Direct ue-to-ue communications within a user-equipment-coordination set

Abstract

Direct communication between user equipment (UEs) in a user-equipment-coordination set (UECS) involves a coordinating UE of the UECS assigning (435) air interface resources for direct communications between first (104B) and second (104C) UEs of the UECS. The first UE (104B) of the UECS desiring to communicate with a second UE (104C) of the UECS transmits (415) a communication request to the coordinating UE (104A), which responds with a communication resource grant (435) assigning air interface resources. The first UE (104B) then directly communicates (445, 450) with the second UE (104C) using the assigned air interface resources.

Description

DIRECT UE-TO-UE COMMUNICATIONS WITHIN A USER-EQUIPMENT- COORDINATION SETFIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0001] This document generally describes methods and devices operating in wireless communication systems such as (but not limited to) the ones described in 5G standard documents, known as 3GPP communication systems.BACKGROUND

[0002] Wireless networks are interference limited and must balance additional capacity with the additional interference resulting from the additional wireless transmissions. Sidelink communications address this issue by providing direct communications between proximately-located user equipments (UEs) over licensed or unlicensed frequency bands. Thus, sidelink transmissions reduce uplink and downlink transmissions to and from cellular network infrastructure. Because sidelink transmissions between the UEs use less power, this results in less interference. Either the cellular network assigns air interface resources for sidelink communications or the UEs select sidelink resources using carrier sensing. Cellular network resource assignment for sidelink communications increases control signaling, which increases interference. Although carrier sensing resource assignment selects optimal air interface resources for a single sidelink communication, the lack of centralized control of the air interface resource assignment can result in the selected air interface resources interfering with sidelink communications between other user equipment performing different sidelink communications.

[0003] A user-equipment-coordination set (UECS) improves the effective quality of communications by UEs of the UECS by jointly receiving and jointly transmitting communications with a base station. A coordinating UE of the UECS directs the joint reception and joint transmission. Joint reception and joint transmission improves effective signal quality between the target UE and the base station, which is particularly useful for addressing weak signal quality for UEs located near a cell edge.SUMMARY

[0004] To reduce control signaling overhead caused by cellular-network-based control signaling and reduce interference caused by UE-based air interface resource selection, a coordinating UE of a UECS allocates air interface resources for direct communications between UECS UEs. A first UE of the UECS desiring to communicate with a second UE of the UECS transmits a communication request to the coordinating UE, which responds with a communication resource grant that assigns air interface resources. The first UE then directly communicates with the second UE using the assigned air interface resources. The assigned air interface resources can be selected based on measurements by the second UE of a channel measurement resource upon which the first UE transmits a reference signal. The coordinating UE monitors feedback transmitted from the second UE to the first UE to determine whether to transmit a power control command to the first UE. The assigned air interface resources for the direct communication between the first and second UEs can include licensed or unlicensed frequencies.

[0005] The UEs of a UECS can directly communicate any type of information and is particularly advantageous for communications in an Internet of Things (loT) fleet. For example, the UEs of the UECS can use the assigned air interface resources for voice communication among fleet members (e.g., push-to-talk communications), distributing data updates among fleet members (e.g., speed, location, detection of road conditions and / or road debris), information sharing among a set of UEs in the UECS, coordinated driving among self-driving cars, etc.

[0006] Because the coordinating UE is proximately located to the other UEs of the UECS, the air interface resource assignment control signaling transmitted by the coordinating UE requires less power compared to a cellular network air interface resource assignment, which in turn reduces interference created by control signaling. The coordinating UE of the UECS being responsible for the air interface resource assignment control signaling also reduces the load on the cellular network infrastructure, which increases the capacity of the cellular network infrastructure.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate one or more embodiments and, together with the description, explain these embodiments.

[0008] Figure 1A illustrates a UECS with a coordinating UE enabling direct communications between UECS UEs with base station assistance according to embodiments;

[0009] Figure 1 B illustrates a UECS with a coordinating UE communicating with one or more UECS UEs according to embodiments without base station assistance according to embodiments;

[0010] Figure 2 is a flow diagram of a method for a UECS UE to communicate with another UECS UE according to embodiments;

[0011] Figure 3 is a flow diagram of a method for a coordinating UE of a UECS according to embodiments;

[0012] Figure 4 is a signaling diagram of a method for intra-UECS communication according to embodiments;

[0013] Figure 5 is a flowchart of a method for a first UECS UE to transmit intra- UECS communications according to embodiments;

[0014] Figure 6 is a flowchart of a method for a coordinating UE of a UECS to support intra-UECS communications;

[0015] Figure 7 is a flowchart of a method for a second UECS UE to receive intra-UECS communications according to embodiments; and

[0016] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a base station and two UECS UEs according to embodiments.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] Methods and devices described in this section embody techniques related to direct communications between UEs of a UECS. The direct communications can involve voice and / or data. One non-limiting example in which UEs of a UECS directly communicate is in an Internet of Things (loT) fleet, which is a group of UEsassociated with each other to achieve one or more tasks. The task can be voice communications and the assigned air interface resources can be used, for example for push-to-talk communications. Additionally, or alternatively, the task can be data distribution, including distributing data updates among fleet members (e.g., speed, location, detection of road conditions and / or road debris), sharing information for coordinating the operation of self-driving cars, or sharing information for coordinating the operation devices that operate in a coordinated manner.

[0018] Figures 1A and 1 B respectively illustrate UECS 102 with a coordinating UE 104A enabling intra-UECS communications between UECS UEs 104B and 104C over wireless communication link 106BC with base station 108 assistance (Figure 1A) and without base station 108 assistance (Figure 1 B) according to embodiments. Intra-UECS communications refers to direct communications between UEs of a UECS without the communications passing through the cellular network infrastructure. Intra-UECS communications can use sidelink channels (e.g., a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCCH), physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), etc.), or can employ other types of channels. In contrast to the sensing / contention-based MAC procedure in sidelink, the intra-UECS air interface resources are identified by a coordinating UECS UE, which also schedules the intra-UECS communications. UECS 102 joint communications 110 with a serving base station 108 involves a first set of UEs in the UECS jointly transmitting copies of a first signal to the base station 108 and a second set of UEs in the UECS receiving copies of a second signal from the base station 108. The coordinating UE 104A of the UECS 102 uses local wireless links to direct the joint transmission and the joint reception with each participating UE in the UECS.

[0019] In Figure 1 A the coordinating UE 104A receives, via wireless joint communication link 110, an indication of air interface resources assigned for direct communications between UECS UEs, and then the coordinating UE 104A allocates some or all of these resources to UECS UEs 104B and 104C via local wireless communication links 106AB and 106AC, respectively. In Figure 1 B the coordinating UE 104A determines the air interface resources for direct communications between UECS UEs without assistance of base station 108, and then the coordinating UE 104A allocates some or all ofthese resources to UECS UEs 104B and 104C via local wireless communication links 106AB and 106AC, respectively.

[0020] The allocated air interface resources can be time and / or frequency resources within licensed frequency bands (i.e. , licensed radio frequency resources) and / or within unlicensed frequency bands (i.e., unlicensed radio frequency resources). Further, the allocated air interface resources can be contiguous or non-contiguous in the frequency domain and / or in the time domain. The coordinating UE 104A receiving air interface resources from the base station 108 can allocate all of the resources for the direct communications or can allocate a subset of the resources for the direct communications.

[0021] Although Figures 1A and 1 B only illustrate intra-UECS communication between UEs 104B and 104C, intra-UECS communication can be performed between any of the UEs in UECS 102.

[0022] Referring to Figure 2, the first UE 104B, which desires to establish an intra- UECS communication with the second UE 104C, transmits (step 215) a communication request to the coordinating UE 104A. The first UE 104B then receives (step 235) a communication resource grant identifying air interface resources for intra-UECS communication with the second UE 104C.

[0023] Referring now to Figure 3, the coordinating UE 104A receives (step 315), from the first UE 104B, a communication request for transmitting information directly to the second UE 104C using intra-UECS communications. The coordinating UE then transmits (step 335), to the first UE 104B, a communication resource grant identifying air interface resources for intra-UECS communication with the second UE 104C.

[0024] Additional details of intra-UECS communications will now be presented in connection with Figures 4-7. Initially, multiple UEs for a UECS (405, 505, 605, 705), which involves identifying a coordinating UE and the coordinating UE transmitting intra-UECS identifiers to potential UEs of the UECS to use for intra-UECS communications. When the first UE 104B determines (410) it has information to transmit to the second UE 104C using intra-UECS communication, the first UE 104B transmits (step 515) a communication transmission request 415, which is received (step 615) by the coordinating UE 104A. The communication transmission request can be transmitted to the coordinating UE 104Ausing a Wi-Fi communication link, Bluetooth communication link, or sidelink communication link. The communication transmission request can, for example, be transmitted using an RRC message or MAC CE. The communications between the coordinating UE 104A and the UECS UEs for intra-UECS communications are conveyed using direct communication control channels (i.e. , an intra-UECS control channel), such as a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) or a UECS-PDCCH (in which case the coordinating UE 104A acts as a base station / access point).

[0025] The communication transmission request 415 identifies the second UE 104C by its intra-UECS identifier (and identifies any additional UECS UEs that are to receive the requested communications). Intra-UECS RNTI’s can be used to identify whether the communication transmission request is for a unicast transmission, broadcast transmission, or multicast transmission. Optionally, the communication transmission request can indicate an amount of information for the communication transmission to the second UE 104C (e.g., in a buffer status report identifying a buffer size) and / or the communication transmission request 415 can optionally indicate whether the communication transmission request is for a single transmission time period or is for more than one transmission time period (e.g., periodic transmission time periods).

[0026] The coordinating UE 104A then determines (420, 620) a channel measurement resource and a channel measurement feedback resource. These air interface resources can be identified by the coordinating UE 104A with base station assistance (Figure 1 A) or without base station assistance (Figure 1 B). The coordinating UE 104A transmits (step 622) a channel measurement resource identification and a channel measurement feedback resource identification 422, which is received (steps 522 and 722) by the first UE 104B and the second UE 104C. The channel measurement resource identification and the channel measurement feedback resource identification are transmitted in the same message or in separate messages. The channel measurement resource identification and channel measurement feedback resource identification identify time resources and frequency resources. For example, the time resource identifies the start and length of OFDM symbols in a slot and the frequency resource identifies the number of resource blocks.

[0027] The first UE 104B transmits (step 526) a reference signal 426 using the identified channel measurement resource 422. The reference signal 426 can be, for example, a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS). The second UE 104C measures (step 726) the reference signal 426 and transmits (step 728) channel measurement feedback 428. The coordinating UE 104A then determines (430, step 630) air interface resources for the intra-UECS communication between the first UE 104B and the second UE 104C based on receipt (step 628) of the channel measurement feedback 428 and the air interface resources allocated by the base station 108 (if the coordinating UE receives a resource allocation from the base station 108).

[0028] The coordinating UE 104A transmits (step 635) a communication resource grant and feedback resource grant 435, which is received (steps 535 and 735) by the first UE 104B and the second UE 104C. The communication resource grant includes air interface resources for the initial transmission of the information and optionally includes air interface resources for retransmission of the information. The feedback resources can be, for example, a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The air interface resources identified in the communication resource grant and feedback resource grant can be the same or different than the air interface resources identified for channel measurement and channel measurement feedback.

[0029] The first UE 104B uses the air interface resources identified in the communication resource grant to transmit (step 545) information 445 directly to the second UE 104C, which receives (step 745) the transmitted information 445. Using the air interface resources identified in the feedback resource grant, the second UE 104C transmits (step 750) communication resource feedback 450, which is received (step 550) by the first UE 104B. Depending on the communication resource feedback 450, the first UE 104B retransmits the information 445, transmits additional information, or does not transmit additional information (if there is no additional information to transmit at this time). To the extent that the intra-UECS communications involves transmissions to two or more UECS UEs, the feedback from the two or more UECS UEs can use the same time / frequency resources but with different pilot sequences associated with the UE’s UECS identifier. The coordinating UE 104A decodes these different pilot sequences separately in a manner similar to CDMA.

[0030] Power control can be implemented to reduce interference caused by intra- LIECS communications. The communication resource grant and the feedback resource grant 435 can indicate an initial transmission power level used to transmit information 445 and transmit communication resource feedback 450. Closed-loop power control can be employed to adjust the transmission power level during intra-UECS communications. Specifically, the coordinating UE 104A monitors (step 645) the information 445 transmitted by the first UE 104B and monitors (step 650) the communication resource feedback 450 transmitted by the second UE 104C (as reflected by the dashed lines in Figure 4) to determine (455, step 655) a transmission power for intra-UECS communications between the first UE 104B and the second UE 104C. Alternatively, the coordinating UE 104A only monitors (step 650) the communication resource feedback 450 transmitted by the second UE 104C to determine (455, step 655) the transmission power for intra-UECS communications between the first UE 104B and the second UE 104C. To adjust the transmission power level, the coordinating UE 104A transmits (step 660) a transmission power command 460, which is received (step 560) by the first UE 104B. The first UE 104B uses the adjusted power level for any further intra-UECS communications with the second UE 104C. This closed-loop power control provides better control over the transmission power than the open-loop power control used for sidelink. Additionally, or alternatively, the coordinating UE 104A transmits a transmission power command (not shown) to the second UE 104C adjusting the power level for the communication resource feedback 450 based on measurements of the communication resource feedback 450 transmission (as reflected by the dashed line extending from the second UE 104C to the coordinating UE 104A).

[0031] The methods described above need not be performed in the exact order described. For example, the coordinating UE 104A can perform the closed-loop power control before, or concurrently with, the reception of the communication resource feedback 450. Further, the coordinating UE 104A can perform the closed-loop power control based on the reference signal 426 transmitted by the first UE 104B and / or based on the channel measurement feedback 428 transmission from the second UE 104C.

[0032] Steps of the methods described above can also be repeated. For example, the first UE 104B can perform multiple information transmissions 445 and the second UE104C transmits a single communication resource feedback 450 for the multiple information transmissions 445. In another example, the coordinating UE 104A can transmit a new channel measurement resource identification and new channel measurement feedback resource identification 422 when the channel measurement feedback 428 is not received from the second UE 104C.

[0033] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating software and hardware of a base station 108, coordinating UE 104A, and first UE 104B that can implement various aspects of the methods described above. The block diagram 800 illustrates the components of the base station 108 and UECS UEs 104A and 104B relevant for this discussion and it will be recognized that the base station 108 and the UECS UEs 104A and 104B can include other software and hardware components. Signaling arrow 601 generally represents both uplink and downlink signals transmitted by the base station 108 and coordinating UE 104A and signaling arrow 106AB generally represents both uplink and downlink signals transmitted by the coordinating UE 104A and the first UE 104B. The term “base station” can be interchangeable herein with eNB, gNB, master node, and secondary node, depending on which radio technology deployment is used and which embodiments described herein are implemented.

[0034] The base station 108 is illustrated as a single network node (e.g., a gNB or an eNB). However, the functionality of the base station 108 may be distributed across multiple entities such as a central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), and / or radio unit (RU). The base station 108 includes antennas 824, a radio frequency (RF) front end 826, and at least one RF transceiver 828. The antennas 824 and the RF front end 826 can be tuned to one or more frequency bands, e.g., as may be defined by 3GPP LTE, 5G NR, and 6G communication standards and implemented by the transceiver 828. The antennas 824, RF front end 826, and RF transceiver 828 can be configured to support beamforming.

[0035] The base station 108 includes at least one processor 832 and computer- readable storage media (CRM) 834. The at least one processor 832 can include single or multiple-core processors, and the CRM 834 excludes propagating signals and includes any suitable memory / storage. For example, memory / storage can include random-access memory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), read-only memory (ROM), and / or flash memory useable to store device data of the base station 108. The device data of the base station 108 includes network scheduling data, radio resource management data, applications, and / or an operating system of the base station 108, which are executable by the at least one processor 832 to enable wireless communication 110 with the coordinating UE 104A.

[0036] The coordinating UE 104A and the first UE 104B each include antennas 814, an RF front end 816, at least one licensed band transceiver 818, and optionally at least one unlicensed band transceiver 820. The antennas 814 and the RF front end 816 can be tuned to one or more frequency bands, e.g., as may be defined by 3GPP LTE, 5G NR, and 6G communication standards, or unlicensed frequency bands, and implemented by the at least one licensed band transceiver 818 or the at least one unlicensed band transceiver 820. The antennas 814, RF front end 816, at least one licensed band transceiver 818, and at least one unlicensed band transceiver 820 can be configured to support beamforming.

[0037] The coordinating UE 104A and the first UE 104B each also include a processor 822 and computer-readable storage media (CRM) 824. The processor 822 can include one or more single or multiple-core processors, and the CRM 824 excludes propagating signals and includes any suitable memory / storage. For example, memory / storage can include random-access memory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), read-only memory (ROM), and / or flash memory useable to store device data of the coordinating UE 104A and the first UE 104B. The device data of the coordinating UE 104A stores instructions executable by the processor 822A to facilitate user-plane communication, control-plane signaling, and user interaction with the base station 108 and the first UE 104B. The device data of the first UE 104B stores instructions executable by the processor 822B to facilitate user-plane communication, control-plane signaling, and user interaction with the coordinating UE 104A.

[0038] Although the discussion above involves a first UE 104B directly communicating with a second UE 104C, the first UE 104B can also directly communicate with other UEs of the UECS. This can involve the same information transmitted to thesecond UE 104C or can involve different information. Direct intra-UECS communication between the first UE 104B and more than one UECS UE can involve point-to-multipoint or broadcast communications.

[0039] The coordinating UE 104A can also provide air interface resources for multiple, concurrent intra-UECS communications. For example, the coordinating UE 104A can provide air interface resources for a first intra-UECS communication between the first UE 104B and the second UE and a second intra-UECS communication between a third UE and a fourth UE. Because the coordinating UE 104A allocates air interface resources for intra-UECS communications, the coordinating UE 104A can allocate the air interface resources for the multiple, concurrent intra-UECS communications that avoids interference between the multiple, concurrent intra-UECS communications.

[0040] Although the discussion above involves UE 104A as the coordinating UE, the coordinating UE for UECS can change, for example, due to a command from the cellular network infrastructure. In this case, the UE that becomes the coordinating UE of the UECS acts in the manner described above in connection with UE 104A as the coordinating UE of the UECS.

[0041] The embodiment descriptions in this section refer to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings identify the same or similar elements. The detailed descriptions do preclude other embodiments within the scope of the appended claims. The embodiments are not limited to the described configurations but may be extended to other arrangements.

[0042] Reference throughout this section to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Further, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

[0043] Numerical adjectives “first”, “second”, and “third” do not imply any order (are not ordinals) but are markers to distinguish separate instances of similar elements.References to the singular (e g., “a” or “an”, “the”) should include the plural unless clearly indicated otherwise.

[0044] Although the features and elements of the present embodiments are described in the embodiments in particular combinations, each feature or element can be used alone without the other features and elements of the embodiments or in various combinations with or without other features and elements disclosed herein. The methods or flowcharts may be implemented in a computer program, software or firmware tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage medium for execution by a specifically programmed computer or processor.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:1 . A method performed by a coordinating user equipment (104A) of a userequipment-coordination set (102), UECS, the method comprising: receiving (315, 615), from a first user equipment (104B) of the UECS, a communication request (415) for air interface resources to transmit information to a second user equipment (104C) of the UECS (102); and transmitting (335, 635) a communication resource grant (435) to the first user equipment (104B), the communication resource grant (435) identifying air interface resources for transmitting the information from the first user equipment (104B) to the second user equipment (104C).

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: transmitting (622), to the first user equipment (104B) and the second user equipment (104C), a channel measurement resource identification (422) identifying a channel measurement resource and a channel measurement feedback resource identification (424) identifying a channel measurement feedback resource, the first user equipment (104B) transmitting a reference signal (426) in the channel measurement resource and the second user equipment (104C) measuring the reference signal (426) in the channel measurement resource; and receiving (628), from the second user equipment (104C), a channel measurement feedback (428) in the channel measurement feedback resource and selecting the communication resource grant based on the channel measurement feedback (428), the channel measurement feedback (428) is based on the measuring of the reference signal (426).

3. The method of any one of claims 1 or 2, further comprising: monitoring (650) a communication resource feedback (450) transmitted from the second user equipment (104C) to the first user equipment (104B); and transmitting (660), to the first user equipment (104B), a power control command (460) based on the communication resource feedback transmitted from the second user equipment (104C) to the first user equipment (104B).

4. The method of any one of claims 1 or 2, further comprising: monitoring (645) an information transmission (445), from the first user equipment (104B) to the second user equipment (104C), that uses the communication resource grant; and transmitting (660) a power control command (460) to the first user equipment (104B), the power control command (460) is based the information transmission (445) from the first user equipment (104B) to the second user equipment (104C).

5. The method of any one of claims 1 -4, wherein the communication resource grant (435A) indicates an initial transmission power level for transmitting the information to the second user equipment (104C).

6. The method of any one of claims 1 -5, wherein the air interface resources for transmitting the information from the first user equipment (104B) to the second user equipment (104C) are licensed radio frequency resources, the method further comprising: receiving, from a base station, an identification of a set of licensed radio frequency resources; and selecting a subset of the set of licensed radio frequency resources as the air interface resources for transmitting the information.

7. The method of any one of claims 1 -5, wherein the air interface resources for transmitting the information from the first user equipment (104B) to the second user equipment (104C) are unlicensed radio frequency resources, the method further comprising: determining (430, 630), based on channel measurement feedback (428) transmitted by the second user equipment (104C), a subset of the unlicensed radio frequency resources as the air interface resources to transmit the information (435A).

8. The method of any one of claims 1 -7, wherein the communication request (415) indicates a unicast transmission from the first user equipment (104B) to the second user equipment (104C).

9. The method of any one of claims 1 -7, wherein the communication request (415) indicates a multicast transmission from the first user equipment (104B) to the second user equipment (104C) and to a third user equipment (104X), or the communication request (415) indicates a broadcast transmission from the first user equipment (104B) to the second user equipment (104C) and to other user equipment (104X) in the LIECS (102), indicates a single transmission time period, or indicates periodic transmission time periods.

10. The method of any one of claims 1 -9, wherein the transmitting (335, 635) of the communication resource grant uses an intra-UECS control channel.11 . The method of any one of claims 1 -10, further comprising: transmitting (335, 635) a feedback resource grant (435) to the second user equipment (104C) identifying air interface resources for the second user equipment (104C) to transmit feedback to the first user equipment (104B).

12. The method of any one of claims 2-11 , wherein the air interface resources identified in the communication resource grant (435) include at least one of: the channel measurement resource; or the channel measurement feedback resource.

13. The method of any one of claims 1 -12, further comprising: transmitting a first intra-UECS identifier to the first user equipment (104B); and transmitting a second intra-UECS identifier to the second user equipment (104C), wherein the first intra-UECS identifier and the second intra-UECS identifier are used for intra-UECS communications.

14. A method performed by a first user equipment (104B) of a user-equipment- coordination set (102), UECS, the method comprising: transmitting (215, 515), to a coordinating user equipment (104A) of the UECS, a communication request (415) for air interface resources to transmit information to a second user equipment (104C) of the UECS; and receiving (235, 535) a communication resource grant (435) from the coordinating user equipment (104A), the communication resource grant (435) identifying air interface resources for the transmitting the information from the first user equipment (104B) to the second user equipment (104C).

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: transmitting (545) the information (445) to the second user equipment (104C), receiving (560) a power control command (460) from the coordinating user equipment (104A), the power control command being determined by the coordinating user equipment (104A) using received (650) communication resource feedback (450) from the second user equipment (104C); and transmitting (560) information to the second user equipment (104C) at a power level based on the power control command (460).

16. A wireless communication device (104) comprising a transceiver (818, 820), a processor (822), and a computer-readable storage media (824) storing executable instructions for the processor (822) to perform any of the methods recited in claims 1- 15, using the transceiver (818, 820).

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