of interference is inter-cell interference. Due to the large physical separation between base stations, inter-cell interference cannot directly utilize the tight timing available for self-interference and intra-site interference, making digital cancellation algorithms much less feasible. Accordingly, the main problem for the base station's sensing operation is caused by signals from other cells.

[0024] From the perspective of intercell interference, in the case of acquisition via the PRS signal, acquisition signal transmissions (e.g., PRS transmissions) from different cells mainly rely on avoiding transmission on the same resources by means of time-domain and / or frequency-domain separation. Furthermore, pseudoorthogonality between the generated signals provides further intercell interference randomization in certain situations, for example, in the case where there is an overlap from any other distant cell that was not intended, etc. For example, in the c init of the PRS, the OFDM symbol index and the slot index provide intercell interference randomization in the case of persistent collisions in the time domain, for example, PRS that interfere with another signal / channel. In addition, the parameter nID,seqPRS, which is one of the parameters describing the DL-PRS resource, can be flexibly configured so that the initialization is different for the sequences generated between different cells. Thus, aspects related to separation in the time, frequency, and / or spatial domain to mitigate / avoid / manage the interference of sensing operations are discussed in detail herein.

[0025] The sensing signal design can enable separation / orthogonality in multiple domains. For example, the NR-PRS design supports separation of the PRS signal in the time domain (at the PRS resource level, e.g., intra-slot level, as well as at the level of set resources and repetitions across slots (interslot level), e.g., via muting), in the frequency domain (via a comb structure and by using different subcarrier offsets for different cells to transmit over the same OFDM symbol), and in the sequence domain. For sensing via the PRS signal, the same multi-domain separation can be maintained, which helps avoid / reduce interference from sensing signals transmitted by other cells. Furthermore, in a case where a new sensing signal is adopted, similar multi-domain orthogonality is supported in some embodiments.

[0026] Depending on the spacing and transmission power of the base stations, the self-signal echo of the base stations may or may not be lower in power compared to signals from other base stations. Accordingly, this can affect the extent of degradation of the detection performance caused by interference. For example, direct path interference from an adjacent cell may be a strong interference factor compared to a reflected detection signal in the current cell. Interference to a base station's detection signal may originate from detection or communication signals from other base stations. Handling interference during sensing operations in a cell due to sensing and / or communication signals from other cells

[0027] Fig. Figure 2 is an example of intercell interference during acquisition according to some embodiments. First base station 202 outputs acquisition signal 208, which bounces off object 206 as reflected acquisition signal 210. Intercell interference 212 from acquisition or communication symbols to the acquisition receiver may also occur from second base station 204. Return link 214 is disposed between base station 202 and base station 204.

[0028] Due to the distance the sensing signal (and its reflection) must travel between the transmitter and receiver, monostatic sensing can result in approximately twice the path loss (in dB) compared to line-of-sight (LoS) communications. For example, a path loss for a few carrier frequencies at a range of 100 m (assuming a path loss exponent of two) is shown in Table 1. Table 1. Path loss for three different carrier frequencies in a range of 100m Trägerfrequenz 4,5 GHz 28 GHz 60 GHz Bereich 100 m 100 m 100 m Pfadverlust 136 dB 153 dB 159 dB

[0029] To compensate for the loss of received signal power, symbol averaging or repetition can be used to achieve signal processing gain. The significant path loss suffered by sensing compared to line-of-sight communication is also a factor in the interference situation. In the presence of interference, even averaging to compensate for sensing path loss also significantly absorbs the interference. Therefore, at least in certain scenarios, the interference of communication signals from other cells to a cell's sensing may be more pronounced than the interference of communication signals from other cells to a cell's communication.Accordingly, in such scenarios, interference handling techniques for mitigating communication-to-communication interference may not be sufficient to address the interference from communication to sensing (depending on the distance between base stations, transmit power, etc.). For such cases, some form of cooperative time-domain multiplexing between cells may be the most effective way to address the interference problem, such as using muting with coordination between cells (useful either for interference from other cells' communication signals or from other cells' sensing signals). In general, signal separation between signals from different base stations can be achieved to address inter-cell interference in one or more domains. Frequency-domain orthogonality / separation Overview of NR-DL-PRS interference handling / suppression through frequency-domain separation

[0030] The DL-PRS is designed to enable user equipment to perform accurate time of arrival (ToA), angle of departure (AoD), and other measurements in the presence of interfering DL-PRS from nearby transmit / receive points (TRPs). Each symbol of the DL-PRS has a comb structure in frequency. In the context of 3GPP, a comb structure refers to a configuration or arrangement of subcarriers in a cellular communication system. Specifically, a comb structure refers to an arrangement of evenly spaced subcarriers used in OFDM-based cellular communication systems to maximize spectral efficiency and improve overall system performance. Specifically, it is a method for dividing the available frequency band into a series of evenly spaced subcarriers.The comb structure is characterized by equally spaced subcarriers, resulting in a regular and predictable subcarrier allocation pattern. This structure is typically used in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G New Radio (NR). By using a comb structure, the available frequency spectrum can be efficiently utilized and shared among multiple users or services. The equal spacing between subcarriers enables easy separation and demodulation of the transmitted signals at the receiver end, thereby improving the system's performance in terms of capacity, spectral efficiency, and interference resilience.

[0031] For example, in one embodiment, the PRS uses every Nth subcarrier. With a comb-N pattern, for an integer N, the DL-PRS of N different TRPs or base stations can be frequency-domain multiplexed (FDM) within the same frequency bandwidth and over the same slot and one or more OFDM symbols by assigning different frequency offsets for different TRPs / BSs, implying a frequency reuse factor of N.

[0032] Fig. Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary PRS arrangement for supporting three different base stations according to some embodiments. Physical resource block (PRB) 308 is populated with PRS 302 for a first base station, PRS 304 for a second base station, and PRS 306 for a third base station. PRB 308 is arranged in the time (x-axis) and frequency (y-axis) domains. The Fig. The pattern shown in Figure 3 corresponds to a comb-6 (N=6) pattern, where three of the PRS 302, PRS 304 and PRS 306 for three different base stations are multiplexed over one slot duration to avoid interference between them.

[0033] The Fig. 4A-4D are representative drawings of downlink positioning reference signal transmission patterns per PRS resource, according to some embodiments. Fig. 4A shows a PRB with PRS for dual base stations 402 and 404 (for example, a comb-2 structure). Fig. Figure 4B shows a PRB with PRS for four base stations 402, 404, 406 and 408 (for example, a comb-4 structure), Fig. Figure 4C shows a PRB with PRS for six base stations 402, 404, 406, 408, 410, and 412 (for example, a comb-6 structure), and Fig. Figure 4D shows a PRB with PRS for twelve base stations 402, 404, 406, 408, 410, 412, 414, 416, 418, 420, 422 and 424 (for example, a comb-12 structure). Fig. The pattern shown in Figure 4C, which is a comb-6 structure, is different from that of Fig. 3, which is also a comb-6 pattern, distinguishable in that the pattern in Fig. 4C is a comb-6 pattern corresponding to six base stations multiplexed over one slot duration, while Fig. 3 is a comb-6 pattern corresponding to three base stations multiplexed over one slot duration.

[0034] The Fig. Figures 4A-4D illustrate that for Comb-N PRS, N symbols can be combined to cover all subcarriers in the frequency domain. Each base station can then transmit in different sets of subcarriers to avoid interference.

[0035] The length of the PRS resource within a slot is a multiple of N symbols, and the position of the first symbol within a slot is flexible as long as the slot consists of at least N PRS symbols. This allows for the accumulation of contiguous subcarriers across a slot, which improves correlation properties for time of arrival (ToA) estimation. The resource element (RE) pattern can be shifted in the frequency domain with a frequency offset of 0 to N-1 subcarriers, allowing N orthogonal DL-PRS to use the same symbols. All configurable patterns cover all subcarriers in the configured bandwidth over the pattern duration (for example, for comb-6 DL-PRS, as in Fig. 4C, the pattern repeats after six OFDM symbols, providing the maximum measurement range for ToA measurements in scenarios with large delay margins. The length of the NR DL-PRS can be flexibly configured down to two symbols, which can be useful, for example, in indoor scenarios where coverage is not an issue.

[0036] There is a close correlation between the number of allowed orthogonal signals (e.g., comb factor) and the coherent integration duration (e.g., PRS resource duration). Currently, a lower degree of orthogonality (e.g., smaller comb factor) is supported for smaller coherent integration times (e.g., comb-2 PRS resource configuration). For example, an NR-PRS comb-12 configuration allows twice as many orthogonal signals as a comb-6 PRS, which is useful for mitigating interference. Because multiple base stations can transmit simultaneously without interfering with each other, the FDM solution is also latency-efficient in some embodiments. Frequency domain intercell interference handling for detection: FD comb

[0037] Similar to PRS, base station-based sensing, either based on a PRS with potential extensions and adaptations (PRS) or based on a dedicated sensing signal, can also benefit from assigning sensing signals from different network entities to different subcarriers over the same or multiple same OFDM symbols. On the other hand, it is also noted that an FD comb approach is mainly motivated for cases where different base stations use the same or overlapping time resources, which may not always be the case, e.g., depending on key performance indicator (KPI) requirements for Doppler estimation, etc., as discussed in more detail below.

[0038] For cases where time-domain resources for signals from different base stations overlap, frequency-domain multiplexing can be achieved by using the FDM comb structure to allocate the detection signal of a neighboring base station across different subcarriers over the same bandwidth (for example, across a cell-specific frequency subcarrier offset). However, the disadvantage of this approach is that the FD comb structure causes discontinuous subcarrier usage, which in turn limits the maximum uniquely detectable range, i.e. max,unambig , reduced (as it increases the effective subcarrier spacing (SCS), and the largest uniquely measurable range (for reliable radar operation, and to avoid aliasing) by the inverse of SCS, dmax,unambiguous≤C0(2×SCS), is limited).

[0039] In modulation symbol-based processing, the signal is inherently discretized in the frequency domain, and the maximum unique range corresponds to the distance the signal travels during the elementary OFDM symbol period, which is equal to the inverse of the subcarrier spacing (SCS). Two targets located in the ranges d and d + d max,unambig cannot be distinguished by the receiver.

[0040] On the other hand, the range restriction imposed by the duration of the cyclic prefix (CP) to achieve intersymbol interference (ISI)-free range detection is much stricter than the maximum uniquely measurable range and may be the limiting factor. The maximum ISI-free distance satisfies the following condition: dmax,no−ISI≤c0Tcp2, where T cpThe duration of the cyclic prefix. This condition is based on the physical limits of the channel's multipath propagation to avoid ISI and maintain orthogonality between modulation symbols. The guard interval duration is related to the maximum expected multipath delay to allow full compensation for multipath propagation effects and ensure that no ISI is present. This does not guarantee deorthogonalization in the received matrix. In particular, if the received signal is delayed for more than CP, the modulation symbols become misaligned, and deorthogonalization occurs, leading to ISI. However, if the above condition is met, symbols are not shifted too far from their original position and can be correctly demodulated. max,no-ISIis the limit within which objects can be detected with high quality. In particular, there is a progressive deterioration in range detection performance when the target lies beyond the CP boundary. The ISI reduces the peak-to-noise ratio, which deteriorates when moving away from the CP boundary. However, in some embodiments, the max,unambig the maximum clearly measurable distance, and is an absolute physical limit that must not be exceeded. Therefore, for a practical system, the dimensioning of the CP duration for a given subcarrier spacing may not necessarily be designed to achieve ISI-free detection for the maximum desired distance, and the system tolerates non-ideal performance up to the distance nx (c0 T cp) / 2, where the value n is properly chosen (taking into account the environment to be detected, the transmitter power, etc.) so that objects at a distance d, where d satisfies the following conditions: dmax,no−ISI≤c0Tcp2≤d≤n×c0Tcp2≤dmax,unambig=C0(2×SCS) may still be detectable (without aliasing), but with some potential reduction in detection performance. Based on preliminary evaluations with simplified assumptions regarding the environments, n ≤ ~5 may still be a reasonable choice (while n=1 leads to ideal ISI-free performance).

[0041] Fig. Figure 5 shows an example of a region size estimation for different target positions beyond the ISI-free region. The graph demonstrates the effect of the detection performance when the region of a target is extended beyond the c0Tcp2 but shorter than d max,unambigA progressive deterioration of the area size estimate can be seen in the absence of noise (zero Doppler is considered here for simplicity; no noise to show the effects).

[0042] Table 2 shows the system parameters related to the detection range, where the calculations are based on existing NR CP lengths. Fig. 5 is evident, even if up to five times c0Tcp2 is still detectable, and as can be seen in Table 2, this distance is still much smaller (e.g., less than half) compared to a unique region with consecutive subcarrier use. Therefore, reducing the maximum uniquely detectable region (e.g., by increasing the effective SCS and using non-consecutive subcarriers to realize the FD comb structure as discussed above) may not introduce any further limitations (at least not for all cases).

[0043] Accordingly, in some embodiments, the design allows up to three base stations to share the same time resources by using an FD comb structure, for example, comb-3 (or comb-4), without compromising range detection performance. In other embodiments, up to four base stations share the same time resources by using an FD comb structure. Furthermore, in the case of inactive subcarriers between the active FD comb subcarriers, the transmit signal can be power amplified in some embodiments to compensate for the reduced number of active subcarriers, effectively improving the detection signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This additional transmit gain also compensates for the loss of processing gain due to the reduced number of active subcarriers.

[0044] For positioning, the limitation imposed by the non-consecutive use of subcarriers across OFDM symbols in ranging detection is addressed by using a staggered structure and destaggering and integration across multiple OFDM symbols to effectively benefit from all subcarriers within the configured bandwidth. For acquisition, using a staggered comb structure imposes a limitation on the field of view to be covered within the SRI duration (since SRI consists of a limited number of OFDM symbols, and the desired field of view is scanned within the SRI, in some embodiments) and the flexibility to allocate acquisition symbols within the SRI.Since in practical systems there is a mapping between the acquisition beam direction and the OFDM symbols, if multiple symbols are used to scan a single beam, a limited number of beam directions can be covered within the SRI duration, since the same set of multiple symbols cannot be used to scan a different direction. Thus, the nested FD comb structure can be used to share resources between different network entities / cells at the same time. Nevertheless, within a single cell, in some embodiments, different directions are scanned in a time-division multiplexing manner. Furthermore, the flexibility for multiplexing the OFDM symbols within an SRI for acquisition and communication service decreases significantly.

[0045] Therefore, in some embodiments, the OFDM symbol for acquisition is packed with acquisition REs to cover the largest field of view. This achieves maximum acquisition speed to quickly acquire the entire acquisition image with fewer OFDM symbols than propagating the same number of acquisition REs over a long time. To achieve acquisition using the DL-PRS signal, PRS configurations further support, in some embodiments, configuring a PRS resource with a duration of a single OFDM symbol, with subcarrier usage of 1, 1 / 2, 1 / 3, and 1 / 4 for the purpose of orthogonal transmission between different (neighboring) cells.

[0046] Fig. 6 is an illustration of orthogonal signal allocation using a comb-3 structure among three neighboring sensing entities (cells, transmit / receive points (TRPs), and gNBs) according to some embodiments. Frequency bandwidth 602, resource element 606, symbol repetition interval 604, and OFDM symbol 614 of the structure are shown. Resource elements for sensing entity 608, second sensing entity 610, and sensing entity 612 are indicated. Sensing entities 608, 610, and 612 each represent resources for sensing a transmission from different (other) sensing entities. The three sensing entities 608, 610, and 612 use a comb-3 structure without staggering across multiple symbols to multiplex their signals in the frequency domain. All three sensing entities transmit their signals over the same symbols, with at least a periodicity of seven OFDM symbols.

[0047] For frequency division multiplexing (FDM) of the sensing resources used by different entities, a comb-N is employed in certain scenarios by using N symbols in some embodiments to realize a staggered comb and integrating over the N symbols, with Doppler compensation. In terms of overall resource utilization, this is similar to the single-symbol case where all subcarriers are used, and depending on the available number of OFDM symbols within the SRI, this approach may be practical in certain cases. In such cases, smaller comb sizes, for example, comb-2 or comb-3, for a staggered structure may provide an appropriate compromise between the degree of orthogonality, range detection performance, and FoV coverage.

[0048] Fig. 7 shows an example of resource structure 702. Fig. Figure 7 shows a staggered comb-2 frequency domain resource structure over two consecutive OFDM symbols. For a small number of OFDM symbols within the SRI, and / or in the case where multiple beams are used to cover the desired field of view, the structure of Fig. 7 may not be feasible. As long as the comb structure and comb degree are used over a single OFDM symbol, and the range detection performance is acceptable, the staggered comb structure by using multiple OFDM symbols may not have significant advantages over this case. With time-domain multiplexing (TDM) of sensing signals from different sensing entities, where each sensing entity uses all consecutive subcarriers, interference from the sensing entities using a given symbol for communication purposes to the operation of the sensing entity using that symbol for sensing can cause a severe degradation of the sensing detection performance. In some embodiments, this problem is addressed by providing orthogonality over spatial / beam space and / or over the code domain.However, it is likely that a more robust approach is to separate signals from potentially directly interfering sensing entities (the base stations where the direct signal (as opposed to reflected signals) can be easily received by another base station) in the time or frequency domains.

[0049] In some embodiments, using an FD comb structure is primarily motivated for transmitting the acquisition signals of different cells over orthogonal frequency resources. For cases where a base station may not require such resources to transmit the acquisition radio signal. For example, when a base station is not requested to execute an acquisition task, or when Doppler KPI requirements are such that the acquisition signal of one acquisition base station may not overlap with another acquisition base station in the time domain, etc.In another example, if the number of detection base stations is smaller than the comb degree, a base station may alternatively use the interleaved frequency resources to transmit the communication signal, for example, under the condition that the transmission power is low enough (e.g., for nearby cells), the receiver dynamic range can properly detect all signals, and even a near-far effect does not interfere with the detection operation of other cells. However, to mitigate interference from one base station's communication signal to another base station's detection, a more effective approach in some scenarios may be to use time-domain multiplexing between cells and / or spatial separation (e.g., with slow time coding).

[0050] The frequency-domain multiplexing technique can also provide a way to support MIMO radar, where different transmit antennas can use different comb resources without interference. Since each antenna transmits only over a subset of subcarriers, the power in those subcarriers can be increased (for example, if every Mth subcarrier (for an integer M) is used, an increase by a factor of M is desired) to compensate for processing gain loss during range processing. Time domain orthogonality / separation

[0051] In many practical scenarios, the separation / orthogonality provided in frequency, code, and / or sequence domains can adequately handle intercell interference in the sensing operation. However, the orthogonality of these methods is limited, and in some cases, the interference may be strong enough to cause degradation in sensing performance even with frequency and code / sequence domain isolation / orthogonality. In some embodiments, the third type of orthogonality / separation, provided in the time domain, has significant advantages in terms of very high orthogonality / isolation compared to the frequency or code / sequence domain.

[0052] From the perspective of interference caused by the sensing signals of other cells, it is advantageous to allocate different OFDM symbols in each slot (within the sensing block duration) for sensing by different network entities / cells, or to define sensing blocks for different cells across disjoint slots or subframes. For example, it may be advantageous to align sensing time-frequency resources between cells (e.g., allowing these resources to collide between neighboring cells) rather than allowing sensing resources from one cell to collide with communication signals from one or more other cells. However, even if different cells transmit their sensing signals across disjoint time resources, the time resources used for sensing in one cell can still be used for communication purposes in other cells.This can impose significant interference on the acquisition operation due to the fact that the acquisition signal may have to travel up to twice the distance compared to the communication, and may have lower power compared to the received communication interference from other cells. In some embodiments, all base stations use a coordinated slot time to transmit an acquisition signal (e.g., PRS), with no communication occurring simultaneously.

[0053] For frequency-domain and sequence-domain isolation between cells with high interference, it is not appropriate to mitigate the interference problem, and time-domain separation is used in some embodiments (e.g., for strong directly interfering signals). The motivation behind such time-domain separation is synergistic with supporting muting for NR DL-PRS. Examples of time domain separation for interference handling

[0054] In LTE, time-domain multiplexing at the subframe level is supported for inter-cell interference management, for example, cell-specific reference signal (CRS) interference mitigation. In particular, time-domain inter-cell interference coordination (eICIC) (for example, TDM muting) is supported to enable CRS interference suppression in picocells during almost empty subframes (ABS). This prevents macro-eNBs from transmitting on certain subframes.

[0055] In NR (and LTE), REs carrying the Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) can be configured to be either zero-power (ZP) CSI-RS or non-zero-power (NZP) CSI-RS. ZP CSI-RS are used for most procedures, such as channel measurement, beam management, beam measurement, and connected-mode mobility, and there is dedicated signaling from the base station to the user equipment to configure reception of such signals. On the other hand, it is possible to configure a CSI-RS that occupies the configured RE, but the gNB does not transmit any power into these REs. These REs are known as zero-power CSI-RS resources, which can have multiple use cases. ZP CSI-RS can effectively play the role of a mute. In particular, ZP CSI-RS are a set of dedicated REs that do not contain any transmission for a specific UE but can contain transmissions for one or more other UEs.

[0056] The objectives of ZP depend on the transmission hypothesis for which the network may wish the UE to provide feedback and may include providing a configuration that includes a transmission gap ("RE hole" in the transmission of the serving cell's physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)) so that the UE can perform interference measurements and provide feedback. In particular, the UE can measure received power in this "hole," for example, measure an interference level of ongoing transmissions in neighboring cells without measuring received power from its own cell, provided that a "hole" is not also configured for the interfering cell. These REs puncture PDSCH, so the UE does not expect to receive any DL data in them. For example, ZP-CSI-RS are used to configure an RE puncturing pattern for PDSCH when some REs are allocated for other purposes.

[0057] ZP-CSI-RS can be used for interference measurement. For example, an NZP-CSI-RS transmitted by Cell A can overlap with a ZP-CSI-RS from Cell B. When the UE measures the channel using NZP-CSI-RS, nothing from Cell B is transmitted to that RE (e.g., no interference from Cell B occurs), provided that the propagation delay of these cells is comparable, so the resources overlap. This improves the measurement performance of Cell A's channel.

[0058] The objectives of ZP also include optional beamforming implementations, where zero-power and non-zero-power concepts can be used to distinguish between beams. A beam movement condition is considered where a gNB uses two beams with identical physical layer settings, such as bandwidth portion (BWP), control resource set (CORESET), and CSI-RS resources. The gNB can configure the CSI-RS resources in an alternating mapping, so that for each CSI-RS instance in the time domain, only one of two beams would have a non-zero CSI-RS. The network can plan CSI-RS as a specific reference signal per beam to allow them to be distinguished from each other.Accordingly, the UE has decided which beam has the highest CSI Reference Signal Receive Power (RSRP) per beam, and based on the CQI reports in the uplink, the gNB can decide which beam to use and whether to apply a beam switching procedure.

[0059] To manage intercell interference, ZP-CSI-RS can be used to protect a configured NZP-CSI-RS transmission in an adjacent cell. This goal is in synergy with the support of muting to mitigate interference for detection.

[0060] Fig. Figure 8 is an illustration showing both zero-power and non-zero-power channel state information reference signals, according to some embodiments. First BWP beam 804 and second BWP beam 806 are output by base station 802. As explained above, base station 802 may use two beams with identical physical layer settings. Thus, in Fig. 8, the BWP size of the first BWP beam 804 and the second BWP beam 806 (and CORESET) are identical. Furthermore, the base station 802 configures the CSI-RS resources in an alternative mapping such that for each CSI-RS instance in the time domain, only one of two beams would have a non-zero CSI-RS.

[0061] Thus, in Fig. 8 UE 816 non-zero power CSI-RS on first beam 808, zero power CSI-RS on first beam 812, non-zero power CSI-RS on second beam 814, and zero power CSI-RS on second beam 810. The UE 816 is thus able to measure CSI-RSRP individually to decide which beam is preferred (e.g., has the higher CSI-RSRP). Since the CORESET in the first beam 804 and the second beam 806 is identical, zero power and non-zero power concepts can be used to distinguish between the beams. In NR, muting of DL-PRS resources is supported, as described in detail below. Overview of NR DL-PRS resource muting for interference management between base stations

[0062] The PRS is a downlink reference signal to be measured on the UE side, which enables the UE's position to be found. A UE performs one measurement per PRS resource (mapped to the beam of a specific base station). By configuring the UE to measure on a specific PRS resource in a PRS resource set, the Location Management Function (LMF) learns about the TRP corresponding to the PRS resource set and about a specific beam from that TRP. DL-PRS resources of different TRPs can be isolated in space (e.g., different beams), in the frequency domain (e.g., different comb offsets for different TRPs), in the time domain (e.g., different symbol offsets within a slot for different TRPs), and in the code domain (e.g., different scrambling sequences for the DL-PRS resources of different TRPs).

[0063] The use of orthogonal FD combs enables the multiplexing of multiple PRSs (e.g., from neighboring cells / TRPs) by using different orthogonal frequency resources. However, a UE must also listen to PRSs from more distant TRPs (using the same time resources), causing a near-far problem. In particular, receiving a relatively weak signal from a distant base station simultaneously with a closer transmitting base station may not be possible (signals from nearby cells shadow weak signals from distant cells, making it difficult for the UE to detect distant cells / gNBs / TRPs, for example, causing a loss of audibility). Regardless of whether different frequency resources are used, there may not be sufficient dynamic range in the receiver to handle both signals.Time averaging of weak signals can increase the effective dynamic range, but there is still a fundamental limitation when strong near-range signals shadow weak distant signals, as the strong near-range signals can saturate a receiver.

[0064] PRS audibility is achieved using a concept called muting, a mechanism that ensures that a nearby base station is silent while the UE is measuring at a remote base station. Furthermore, if the DL-PRS resources from different TRPs collide in time at the UE receiver with the same frequency pattern (comb offset), they would only be isolated by the scrambling code, which typically does not provide sufficient isolation between nearby and remote TRPs. Muting can disable DL-PRS resources to reduce interference in the case of colliding DL-PRS resources.

[0065] With PRS muting, multiple cells transmit PRS in a coordinated manner by muting relevant PRS transmission opportunities to avoid interference from neighboring cells. Specifically, the design allows for the PRS of one or more base stations to be muted at a given time according to a muting pattern to further reduce potential interference. Combined with not transmitting data from that site at the same time, the net effect is a silence gap from a specific site, allowing the UE to measure on a PRS from a more distant base station. A muted PRS resource is similar to a ZP-CSI-RS resource in the sense that a UE expects the gNB on the corresponding RE to not transmit (for example, muting does not ensure transmission (PRS and non-PRS) over the muted PRS resources).

[0066] In summary, muting is based on base station cooperation, primarily to minimize near-far and audibility (SINR) problems, and the PRS is specifically designed to provide the highest possible level of interference avoidance and suppression. PRS signals from multiple base stations can be transmitted over the same time-domain resources (via a staggered comb structure), and muting helps prevent interference from any of these base stations to the rest.

[0067] Muting in NR is signaled by using a bitmap to indicate which configured DL-PRS resources are transmitted at zero power. There are several ways to specify the muting pattern via a bitmap. Muting can be configured either at the opportunity level, where the entire periodic DL-PRS opportunity (including all retries) can be muted, or at the repetition level, where each repetition can be muted individually within a periodic opportunity.

[0068] The following three mute options are supported: • Option 1: Mute each DL-PRS resource set transfer instance (assuming periodic transfer of DL-PRS resource sets): Each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a configurable number of consecutive instances (assuming periodic transfer of DL-PRS resource sets) of a DL-PRS resource set. All DL-PRS resources within a DL-PRS resource set instance are muted (transferred at zero power) for a DL-PRS resource set instance to be muted by the bitmap. • Option 2: Mute the DL-PRS resource replay instance: Each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a single replay index for each of the DL-PRS resources within a DL-PRS resource set instance. Muting applies to all instances of the DL-PRS resource set that are part of the above DL-PRS resources. • Option 3: Combinations of Option 1 and Option 2 (if both are configured).

[0069] In some embodiments, the mute configuration / indication is intended to inform the UE what to expect. Otherwise, the transmission or non-transmission of the PRS or other communication signals is based on coordination between gNBs, which do not require an over-the-air indication.

[0070] Although the DL-PRS pattern is configured by each gNB, the configuration is likely coordinated across multiple transmission points. For example, if a UE measures multiple TRPs, it is undesirable for the PRSs from these TRPs to be sparsely distributed in time, as the time correlation performed at the UE receiver for position estimation (also considering the UE's mobility) must be meaningful. Therefore, a reasonable configuration attempts to ensure that the PRS instances from different TRPs targeting a specific UE are transmitted close enough to each other. In other words, the nature of the position estimation task across TRPs results in PRSs from different TRPs being transmitted relatively concentrated in the time domain.When the TRPs are packed relatively close enough in time, the positioning estimate when merging all the information will have higher accuracy, as there is less room for variations in the channel (e.g., due to Doppler and other environmental changes that occur when the instances are dispersed in time). From this perspective, there are some time-domain resources over which the PRSs from different base stations are more likely to be expected, and muting allows for the near-far effect of signals between the nearby TRPs compared to the far-away TRPs to be properly handled.

[0071] In some embodiments, as part of the parameters describing the DL-PRS resource set, the following are considerations for the muting mechanism: • A DL-PRS resource retry factor that defines how often each DL-PRS resource is retried for a single instance of the DL-PRS resource set. Values ​​of {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} are supported. All DL-PRS resources within a resource set have the same resource retry factor. • A DL-PRS resource time gap, which defines the offset in number of slots between two repeated instances of a DL-PRS resource with the same DL-PRS resource ID within a single instance of the DL-PRS resource set. Values ​​of { 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32} are supported. • A DL-PRS mute pattern that defines a bitmap of the time positions at which the DL-PRS resource is transmitted or not transmitted for a DLPRS resource set. The bitmap size can be 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 bits. • A DL-PRS mute bit repetition factor that defines the number of consecutive instances of a DL-PRS resource set that correspond to a single bit of the DL-PRS mute pattern for Option 1 mute.

[0072] In some embodiments, all PRS configurations, including mute-related configurations, are based on the radio resource control (RRC) configuration. The UE assumes that the following parameters are configured for each DL-PRS resource via higher-layer parameters nr-DL-PRS-Resource-Set-r]6: • DL-PRS Mute Pattern List-r16: defines the time positions at which the DL-PRS resource is expected not to be transmitted for a DL-PRS resource set. • DL-PRS Mute Bit Repetition Factor 16: If MuteOption1 is configured, each bit in the MuteOption1 bitmap corresponds to a configurable number (provided by this parameter, which can have the values ​​{1, 2, 4, 8}) of consecutive instances of a DL-PRS resource set, where all DL-PRS resources within the set are muted for the instance specified to be muted. The bitmap length can be {2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} bits. If MuteOption2 is configured, each bit in the MuteOption2 bitmap corresponds to a single repetition index for each of the DL-PRS resources within each instance of an nr-DL-PRS-Resource-Set-r16, and the length of the bitmap is equal to the values ​​of DL-PRS-Resource-Repetition-Factor-r16.Both Mute Option1 and Mute Option2 can be configured at the same time, in which case the logical AND operation is applied to the bitmaps.

[0073] Time resources may be available for transmitting other communication signals via the PRS slots. In particular, time division multiplexing may have been performed on other signals / channels, at least to / from the other UEs within a PRS slot. Currently, no other inter-gNB coordination solutions are specified other than the TDD configuration information exchange. Such coordination is typically left to the network implementation.

[0074] The Fig. 9A-9C are illustrations of DL-PRS mute options according to some embodiments. Fig. 9A illustrates muting according to option 1, Fig. 9B illustrates muting according to option 2 and Fig. Figure 9C illustrates muting using option 3.

[0075] In Fig. 9A, DL-PRS resource set 902 is shown at four different instances (902a, 902b, 902c, and 902d), each instance representing a periodic transfer of DL-PRS resource set 902. As indicated by arrow 904, all DL-PRS resources within DL-PRS resource set instance 902c are muted. A bitmap representing DS-PRS resource set 902 would thus read 1101, thus indicating that the third instance of the DL-PRS resource set is muted. Fig. 9A thus illustrates mute option 1.

[0076] In Fig. 9B, DL-PRS resource set 906 is shown at four different instances (906a, 906b, 906c, and 906d), where each instance represents a periodic transfer of DL-PRS resource set 906. As indicated by arrow 908a, four retry indices are muted for DL-PRS resource set instance 906a. Similarly, as indicated by arrows 908b, 908c, and 908d, the same four retry indices are muted for DL-PRS resource set instances 906b, 906c, and 906d. Thus, as in Fig. 9B, muting for all instances of the DL-PRS resource set 906. Further, each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a single repetition index for each of the DL-PRS resources within an instance of the DL-PRS resource set. Fig. 9B thus illustrates mute option 2.

[0077] In Fig. 9C shows DL-PRS resource set 910 at four different instances (910a, 910b, 910c, and 910d), where each instance represents a periodic transfer of DL-PRS resource set 910. As indicated by arrows 912a, 912b, and 912c, four indices for DL-PRS resource set instances 910a, 910b, and 910d are muted. In contrast, as indicated by arrow 914, the entire DL-PRS resource of DL-PRS set instance 910c is muted. Fig. Figure 9C thus illustrates mute option 3, which is a combination of options 1 and 2. Time domain intercell interference handling for detection: Mute

[0078] For interoperation between base stations, particularly within neighboring base stations, some form of TDM or muting may also be supported for acquisition (among other possible forms of separation or orthogonality, for example, in frequency, sequence, spatial, and / or code domains). For acquisition based on the PRS signal with potential adaptations, muting is naturally handled by the PRS design, while some adaptations may be required regarding the summing process and configuration for acquisition. In some embodiments, PRS muting specifies the mechanism for muting the PRS signal over specific time resources, while for acquisition, it is also desirable to enable a mechanism for muting the communication signals over specific time resources.In particular, given that sensing performance may be more susceptible to interference compared to positioning, at least in certain situations, the need for cooperative time-domain separation / muting between base stations for sensing may be more pronounced.

[0079] In some embodiments, TDM support for signals from different base stations is realized by muting the acquisition and / or communication signal of another cell, at least in the directions / FoV that a given acquisition base station needs to acquire. The direction may vary if the base station performs an acquisition based on its own transmitted radio signal (monostatic) or based on one or more transmitted signals from one or more other base stations (bi- / multistatic). In some embodiments, the muting would occur for a duration of one or more symbols, one or more SRIs, an acquisition block duration, one or more slots, subframes, or frames.

[0080] For sensing based on the PRS signal, when the signals are concentrated in certain time domain resources, such a TDM scheme can be achieved by muting the PRS signals, and also by ensuring that no data transmission takes place from these locations (similar to the case of PRS), with the probability that no additional handling of other communication signals would be required.

[0081] For detection based on the PRS signal, at least for use cases that motivate SRI and frame durations as discussed herein, in some embodiments, a repetition gap of one or two (e.g., occurring in every slot or every other slot) and a repetition factor of up to 256 may be used. For PRS-based detection, at least for such use cases, it is then more likely that focusing on muting according to option 2 ( Fig. 9B) is more appropriate. Therefore, depending on the base station placements, the sensing architecture, and the corresponding desired FoV and / or base station communication directions over overlapping time resources (e.g., for non-sensing base stations or for those with different sensing time periods, etc.), certain PRS resources (corresponding to certain beam directions) may be muted. In some embodiments, the base station whose PRS is muted would, through proper coordination, also mute its communication signal over the same time resources or over the same one or more slots.

[0082] In some embodiments, the muting according to Option 2 is further extended so that each PRS resource iteration in a PRS resource set instance can be individually muted or transferred. Currently, the muting according to Option 2 either mutes or transfers all PRS resources within a iteration in a PRS resource set instance ( Fig. 9B). In some embodiments, for a multi-symbol PRS resource, each symbol within the resource or each intra-resource-level PRS repetition (if any) may be muted individually. Accordingly, if some occurrences of one or more beams in certain SRIs within the overall acquisition block (which, in the case of reusing the PRS design for acquisition, is equivalent to the resource set containing all repetitions within the set) are muted, the corresponding acquisition receiver processing, in some embodiments, takes the missing occurrence of the beam into account, e.g., during Doppler processing of the corresponding direction, etc.

[0083] In some embodiments, to enable the above extensions of mute configurations, mute parameters are defined as part of the PRS resource configuration (rather than the PRS resource set configuration). In some embodiments, a PRS resource configuration parameter (e.g., referred to as DL-PRS Mute Pattern for Resource) defines the symbol positions at which a portion of the DL-PRS resource is expected not to be transmitted.

[0084] In other embodiments, corresponding to each bit in the DL-PRS mute pattern bitmap (dl-PRS-mute-pattern-list-r16), a different parameter is defined for each PRS resource within the set to indicate whether the particular repetition of that PRS resource is transmitted or not. Alternatively, the size of the above bitmap (which may be {2, 4, 8, 16, 32} bits long) can be expanded by multiplying by the number of resources within a set, and the bitmap accordingly indicates the transmission of each resource for a given repetition index.

[0085] In some embodiments, to handle interference more flexibly and dynamically, some or all of the muting-related configuration is indicated or overridden via a DL control channel (via Downlink Control Information (DCI)). For example, the DCI indication can trigger and / or stop muting at the symbol, PRS resource, and / or PRS resource set level.

[0086] While a gNB may avoid transmission and notify the UE that it would not transmit a signal to certain resources in different ways, in some embodiments, muting is realized by configuring the acquisition measurement gaps in the one or more interfering cells. During the acquisition measurement gaps, no transmission is scheduled from the (interfering) base station (and potentially also from a subset of UEs served by that base station) in directions that affect the scanning of the FoV of the sensing cells. To increase efficiency, these acquisition measurement gaps may overlap with existing measurement gaps supported in NR (which are designated for specific UE measurements depending on the UE's capability) whenever possible.

[0087] Currently, the 5G NR network configures a UE with measurement gaps via RRC signaling. The network configures these gaps so that they do not coincide with UE transmissions or receptions. It is possible to start with a few gaps and later reconfigure the UE with more gaps to collect neighbor cell measurements, for example, when a handover appears likely. Measurement gaps are periodic. A UE can be configured with multiple measurement gaps. The UE RRC informs Layer 1 about these gaps. Layer 1 follows these gaps to perform measurements. Collected measurements are reported to the network either at Layer 1 or RRC.

[0088] The current NR-UE measurement gap lengths of 1.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 5.5, and 6 ms, with measurement gap repetition periodicities of 20, 40, 80, and 160 ms, are supported in some embodiments. A measurement gap pattern is also characterized by gap lengths and repetition periodicities. There are 24 gap pattern configurations defined to accommodate different system requirements. Similar to existing NR-UE measurement gaps, acquisition measurement gaps can be defined with length, periodicity, and pattern, potentially with finer granularities, according to the SRI duration and the acquisition block duration of the one or more acquisition cells.

[0089] In some embodiments, the coverage measurement gap configuration also includes spatial domain-related information in addition to the time domain-related specification (e.g., length, repetition pattern) to increase resource utilization efficiency. Accordingly, transmissions (from the base station and potentially UE) that affect the specified spatial domain can be avoided according to the time domain configuration.

[0090] For DL-PRS, as described above, multiple base stations can share the same time resources, using a staggered comb structure to transmit their PRS resources. Furthermore, concentration in the time domain can also be useful for improving range estimation performance, which can also benefit muting effectiveness. For sensing (at least for monostatic BS-based sensing or for bi- / multistatic BS-based cases where a coherent combination of information (sensing measurement) collected from different sensing nodes may not be expected), there may not be a large concentration in terms of the time resources over which the sensing signal should be transmitted.Therefore, from the perspective of the detection estimation task, the time domain occurrence of the detection signal from different base stations may have more freedom to be more randomized compared to the occurrence of the PRS signal.

[0091] On the other hand, the PRS was not originally configured to enable Doppler estimation and is intended to enable only range estimation. Therefore, the time-domain repetition pattern supported for PRS is intended to provide integration / combination gain. However, sensing requires a certain regularity (repetition frequency) of the radio signal in the time domain to enable both Doppler processing and integration gain, and the parameters for defining the repetition are primarily determined by Doppler estimation key performance indicator (KPI) requirements. Depending on the use case requirements for Doppler estimation, it may or may not be possible to concentrate sensing signals from different sensing nodes in the time domain.

[0092] In particular, the time-domain occurrence of a sensing signal may not be fixed and depends on the speed requirements of the underlying use case and other factors, such as SCS, carrier frequency, etc. Accordingly, even the FD comb approach for multiplexing sensing resources of different cells in the frequency domain is mainly motivated for cases where different base stations use the same or overlapping time resources, which may not always be the case.Since the acquisition block duration can be multiple times (e.g., 32, 64, 128, 256) of the slot duration, it is still likely that acquisition blocks from different base stations overlap across multiple slots, although the positions of acquiring OFDM symbols within the slots may be different across different base stations (if necessary to address different Doppler KPIs).

[0093] From the perspective of interference management and muting effectiveness, it is advantageous when sensing transmissions from different sensing entities are close together in the time domain, and muting specific cells over specific time resources can prevent interference from their sensing or communication signals with the sensing of the one or more desired cells. The fact that interference from line-of-sight (LoS) communication to sensing can be very severe may also further motivate localizing / concentrating time resources / areas used for sensing by a different cell as much as possible.

[0094] In some embodiments, muting of interfering cells may apply to specific slots (e.g., those that correspond to / align with the SRI of the desired sensing entity, or that correspond to sensing symbols within its sensing block), and may affect the sensing transmission and / or data transmission of the one or more interfering cells across those slots. Effectively, some form of time-domain multiplexing may be supported between cells or between portions of cells (e.g., corresponding to directions / FoV that may cause direct interference) to mitigate interference from the communication and / or sensing signal of one sensing entity to the sensing of another sensing entity.Depending on the placement of the sensing entities and the desired FoV to be acquired, there may be no need to allocate mutually exclusive time or frequency resources for each transmission. In some embodiments, muting is at the level of a half-slot or one or more OFDM symbols, and target acquisition and / or communication transmission over such time resources.

[0095] The positioning reference signal transmitted in a PRS resource is punctured into the data transmission for the slots, where there are one or more PRS resources. Data and PRS multiplexing can occur at the RE / subcarrier level and also at the symbol level. Puncture is used in contrast to PDSCH rate adaptation around the PRS, because devices that do not support positioning and therefore do not know the PRS resource configuration cannot perform rate adaptation around the PRS resources. If PRS-to-PDSCH interference is a problem, the gNB implementation can always plan to avoid collisions between the PRS and the PDSCH.

[0096] In practice, in some embodiments, there is a dedicated DL-PRS resource grid in the sense that, although not mandated by the specification, no other DL signaling is expected on the PRS resources for good performance. Similar considerations may also apply to the acquisition signal (which, of course, can be inherited with potential adaptations for the case of acquisition based on the PRS). Furthermore, there is no case of transmitting a PDSCH and a PRS in the same slot to a single UE. Therefore, to account for PRS, puncturing any PDSCH for a PDSCH for another UE would be necessary.

[0097] Currently, multiple UEs within a cell or from multiple cells can receive the same PRS signal (same content, over the same time / frequency resources, etc.). A target UE performing DL positioning based on its configuration can listen to multiple PRS transmissions from different base stations. Therefore, from the base station's perspective, there can be multiple UEs simultaneously listening to its PRS across different cells. In this sense, PRS is a multicast signal with a configuration to indicate that the UEs are to be detected and is not specifically dedicated to one or more specific UEs. Orthogonality / separation of spatial domains

[0098] Providing spatial orthogonality between acquisition signals in different cells may depend on several factors, including cell / sector planning, desired acquisition FoV, the placement, shapes, and materials of objects in the environment, etc.

[0099] In general, beamforming for sensing signal transmission can be coordinated between cells to minimize intercell interference of sensing signals. This can be in addition to (combined with) other tools, such as using different sensing signal generation sequences for different cells to mitigate / reduce potential intercell sensing interference, as described below.

[0100] When handling inter-cell interference of sensing signals, depending on the network topology, cell planning, and the desired field of view to be scanned for sensing, the direct sensing signal from neighboring cells may or may not be a strong interference factor compared to a reflected signal from a target in a current cell. It will be shown below that by intelligently planning beam directions from different nodes, the network does not necessarily need to allocate mutually exclusive (time / frequency) resources throughout the neighboring (potentially interfering) cells. In certain cases, sufficient spatial separation (potentially combined with code-domain separation) can be provided, allowing resource reuse.

[0101] To provide spatial separation between signals from different cells / sectors, in one embodiment, the effective range of signal reflections from targets in the FoV of the one or more detection transmit beams is separated primarily between the base stations.

[0102] Fig. 10 is a representative illustration of an interference FoV of a beam from a first base station to a second base station, according to some embodiments. First sector 1002 with base station 1006 and second sector 1004 with base station 1008 are shown. Beam 1010 is output from base station 1006, and beam 1012 is output from base station 1008.

[0103] As in Fig. As illustrated in Figure 10, each cell can be assumed to have three sectors. Consider the beam 1010 of the first sector 1002 (e.g., the massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antennas in the cell point in the direction shown to cover the first sector 1002). To provide spatial separation for sensing operation in different cells, this embodiment first identifies how the sensing beam 1010 (generated by the antennas) may interfere with the operation of other cells.

[0104] In some embodiments, an interference field may be defined for each of the sector base stations of the other cells (e.g., for base station 1008 of second sector 1004) corresponding to each detection transmit beam in the sector of a given cell (e.g., beam 1010 from first sector 1002 corresponds to base station 1006). To illustrate the concept of interference FoV, consider area 1022 surrounding beam 1010, which in some embodiments is the area for which a target can generate a reflection that can cause interference to base station 1008 in second sector 1004. The direct path from beam 1010 is limited to the FoV of this beam, which consists of conical area 1024 around beam 1010, and will not interfere with beam 1012 of second sector 1004.

[0105] On the other hand, reflections of the transmitted acquisition beam 1010 over the area where the signal from beam 1010 is strong enough (e.g., the area 1022 surrounding beam 1010) can cause (sufficiently strong) interference in the direction of the second sector 1004 (as indicated, for example, by arrows 1014 and 1016 within cone 1024). While the shape of beam 1010 and beam 1012 indicates the power profile, e.g., the direction in which the main transmit power is emitted, a larger FoV area must be considered for interference management. Therefore, any reflection falling within the interference FoV (shown by cone 1024) reaches the antenna arrays of base station 1008 and can cause acquisition signal interference within this angular range.Base station 1008 must then generate its acquisition beam (using the same time / frequency resources) outside the interference FoV of beam 1010. Furthermore, the FoV of beam 1012, as well as the interference FoV from beam 1012 to base station 1006, should also be exclusive of the interference FoV of beam 1010 (and the FoV of beam 1010) to avoid mutual interference. For acquisition detection and angle processing based on the transmission of each beam, in some embodiments, only the corresponding FoV (angle range) of the beam is considered, which is already separated from the interference FoV of the one or more other beams.

[0106] In some embodiments, the interference FoV area, P e, assuming a maximum radar cross section (RCS) for a target (which may, for example, fall at the far end within the transmit FoV of a beam) and applying the radar equation based on the distance to the transmit and receive base station: Pe=PsG1G2λ2σ(4π)3r12r22, where: • P s is the transmission power • the distances 1014 (r1) and 1016 (r2), as in Fig. 10 shown, • G1 and G2 are antenna gains of the base station 1006 and the base station 1008 • λ is the signal wavelength • σ is the radar cross section

[0107] Typically, the network may not need to perform such a calculation dynamically and can reuse the results throughout the operating interval. In some embodiments, for the purpose of calculating the interference FoV, the network continues to move the assumed target around the FoV of the particular beam and measures the received reflected energy at the antenna array, which may be the potential receiver of the interference. Depending on the location of the object, a different amount of energy would be reflected toward the array and can be measured.

[0108] Fig. 11 is a graph illustrating how the base station 1008 ( Fig. 10) receives interference power from the beam 1010 of the base station 1006 against the azimuth angle of arrival. Fig. Figure 11 shows an example of how P eas a function of the azimuth (arrival) angle at the base station 1008. For a given arrival angle, the position of a particular target within the beam's FoV (which may be, for example, the closest point to the receiving antenna) contributes to the maximum received interference power. On the other hand, the line-of-sight (LoS) path may not necessarily cause the strongest interference level.

[0109] In some embodiments, the network operator may set a (potentially non-zero) threshold for tolerable interference, taking into account all factors, such as the level of interference mitigation provided by using different codes to detect a signal at the two base stations, etc., to determine the interference FoV. In the above example, the interference FoV is given by a θ1 to θ2 azimuth angle range.

[0110] When calculating the threshold, code-domain separation can introduce a noise floor and is further randomized in some embodiments. If the threshold is set very low, (time / frequency) resources can be reused with sufficient spatial separation without resorting to code-domain separation at all. On the other hand, since it can be easily implemented without much additional complexity, overhead, or power consumption, code-domain separation can be combined with spatial separation to increase efficiency.

[0111] In some embodiments, the interference FoV (for each beam direction) may be calculated offline based on network topology information, geometry, cell and sector mapping, and the orientation of antenna arrays of one or more base stations in the network.

[0112] Fig. 12 is an illustration of spatial multiplexing of sensing signals using an interference FoV concept according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, spatial multiplexing of sensing signals is realized as follows by using the interference FoV concept developed above. Consider beam 1214 in sector 1202. This beam 1214 generates an interference FoV indicated by cone 1226 for base station 1210 of sector 1204 and an interference FoV indicated by cone 1228 for base station 1212 of sector 1206. Therefore, sector 1204 and sector 1206 can each use the same temporal frequency resources as sector 1202 to generate beams outside this interference FoV (e.g., beam 1218 and beam 1222, respectively).It should also be ensured that the FoV of beams 1218 and 1222 of sector 1204 and the FoV of beams 1222 and 1224 of sector 1206 do not interfere with each other. This method allows for the addition of more beams.

[0113] In some embodiments, the geometry of the FoV of the beams as well as the reflected path of signals from targets in the FoV are taken into account when determining the interference FoV of a given beam at another base station.

[0114] After the cells have Fig. 12, the cells can move to the blue beams 1216, 1220, and 1224, respectively, due to the effective spatial multiplexing technique disclosed above (by using the same time-frequency resources), and the process can continue until all three sectors are searched without interfering with each other. This method provides an additional dimension for the multiplexing of sensing signals.

[0115] In certain scenarios and network topologies, it may be geometrically impossible to avoid interference. For example, although attempts are made to dimension the transmit beams based on the corresponding interference FoV, it may be the case that the transmit FoV and / or interference FoV ultimately point in the same or one or more overlapping directions. In such cases, temporal and / or frequency separation may be unavoidable.

[0116] Furthermore, spatial domain separation techniques may depend on the base station implementation and the operating radio frequency. Therefore, spatial domain techniques and tools are expected to be supported in addition to dimensioning in other domains (e.g., time, frequency, and code domain).

[0117] For DL-PRS, depending on the network implementation, it is possible to arrange antenna patterns so that beams are transmitted with spatial orthogonality over the same time / frequency resources. However, the antenna pattern often has some overlap and side lobes, so the degree of isolation may not be as high as with other isolation methods. Nevertheless, spatial isolation still adds an additional valuable component to reduce intercell interference. For sensing, especially at higher carrier frequencies, coordinating the beams for transmitting the sensing radio signal over time resources can help reduce the level of interference because sensing is performed in a directional manner.

[0118] In some embodiments, a similar approach to using ZP-CSI-RS is used to detect beamforming implementations, using the zero-power and non-zero-power concept such that one beam is powered at a time and the others are empty. For example, a gNB may use multiple beams with the same physical layer settings, and configure temporal and spatial resources in an alternating mapping so that for each detection instance in the time domain, only one of these beams would have zero power, and coordinate beam transmissions accordingly. Effectively, this approach can also achieve muting, for example, at the subslot or symbol level. Code and sequence domain orthogonality / separation

[0119] Using pseudoorthogonal sequences (with low cross-correlation) for the sensing signals transmitted by different sensing entities, which can potentially even be mapped across overlapping time / frequency resources, provides another layer of interference reduction and randomization, and helps in better detection performance.

[0120] Pseudorandom (PN) sequences and their variations have been used in many ways in current cellular systems, including generating reference signals and encrypting data on a specific channel. In a similar spirit, while sequences used to detect signals from different entities are pseudoorthogonal in some embodiments, the detection signal sequences and the encryption sequences used to encrypt different communication channels in other cells are also pseudoorthogonal. This becomes more important, especially in the case where the resources used to detect signal transmission in one cell may overlap with the resources used to transmit communication in other cells.

[0121] It is also possible to encode the acquisition signals, for example, within each SRI. Consider the case where the acquiring (neighboring) base stations transmit acquisition signals using the same OFDM symbols over at least one or more SRIs within their acquisition block duration (multiple base stations may or may not intend to support the same maximum Doppler KPI requirements, and may have different SRI durations, different positioning of acquisition symbols within the SRI, etc.).

[0122] Fig. 13 is an exemplary illustration of code domain multiplexing for mitigating inter-cell interference, according to some embodiments. Physical resource block 1304 for base station 1310, second physical resource block 1306 for base station 1312, and third physical resource block 1308 for base station 1314 are shown. Each physical resource block has SRI 1302, as shown. Further, detection symbols 1332 are found in physical resource block 1304, detection symbols 1334 are found in physical resource block 1306, and detection symbols 1336 are found in physical resource block 1308. The capture symbols 1332 in the physical resource block 1304 are located at the beginning of each SRI 1302. Similarly, the capture symbols 1334 in the physical resource block 1306 are located at the beginning of each SRI 1302.In contrast, the capture symbols 1336 in the physical resource block 1308 are not located at the beginning of each SRI 1302.

[0123] Fig. 13 thus shows an example in which neighboring detection base stations 1310 and 1312 transmit the detection signals 1332 and 1334, respectively, over the same one or more OFDM symbols at least over one or more SRIs 1302 within their detection block duration. In such a case, there is further isolation provided by the coding between the detection and communication signals of different cells, and only detection signals may interfere with each other in some embodiments. In one embodiment, code domain separation of detection signals is supported to handle interference between signals from different base stations.This approach may be more straightforward for mitigating interference between sensing signals, as there may be less control over the communication signal content for sensing interference—for example, it may be random data. In some embodiments, with appropriate adaptations, it is also possible to apply the random codes to the communication data as well.

[0124] Although the detection signals from different base stations may also be randomized / orthogonal in the frequency domain for frequency domain processing and also randomized in the sequence domain, there may still be some interference for time domain processing due to coherent integration / addition in the time direction. In some embodiments, to minimize the interference between the signals of multiple base stations (for example, between base station 1310 and base station 1312 in Fig. 13), the acquisition symbols can be multiplied (for example, over the acquisition block duration) with a slow time code or an orthogonal covering code (for example, with a Hadamard code or other random codes) to introduce a random phase in the time direction. Fig. 13, field 1328 shall indicate that the capture symbols 1332 are multiplied by a random code.

[0125] Furthermore, the random code used for different base stations is different in some embodiments. Field 1330 indicates that the detection symbols 1334 are multiplied by a different random code than the random code used for the detection symbols 1332. By performing the random coding for the Doppler FFT processing at the base station 1310, the interference from the base station 1312 creates a noise floor for the base station 1310 that, in some embodiments, does not blend coherently with its detection signal. On the other hand, for the base station 1314, the detection signal 1336 does not overlap or interfere with the detection signals 1332 and 1334 from the base stations 1310 and 1312, respectively, because separation in the time domain is provided between their detection signals.

[0126] Another advantage of code-domain separation of detection signals is the improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the detection signal, which results from long codes and large sequences of SRI. As described above, the detection signal can be much weaker than the communication signals. To achieve an appropriate SNR in the detection signal, some embodiments perform repetition of the detection signal to reduce noise. While it is possible to simply repeat the same detection signal multiple times to achieve the required SNR, more effective approaches exist. In some embodiments, coding is applied to the detection signal instead of repetition to improve the SNR.Increasing the length of the slow code or the orthogonal code both increases the SNR of the detection signal by repeating the number of detection signal samples, and also increases the isolation to intercell interference because longer orthogonal codes have better orthogonality / isolation properties.

[0127] This method of code domain multiplexing can also be applied accordingly to the setting of the co-site inter-sector cellular system, as in Fig. 13 illustrates this in the lower panel. The signals from base station 1320 and base station 1324 can potentially directly interfere with each other. Therefore, these base stations require time (and / or frequency) domain separation / multiplexing of their signal transmission, or spatial domain separation as described above (which can also be combined with code domain separation). This is because slow coding alone may not be sufficient to mitigate the interference if the detection signal transmitted by base station 1320 (with one path loss) directly interferes with the echo detection signal from base station 1324 (with potentially double path loss).

[0128] On the other hand, for interference mitigation between base stations 1316 and 1318 (or between base stations 1322 and 1324), where sufficient spatial domain separation is already available / possible (e.g., the transmission and reflection / interference FoVs between them may be separated), the above slow coding approach (or other forms of code domain multiplexing, potentially combined with spatial domain multiplexing techniques described herein) can be applied to manage the interference (e.g., even if the signal from these two entities is transmitted over the same time and frequency resources, e.g., without using an FD comb structure over the same OFDM symbols). The detection signal from base station 1316 points in a different direction than base station 1318, and its signal will also arrive at base station 1318 as a reflection.If it reaches base station 1318 at all, the acquisition signal from base station 1316 is not a direct interference. Therefore, depending on the base station placements, the cell mapping, and the desired FoV to be acquired, there is no need to have mutually exclusive time or frequency resources everywhere. Since some of the cells or sections of cells, FoVs, or directions will only interfere with the reflected signals, and some will interfere directly, they can be handled separately, for example, by using different techniques for different types of interference.

[0129] For positioning, the number of directions to be covered, for example, the number of PRS resources within a PRS resource set, depends on deployments and applications / use cases, and would extend to the network implementation (across next-generation RAN nodes and Position Management Function (LMF)). The location of the base stations, their antenna configurations, coordination between base stations (for example, it is desirable to ensure that a target UE is within the convex hull defined by a set of base stations), UE distribution, target coverage, environment, use cases, etc. are all factors that can be used to determine beamforming decisions for the positioning reference signal. Handling intercell interference for multi-dimensional detection

[0130] As discussed herein, in some embodiments, various tools and mechanisms are supported and made available for the purpose of intercell interference management. Depending on the scenario, any one or a combination of these tools is applied (similar to the handling of interference for DL-PRS and another existing reference signal, which is achieved through a combination of different tools). At a high level, the following can be summarized: • To provide orthogonality and isolation to mitigate inter-cell interference that degrades sensing performance, frequency domain multiplexing through a comb structure can be used to allocate resources to different sensing base stations (especially when they are direct interferers to each other's sensing signals). • Additionally, selective (time-domain) muting can provide additional orthogonality and isolation for intercell interference. This approach manages the transmission of sensing and / or communication signals from other cells over the same or overlapping time resources. Muting can be applicable to the sensing signal of other cells (for example, when the number of sensing cells in an interfering neighborhood is greater than the maximum comb size) or can be applicable to the communication signal of other cells. • Only sensing signals from multiple cells can be transmitted over the same OFDM symbol (unless a cell is very far away, so interference is not a problem, or the communication transmission is orthogonal in the spatial and / or code domains to the sensing signal transmitted over the same OFDM symbol). The sensing signals from these multiple cells are frequency-division multiplexed over different subcarriers. • When generating the sensing signal, physical network sequences with proper initialization are used to provide an additional layer of randomization and separation for better sensing detection performance. • Spatial domain separation approaches, potentially combined with code domain separation / orthogonality, are also advantageous, which can also increase resource utilization efficiency during interference handling. Such approaches can be applied in combination with each other or with time and / or frequency separation, depending on the deployment scenario.

[0131] In some embodiments, the various disclosed signal multiplexing schemes may be configured either periodically or triggered based on certain events, such as receiving certain measurements, etc., or a combination of both.

[0132] Most of these approaches to managing / mitigating intercell interference involve coordination between base stations. In some embodiments, the base stations involved in the sensing process (including the base stations performing the sensing as well as the base stations in their neighborhood) coordinate with each other to jointly select and apply one or more of the disclosed signal multiplexing schemes.

[0133] Fig. Figure 14 illustrates device 1400 suitable for implementation as UE 1442 in wireless communication system 1900. UE 1442 may operate as defined by various 3GPP or non-3GPP standards. In one embodiment, UE 1442 may implement a sensing entity. A sensing entity is any device capable of performing JCAS operations as discussed herein. Embodiments are not limited in this context.

[0134] As in Fig. 14, device 1400 may include processor circuitry 1404, memory 1408 with acquisition manager 1414, one or more sensors 1416, memory interface 1420, data storage device 1426, and radio frequency (RF) circuitry 1422. Examples of sensors 1416 may include sensors capable of collecting geospatial data associated with UE 1442 using any number or type of suitable sensors and associated software and algorithms, such as a GPS system, a gyroscope sensor, an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a barometer, a camera, a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor, a radio detection and ranging (RADAR) sensor, a proximity sensor, and so on. Embodiments are not limited to these examples.The device 1400 may optionally include a set of platform components (not shown) suitable for a UE 1902a, such as input / output devices, memory controllers, different memory types, network interfaces, hardware ports, and so on.

[0135] The device 1400 for the UE 1442 may include the memory interface 1420. The memory interface 1420 may be arranged to send detection information 1428 for a 5G or 6G NR system to or from a data storage device 1426 or data storage device 1430. The data storage device 1430 may be located outside the UE 1442 (device-external), and the data storage device 1426 may be located inside the UE 1442 (device-internal). If the data storage device 1426 is implemented device-internal, the data storage device 1426 may comprise volatile or non-volatile memory, as described in more detail with reference to Fig. 23 described.

[0136] Apparatus 1400 may include processor circuitry 1404 communicatively coupled to memory 1408, memory interface 1420, data storage device 1426, and RF circuitry 1422. Memory 1408 may store instructions that, when executed by processor circuitry 1404, may implement or manage an acquisition manager 1414 for UE 1442. Acquisition manager 1414 may include an encoder / decoder (codec), such as codec 1402. Codec 1402 may encode and decode messages to and from base station 1424.

[0137] The acquisition manager 1414 may manage JCAS operations according to the acquisition information 1428. This may include receiving signal 1434 from the base station 1424 and / or from an object 206. An example of a signal 1434 received from the base station 1424 may include a signal carrying the acquisition information 1428. Another example may include communication signals from the base station 1424 carrying control and / or data signals. An example of a signal 1434 may include a reflection signal reflected from the object 206, where the reflection signal is a reflection of a acquisition signal transmitted by the base station 1424.

[0138] Processor circuitry 1404 may execute instructions for a detection entity to map a first set of detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource lattice such that the first set of detection-modulated symbols is based on a pseudorandom (PN) sequence that is pseudoorthogonal to a PN sequence used for a second set of modulated symbols; and encode a detection signal comprising the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols.

[0139] For example, in one embodiment, the PN sequence for the first set of detection-modulated signals is pseudo-orthogonal to an encryption sequence used for the second set of modulated symbols, where the encryption sequence is intended to encrypt different communication channels.

[0140] For example, in one embodiment, orthogonal coverage codes are applied to the detection signal.

[0141] For example, in one embodiment, the first set of detection-modulated symbols and the second set of modulated symbols mapped over respective detection block durations are multiplied by a slow time code or orthogonal covering code, and a random phase in a time domain is applied to the first set of detection-modulated symbols and the second set of modulated symbols.

[0142] For example, in one embodiment, processor circuitry 1404 may map detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid of a fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS), wherein the DL-PRS configuration supports time domain separation between a first modulated signal of the detection entity and a second modulated signal of a second detection entity, the time domain separation is realized by muting the second modulated signal for a duration across multiple symbols, multiple slots, or multiple subframes; and muting at least one of the DL-PRS or a communication signal across a set of time resources.

[0143] For example, in one embodiment, a configuration of the DL PRS supports each PRS resource repetition in a PRS resource set instance to be muted individually.

[0144] For example, in one embodiment, a configuration of the DL-PRS supports a subset of symbols in a multi-symbol PRS resource or any intra-resource level repetition of PRS to be muted while transmitting remaining symbols in the same multi-symbol PRS resource.

[0145] For example, in one embodiment, a set of mute parameters is defined as part of a PRS resource configuration.

[0146] For example, in one embodiment, mute parameters are configured or overridden via a downlink control information (DCI) channel.

[0147] For example, in one embodiment, the DCI channel indicates the initiation or termination of the mute operation.

[0148] For example, in one embodiment, the processor circuit mutes slots or OFDM symbols, and mutes the acquisition or data transmission of the second acquisition entity, resulting in time domain multiplexing between cell entities or between sections covered by the second acquisition entity.

[0149] For example, one embodiment includes a bitmap related to a DL-PRS mute pattern parameter, wherein corresponding to each bit in the DL-PRS mute pattern parameter bitmap, a different parameter is defined for each PRS resource within the PRS resource set to indicate whether a replay of the PRS resource is transmitted.

[0150] For example, in one embodiment, the configuration of DL-PRS further comprises a bitmap, where each bit in the bitmap indicates a transfer of each resource for a given repetition index.

[0151] For example, in one embodiment, a PRS resource configuration parameter DL-PRS MutePatternForResource defines the symbol positions at which a portion of the DL-PRS resource is expected not to be transmitted.

[0152] For example, in one embodiment, the sensing entity further comprises one or more sensing transmit beams, wherein the areas of effect of signal reflections of a target in a field of view (FoV) of the one or more sensing transmit beams are separated from second areas of effect of the second sensing entity.

[0153] Fig. 15 illustrates apparatus 1500 suitable for implementation as a base station 1424 in wireless communication system 1900 and / or wireless communication system 2000. Base station 1424 is an example of gNB 2004. Base station 1424 may operate as defined by various 3GPP or non-3GPP standards. In one embodiment, base station 1424 may implement a sensing entity. A sensing entity is any device capable of performing JCAS operations as discussed herein. Embodiments are not limited in this context.

[0154] As in Fig. 15, the device 1500 may include processor circuitry 1504, memory 1506 with acquisition manager 2018, memory interface 1530, data storage device 1532, and radio frequency (RF) circuitry 1534. The device 1500 may optionally include a set of platform components (not shown) suitable for a UE 1442, such as input / output devices, memory controllers, different memory types, network interfaces, hardware ports, and so on.

[0155] The acquisition manager 2018 may include codec 1508 and mapper 1510. The acquisition manager 2018 may manage JCAS operations according to acquisition information 1514. This may include receiving signal 1538 from the UE 1442 and / or an object 206. An example of a signal 1538 received by the UE 1442 may include a signal carrying the acquisition information 1514. Another example may include communication signals from the UE 1442 carrying control and / or data signals. An example of a signal 1538 may include a reflection signal reflected from the object 206, where the reflection signal is a reflection of a acquisition signal transmitted by the UE 1442.

[0156] In one embodiment, apparatus 1500 may be implemented for base station 1424. Base station 1424 includes a memory interface 1530 for transmitting or receiving, to or from a data storage device 1532, detection information 1514 for a wireless communication system 1900 or a wireless communication system 2000.The base station 1424 also includes a processor circuit 1504 communicatively coupled to the memory interface 1530, wherein the processor circuit 1504 is to execute instructions for a detection entity to map a first set of detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid, wherein the first set of detection-modulated symbols is mapped to a set of comb-structured subcarriers over one or more consecutive OFDM symbols to reduce interference with a second set of modulated symbols within a same frequency bandwidth; and to encode a detection signal comprising the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols.

[0157] In one embodiment, for example, the processor circuit is for decoding a reflection signal based on the detection signal, wherein the reflection signal is to comprise a reflection of the detection signal from an object.

[0158] For example, in one embodiment, the processor circuit analyzes the reflection signal to determine an identity of the object, a position of the object, a range of the object, an angle of the object, or a speed of the object.

[0159] For example, in one embodiment, the first set of detection-modulated symbols starts from a different subcarrier offset than the second set of modulated symbols.

[0160] For example, in one embodiment, the first set of modulated detection symbols is associated with the detection entity, and the second set of modulated symbols is associated with a second detection entity, wherein the second detection entity comprises a base station.

[0161] For example, in one embodiment, the set of comb-structured subcarriers comprises a defined number of subcarriers forming a repeating pattern that is multiplexed across all subcarriers of a single physical resource block.

[0162] For example, in one embodiment, the device 1500 may further comprise radio frequency (RF) circuitry communicatively coupled to the processor circuitry, wherein the RF circuitry is to transmit the encoded detection signal and receive a reflection signal associated with the encoded detection signal as RF signals.

[0163] Operations for the disclosed embodiments may be further described with reference to the following figures. Some of the figures may include logic flow. Although such figures illustrated herein may include a particular logic flow, it should be understood that the logic flow merely provides an example of how the general functionality described herein may be implemented. Further, a given logic flow may not necessarily be performed in the order illustrated unless otherwise noted. Moreover, in some embodiments, not all of the actions illustrated in a logic flow may be required. Additionally, the given logic flow may be implemented by a hardware element, a software element executed by a processor, or any combination thereof. The embodiments are not limited in this regard.

[0164] Fig. 16 illustrates one embodiment of logic flow 1600. Logic flow 1600 may be representative of some or all of the operations performed by one or more embodiments described herein. For example, logic flow 1600 may include some or all of the operations performed by devices or entities within wireless communication system 1900 and / or wireless communication system 2000, such as UE 1442 or base station 1424. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

[0165] In block 1602, logic flow 1600 maps a first set of detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid, wherein the first set of detection-modulated symbols is mapped to a set of comb-structured subcarriers across one or more consecutive OFDM symbols to reduce interference with a second set of modulated symbols within a same frequency bandwidth. In block 1604, logic flow 1600 encodes a detection signal comprising the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols. In block 1606, logic flow 1600 decodes a reflection signal based on the detection signal, wherein the reflection signal is to comprise a reflection of the detection signal from an object.

[0166] Fig. 17 illustrates one embodiment of logic flow 1700. Logic flow 1700 may be representative of some or all of the operations performed by one or more embodiments described herein. For example, logic flow 1700 may include some or all of the operations performed by devices or entities within wireless communication system 1900 and / or wireless communication system 2000, such as UE 1442 or base station 1424. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

[0167] In block 1702, logic flow 1700 may execute instructions for a sensing entity to map a first set of detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource lattice such that the first set of detection-modulated symbols is based on a pseudorandom (PN) sequence that is pseudoorthogonal to a PN sequence used for a second set of modulated symbols. In block 1704, logic flow 1700 may encode a detection signal comprising the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols. In block 1706, logic flow 1700 may encode a reflection signal based on the detection signal, wherein the reflection signal is to comprise a reflection of the detection signal from an object.

[0168] Fig. 18 illustrates one embodiment of logic flow 1800. Logic flow 1800 may be representative of some or all of the operations performed by one or more embodiments described herein. For example, logic flow 1800 may include some or all of the operations performed by devices or entities within wireless communication system 1900 and / or wireless communication system 2000, such as UE 1442 or base station 1424. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

[0169] In block 1802, logic flow 1800 may map acquisition-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid of a fifth-generation (5G) New Radio (NR) downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS), wherein the DL-PRS configuration supports time-domain separation between a first modulated signal of the acquisition entity and a second modulated signal of a second acquisition entity, the time-domain separation being realized by muting the second modulated signal for a duration spanning multiple symbols, multiple slots, or multiple subframes. In block 1804, logic flow 1800 may mute the DL-PRS and / or a communication signal across a set of time resources.In block 1806, logic flow 1800 may mute slots or OFDM symbols, and mutes the sensing or data transmission of the second sensing entity, resulting in time domain multiplexing between cell entities or between sections covered by the second sensing entity.

[0170] Fig. 19 illustrates an example wireless communication system 1900. For simplicity and without limitation, the example wireless communication system 1900 is described in the context of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and fifth-generation (5G) New Radio (NR) (5G NR) cellular network communication standards, as defined by one or more of the 3GPP TS 38.133 standards, the 3GPP TS 38.304 standards, the 3GPP 38.331 standards, or the 3GPP 38.1400 standards, or other 3GPP standards or specifications. However, other types of wireless standards are also possible.

[0171] The wireless communication system 1900 supports two classes of UE devices, including Reduced Capability (RedCap) UE 1902a and Standard UE 1902b (collectively, "UE 1902"). In one embodiment, the UE 1902a may have a set of one or more reduced capabilities relative to a set of standard capabilities of the Standard UE 1902b. Examples of reduced capabilities may include, but are not limited to: (1) 20 megahertz (MHz) in sub-7 gigahertz (GHz) or 1900 MHz in millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands; (2) a single transmit (Tx) antenna (1 Tx); (3) a single receive (Rx) antenna (1 Rx), with two antennas (2 Rx) being optional; (4) optional support for half-duplex FDD; (5) lower-order modulation, with 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) optional; and (6) support for lower transmit power.For example, in one embodiment, the standard UE 1902b may have a 2-Rx antenna, while the UE 1902a may only have a 1-Rx antenna. The UE 1902a may also have other reduced capabilities. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

[0172] In this example, the UE 1902s are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld mobile touchscreen computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks).In other examples, each of the UEs 1902 may include other mobile or non-mobile computing devices, such as, but not limited to, consumer electronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computing devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-vehicle entertainment (ICE) devices, an instrument cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices, on-board diagnostics (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDT), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine control units (ECUs), electronic / engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, engine management systems (EMS), machine-to-machine (M2T) devices, machine-to-machine (M2T) devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, or combinations thereof.

[0173] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 1902 may be IoT UEs, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that use short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE may use technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or a device using, for example, a public terrestrial mobile network (PLMN), proximity-based service (ProSe), device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks, or combinations thereof, among others. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be machine-initiated data exchange. An IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs that may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections.The IoT UEs can run background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates) to enable connections to the IoT network.

[0174] The UEs 1902 are configured to connect (e.g., communicatively couple) to the radio access network (RAN) 1912. In some implementations, the RAN 1912 may be a next-generation RAN (NG RAN), an evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), or an established RAN, such as a UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) or a GSM EDGE radio access network (GERAN). As used herein, the term "NG RAN" may refer to a RAN 1912 operating in a 5G NR wireless communication system 1900, and the term "E-UTRAN" may refer to a RAN 1912 operating in an LTE or 4G wireless communication system 1900.

[0175] To connect to the RAN 1912, the UEs 1902 utilize links (or channels) 1918 and 1920, respectively, each of which may include a physical communication interface or layer, as described below. In this example, links 1918 and 1920 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling and may conform to, among other communication protocols, cellular communication protocols such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, or combinations thereof.

[0176] The UE 1902b is shown configured to access access point (AP) 1904 (also referred to as "WLAN node 1904," "WLAN 1904," "WLAN termination 1904," "WT 1904," or the like) using connection 1922. The connection 1922 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection conforming to any IEEE 802.11 protocol, where the AP 1904 would include a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) router. In this example, the AP 1904 is shown connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system, as described in more detail below.

[0177] The RAN 1912 may include one or more nodes, such as RAN nodes 1906a and 1906b (collectively, "RAN node 1906"), that enable the connections 1918 and 1920. As used herein, the terms "access node," "access point," or the like may describe equipment that provides the radio baseband functions for data or voice connectivity, or both, between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as base stations (BS), gNodeB, gNB, eNodeB, eNB, NodeB, RAN nodes, roadside units (RSU), transmit-receive points (TRxP or TRP), and the link, and may include, among others, ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell).As used herein, the term "NG RAN" may refer to a RAN node 1906 operating in a 5G NR wireless communication system 1900 (e.g., a gNB), and the term "E-UTRAN" may refer to a RAN node 1906 operating in an LTE or 4G wireless communication system 1900 (e.g., an eNB). In some implementations, the RAN nodes 1906 may be implemented as one or more dedicated physical devices, such as a macrocell base station or a low-power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocells, or other similar cells with smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than macrocells.

[0178] In some embodiments, some or all of the RAN nodes 1906 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a cloud RAN (CRAN) or virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP).The CRAN or the vBBUP may implement a RAN functional partition, such as a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) partition, in which radio resource control (RRC) and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP and other layer two (e.g., data link layer) protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 1906; a Media Access Control (MAC) / Physical Layer (PHY) partition, in which RRC, PDCP, MAC, and Radio Link Control (RLC) layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 1906; or a "lower PHY" split, where RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers and upper portions of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and lower portions of the PHY layer are operated by individual RAN nodes 1906.This virtualized framework enables the shared processor cores of the RAN nodes 1906 to execute, for example, other virtualized applications. In some implementations, a single RAN node 1906 may represent individual distributed gNB units (DUs) connected by using individual F1 interfaces (not shown in . Fig. 19) are connected to a gNB central unit (CU). In some implementations, the gNB-DU may include one or more remotely located radio heads or RFEMs, and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server located in the RAN 1912 (not shown) or by a server pool in a manner similar to the CRAN / vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 1906 may be next-generation eNBs (ng-eNBs), including RAN nodes providing E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations to the UEs 1902, and are connected to a 5G core network (e.g., core network 1914) using a next-generation interface.

[0179] In Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) scenarios, one or more of the RAN nodes 1906 may be or act as RSUs. The term "Roadside Unit" or "RSU" refers to any transport infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU," an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU," an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU," and the like. In some embodiments, an RSU is a computing device coupled to a roadside radio frequency circuit that provides connectivity support to passing vehicular UE 1902 (vUE 1902).The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection mapping geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications or other software to detect and control ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communications (DSRC) band to provide very low-latency communications required for high-speed events such as crash avoidance, traffic alerts, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low-latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications, or both.The one or more data processing devices and some or all of the radio frequency circuitry of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or backhaul network.

[0180] Any of the RAN nodes 1906 may complete the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 1902. In some implementations, any of the RAN nodes 1906 may perform various logical functions for the RAN 1912, including, among other things, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, dynamic uplink and downlink radio resource management, and data packet scheduling and mobility management.

[0181] In some embodiments, the UEs 1902 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 1906 over a multi-carrier communication channel using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMA communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or an SC-FDMA communication technique (e.g., for uplink communications), although the scope of the techniques described herein is not limited in this regard. The OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0182] The RAN nodes 1906 can transmit to the UEs 1902 via various channels. Various examples of downlink communication channels include a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and a physical shared downlink channel (PDSCH). Other types of downlink channels are possible. The UEs 1902 can transmit to the RAN nodes 1906 via various channels. Various examples of uplink communication channels include a physical shared uplink broadcast channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and a physical random access channel (PRACH). Other types of uplink channels are possible.

[0183] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 1906 to the UE 1902, while uplink transmissions may use similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, representing the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is common practice for OFDM systems, making it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is referred to as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks that describe the mapping of specific physical channels to resource elements.Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest amount of resources that can currently be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are transmitted using such resource blocks.

[0184] The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UE 1902. The PDCCH carries, among other things, information about the transport format and resource allocations regarding the PDSCH channel. It may also inform the UE 1902 about the transport format, resource allocation, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) regarding the shared uplink channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (e.g., allocating control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 1902a within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 1906 based on channel quality information returned by any of the UEs 1902. The downlink resource allocation information may be transmitted on the PDCCH used (e.g., allocated) for each of the UEs 1902.

[0185] The PDCCH can use control channel elements (CCEs) to transmit the control information. Before mapping to resource elements, the complex-valued PDCCH symbols can first be organized into quadruples, which can then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate adaptation. Each PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE can correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, collectively referred to as resource element groups (REGs). Four quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel state. In LTE, there can be four or more different PDCCH formats, defined with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0186] Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the concepts described above. For example, some embodiments may use an extended PDCCH (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more extended CCEs (ECCEs). Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, collectively referred to as extended REGs (EREGs). An ECCE may have different numbers of EREGs.

[0187] The RAN nodes 1906 are configured to communicate with each other using interface 1932. In examples, such as when the wireless communication system 1900 is an LTE system (e.g., when the core network 1914 is an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network), the interface 1932 may be an X2 interface 1932. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 1906 (e.g., two or more eNBs and the like) connected to the EPC 1914, or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 1914, or both. In some implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U can provide flow control mechanisms for user data packets transmitted over the X2 interface and can be used to communicate information about the delivery of user data between eNBs.For example, the X2-U may provide, among other information, specific sequence number information for user data transmitted from a master eNB to a secondary eNB; information about a successful sequential delivery of PDCP protocol data units (PDUs) to a UE 1902 from a secondary eNB for user data; information about PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to a UE 1902; information about a current desired minimum buffer size at the secondary eNB for transmitting the user data to the UE. The X2-C may provide, among other functionalities, intra-LTE access mobility functionality, including context transfers from source to destination eNB or user plane transport control; load management functionality; and inter-cell interference coordination functionality.

[0188] In some implementations, such as when the wireless communication system 1900 is a 5G NR system (e.g., when the core network 1914 is a 5G core network), the interface 1932 may be an Xn interface 1932. The Xn interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 1906 (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) connected to the SG core network 1914, between a RAN node 1906 (e.g., a gNB) connected to the 5G core network 1914 and an eNB, or between two eNBs connected to the SG core network 1914, or combinations thereof. In some implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U can provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and flow control functionality.The Xn-C may provide, among other functionalities: management and error handling functionality, functionality for managing the Xn-C interface; mobility support for the UE 1902 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED), including functionality for managing UE mobility for the connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 1906. The mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 1906 to a new (destination) serving RAN node 1906 and control of user plane tunnels between the old (source) serving RAN node 1906 to the new (destination) serving RAN node 1906.An Xn-U protocol stack may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer and a GPRS Tunneling Protocol for User Plane (GTP-U) layer built on a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) or one or more IP layers, or both, to carry user-plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application-layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn-Application Protocol (Xn-AP or XnAP)) and a transport network layer (TNL) built on a Stream Control Transfer Protocol (SCTP). SCTP may be located at an IP layer and can provide guaranteed delivery of application-layer messages. At the transport-IP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signaling PDU.In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack or the Xn-C protocol stack, or both, may be the same as or similar to the one or more user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0189] The RAN 1912 is shown communicatively coupled to a core network 1914 (referred to as "CN 1914"). The CN 1914 includes multiple network elements, such as network element 1908a and network element 1908b (collectively referred to as "network elements 1908"), configured to offer various data and telecommunications services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 1902) connected to the CN 1914 using the RAN 1912. The components of the CN 1914 may be implemented in a physical node or separate physical nodes, and may include components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium).In some embodiments, network function virtualization (NFV) may be used to virtualize one or all of the network node functions described herein by using executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media, as described in more detail below. A logical instantiation of the CN 1914 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 1914 may be referred to as a network subslice. NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions, alternatively executed by proprietary hardware, on physical resources that include a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches.In other words, NFV systems can be used to perform virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more network components or functions, or both.

[0190] Application server 1910 may be an element that offers applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, among others). Application server 1910 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, among others) for UE 1902 by using CN 1914. Application server 1910 may use IP communication interface 1930 to communicate with one or more network elements 1908a.

[0191] In some implementations, the CN 1914 may be a 5G core network (referred to as "5GC 1914" or "5G core network 1914"), and the RAN 1912 may be connected to the CN 1914 using the next-generation interface 1924. In some implementations, the next-generation interface 1924 may be split into two parts: a next-generation user plane (NG-U) interface 1914, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 1906 and a user plane function (UPF), and the S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 1926, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 1906 and access and mobility management functions (AMF). Examples where the CN 1914 is a 5G core network will be discussed in more detail with reference to later figures.

[0192] In some implementations, the CN 1914 may be an EPC (referred to as "EPC 1914" or the like), and the RAN 1912 may be connected to the CN 1914 using an S1 interface 1924. In some implementations, the S1 interface 1924 may be split into two parts, S1 user-plane interface (NG-U) 1928, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 1906 and the serving gateway (S-GW), and the S1 MME interface 1926, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 1906 and mobility management entities (MME).

[0193] As previously discussed, in some implementations, a single RAN node 1906 may be implemented as a gNB dual architecture comprising multiple gNB-DUs connected to a gNB-CU using individual F1 interfaces. An example of a gNB dual architecture for a RAN node 1906 is shown in Fig. 20 shown.

[0194] Fig. 20 illustrates wireless communication system 2000. The wireless communication system 2000 is a subsystem of the Fig. 19. The wireless communication system 2000 represents UE 2002 connected to gNB 2004 via connection 2014. The UE 2002 and connection 2014 are similar to the UE 1902 and the one described with reference to Fig. 19 described connections 1918, 1920. The gNB 2004 is similar to the RAN node 1906, and represents an implementation of the RAN node 1906 as a gNB with a dual architecture.

[0195] As in Fig. As shown in Figure 20, the gNB 2004 is divided into two physical entities, referred to as a centralized or central unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). The gNB 2004 may comprise gNB-CU 2012 and one or more gNB-DU 2010s. The GNB-CU 2012 is further divided into gNB-CU control plane (GNB-CU-CP) 2006 and gNB-CU user plane (GNB-CU-UP) 2008. The gNB-CU-CP 2006 and the gNB-CU-UP 2008 communicate via an E1 interface. The gNB-CU-CP 2006 communicates with one or more gNB-DU 2010s via an F1-C interface. The gNB-CU-UP 2008 communicates with the one or more gNB-DU 2010s via an F1-U interface.

[0196] In some implementations, there is a single gNB-CU 2012 for each gNB 2004, controlling multiple gNB-DU 2010s. For example, the gNB 2004 may have more than 1900 gNB-DU 2010s connected to a single gNB-CU 2012. Each gNB-DU 2010 is capable of supporting one or more cells, with one gNB 2004 potentially controlling hundreds of cells in a 5G NR system.

[0197] The gNB-CU 2012 is primarily involved in the control and management of overall network operations, performing control plane-related tasks such as connection setup, mobility management, and signaling. It is responsible for non-real-time functionalities, including policy decisions, forwarding, and session management. The gNB-CU-CP 2006 and gNB-CU-UP 2008 provide support for higher layers of a protocol stack, such as Service Data Adaption Protocol (SDAP), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), and RRC.

[0198] The gNB-DU 2010 is responsible for real-time, high-speed functions such as scheduling radio resources, managing the data plane, and performing error handling and retransmissions. The gNB-DU 2010 provides support for lower layers of the protocol stack, such as radio link control (RLC), the MAC layer, and the PHY layer.

[0199] As in Fig. As shown in Figure 20, the gNB-DU 2010 includes the acquisition manager 2018. In the wireless communication system 1900 and / or the wireless communication system 2000, the scheduling of measurement gaps for the UE 2002, including their configuration and assignment, is handled primarily by the base station of the serving cell through the acquisition manager 2018. The acquisition manager 2018 is involved in real-time operations and is responsible for making immediate decisions regarding the allocation of radio resources, interference management, and compliance with quality of service (QoS) requirements for different services and users. The acquisition manager 2018 within the gNB-DU 2010 makes decisions about resource allocation, including when and how to schedule measurement gaps for the UE 2002.It takes into account, among other factors, the capabilities of the UE 2002, the mobility status, the quality of service requirements and the current network conditions.

[0200] Based on scheduling decisions, the gNB-DU 2010 sends configuration information to the UE 2002, instructing it when to perform measurements by allocating specific time intervals as measurement gaps. This information is typically transmitted, among other types of messages, through radio resource control (RRC) messages, such as RRC reconfiguration messages. The RRC layer is responsible for managing signaling between the UE 2002 and the gNB-DU 2010, including signaling related to the configuration of measurement gaps. The RRC layer in the gNB-DU 2010 thus plays a crucial role in orchestrating the scheduling and allocation of measurement gaps based on decisions made by the Acquisition Manager 2018.After receiving the configuration, the UE 2002 performs measurements during the assigned gaps and reports the results back to the network, allowing the gNB-DU 2010 to make further decisions, such as handovers or beam adjustments.

[0201] Although the scheduler is located within the gNB-DU, it frequently interacts with the gNB-CU. The gNB-CU provides the gNB-DU with the necessary control and configuration information, which it uses to make real-time scheduling decisions and effectively manage radio resources. The configuration, policies, and user-specific QoS parameters provided by the gNB-CU help the 2018 Collection Manager in the gNB-DU allocate resources and efficiently manage user traffic, thereby meeting diverse service requirements in 5G and 6G networks.

[0202] Fig. Figure 21 illustrates network 2100 according to various embodiments. Network 2100 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or SG / NR systems. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this respect, and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems or the like.

[0203] The network 2100 may include UE 2102, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with RAN 2130 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 2102 may be communicatively coupled to the RAN 2130 via a UU interface. The UE 2102 may be, among others, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computing device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-vehicle entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, on-board diagnostic device, mobile dashboard equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic / engine control unit, electronic / engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked apparatus, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, IoT device, etc.

[0204] In some embodiments, network 2100 may include multiple UEs directly coupled to each other via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M / D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels, such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.

[0205] In some embodiments, the UE 2102 may additionally communicate with AP 2104 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 2104 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some or all of the network traffic from the RAN 2130. The connection between the UE 2102 and the AP 2104 may conform to any IEEE 2102.11 protocol, where the AP 2104 could be a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In some embodiments, the UE 2102, the RAN 2130, and the AP 2104 may use cellular WLAN aggregation (e.g., LWA / LWIP). Cellular WLAN aggregation may involve the UE 2102 being configured by the RAN 2130 to use both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

[0206] The RAN 2130 may include one or more access nodes, for example, AN 2160. The AN 2160 may terminate air interface protocols for the UE 2102 by providing access stratum protocols, including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and L1 protocols. In this way, the AN 2160 may enable data / voice connectivity between the CN 2118 and the UE 2102. In some embodiments, the AN 2160 may be implemented in a dedicated device or as one or more software entities executing on server computers, for example, as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 2160 may be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc.The AN 2160 can be a macrocell base station or a low-power base station for deploying femtocells, picocells, or other similar cells that have smaller coverage areas, lower user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

[0207] In embodiments where the RAN 2130 includes multiple ANs, they may be coupled together via an X2 interface (if the RAN 2130 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 2130 is a 5G RAN). The X2 / Xn interfaces, which in some embodiments may be separated into control / user plane interfaces, may enable the ANs to communicate information related to handovers, data / context transfers, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

[0208] The ANs of the RAN 2130 may each manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc., to provide the UE 2102 with an air interface for network access. The UE 2102 may be simultaneously connected to multiple cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 2130. For example, the UE 2102 and the RAN 2130 may use carrier aggregation to enable the UE 2102 to connect to multiple component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell. In dual connectivity scenarios, a first AN may be a master node providing an MCG, and a second AN may be a secondary node providing an SCG. The first / second AN may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.

[0209] The RAN 2130 can provide the air interface over licensed or unlicensed spectrum. To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, nodes can use LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology with Pcells / Scells. Before accessing the unlicensed spectrum, nodes can perform medium / carrier sensing operations based, for example, on a Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) protocol.

[0210] In V2X scenarios, the UE 2102 or the AN 2160 may be or act as an RSU, which may refer to any transport infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU may be implemented in or by: a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU"; an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU"; a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU"; and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled to a roadside radio frequency circuit that provides connectivity support to passing vehicular UEs.The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection mapping geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software to detect and control ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low-latency communications required for high-speed events such as crash avoidance, traffic alerts, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular / Wi-Fi communication services. The RSU components may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or backhaul network.

[0211] In some embodiments, the RAN 2130 may be LTE-RAN 2126 with eNB, for example, eNB 2154. The LTE-RAN 2126 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS of 15 kHz; CP-OFDM waveform for DL ​​and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on: CSI-RS for CSI detection and beam management; PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH / PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial detection, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation / detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operate on sub-6 GHz bands.

[0212] In some embodiments, the RAN 2130 may be NG-RAN 2128 with gNB, for example, gNB 2156, or ng-eNB, for example, ng-eNB 2158. The gNB 2156 may connect to 5G-capable UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 2156 may connect to a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 2158 may also connect to the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect to a UE over an LTE air interface. The gNB 2156 and the ng-eNB 2158 may connect to each other over an Xn interface.

[0213] In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface that carries traffic data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 2128 and UPF 2138 (e.g., N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface that is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN 2128 and AMF 2134 (e.g., N2 interface).

[0214] The NG-RAN 2128 can provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetitive, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for steering; and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface can rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS, similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and a tracking reference signal for timing tracking. The 5G-NR air interface can operate on FR1 bands, which include sub-6 GHz bands, or FR2 bands, which include bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB, which is a portion of a downlink resource grid including PSS / SSS / PBCH.

[0215] In some embodiments, the 5G NR air interface may use BWP for various purposes. For example, BWP may be used to dynamically adapt the SCS. For example, the UE 2102 may be configured with multiple BWPs, each BWP configuration having a different SCS. If a BWP change is indicated to the UE 2102, the SCS of the transmission is also changed. Another use case example for BWP concerns power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs may be configured for the UE 2102 with different amounts of frequency resources (e.g., PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic load scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs may be used for data transmission with a small traffic load while enabling power saving at the UE 2102 and, in some cases, at the gNB 2156.A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic loads.

[0216] The RAN 2130 is communicatively coupled to the CN 2118, which includes network elements for providing various functions to support data and telecommunications services for customers / subscribers (e.g., users of the UE 2102). The components of the CN 2118 may be implemented in a physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 2118 onto physical computing / storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 2118 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 2118 may be referred to as a network subslice.

[0217] In some embodiments, the CN 2118 may be LTE-CN 2124, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE-CN 2124 may include MME 2106, SGW 2108, SGSN 2114, HSS 2116, PGW 2110, and PCRF 2112, which are coupled together via interfaces (or "reference points"), as shown. Functions of the elements of the LTE-CN 2124 may be briefly introduced as follows.

[0218] The MME 2106 may implement mobility management functions to track a current position of the UE 2102 to enable paging, carrier activation / deactivation, handovers, gateway selection, authentication, etc.

[0219] The SGW 2108 can terminate an S1 interface toward the RAN and forward data packets between the RAN and the LTE-CN 2124. The S-SGW 2108 can serve as a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and can also provide an anchor point for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include regulatory monitoring, billing, and some policy enforcement.

[0220] The SGSN 2114 can track the position of the UE 2102 and perform security functions and access control. Additionally, the SGSN 2114 can perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by the MME 2106; MME selection for handovers, etc. The S3 reference point between the MME 2106 and the SGSN 2114 can enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle / active states.

[0221] The HSS 2116 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the handling of communication sessions by the network entities. The HSS 2116 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 2116 and the MME 2106 may enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data to authenticate / authorize user access to the LTE-CN 2118.

[0222] The PGW 2110 may terminate an SGi interface to the data network (DN) 2122, which may include application / content servers 2120. The PGW 2110 may route data packets between the LTE CN 2124 and the data network 2122. The PGW 2110 may be coupled to the SGW 2108 through an S5 reference point to enable user-level tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 2110 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (e.g., PCEF). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the PGW 2110 and the data network 2122 may be an off-carrier public network, a private PDN, or an on-carrier packet data network, for example, for providing IMS services. The PGW 2110 can be coupled to a PCRF 2112 via a Gx reference point.

[0223] The PCRF 2112 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 2124. The PCRF 2112 can be communicatively coupled to the application / content server 2120 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. The PCRF 2110 can deploy associated rules into a PCEF (via a Gx reference point) with appropriate TFT and QCI.

[0224] In some embodiments, the CN 2118 may be the 5GC 2152. The 5GC 2152 may be the AUSF 2132, AMF 2134, SMF 2136, UPF 2138, NSSF 2140, NEF 2142, NRF 2144, PCF 2146, UDM 2148, and AF 2150, which are coupled together via interfaces (or "reference points"), as shown. Functions of the elements of the 5GC 2152 can be briefly introduced as follows.

[0225] The AUSF 2132 can store data for authenticating the UE 2102 and handle authentication-related functionality. The AUSF 2132 can enable a common authentication framework for different access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 2152 via reference points, as shown, the AUSF 2132 can have a service-based NausF interface.

[0226] The AMF 2134 can enable other functions of the 5GC 2152 to communicate with the UE 2102 and the RAN 2130 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events related to the UE 2102. The AMF 2134 can also be responsible for registration management (e.g., registering the UE 2102), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful monitoring of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 2134 can provide transport for SM messages between the UE 2102 and the SMF 2136, and act as a transparent proxy for forwarding SM messages. The AMF 2134 can also provide transport for SMS messages between the UE 2102 and an SMSF. The AMF 2134 can interact with the AUSF 2132 and the UE 2102 to perform various security anchor and context management functions.Furthermore, the AMF 2134 can be an endpoint of a RAN CP interface, which can include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 2130 and the AMF 2134; and the AMF 2134 can be a termination point of NAS (N1) signaling, performing NAS ciphering and integrity protection. The AMF 2134 can also support NAS signaling with the UE 2102 over an N3 IWF interface.

[0227] The SMF 2136 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, tunnel management between the UPF 2138 and an AN 2160); UE IP address assignment and management (including optional authorization); selecting and controlling a UP function; configuring traffic steering on the UPF 2138 to direct traffic to an appropriate destination; terminating interfaces to policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement, billing, and QoS; lawful monitoring (for SM events and interfacing to LI systems); completing SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating specific SM information sent via AMF 2134 over N2 to AN 2160; and determining an SSC mode of a session.SM may refer to the management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 2102 and the data network 2122.

[0228] The UPF 2138 can act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point for connecting to the data network 2122, and a branch point for supporting multi-homed PDU sessions. The UPF 2138 can also perform packet forwarding and relaying, perform packet inspection, enforce the user-plane portion of policy rules, legally monitor packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic inspection (e.g., SDF-to-QoS flow mapping), perform transport-level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 2138 may include an uplink classifier to support forwarding traffic flows to a data network.

[0229] The NSSF 2140 may select a set of network slice instances to serve the UE 2102. The NSSF 2140 may also determine allowed NSSAIs and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if necessary. The NSSF 2140 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 2102 or a list of candidate AMFs based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 2144. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 2102 may be triggered by the AMF 2134 with which the UE 2102 is registered interacting with the NSSF 2140, which may result in a change to the AMF. The NSSF 2140 may interact with the AMF 2134 via an N22 reference point; and can communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Additionally, the NSSF 2140 can have a service-based NNSSF interface.

[0230] The NEF 2142 can securely discover services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions to a third party, internal discovery / re-discovery, AF (e.g., AF 2150), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 2142 can authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AF. The NEF 2142 can also translate information exchanged with the AF 2150 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 2142 can translate between an AF service identifier and internal 5GC information. The NEF 2142 can also receive information from other NFs based on disclosed capabilities of other NFs. This information can be stored at the NEF 2142 as structured data or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces.The stored information can then be re-disclosed by the NEF 2142 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes, such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 2142 can have a service-based NNEF interface.

[0231] The NRF 2144 can support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. The NRF 2144 also maintains information about available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms "instantiating," "instantiation," and the like can refer to the creation of an instance, and an "instance" can refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which can occur, for example, during the execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 2144 can include a service-based NRF interface.

[0232] The PCF 2146 can provide policy rules to control plane functions for enforcement and can also support a unified policy framework to regulate network behavior. The PCF 2146 can also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant to policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 2148. In addition to communicating with functions via reference points, as shown, the PCF 2146 has a service-based Npcf interface.

[0233] The UDM 2148 may handle subscription-related information to support the handling of communication sessions by the network entities and may store subscription data of the UE 2102. For example, subscription data may be communicated between the UDM 2148 and the AMF 2134 via an N8 reference point. The UDM 2148 may include two parts: an application frontend and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 2148 and the PCF 2146 and / or structured discovery data and application data (including PFD for application discovery, application request information for multiple UE 2102s) for the NEF 2142.The service-based Nudr interface can be exposed by the UDR 221 to enable the UDM 2148, the PCF 2146, and the NEF 2142 to access a specific set of stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM can include a UDM-FE responsible for credential processing, location management, subscription management, and so on. Multiple different frontends can serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration / mobility management, and subscription management.In addition to communicating with other NFs via reference points as shown, the UDM 2148 may include the service-based Nudm interface.

[0234] The AF 2150 can provide application influence on traffic forwarding, provide access to the NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.

[0235] In some embodiments, the 5GC 2152 may enable edge computing by selecting operator / third-party services geographically close to a point where the UE 2102 is connected to the network. This may reduce latency and network load. To provide edge computing implementations, the 5GC 2152 may select a UPF 2138 near the UE 2102 and perform traffic routing from the UPF 2138 to the data network 2122 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, the UE position, and information provided by the AF 2150. In this way, the AF 2150 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic forwarding. Based on the operator deployment, if the AF 2150 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator may allow the AF 2150 to interact directly with relevant NFs.Additionally, the AF 2150 can have a service-based NAF interface.

[0236] The data network 2122 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services that may be provided by one or more servers, including, for example, the application / content server 2120.

[0237] Fig. Figure 22 schematically illustrates wireless network 2200 according to various embodiments. Wireless network 2200 may include UE 2202 in wireless communication with AN 2224. UE 2202 and AN 2224 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, the like-named components described elsewhere herein.

[0238] The UE 2202 may be communicatively coupled to the AN 2224 via connection 2246. The connection 2246 is illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling and may be consistent with cellular communication protocols, such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at millimeter wave or sub-6 GHz frequencies.

[0239] The UE 2202 may include host platform 2204 coupled to modem platform 2208. The host platform 2204 may include application processing circuitry 2206, which may be coupled to protocol processing circuitry 2210 of the modem platform 2208. The application processing circuitry 2206 may execute various applications for the UE 2202 that originate / ingest application data. The application processing circuitry 2206 may further implement one or more layer operations to transmit / receive application data to / from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (e.g., UDP) operations and internet (e.g., IP) operations.

[0240] Protocol processing circuitry 2210 may implement one or more layered operations to enable the transmission or reception of data over link 2246. The layered operations implemented by protocol processing circuitry 2210 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, and NAS operations.

[0241] The modem platform 2208 may further include digital baseband circuitry 2212, which may implement one or more layer operations that are "below" layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 2210 in a network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations that include one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, encryption / decryption, encoding / decoding, layer mapping / demapping, modulation symbol mapping, receive symbol / bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding / decoding, which may include space-time and / or space-frequency and / or space coding, reference signal generation / detection, preamble sequence generation and / or decoding, synchronization sequence generation / detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

[0242] The modem platform 2208 may further include transmit circuitry 2214, receive circuitry 2216, RF circuitry 2218, and RF front-end (RFFE) 2220, which may include or be connected to one or more antenna panels 2222. In brief, the transmit circuitry 2214 may include a digital-to-analog converter, mixers, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; the receive circuitry 2216 may include an analog-to-digital converter, mixers, IF components, etc.; the RF circuitry 2218 may include a low-noise amplifier, a power amplifier, power tracking components, etc.; the RFFE 2220 may include filters (e.g., surface / bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (e.g., phased array antenna components), etc.The selection and arrangement of the components of the transmit circuitry 2214, the receive circuitry 2216, the RF circuitry 2218, the RFFE 2220, and the antenna panels 2222 (commonly referred to as "transmit / receive components") may be specific to details of a specific implementation, such as whether the communication is TDM or FDM, occurs at mmWave or sub-6 GHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit / receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit / receive chains, may be arranged in the same or different chips / modules, etc.

[0243] In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 2210 may include one or more instances of a control circuitry (not shown) for providing control functions for the transmit / receive components.

[0244] UE reception may be established by and via the antenna panels 2222, the RFFE 2220, the RF circuitry 2218, the receive circuitry 2216, the digital baseband circuitry 2212, and the protocol processing circuitry 2210. In some embodiments, the antenna panels 2222 may receive a transmission from the AN 2224 through receive beamforming signals received by multiple antennas / antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 2222.

[0245] A UE transmission may be established by and via the protocol processing circuitry 2210, the digital baseband circuitry 2212, the transmit circuitry 2214, the RF circuitry 2218, the RFFE 2220, and the antenna panels 2222. In some embodiments, the transmit components of the UE 2224 may apply a spatial filter to data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panels 2222.

[0246] Similar to UE 2202, AN 2224 may include host platform 2226 coupled to modem platform 2230. Host platform 2226 may include application processing circuitry 2228 coupled to protocol processing circuitry 2232 of modem platform 2230. The modem platform may further include digital baseband circuitry 2234, transmit circuitry 2236, receive circuitry 2238, RF circuitry 2240, RFFE circuitry 2242, and antenna panels 2244. The components of AN 2224 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, the like-named components of UE 2202. In addition to performing data transmission / reception as described above, the components of the AN 2204 can perform various logical functions, including, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, dynamic uplink and downlink radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

[0247] Fig. 23 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some example embodiments. In particular, Fig. 23 is a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 2330, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 2310, one or more memory / storage devices 2322, and one or more communication resources 2326, each of which may be communicatively coupled via bus 2320 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments employing node virtualization (e.g., NFV), hypervisor 2302 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / subslices to utilize hardware resources 2330.

[0248] Processors 2310 may include, for example, processor 2312 and processor 2314. Processors 2310 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0249] The memory / storage devices 2322 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage devices 2322 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0250] The communication resources 2326 may include interconnect or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices for communicating with one or more peripheral devices 2304 or one or more databases 2306 or other network elements via network 2308. For example, the communication resources 2326 may include wired communication components (e.g., for pairing via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, WiFi® components, and other communication components.

[0251] Instructions 2316, 2318, 2324, 2328, 2332 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least one of the processors 2310 to perform one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Instructions 2316, 2318, 2324, 2328, 2332 may reside wholly or partially within the processor 2310 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory) and / or the memory / storage devices 2322 and / or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 2316, 2318, 2324, 2328, 2332 may be transferred to the hardware resources 2330 from any combination of the peripheral devices 2304 or the databases 2306. Accordingly, the memory of the processors 2310, the memory / storage devices 2322, the peripheral devices 2304, and the databases 2306 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0252] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, one or more techniques, one or more processes, and / or one or more methods, as set forth in the Examples section below. For example, the baseband circuitry, as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures, may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, a base station, a network element, etc., as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures, may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples set forth below in the Examples section.

[0253] Fig. 24 illustrates computer-readable storage medium 2400. Computer-readable storage medium 2400 may comprise any non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or machine-readable storage medium, such as an optical, magnetic, or semiconductor storage medium. In various embodiments, computer-readable storage medium 2400 may comprise an article of manufacture. In some embodiments, computer-readable storage medium 2400 may store computer-executable instructions 2402 that a circuit may execute. For example, computer-executable instructions 2402 may include instructions for implementing operations described with respect to logic flow 1100 and / or logic flow 1100.Examples of the computer-readable storage medium 2400 or the machine-readable storage medium 2400 may include any tangible media capable of storing electronic data, including volatile memory or non-volatile memory, removable or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory, writable or rewritable memory, and so on. Examples of the computer-executable instructions 2402 may include any suitable type of code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, object-oriented code, visual code, and the like.

[0254] The components and features of the devices described above may be implemented using any combination of discrete circuitry, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), logic gates, and / or single-chip architectures. Furthermore, the features of the devices may be implemented using microcontrollers, programmable logic arrays, and / or microprocessors, or any combination thereof, where appropriate. It should be noted that hardware, firmware, and / or software elements may be collectively or individually referred to herein as "logic" or "circuitry."

[0255] It should be understood that the exemplary devices shown in the block diagrams described above may represent a functionally descriptive example of many potential implementations. Accordingly, the partitioning, omission, or inclusion of block functions illustrated in the accompanying figures does not imply that the hardware components, circuitry, software, and / or elements for implementing those functions would necessarily be partitioned, omitted, or included in embodiments.

[0256] At least one computer-readable storage medium may include instructions that, when executed, cause a system to perform any of the computer-implemented methods described herein.

[0257] Some embodiments may be described using the phrase "an embodiment" along with its derivatives. These terms mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase "in an embodiment" in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Moreover, unless otherwise noted, the features described above are considered usable together in any combination. Thus, any features discussed separately may be used in combination with one another, unless it is noted that the features are incompatible with one another.

[0258] With general reference to the notations and nomenclature used herein, the detailed descriptions herein may be presented in terms of program procedures executing on a computer or a network of computers. These procedure-oriented descriptions and representations are used by those skilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art.

[0259] A method is considered herein and generally to be a self-consistent sequence of operations that leads to a desired result. These operations are those that require physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, but not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical, magnetic, or optical signals that can be stored, transmitted, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. Sometimes, mainly for reasons of common usage, it proves convenient to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. It should be noted, however, that all these and similar designations are intended to be associated with the corresponding physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities.

[0260] Furthermore, the manipulations performed are often referred to in terms such as adding or comparing, which are typically associated with mental operations performed by a human operator. In most cases, no such skill of a human operator is required in any of the operations described herein that form part of one or more embodiments. Rather, the operations are machine operations. Useful machines for performing operations of various embodiments include general-purpose digital computers or similar devices.

[0261] Some embodiments may be described using the terms "coupled" and "connected," along with their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily synonymous. For example, some embodiments may be described using the terms "connected" and / or "coupled" to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. However, the term "coupled" may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but still cooperate or interact with each other.

[0262] Various embodiments also relate to devices or systems for performing these operations. These devices may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or they may comprise a general-purpose computer that is selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. The methods presented herein are not necessarily related to any particular computer or other device. Various general-purpose machines may be used with programs written in accordance with the teachings contained herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized devices to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these machines will be apparent from the given description.

[0263] The above description includes examples of the disclosed architecture. It is obviously not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components and / or methodologies, but one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many other combinations and permutations are possible. Accordingly, the new architecture is to be understood to encompass all such changes, modifications, and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention of the appended claims.

[0264] The various elements of the devices, as previously described with reference to the Fig.1-24 may include various hardware elements, software elements, or a combination of both. Examples of hardware elements may include devices, logical devices, components, processors, microprocessors, circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so on), integrated circuits, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), memory units, logic gates, registers, semiconductor devices, chips, microchips, chipsets, and so on.Examples of software elements may include software components, programs, applications, computer programs, application programs, system programs, software development programs, machine programs, operating system software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces, application programming interfaces (APIs), instruction sets, data processing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof.However, determining whether an embodiment is implemented using hardware elements and / or software elements may vary depending on any number of factors, such as the desired computation rate, power levels, thermal tolerances, processing cycle budget, input data rates, output data rates, memory resources, data bus speeds, and other design or performance constraints as desired for a particular implementation.

[0265] One or more aspects of at least one embodiment may be implemented by representative instructions stored on a machine-readable medium representing various logic within the processor that, when read by a machine, cause the machine to produce logic for performing the techniques described herein. Such representations, known as "IP cores," may be stored on a tangible, machine-readable medium and delivered to various customers or manufacturing facilities for loading into the manufacturing machines that manufacture the logic or processor.For example, some embodiments may be implemented using a machine-readable medium or article capable of storing an instruction or set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, may cause the machine to perform a method and / or operations according to the embodiments. Such a machine may, for example, include any suitable processing platform, data processing platform, data processing device, processing device, data processing system, processing system, computer, processor, or the like, and may be implemented using any suitable combination of hardware and software.The machine-readable medium or article may, for example, include any suitable type of storage unit, storage device, storage article, storage medium, storage device, storage article, storage medium and / or storage unit, for example, memory, removable or non-removable media, erasable or non-erasable media, writable or rewritable media, digital or analog media, hard disk, floppy disk, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk recordable (CD-R), compact disk rewritable (CD-RW), optical disk, magnetic media, magneto-optical media, removable memory cards or floppy disks, various types of digital versatile disk (DVD), a tape, a cassette, or the like.The instructions may include any suitable type of code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, encrypted code, and the like, implemented using any suitable high-level, low-level, object-oriented, visual, compiled, and / or interpreted programming language.

[0266] It should be understood that the exemplary devices shown in the block diagrams described above may represent a functionally descriptive example of many potential implementations. Accordingly, the partitioning, omission, or inclusion of block functions illustrated in the accompanying figures does not imply that the hardware components, circuitry, software, and / or elements for implementing those functions would necessarily be partitioned, omitted, or included in embodiments.

[0267] At least one computer-readable storage medium may include instructions that, when executed, cause a system to perform any of the computer-implemented methods described herein.

[0268] Some embodiments may be described using the phrase "an embodiment" along with its derivatives. These terms mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase "in an embodiment" in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Moreover, unless otherwise noted, the features described above are considered usable together in any combination. Thus, any features discussed separately may be used in combination with one another, unless it is noted that the features are incompatible with one another.

[0269] The following examples relate to further embodiments from which numerous permutations and configurations become apparent. EXAMPLE SENTENCE 1

[0270] Example 1 may include an apparatus used in multiple detection entities, the apparatus comprising processor circuitry configured to cause the detection entities to: map the detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an OFDM resource grid such that the spacing between subcarriers used to map detection-modulated symbols within the overall frequency span (detection bandwidth) is such that the modulated symbols from each detection entity are mapped to a different set of each m Kamm -th subcarrier (i.e. starting from a different subcarrier offset), and transmitting the modulated symbols.

[0271] Example 2 may include the apparatus of Example 1 or any other example herein, wherein, depending on the sensing environment, n values ​​from the set {1, ..., 6} and m Kamm takes values ​​from the set {1, ..., 4}.

[0272] Example 3 may include the apparatus of Example 1 or any other example herein, wherein in a MIMO radar, different transmit antennas use the different comb resources.

[0273] Example 4 may include a device used in multiple entities adapted to perform sensing and communication, the device comprising processor circuitry configured to cause the sensing entities to: map the sensing-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid such that modulated symbols are based on pseudorandom sequences and are generated such that the sequences used to capture signals from different entities are pseudoorthogonal, and the capture signal sequences used in one entity and the encryption sequences used in other entities to encrypt different communication channels are also pseudoorthogonal.

[0274] Example 5 may include a device used in multiple entities capable of performing sensing and communication, the device comprising processor circuitry configured to cause the sensing entities to:

[0275] Mapping the modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource lattice such that the entities cooperatively separate their transmissions in one or more of time, frequency, sequence, spatial, and code domains, and transmitting the modulated symbols.

[0276] Example 6 may include the apparatus of Example 5 or any other example herein, wherein time domain separation of signals from different entities is realized by muting the signal of other entities (acquisition and / or communication signal, and at least in the directions that interfere with the directions / FoV that a given acquisition BS needs to acquire, which may be different if the entity acquires acquisition based on its own transmitted radio signal (monostatic) or based on the one or more transmitted signals of another entity (bi / multistatic)), for the duration of one or more symbols, one or more acquisition symbol repetition intervals, the acquisition block duration, one or more slots, subframes, or frames.

[0277] Example 7 may include the apparatus of Example 5 or any other example herein, wherein the sensing entities map the sensing-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid according to a 5G NR downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) or an extended version thereof, and the entity whose PRS is muted would, through proper coordination with other entities, also mute its communication signal over equal time resources (one or more symbols or slots).

[0278] Example 8 may include the apparatus of Example 5 or any other example herein, wherein the sensing entities map the sensing-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid according to a 5G NR downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) or an extended version thereof, and Option 2 of DL PRS muting is further extended such that each PRS resource repetition in a PRS resource set instance may be individually muted or transmitted.

[0279] Example 9 may include the apparatus of Example 5 or any other example herein, wherein the sensing entities map the sensing-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid according to a 5G NR downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) or an extended version thereof, and Option 2 of DL PRS muting is further extended such that, for a multi-symbol PRS resource, each symbol within the resource or each intra-resource level repetition of PRS (if any) may be individually muted.

[0280] Example 10 may include the apparatus of Example 5 or any other example herein, wherein the detection entities map the detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid according to a 5G NR downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) or an extended version thereof, and muting parameters are defined as part of the PRS resource configuration (rather than the PRS resource set configuration).

[0281] Example 11 may include the apparatus of Example 5 or any other example herein, wherein the detection entities map the detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid according to a 5G NR downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) or an extended version thereof, and some or all of the mute-related configuration may be specified or overridden via DL control channel (DCI).

[0282] Example 12 may include the apparatus of Example 11 or any other example herein, wherein the DCI indication may trigger and / or stop muting at the symbol and / or PRS resource and / or PRS resource set level.

[0283] Example 13 may include the apparatus of Example 5 or any other example herein, wherein time domain separation is realized via muting certain transmission over certain time resources by configuring acquisition measurement gaps in the interfering entities, wherein during the acquisition measurement gaps no transmission is scheduled from the (interfering) entity (and potentially also from a subset of UEs served by that entity) in directions that affect the scanning of the FoV of the acquisition entity.

[0284] Example 14 may include the apparatus of Example 13 or any other example herein, wherein the acquisition measurement gaps overlap with existing measurement gaps supported in NR (which are designated for particular UE measurements depending on UE capability) whenever possible.

[0285] Example 15 may include the apparatus of Example 13 or any other example herein, wherein the coverage measurement gap configuration also includes spatial domain-related information in addition to the time-domain-related indication (e.g., length, repetition pattern) to increase resource utilization efficiency. Accordingly, transmissions (from the entity's cell and potentially the device covered in the cell) that affect the specified spatial domain may be avoided according to the time-domain configuration.

[0286] Example 16 may include the apparatus of Example 6 or any other example herein, wherein muting of interfering entities applies to particular slots, and detecting the transmission and / or data transfer of the one or more interfering entities mutes over those slots, such that slot-level time-domain multiplexing is achieved between cell entities or between portions covered by the cell entities (e.g., corresponding to directions / FoV that may cause direct interference).

[0287] Example 17 may include the apparatus of Example 6 or any other example herein, wherein muting interfering entities applies to one or more OFDM symbols, and detecting the transmission and / or data transfer of the one or more interfering entities over such time resources mutes such that subslot-level time domain multiplexing is achieved between cell entities or between portions covered by the cell entities (e.g., corresponding to directions / FoV that may cause direct interference).

[0288] Example 18 may include the apparatus of Example 6 or any other example herein, wherein a zero-power concept and a non-zero-power concept are used to detect beamforming implementations such that one beam is powered at a time and the others are empty. While a sensing and communication entity may use multiple beams with the same physical layer settings, configure temporal and spatial resources in an alternating mapping such that for each sensing instance in the time domain, only one of these beams has zero power, and coordinate the beam transmissions accordingly.

[0289] Example 19 may include the apparatus of Example 5 or any other example herein, wherein transmissions from different network entities are spatially separated by separating the areas of effect of signal reflections from targets in the FoV of the one or more detection transmit beams (the area over which a target may generate a reflection that may cause interference with other entities, referred to as the interference FoV) between the network entities, and the network entities may use the same time and frequency resources to transmit beams outside the areas of effect (interference FoV).

[0290] Example 20 may include the apparatus of Example 19 or any other example herein, wherein for each sensing transmit beam from a sensing network entity, the interference FoV is defined corresponding to each beam of each potentially interfering network entity and as a function of the geometry of the FoV of the beams as well as the reflected path of signals from targets in FoV.

[0291] Example 21 may include the apparatus of Example 20 or any other example herein, wherein the interference FoV area may be calculated assuming a maximum radar cross section (RCS) for a target (which may, for example, fall within the transmit FoV of a beam at the far end) and applying the radar equation based on the distance to TX and RX BS: Pe=PsG1G2λ2σ(4π)3r12r22,

[00333] where P sis the transmission power, r1 and r2 are distances to the transmit and receive nodes, respectively, G1 and G2 are the antenna gains corresponding to TX and RX, respectively, λ is the signal wavelength, and σ is the radar cross section.

[0292] Example 22 may include the apparatus of Examples 19-21 or any other example herein, wherein the network operator sets a (potentially non-zero) threshold for tolerable interference, taking into account all factors, such as the level of interference mitigation provided by using different codes to detect a signal in the two base stations, to determine the interference FoV.

[0293] Example 23 may include the apparatus of Examples 19-21 or any other example herein, wherein the interference FoV (for each beam direction) is calculated offline based on network topology information, the geometry, the cell and sector mapping, and the orientation of antenna arrays of one or more base stations in the network.

[0294] Example 24 may include the apparatus of Example 5 or Example 19 or any other example herein, wherein orthogonal covering code (e.g., Hadamard code or other random codes) is applied to the detection signals and / or the communication signals from different entities.

[0295] Example 25 may include the apparatus of Example 5 or Example 19 or any other example herein, wherein the detection symbols may be multiplied (e.g., over the detection block duration) by a slow code or orthogonal covering code (e.g., Hadamard code or other random codes), and a random phase is introduced in the time direction, wherein the random codes used for different entities are different.

[0296] Example 26 may include the apparatus of Example 5 or Example 19 or any other example herein, wherein detection symbols use long code lengths of slow time codes or orthogonal covering codes to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the detection signal while also increasing the orthogonality of the codes and reducing intercell interference.

[0297] Example 27 may include the apparatus of Example 8 or any other example herein, wherein, corresponding to each bit in the DL-PRS mute pattern bitmap (dl-PRS-mute-pattern-list-r16), a different parameter is defined for each PRS resource within the set to indicate whether or not the particular repetition of that PRS resource is transmitted.

[0298] Example 28 may include the apparatus of Example 8 or any other example herein, wherein the size of the DL-PRS mute pattern bitmap (dl-PRS-mute-pattern-list-r16 (which may be {2, 4, 8, 16, 32} bits long) is expanded by multiplying by the number of resources within a set, and the bitmap accordingly indicates the transmission of each resource for a given repetition index.

[0299] Example 29 may include the apparatus of Example 9 or any other example herein, wherein a PRS resource configuration parameter (e.g., referred to as DL PRS mute pattern for resource) defines the symbol positions at which a portion of the DL PRS resource is expected not to be transmitted.

[0300] Example 30 may include the apparatus of Example 5 or any other example herein, wherein several of the signal separation schemes of Examples 1-29 are either configured periodically, or triggered based on certain events, such as obtaining certain measurements, or a combination of both.

[0301] Example 31 includes a method of a next-generation NodeB (gNB) comprising: identifying inter-cell interference with a neighboring gNB; receiving resource usage information associated with the neighboring gNB; and mapping, based on the resource usage information of the neighboring gNB, modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid, wherein the mapped modulated symbols are to cooperatively separate transmissions of the gNB and the neighboring gNB into one or more of a time domain, a frequency domain, a spatial domain, and a code domain.

[0302] Example 32 includes the method of Example 31 or any other example herein, wherein the modulated symbols are mapped through a comb structure using frequency domain multiplexing.

[0303] Example 33 includes the method of Example 31 or any other example herein, and further comprises determining a time domain muting to mitigate inter-cell interference with the neighboring gNB.

[0304] Example 34 includes the method of Example 33 or any other example herein, wherein determining time domain muting is based on a number of detection cells being greater than a maximum comb size.

[0305] Example 35 includes the method of Example 31 or any other example herein, and further comprises transmitting a message to a user equipment (UE) based on the mapping.

[0306] Example 36 includes the method of Example 31 or any other example herein, and further comprises sending a message to the neighboring gNB including an indication of the mapping.

[0307] Example 37 includes the method of Example 31 or any other example herein, wherein the mapping of the modulated symbols is based on pseudorandom sequences.

[0308] Example 38 includes the method of Example 31 or any other example herein, wherein mapping the modulated symbols is based on downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) information.

[0309] Example 39 includes the method of any of Examples 31-38 or any other example herein, wherein the modulated symbols are associated with detection signals. EXAMPLE SENTENCE 2

[0310] In one example, a base station device, the device includes a memory interface for transmitting or receiving information for a wireless communication system to or from a data storage device.The apparatus also includes processor circuitry communicatively coupled to the memory interface, the processor circuitry to execute instructions for a detection entity to map a first set of detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource lattice, the first set of detection-modulated symbols being mapped to a set of comb-structured subcarriers across one or more consecutive OFDM symbols to reduce interference with a second set of modulated symbols within a same frequency bandwidth; and to encode a detection signal comprising the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols.

[0311] The apparatus may also include the processor circuit for decoding a reflection signal based on the detection signal, wherein the reflection signal is to comprise a reflection of the detection signal from an object.

[0312] The apparatus of any preceding example may also include the first set of detection-modulated symbols starting from a different subcarrier offset than the second set of modulated symbols.

[0313] The apparatus of any preceding example may also include the first set of modulated detection symbols being associated with the detection entity, and the second set of modulated symbols being associated with a second detection entity, the second entity including a base station.

[0314] The device of any of the preceding examples may also include a radio frequency (RF) circuit communicatively coupled to the processor circuit, wherein the RF circuit is configured to transmit the coded detection signal and receive a reflection signal associated with the coded detection signal as RF signals. Other technical features may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0315] In one example, an apparatus of a detection and communication entity, the apparatus includes a memory interface for transmitting or receiving information for a wireless communication system to or from a data storage device. The apparatus also includes processor circuitry communicatively coupled to the memory interface, wherein the processor circuitry is to execute instructions for a detection entity to map a first set of detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid, wherein the first set of detection-modulated symbols is based on a pseudorandom (PN) sequence that is pseudoorthogonal to a PN sequence used for a second set of modulated symbols, and is to encode a detection signal comprising the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols.

[0316] The apparatus may also include the PN sequence for the first set of detection-modulated signals being pseudo-orthogonal to an encryption sequence used for the second set of modulated symbols, the encryption sequence being intended to encrypt different communication channels.

[0317] The apparatus of any preceding example may also include applying orthogonal covering codes to the first set of modulated detection symbols and the second set of modulated symbols.

[0318] The apparatus of any of the preceding examples may also include multiplying the first set of detection-modulated symbols and the second set of modulated symbols, mapped over corresponding detection block durations, by a slow time code or orthogonal covering code, and applying a random phase in a time domain to the first set of detection-modulated symbols and the second set of modulated symbols. Other technical features may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0319] In one example, a device of a sensing entity in a next generation network, the device includes a storage interface for sending or receiving information for a wireless communication system to or from a data storage device.The apparatus also includes processor circuitry communicatively coupled to the memory interface, wherein the processor circuitry is to execute instructions for an acquisition entity to map acquisition-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid according to a New Radio (NR) downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS), wherein the DL-PRS configuration supports time domain separation between a first modulated signal of the acquisition entity and a second modulated signal of a second entity, the time domain separation is realized by muting the second modulated signal for a duration across multiple symbols, multiple slots, or multiple subframes, and the DL-PRS and / or a communication signal is to be muted across a set of time resources.

[0320] The apparatus may also include a configuration of the DL-PRS to support each PRS resource replay in a PRS resource set instance to be individually muted.

[0321] The apparatus may also include a configuration of the DL-PRS supporting a subset of symbols in a multi-symbol PRS resource or any intra-resource level repetition of PRS to be muted while transmitting remaining symbols in the same multi-symbol PRS resource.

[0322] The apparatus may also include defining a set of muting parameters as part of a PRS resource configuration.

[0323] The apparatus may also include configuring or overriding mute parameters via a downlink control information (DCI) channel.

[0324] The apparatus of any of the preceding examples may also include the processor circuit muting, for example, slots or OFDM symbols, and muting the detection or data transmission of the second detection entity, resulting in time domain multiplexing between cell entities or between sections covered by the second detection entity.

[0325] The apparatus of any of the preceding examples may also include a bitmap relating to a DL-PRS mute pattern parameter, wherein corresponding to each bit in the DL-PRS mute pattern parameter bitmap, a different parameter is defined for each PRS resource within the PRS resource set to indicate whether a repetition of the PRS resource is transmitted.

[0326] The apparatus of any of the preceding examples may also include the configuration of DL-PRS further including a bitmap, wherein each bit in the bitmap indicates a transfer of each resource for a given repetition index.

[0327] The apparatus of any of the preceding examples may also include a PRS resource configuration parameter, such as DL-PRS mute pattern for resource, defining the symbol positions at which a portion of the DL-PRS resource is expected not to be transmitted.

[0328] The apparatus of any of the preceding examples may also include the sensing entity further including one or more sensing transmit beams, wherein the effective areas of signal reflections from a target in a field of view (FoV) of the one or more sensing transmit beams are separated from second effective areas of the second entity. Other technical features may be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0329] In one example, a method of a next-generation NodeB (gNB) includes identifying inter-cell interference with a neighboring gNB, receiving resource usage information associated with the neighboring gNB, and mapping, based on the resource usage information of the neighboring gNB, modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid, wherein the mapped modulated symbols are to cooperatively separate transmissions of the gNB and the neighboring gNB into one or more of a time domain, a frequency domain, a spatial domain, or a code domain.

[0330] The method may also include mapping the modulated symbols through a comb structure using frequency domain multiplexing.

[0331] The method of any of the preceding examples may also include determining a time-domain muting to mitigate intercell interference with the neighboring gNB. Other technical features may be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0332] In one example, a method for a base station includes mapping a first set of detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid, wherein the first set of detection-modulated symbols is mapped to a set of comb-structured subcarriers over one or more consecutive OFDM symbols to reduce interference with a second set of modulated symbols within a same frequency bandwidth; and encoding a detection signal includes the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols.

[0333] The method may also include decoding a reflection signal based on the detection signal, wherein the reflection signal is to comprise a reflection of the detection signal from an object.

[0334] The method of any preceding example may also include the first set of detection-modulated symbols starting from a different subcarrier offset than the second set of modulated symbols.

[0335] The method of any preceding example may also include the first set of modulated detection symbols being associated with the detection entity, and the second set of modulated symbols being associated with a second detection entity, the second entity including a base station.

[0336] The method of any of the preceding examples may also include transmitting the coded detection signal and receiving a reflection signal associated with the coded detection signal as radio frequency (RF) signals. Other technical features may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0337] In one example, a method of a sensing and communication entity includes mapping a first set of detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid, wherein the first set of detection-modulated symbols is based on a pseudorandom (PN) sequence that is pseudoorthogonal to a PN sequence used for a second set of modulated symbols, and encoding a detection signal includes the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols.

[0338] The method may also include the PN sequence for the first set of detection-modulated signals being pseudo-orthogonal to an encryption sequence used for the second set of modulated symbols, the encryption sequence being intended to encrypt different communication channels.

[0339] The method of any preceding example may also include applying orthogonal covering codes to the first set of modulated detection symbols and the second set of modulated symbols.

[0340] The method of any of the preceding examples may also include multiplying the first set of detection-modulated symbols and the second set of modulated symbols, mapped over corresponding detection block durations, by a slow time code or orthogonal covering code, and applying a random phase in a time domain to the first set of detection-modulated symbols and the second set of modulated symbols. Other technical features may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0341] In one example, a method of a sensing and communication entity in a next-generation network includes mapping sensing-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid according to a new radio (NR) downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS), wherein the DL-PRS configuration supports time domain separation between a first modulated signal of the sensing entity and a second modulated signal of a second entity, the time domain separation is realized by muting the second modulated signal for a duration across multiple symbols, multiple slots, or multiple subframes, and muting the DL-PRS and / or a communication signal across a set of time resources.

[0342] The method may also include a configuration of the DL PRS supporting each PRS resource repetition in a PRS resource set instance to be individually muted.

[0343] The method may also include a configuration of the DL-PRS supporting a subset of symbols in a multi-symbol PRS resource or any intra-resource level repetition of PRS to be muted while transmitting remaining symbols in the same multi-symbol PRS resource.

[0344] The method may also include defining a set of muting parameters as part of a PRS resource configuration.

[0345] The method may also include configuring or overriding mute parameters via a downlink control information (DCI) channel.

[0346] The method of any of the preceding examples may also include muting slots or OFDM symbols, and muting the acquisition or data transmission of the second acquisition entity, resulting in time domain multiplexing between cell entities or between sections covered by the second acquisition entity.

[0347] The method of any of the preceding examples may also include a bitmap relating to a DL-PRS mute pattern parameter, wherein corresponding to each bit in the DL-PRS mute pattern parameter bitmap, a different parameter is defined for each PRS resource within the PRS resource set to indicate whether a repetition of the PRS resource is transmitted.

[0348] The method of any of the preceding examples may also include the configuration of DL-PRS further including a bitmap, wherein each bit in the bitmap indicates a transfer of each resource for a given repetition index.

[0349] The method of any of the preceding examples may also include a PRS resource configuration parameter, such as DL-PRS mute pattern for resource, defining the symbol positions at which a portion of the DL-PRS resource is expected not to be transmitted.

[0350] The method of any of the preceding examples may also include transmitting one or more acquisition transmit beams, wherein the effective areas of signal reflections from a target in a field of view (FoV) of the one or more acquisition transmit beams are separated from second effective areas of the second entity. Other technical features may be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0351] In one example, a next-generation NodeB (gNB) device includes a memory interface for sending or receiving information for a wireless communication system to or from a data storage device.The apparatus also includes processor circuitry communicatively coupled to the memory interface, wherein the processor circuitry is to execute instructions for a detection entity to identify inter-cell interference with a neighboring gNB, receive resource usage information associated with the neighboring gNB, and map modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid based on the resource usage information of the neighboring gNB, wherein the mapped modulated symbols are to cooperatively separate transmissions of the gNB and the neighboring gNB into one or more of a time domain, a frequency domain, a spatial domain, or a code domain.

[0352] The apparatus may also include mapping the modulated symbols through a comb structure using frequency domain multiplexing.

[0353] The apparatus of any of the preceding examples may also include determining time-domain muting to mitigate intercell interference with the neighboring gNB. Other technical features may be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0354] In one example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to identify inter-cell interference with a neighboring gNB, receive resource usage information associated with the neighboring gNB, and map modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid based on the resource usage information of the neighboring gNB, wherein the mapped modulated symbols are to cooperatively separate transmissions of the gNB and the neighboring gNB into one or more of a time domain, a frequency domain, a spatial domain, or a code domain.

[0355] The computer-readable storage medium may also include mapping the modulated symbols through a comb structure using frequency domain multiplexing.

[0356] The computer-readable storage medium may also include determining time-domain muting to mitigate intercell interference with the neighboring gNB. Other technical features may be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0357] In one example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to map a first set of detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid, wherein the first set of detection-modulated symbols is mapped to a set of comb-structured subcarriers across one or more consecutive OFDM symbols to reduce interference with a second set of modulated symbols within a same frequency bandwidth, and to encode a detection signal including the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols.

[0358] The computer-readable storage medium may also include decoding a reflection signal based on the detection signal, wherein the reflection signal is to comprise a reflection of the detection signal from an object.

[0359] The computer-readable storage medium may also include the first set of detection-modulated symbols starting from a different subcarrier offset than the second set of modulated symbols.

[0360] The computer-readable storage medium may also include the first set of modulated sensing symbols being associated with the sensing entity, and the second set of modulated symbols being associated with a second sensing entity, wherein the second entity includes a base station.

[0361] The computer-readable storage medium may also include transmitting the encoded detection signal and receiving a reflection signal associated with the encoded detection signal as radio frequency (RF) signals. Other technical features may be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0362] In one example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to map a first set of modulated detection symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid, the first set of detection-modulated symbols based on a pseudorandom (PN) sequence that is pseudoorthogonal to a PN sequence used for a second set of modulated symbols, and to encode a detection signal that includes the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols.

[0363] The computer-readable storage medium may also include the PN sequence for the first set of detection-modulated signals being pseudo-orthogonal to an encryption sequence used for the second set of modulated symbols, wherein the encryption sequence is intended to encrypt different communication channels.

[0364] The computer-readable storage medium may also include applying orthogonal masking codes to the first set of modulated detection symbols and the second set of modulated symbols.

[0365] The computer-readable storage medium may also include multiplying the first set of acquisition-modulated symbols and the second set of modulated symbols, mapped over corresponding acquisition block durations, by a slow time code or orthogonal masking code, and applying a random phase in a time domain to the first set of acquisition-modulated symbols and the second set of modulated symbols. Other technical features may be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0366] In one example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to identify inter-cell interference with a neighboring gNB, receive resource usage information associated with the neighboring gNB, and map modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid based on the resource usage information of the neighboring gNB, wherein the mapped modulated symbols are to cooperatively separate transmissions of the gNB and the neighboring gNB into one or more of a time domain, a frequency domain, a spatial domain, or a code domain.

[0367] The computer-readable storage medium may also include mapping the modulated symbols through a comb structure using frequency domain multiplexing.

[0368] The computer-readable storage medium may also include determining time-domain muting to mitigate intercell interference with the neighboring gNB. Other technical features may be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

[0369] The apparatus may also include the processor circuit analyzing the reflection signal to determine an identity of the object, a position of the object, a range of the object, an angle of the object, or a speed of the object.

[0370] The apparatus may also include the DCI channel indicating initiation and / or termination of the mute operation.

[0371] The method may also include basing the time domain muting on a number of detection cells being greater than a maximum comb size.

[0372] The method may also include mapping the modulated symbols based on downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) information.

[0373] The method may also include analyzing the reflection signal to determine an identity of the object, a position of the object, a range of the object, an angle of the object, or a speed of the object.

[0374] The method may also include the DCI channel indicating initiation and / or termination of the mute operation.

[0375] The apparatus may also include time domain muting based on a number of detection cells being greater than a maximum comb size.

[0376] The apparatus may also include that the mapping of the modulated symbols is based on downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) information.

[0377] The computer-readable storage medium may also include that the time-domain muting is based on a number of detection cells being greater than a maximum comb size.

[0378] The computer-readable storage medium may also include that the mapping of the modulated symbols is based on downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) information.

[0379] The computer-readable storage medium may also include analyzing the reflection signal to determine an identity of the object, a position of the object, a range of the object, an angle of the object, or a speed of the object.

[0380] The computer-readable storage medium may also include that the time-domain muting is based on a number of detection cells being greater than a maximum comb size.

[0381] The computer-readable storage medium may also include that the mapping of the modulated symbols is based on downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) information.

[0382] Other technical features may be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions and claims. QUOTES CONTAINED IN THE DESCRIPTION

[0000] This list of documents submitted by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the convenience of the reader. This list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions. Cited patent literature

[0000] US 63 / 423,635

[0001] Cited non-patent literature

[0000] NR; Physical Procedures Layers for Data (Release 17)", June 2023; 3GPP TS 138.211, V17.5.0, entitled "NR; Physical Channels and Modulation (Release 17)", June 2023; 3GPP TS 37.355 V17.6.0 (2023-09

[0004]

Claims

[1] A base station device, the device comprising: a storage interface for sending or receiving information for a wireless communication system to or from a data storage device; and a processor circuit communicatively coupled to the memory interface, the processor circuit to execute instructions for a capture entity to cause: Mapping a first set of detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid, wherein the first set of detection-modulated symbols is mapped to a set of comb-structured subcarriers over one or more consecutive OFDM symbols to reduce interference with a second set of modulated symbols within a same frequency bandwidth; and Encoding a detection signal comprising the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols. [2] The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor circuit is to encode a reflection signal based on the detection signal, the reflection signal being to comprise a reflection of the detection signal from an object. [3] The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the processor circuit is to analyze the reflection signal to determine an identity of the object, a position of the object, a range of the object, an angle of the object, or a speed of the object. [4] Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first set of detection-modulated symbols starts from a different subcarrier offset than the second set of modulated symbols. [5] Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first set of modulated detection symbols is associated with the detection entity, and the second set of modulated symbols is associated with a second entity, the second entity comprising a base station. [6] The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 4, comprising a radio frequency (RF) circuit communicatively coupled to the processor circuit, the RF circuit being to transmit the encoded detection signal and to receive a reflection signal associated with the encoded detection signal as RF signals. [7] A device of a sensing and communication entity, the device comprising: a storage interface for sending or receiving information for a wireless communication system to or from a data storage device; and a processor circuit communicatively coupled to the memory interface, the processor circuit to execute instructions for a capture entity to cause: Mapping a first set of detection-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid, wherein the first set of detection-modulated symbols is based on a pseudorandom (PN) sequence that is pseudoorthogonal to a PN sequence used for a second set of modulated symbols; and Encoding a detection signal comprising the mapped first set of detection-modulated symbols. [8] The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the PN sequence for the first set of detection-modulated signals is pseudo-orthogonal to an encryption sequence used for the second set of modulated symbols, the encryption sequence intended to encrypt different communication channels. [9] Apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 8, wherein orthogonal covering codes are applied to the first set of detection-modulated symbols and the second set of modulated symbols. [10] Apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 8, wherein the first set of detection-modulated symbols and the second set of modulated symbols mapped over respective detection block durations are multiplied by a slow time code or orthogonal covering code, and wherein a random phase in a time domain is applied to the first set of detection-modulated symbols and the second set of modulated symbols. [11] A device of a sensing entity in a next generation network, the device comprising: a storage interface for sending or receiving information for a wireless communication system to or from a data storage device; and a processor circuit communicatively coupled to the memory interface, the processor circuit to execute instructions for a capture entity to cause: Mapping acquisition-modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid according to a New Radio (NR) downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS), wherein the DL-PRS configuration supports time domain separation between a first modulated signal of the acquisition entity and a second modulated signal of a second entity, the time domain separation being realized by muting the second modulated signal for a duration spanning multiple symbols, multiple slots, or multiple subframes; and Muting the DL-PRS and / or a communication signal over a set of time resources. [12] The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a configuration of the DL-PRS supports each PRS resource repetition in a PRS resource set instance to be individually muted. [13] The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a configuration of the DL-PRS supports a subset of symbols in a multi-symbol PRS resource or any intra-resource level repetition of PRS to be muted while transmitting remaining symbols in the same multi-symbol PRS resource. [14] The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a set of muting parameters is defined as part of a PRS resource configuration. [15] The apparatus of claim 11, wherein muting parameters are configured or overridden via a downlink control information (DCI) channel. [16] The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the DCI channel indicates the initiation and / or termination of the mute operation. [17] Apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 16, wherein the processor circuit is to mute slots or OFDM symbols, and mutes the detection or data transmission of the second detection entity, resulting in time domain multiplexing between cell entities or between sections covered by the second detection entity. [18] The apparatus of any one of claims 11 to 16, further comprising a bitmap relating to a DL-PRS mute pattern parameter, wherein corresponding to each bit in the DL-PRS mute pattern parameter bitmap, a different parameter is defined for each PRS resource within the PRS resource set to indicate whether a repetition of the PRS resource is transmitted. [19] The apparatus of any of claims 11 to 16, wherein the configuration of DL-PRS further comprises a bitmap, each bit in the bitmap indicating a transfer of each resource for a given repetition index. [20] Apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 16, wherein a PRS resource configuration parameter, such as DL-PRS mute pattern for resource, defines the symbol positions at which a portion of the DL-PRS resource is expected not to be transmitted. [21] The apparatus of any one of claims 11 to 16, wherein the sensing entity further comprises one or more sensing transmit beams, wherein areas of effect of signal reflections of a target in a field of view (FoV) of the one or more sensing transmit beams are separated from second areas of effect of the second entity. [22] Next-generation NodeB (gNB) procedure, which includes: Identifying intercell interference with a neighboring gNB; Receiving resource usage information associated with the neighboring gNB; and Mapping, based on the resource usage information of the neighboring gNB, modulated symbols to time and frequency resources of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid, wherein the mapped modulated symbols are to cooperatively separate transmissions of the gNB and the neighboring gNB into one or more of a time domain, a frequency domain, a spatial domain, or a code domain. [23] The method of claim 22, wherein the modulated symbols are mapped through a comb structure using frequency domain multiplexing. [24] A method according to any one of claims 22 to 23, comprising determining a time domain muting to mitigate the intercell interference with the neighboring gNB. [25] The method of claim 24, wherein the time domain muting is based on a number of detection cells being greater than a maximum comb size.

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