Methods and apparatuses for communication fallback

Abstract

Disclosed are methods, apparatuses, and systems for communication. One of the methods includes: determining whether a fallback from a second frequency range communication to a first frequency range communication is needed for a node, wherein the first frequency range differs from the second frequency range, and wherein the method further includes at least one of: in response to a determination that the fallback is not needed, transmitting data from the node using the second frequency range communication; or in response to a determination that the fallback is needed, performing the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication and transmitting a simplified version of the data from the node using the first frequency range communication.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR COMMUNICATION FALLBACKCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 518,277, filed on August 8, 2023, entitled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATION FALLBACK,” the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.Field

[0002] Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present disclosure relate generally to communications, more specifically, methods, systems, and devices for communication fallback.Background

[0003] A communication, for example, a sidelink communication between two nodes, may use lower frequency bands (e.g., 5.9 GHz or lower) or higher frequency bands (e.g., mmWave bands). Using higher frequency bands may allow higher data rates and / or larger data size than low frequency bands. But the communication using higher frequency bands also has issues, for example, higher path loss and lower coverage due to higher attenuation. Beam management including beamforming may mitigate the issues in a high frequency communication. But introduction of beam management may introduce additional sources of errors such that a beam failure may occur and the communication continuity may be lost. Systems and methods that can ensure continuity of the communication are desired.Summary

[0004] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for communication. The method includes: determining whether a fallback from a second frequency range communication to a first frequency range communication is needed for a node, wherein the first frequency range differs from the second frequency range, and wherein the method further comprises at least one of: in response to a determination that the fallback is not needed, transmitting data from the node using the second frequency range communication; or in response to a determination that the fallback is needed, performing the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication and transmitting a simplified version of the data from the node using the first frequency range communication.

[0005] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a node for a communication. The node includes: a memory storing an instruction; and a processor configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to: determine whether a fallback from a second frequency range communication to a first frequency range communication is needed for the node, wherein the first frequency range differs from the second frequency range, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to at least one of: in response to a determination that the fallback is not needed, transmit data from the node using the second frequency range communication; or in response to a determination that the fallback is needed, perform the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication and transmit a simplified version of the data from the node using the first frequency range communication.

[0006] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors of a node for a communication, to perform a method. The method includes: determining whether a fallback from a second frequency range communication to a first frequency range communication is needed for the node, wherein the first frequency range differs from the second frequency range, and wherein the method further comprises at least one of: in response to a determination that the fallback is not needed, transmitting data from the node using the second frequency range communication; or in response to a determination that the fallback is needed, performing the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication and transmitting a simplified version of the data from the node using the first frequency range communication.

[0007] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a sidelink communication system, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method for communication, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a node for a communication, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0008] Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The following description refers to the accompanying drawings in which the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise represented. The implementations set forth in the following description of exemplary embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the present disclosure. Instead, they are merely examples of systems, apparatuses, and methods consistent with aspects related to the present disclosure as recited in the appended claims.

[0009] In the present disclosure, the term “node” is used as a general term which includes, but is not limited to, user equipment (UE), relay nodes, vehicle mounted modules, and network infrastructure nodes such as base stations such as evolved NodeB or gNB, roadside units, repeaters, transponders, wireless routers, controllers, access points and sub-systems thereof. In the present disclosure, the terms “radio system” and “radio interface” are used as general terms which include both terrestrial and satellite systems. While some examples in this disclosure relate to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G technology, other radio access technologies can use the inventions in this disclosure, for example, 3GPP 4G technology referred to as Long Term Evolution (LTE) or future 3GPP radio technology generations such as 6G or 7G. While some examples in this disclosure relate to 3GPP technologies, inventions in this disclosure could be used for non-3GPP technologies, for example and not limited to, IEEE and its 802.11 variants, Wi-Fi, or WiMAX.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a sidelink communication system, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 1, a sidelink communication system 100 includes a UE 102 and a UE 104 that directly communicate with each other. For example, the UE 102 and the UE 104 may be wireless devices. The UE 102 may be a transmitter (Tx) UE that is configured or programmed to transmit signals or data to the UE 104. The UE 104 may be a receiver (Rx) UE that is configured or programmed to receive signals or data transmitted from the UE 102. Sidelink communication technology may allow the UE 102 to directly communicate with the UE 104 and one or more other UEs. For the sake of simplicity, FIG. 1 shows the UE 102 communicating with only one UE (the UE 104). The direct communication between the UE 102 and the UE 104 may happen under the coverage of a cellular network, out of coverage of the cellular network, or in partial coverage of the cellular network where only one of the two UEs (the UEs 102, 104) is under the cellular network coverage. The radio interface between the UE 102 and the UE 104 may be denoted as PC5 interface.

[0011] The UE 102 and the UE 104 may communicate with each other using lower frequency bands, such as frequency range 1 (FR1). In the present disclosure, FR1 is defined as a frequency range of from 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz (including the sub-6 GHz spectrum). The UE 102 and the UE 104 may also communicate using higher frequency bands, such as FR2. In the present disclosure, FR2 is defined as two frequency sub-ranges: FR2-1 from 24.25 to 52.6 GHz and FR2-2 from 52.6 to 71 GHz (including the millimeter wave spectrum). Compared with FR1 communication, while FR2 communication may allow higher data rates and / or larger data size, FR2 communication also has its own issues. For example, FR2 communication generally has higher path loss and lower range (coverage) compared with FR1 communication due to higher attenuation. This is especially the case when there are objects (e.g. vehicles and especially large vehicles such as trucks and buses, buildings) in the transmission paths of the signals, in which FR2 will be much more subject to blockage than FR1.

[0012] The above-described disadvantages of FR2 communication may be mitigated by beam management including beamforming with narrow beams and / or using directional antennas. But introduction of beam management for sidelink FR2 compared with sidelink FR1 may also introduce the possibility to have additional sources of errors in the sidelink communication between the two UEs so that a beam failure may occur. When the distance between the UE 102 and the UE 104 becomes very important and / or the above-noted FR2-specific issues occur, the UE 102 and the UE 104 may not be able to communicate with each other anymore and the continuity of the communication may be lost.

[0013] At least some embodiments of the present disclosure address the above-noted issues in FR2 communication by providing methods for switching from sidelink FR2 to sidelink FR1 to maintain communication continuity. For example, one or more embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods in which, if sidelink FR2 transmission fails and / or if sidelink FR2 connection quality is poor, a simplified version of the data is transmitted using sidelink FR1. In this way, communication continuity is ensured.

[0014] Although the methods and the systems of the present disclosure are exemplified with a sidelink FR2 communication, the scope of the present disclosure is not so limited. The methods disclosed in the present disclosure can be applied to any wireless communication including device-to-network communication and / or satellite communication, and switching between any two frequency bands.

[0015] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method for communication, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 2, a method 200 may be performed by a node in a communication. The node may include at least one of: at least one UE, at least one relay node, at least one vehicle mounted module, at least one base station, at least one roadside unit, at least one repeater, at least one transponder, at least one wireless router, at least one controller, or at least one access point. In some embodiments, the node may be a Tx UE for a sidelink communication, such as the UE 102 of FIG. 1.

[0016] The method 200 includes a step 202 of determining whether a fallback from a second frequency range communication to a first frequency range communication is needed for the node, wherein the first frequency range differs from the second frequency range. In some embodiments, each of the first frequency range communication and the second frequency range communication may be a respective sidelink communication. In some embodiments, the first frequency range communication may include one or more frequency bands in a range of 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz, and the second frequency range communication may include one or more frequency bands in a range of 24.25 GHz to 71 GHz. For example, the first frequency range communication may be sidelink FR1 communication and the second frequency range communication may be sidelink FR2 communication.

[0017] In some embodiments, the node determines whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node. For example, the node may determine whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node by at least one of: a physical layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio resource control (RRC) layer, or an application layer.

[0018] In some embodiments, another node (any node other than the node) may determine whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node, and may send the determination result to the node. The another node may include at least one of: at least one UE, at least one relay node, at least one vehicle mounted module, at least one base station, at least one roadside unit, at least one repeater, at least one transponder, at least one wireless router, at least one controller, or at least one access point. For example, the another node may be a Rx UE for a sidelink communication, such as the UE 104 of FIG. 1

[0019] In some embodiments, the node (or the another node) may determine whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node based on at least one of: a detection of a beam failure associated with the node, a beam failure recovery operation associated with the node, a change of an angle of at least one beam associated with the node is greater than a predetermined threshold angle, a change of an absolute position of the node, a change of a speed of the node, a change of an acceleration of the node, or a change of a heading of the node is greater than a corresponding first threshold, a change of a relative position of the node, a change of a relative speed of the node, a change of a relative acceleration of the node, or a change of a relative heading of the node is greater than a corresponding second threshold, at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement value is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, at least one sidelink RSRP measurement value is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, a channel busy ratio (CBR) threshold, a number of consecutive out-of-sync indications is received or experienced by the node, the number being greater than a predetermined threshold number, a MAC layer instructs a physical layer to generate a negative acknowledgement of the data, a physical layer generates a negative acknowledgement of the data to a MAC layer, the MAC layer instructs the physical layer to generate a negative acknowledgement corresponding to a transmission on one or more specific channels, a detection of a radio link failure, a reception or transmission of a MAC layer negative acknowledgement to a corresponding sidelink hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity, a failure of reception or transmission of positive acknowledgement for a transmission of a MAC packet data unit (PDU), a MAC layer HARQ buffer is flushed, a MAC layer HARQ buffer is not flushed, a transmission or reception of a MAC layer negative acknowledgement for a transmission of a MAC PDU, a number of HARQ retransmissions reached a predetermined threshold number of HARQ retransmissions, an indication of a MAC layer listen-before-talk (LBT) failure, an indication of a MAC layer uplink LBT failure, the physical layer is not instructed by the MAC layer to generate a positive acknowledgement of data, the physical layer does not generate a positive acknowledgement of data to the MAC layer, a physical random access procedure is not completed, a HARQ acknowledgement is not assessed or reported at the physical layer, or a priority associated with data to be transmitted.

[0020] In some embodiments, the node (or the another node) may determine, within a predetermined time duration, whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node . This may make use of one or more thresholds on the number of event type(s) and / or occurrence(s): when the one or more thresholds are reached or exceeded, the node (or the another node) may determine that the fallback is needed. Alternatively, or in addition, a sum of different event types and / or occurrences may be used for assessing the one or more thresholds, for example, by allocating differing weights to the various event types and / or occurrences.

[0021] In some embodiments, the failure described in the present disclosure may be a predicted failure, instead of a detected failure. For example, the radio link failure used for determining whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node may be a predicted radio link failure, which is predicted before an actual failure occurs. In some embodiments, the radio link failure may include a HARQ-based sidelink radio link failure. In some embodiments, the radio link failure described in the present disclosure includes beam failure.

[0022] In some embodiments, the priority associated with the data may be a conditional priority determined by the MAC layer of the node. For example, if one or more resources associated with one or more logical channels with a higher priority are transmitted, one or more resources associated with one or more logical channels with a lower priority are not transmitted. On the other hand, if the one or more resources associated with the one or more logical channels with the higher priority are not transmitted, the one or more resources associated with the one or more logical channels with the lower priority are transmitted.

[0023] The method 200 includes a step 204 of transmitting, in response to a determination that the fallback is not needed, data from the node using the second frequency range communication. For example, in FIG. 1, if the UE 102 determines that a fallback is not needed, the UE 102 may transmit data using FR2 communication. The data may be any data.

[0024] The method 200 includes a step 206 of in response to a determination that the fallback is needed, performing the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication and transmitting a simplified version of the data from the node using the first frequency range communication. For example, performing the fallback may include determining a frequency band of a transmission beam in the first frequency range and configuring an antenna (e.g., an omnidirectional antenna) suitable for the first frequency range communication. In some embodiments, performing the fallback may further include sending, to a receiver node, an indication to switch from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication so that the receiver node can adjust the receiving beam accordingly.

[0025] In some embodiments, the data (original) may be associated with a higher conditional priority, while the simplified version of the data may be associated with data having a lower conditional priority. The simplified version of the data may be alternative data that provides less detailed information to the user and requires less data or data rate than the original data. The simplified version of the data may include at least one of: a compressed version of the data, one or more images having a higher compression ratio than that of the data, one portion of the data without having another portion of the data, a part of the data without having security-related information of the data or with less security-related information than the data, or a lower number of images per second as compared with that of the data. Taking an example of applications of video data transmission, when the node determines that FR2 connection quality is poor, the node may only transmit a simplified version of data in the form of independent “I” frames with static scenes over FR1, while not transmitting data that would include “P” and “B” frames with dynamic scenes. The node may also transmit a simplified version of data that has been processed to reduce overhead of cipher text size entailed by cryptography. For example, the node may use symmetric encryption to encrypt the data instead of asymmetric encryption, and thereby significantly decrease the ciphertext size.

[0026] In some embodiments, the method 200 includes each of the steps 202, 204, and 206 being performed. In other embodiments, the method 200 includes each of the steps 202 and 204 being performed without performing the step 206. In other embodiments, the method 200 includes each of the step 202 and 206 being performed with performing the step 204.

[0027] In some embodiments, after performing the step 206, the method 200 may further include a step (not shown in FIG. 2) of determining whether a fallback from the first frequency range communication to the second frequency range communication is ready. For example, the node (or the another node) may determine the link quality or the beam quality of the second frequency range communication to determine whether to switch back to the second frequency range communication to ensure higher data rates and / or data size.

[0028] By switching from FR2 communication to FR1 communication upon predicting or detecting FR2 failure and transmitting a simplified version of the data, the continuity of the on-going communication is ensured, and the perception of the receiver node is improved, because the service would not drop due to FR2 communication failure.

[0029] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a node 300, consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Node 300 may be mounted in a moving vehicle or in a fixed position. Node 300 may take any form, including but not limited to, a UE, a relay node, a vehicle, a component mounted in a vehicle (e.g., a vehicle mounted module), a road-side unit, a repeater, a transponder, a controller, an access point, a laptop computer, a wireless terminal including a mobile phone, a wireless handheld device, a wireless personal device, a wireless router, and / or any other form. The node 300 may be a Tx node in a communication, such as the UE 102 of FIG. 1 or an Rx node in a communication, such as the UE 104 of FIG. 1.

[0030] Referring to FIG. 3, the node 300 may include antenna 302 that may be used for transmission or reception of electromagnetic signals to / from a base station or other nodes. The antenna 302 may include one or more antenna elements and may enable different input-output antenna configurations, for example, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) configuration, multiple input single output (MISO) configuration, and single input multiple output (SIMO) configuration. In some embodiments, the antenna 302 may include multiple (e.g., tens or hundreds) antenna elements and may enable multi-antenna functions such as beamforming. In some embodiments, the antenna 302 is a single antenna. The antenna 302 may include one or more FR1 antennas and / or one or more FR2 antennas.

[0031] The node 300 may include a transceiver 304 that is coupled to the antenna 302. The transceiver 304 may be a wireless transceiver at the node 300 and may communicate bi-directionally with a base station or other nodes. For example, the transceiver 304 may receive / transmit wireless signals from / to a base station via downlink / uplink communication. The transceiver 304 may also receive / transmit wireless signals from / to another node (e.g., a UE or road side unit) via sidelink communication. The transceiver 304 may include a modem to modulate the packets and provide the modulated packets to the antenna 302 for transmission, and to demodulate packets received from the antenna 302.

[0032] The node 300 may include a memory 306. The memory 306 may be any type of computer-readable storage medium including volatile or non-volatile memory devices, or a combination thereof. The computer-readable storage medium includes, but is not limited to, non-transitory computer storage media. A non-transitory storage medium may be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. Examples of non-transitory storage medium include, but are not limited to, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), flash memory, compact disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, etc. A non-transitory medium may be used to carry or store desired program code means (e.g., instructions and / or data structures) and may be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. In some examples, the software / program code may be transmitted from a remote source (e.g., a website, a server, etc.) using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave. In such examples, the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are within the scope of the definition of medium. Combinations of the above examples are also within the scope of computer-readable medium.

[0033] The memory 306 may store information related to identities of node 300 and the signals and / or data received by antenna 302. The memory 306 may also store post-processing signals and / or data. The memory 306 may also store computer-readable program instructions, mathematical models, and algorithms that are used in signal processing in the receiver 304 and computations in the processor 308. The memory 306 may further store computer-readable program instructions for execution by the processor 308 to operate the node 300 to perform various functions described in this disclosure. In some examples, the memory 306 may include a basic input / output system (BIOS) which may control basic hardware or software operation such as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.

[0034] The computer-readable program instructions of the present disclosure may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine-dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object-oriented programming language, and conventional procedural programming languages. The computer-readable program instructions may execute entirely on a computing device as a stand-alone software package, or partly on a first computing device and partly on a second computing device remote from the first computing device. In the latter scenario, the second, remote computing device may be connected to the first computing device through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN).

[0035] The node 300 may include a processor 308 that may include a hardware device with processing capabilities. The processor 308 may include at least one of a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardware component, or other programmable logic device. Examples of the general-purpose processor include, but are not limited to, a microprocessor, any conventional processor, a controller, a microcontroller, or a state machine. In some embodiments, the processor 308 may be implemented using a combination of devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration). The processor 308 may receive, from transceiver 304, downlink signals or sidelink signals and further process the signals. The processor 308 may also receive, from transceiver 304, data packets and further process the packets. In some embodiments, the processor 308 may be configured to operate a memory using a memory controller. In some embodiments, a memory controller may be integrated into the processor 308. The processor 308 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the memory 306) to cause the node 300 to perform various functions.

[0036] The node 300 may include a global positioning system (GPS) 310. The GPS 310 may be used for enabling location-based services or other services based on a geographical position of the node 300 and / or synchronization among nodes. The GPS 310 may receive global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) signals from a single satellite or a plurality of satellite signals via the antenna 302 and provide a geographical position of the node 300 (e.g., coordinates of the node 300). In some embodiments, the GPS 310 is omitted. In some embodiments, a timer is included.

[0037] The node 300 may include an input / output (I / O) device 312 that may be used to communicate a result of signal processing and computation to a user or another device. The I / O device 312 may include a user interface including a display and an input device to transmit a user command to processor 308. The display may be configured to display a status of signal reception at the node 300, the data stored at memory 306, a status of signal processing, and a result of computation, etc. The display may include, but is not limited to, a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light-emitting diode (LED), a gas plasma display, a touch screen, or other image projection devices for displaying information to a user. The input device may be any type of computer hardware equipment used to receive data and control signals from a user. The input device may include, but is not limited to, a keyboard, a mouse, a scanner, a digital camera, a joystick, a trackball, cursor direction keys, a touchscreen monitor, or audio / video commanders, etc.

[0038] The node 300 may further include a machine interface 314, such as an electrical bus that connects the transceiver 304, the memory 306, the processor 308, the GPS 310, and the I / O device 312.

[0039] In some embodiments, the node 300 may be a Tx node (e.g., a Tx UE for a sidelink communication) that is configured or programmed to: determine whether a fallback from a second frequency range communication to a first frequency range communication is needed for the node, wherein the first frequency range differs from the second frequency range, and wherein the node 300 is further configured or programmed to at least one of: in response to a determination that the fallback is not needed, transmit data from the node using the second frequency range communication; or in response to a determination that the fallback is needed, perform the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication and transmit a simplified version of the data from the node using the first frequency range communication.

[0040] As used in this disclosure, use of the term “or” in a list of items indicates an inclusive list. The list of items may be prefaced by a phrase such as “at least one of” or “one or more of.” For example, a list of at least one of A, B, or C includes A or B or C or AB (i.e., A and B) or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C). Also, as used in this disclosure, prefacing a list of conditions with the phrase “based on” shall not be construed as “based only on” the set of conditions and rather shall be construed as “based at least in part on” the set of conditions. For example, an outcome described as “based on condition A” may be based on both a condition A and a condition B without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

[0041] In this specification, the terms “comprise,” “include,” or “contain” may be used interchangeably and have the same meaning and are to be construed as inclusive and open-ended. The terms “comprise,” “include,” or “contain” may be used before a list of elements and indicate that at least all of the listed elements within the list exist but other elements that are not in the list may also be present. For example, if A comprises B and C, both {B, C} and {B, C, D} are within the scope of A.

[0042] The present disclosure, in connection with the accompanied drawings, describes example configurations that are not representative of all the examples that may be implemented or all configurations that are within the scope of this disclosure. The term “exemplary” should not be construed as “preferred” or “advantageous compared to other examples” but rather “an illustration, an instance or an example.” By reading this disclosure, including the description of the embodiments and the drawings, it will be appreciated by a person of ordinary skills in the art that the technology disclosed herein may be implemented using alternative embodiments. The person of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that the embodiments, or certain features of the embodiments described herein, may be combined to arrive at yet other embodiments for practicing the technology described in the present disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

[0043] The flowcharts and block diagrams in the figures illustrate examples of the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and devices according to various embodiments. It should be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in blocks may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. Likewise, additional steps may be included in such methods, and certain steps may be omitted or combined, in methods consistent with various embodiments.

[0044] It is understood that the described embodiments are not mutually exclusive, and elements, components, materials, or steps described in connection with one example embodiment may be combined with, or eliminated from, other embodiments in suitable ways to accomplish desired design objectives.

[0045] Reference herein to “some embodiments” or “some exemplary embodiments” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment. The appearance of the phrases “one embodiment” “some embodiments” or “another embodiment” in various places in the present disclosure do not all necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments necessarily mutually exclusive of other embodiments.

[0046] Additionally, the articles “a” and “an” as used in the present disclosure and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form.

[0047] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, each numerical value and range should be interpreted as being approximate as if the word “about” or “approximately” preceded the value of the value or range.

[0048] Although the elements in the following method claims, if any, are recited in a particular sequence, unless the claim recitations otherwise imply a particular sequence for implementing some or all of those elements, those elements are not necessarily intended to be limited to being implemented in that particular sequence.

[0049] It is appreciated that certain features of the present disclosure, which are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the specification, which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable subcombination or as suitable in any other described embodiment of the specification. Certain features described in the context of various embodiments are not essential features of those embodiments, unless noted as such.

[0050] It will be further understood that various modifications, alternatives, and variations in the details, materials, and arrangements of the parts which have been described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of described embodiments may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope. Accordingly, the following claims embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variations that fall within the terms of the claims.

[0051] Clause 1: A method for communication of a node, the method comprising: determining whether a fallback from a second frequency range communication to a first frequency range communication is needed for the node, wherein the first frequency range differs from the second frequency range, and wherein the method further comprises at least one of: in response to a determination that the fallback is not needed, transmitting data from the node using the second frequency range communication; or in response to a determination that the fallback is needed, performing the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication and transmitting a simplified version of the data from the node using the first frequency range communication.

[0052] Clause 2: The method of clause 1, wherein the node comprises at least one of: at least one user equipment (UE), at least one relay node, at least one vehicle mounted module, at least one base station, at least one roadside unit, at least one repeater, at least one transponder, at least one wireless router, at least one controller, or at least one access point.

[0053] Clause 3: The method of clause 1, wherein each of the first frequency range communication and the second frequency range communication is a respective sidelink communication.

[0054] Clause 4: The method of clause 1, wherein the first frequency range communication comprises one or more frequency bands in a range of 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz, and the second frequency range communication comprises one or more frequency bands in a range of 24.25 GHz to 71 GHz.

[0055] Clause 5: The method of clause 1, wherein determining whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node is performed by the node and is based on at least one of: a detection of a beam failure associated with the node, a beam failure recovery operation associated with the node, a change of an angle of at least one beam associated with the node is greater than a predetermined threshold angle, a change of an absolute position of the node, a change of a speed of the node, a change of an acceleration of the node, or a change of a heading of the node is greater than a corresponding first threshold, a change of a relative position of the node, a change of a relative speed of the node, a change of a relative acceleration of the node, or a change of a relative heading of the node is greater than a corresponding second threshold, at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement value is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, at least one sidelink RSRP measurement value is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, a channel busy ratio (CBR) threshold, a number of consecutive out-of-sync indications is received or experienced by the node, the number being greater than a predetermined threshold number, a physical layer generates a negative acknowledgement of the data to a medium access control (MAC) layer, the MAC layer instructs a physical layer to generate a negative acknowledgement of the data, the MAC layer instructs the physical layer to generate a negative acknowledgement corresponding to a transmission on one or more specific channels, a detection of a radio link failure, a reception or transmission of a MAC layer negative acknowledgement to a corresponding sidelink hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity, a failure of reception or transmission of positive acknowledgement for a transmission of a MAC packet data unit (PDU), a MAC layer HARQ buffer is flushed, a MAC layer HARQ buffer is not flushed, a transmission or reception of a MAC layer negative acknowledgement for a transmission of a MAC PDU, a number of HARQ retransmissions reached a predetermined threshold number of HARQ retransmissions, at least one of an indication of a MAC layer listen-before-talk (LBT) failure or an indication of a MAC layer uplink LBT failure, the physical layer does not generate a positive acknowledgement of data to the MAC layer, the physical layer is not instructed by the MAC layer to generate a positive acknowledgement of data, a physical random access procedure is not completed, a HARQ acknowledgement is not assessed or reported at the physical layer, or a priority associated with data to be transmitted.

[0056] Clause 6: The method of clause 5, wherein the radio link failure comprises a HARQ-based sidelink radio link failure.

[0057] Clause 7: The method of clause 5, wherein the priority associated with the data is a conditional priority determined by the MAC layer, and wherein: if one or more resources associated with one or more logical channels with a higher priority are transmitted, one or more resources associated with one or more logical channels with a lower priority are not transmitted; and if the one or more resources associated with the one or more logical channels with the higher priority are not transmitted, the one or more resources associated with the one or more logical channels with the lower priority are transmitted.

[0058] Clause 8: The method of clause 7, wherein the data is associated with a higher conditional priority, and the simplified version of the data is associated with data having a lower conditional priority.

[0059] Clause 9: The method of clause 1, wherein determining whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node is performed by the node by at least one of: a physical layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio resource control (RRC) layer, or an application layer.

[0060] Clause 10: The method of clause 1, wherein the simplified version of the data comprises at least one of: a compressed version of the data, one or more images having a higher compression ratio than that of the data, one portion of the data without having another portion of the data, a part of the data with less security-related information than the data, a part of the data without having security-related information of the data, or a lower number of images per second as compared with that of the data.

[0061] Clause 11: A node for communication, the node comprising: a memory storing an instruction; and a processor configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to: determine whether a fallback from a second frequency range communication to a first frequency range communication is needed for the node, wherein the first frequency range differs from the second frequency range, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to at least one of: in response to a determination that the fallback is not needed, transmit data from the node using the second frequency range communication; or in response to a determination that the fallback is needed, perform the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication and transmit a simplified version of the data from the node using the first frequency range communication.

[0062] Clause 12: The node of clause 11, wherein the node comprises at least one of: at least one user equipment (UE), at least one relay node, at least one vehicle mounted module, at least one base station, at least one roadside unit, at least one repeater, at least one transponder, at least one wireless router, at least one controller, or at least one access point.

[0063] Clause 13: The node of clause 11, wherein each of the first frequency range communication and the second frequency range communication is a respective sidelink communication.

[0064] Clause 14: The node of clause 11, wherein the first frequency range communication comprises one or more frequency bands in a range of 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz, and the second frequency range communication comprises one or more frequency bands in a range of 24.25 GHz to 71 GHz.

[0065] Clause 15: The node of clause 11, wherein determining whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node is performed by the node and is based on at least one of: a detection of a beam failure associated with the node, a beam failure recovery operation associated with the node, a change of an angle of at least one beam associated with the node is greater than a predetermined threshold angle, a change of an absolute position of the node, a change of a speed of the node, a change of an acceleration of the node, or a change of a heading of the node is greater than a corresponding first threshold, a change of a relative position of the node, a change of a relative speed of the node, a change of a relative acceleration of the node, or a change of a relative heading of the node is greater than a corresponding second threshold, at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement value is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, at least one sidelink RSRP measurement value is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, a channel busy ratio (CBR) threshold, a number of consecutive out-of-sync indications is received or experienced by the node, the number being greater than a predetermined threshold number, a physical layer generates a negative acknowledgement of the data to a medium access control (MAC) layer, the MAC layer instructs a physical layer to generate a negative acknowledgement of the data, the MAC layer instructs the physical layer to generate a negative acknowledgement corresponding to a transmission on one or more specific channels, a detection of a radio link failure, a reception or transmission of a MAC layer negative acknowledgement to a corresponding sidelink hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity, a failure of reception or transmission of positive acknowledgement for a transmission of a MAC packet data unit (PDU), a MAC layer HARQ buffer is flushed, a MAC layer HARQ buffer is not flushed, a transmission or reception of a MAC layer negative acknowledgement for a transmission of a MAC PDU, a number of HARQ retransmissions reached a predetermined threshold number of HARQ retransmissions, at least one of an indication of a MAC layer listen-before-talk (LBT) failure or an indication of a MAC layer uplink LBT failure, the physical layer does not generate a positive acknowledgement of data to the MAC layer, the physical layer is not instructed by the MAC layer to generate a positive acknowledgement of data, a physical random access procedure is not completed, a HARQ acknowledgement is not assessed or reported at the physical layer, or a priority associated with data to be transmitted.

[0066] Clause 16: The node of clause 15, wherein the radio link failure comprises a HARQ-based sidelink radio link failure.

[0067] Clause 17: The node of clause 15, wherein the priority associated with the data is a conditional priority determined by the MAC layer, and wherein: if one or more resources associated with one or more logical channels with a higher priority are transmitted, one or more resources associated with one or more logical channels with a lower priority are not transmitted; and if the one or more resources associated with the one or more logical channels with the higher priority are not transmitted, the one or more resources associated with the one or more logical channels with the lower priority are transmitted.

[0068] Clause 18: The node of clause 17, wherein the data is associated with a higher conditional priority, and the simplified version of the data is associated with data having a lower conditional priority.

[0069] Clause 19: The node of clause 11, wherein determining whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node is performed by the node by at least one of: a physical layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio resource control (RRC) layer, or an application layer.

[0070] Clause 20: The node of clause 11, wherein the simplified version of the data comprises at least one of: a compressed version of the data, one or more images having a higher compression ratio than that of the data, one portion of the data without having another portion of the data, a part of the data with less security-related information than the data, a part of the data without having security-related information of the data, or a lower number of images per second as compared with that of the data.

[0071] Clause 21: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors of a node for communication, to perform a method, the method comprising: determining whether a fallback from a second frequency range communication to a first frequency range communication is needed for the node, wherein the first frequency range differs from the second frequency range, and wherein the method further comprises at least one of: in response to a determination that the fallback is not needed, transmitting the data from the node using the second frequency range communication; or in response to a determination that the fallback is needed, performing the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication and transmitting a simplified version of the data from the node using the first frequency range communication.

Claims

1. A method for communication of a node, the method comprising: determining whether a fallback from a second frequency range communication to a first frequency range communication is needed for the node, wherein the first frequency range differs from the second frequency range, and wherein the method further comprises at least one of: in response to a determination that the fallback is not needed, transmitting data from the node using the second frequency range communication; or in response to a determination that the fallback is needed, performing the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication and transmitting a simplified version of the data from the node using the first frequency range communication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the node comprises at least one of: at least one user equipment (UE), at least one relay node, at least one vehicle mounted module, at least one base station, at least one roadside unit, at least one repeater, at least one transponder, at least one wireless router, at least one controller, or at least one access point.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the first frequency range communication and the second frequency range communication is a respective sidelink communication.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first frequency range communication comprises one or more frequency bands in a range of 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz, and the second frequency range communication comprises one or more frequency bands in a range of 24.25 GHz to 71 GHz.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node is performed by the node and is based on at least one of: a detection of a beam failure associated with the node, a beam failure recovery operation associated with the node, a change of an angle of at least one beam associated with the node is greater than a predetermined threshold angle, a change of an absolute position of the node, a change of a speed of the node, a change of an acceleration of the node, or a change of a heading of the node is greater than a corresponding first threshold, a change of a relative position of the node, a change of a relative speed of the node, a change of a relative acceleration of the node, or a change of a relative heading of the node is greater than a corresponding second threshold, at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement value is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, at least one sidelink RSRP measurement value is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, a channel busy ratio (CBR) threshold, a number of consecutive out-of-sync indications is received or experienced by the node, the number being greater than a predetermined threshold number, a medium access control (MAC) layer instructs a physical layer to generate a negative acknowledgement of the data, a physical layer generates a negative acknowledgement of the data to the MAC layer, the MAC layer instructs the physical layer to generate a negative acknowledgement corresponding to a transmission on one or more specific channels, a detection of a radio link failure, a reception or transmission of a MAC layer negative acknowledgement to a corresponding sidelink hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity, a failure of reception or transmission of positive acknowledgement for a transmission of a MAC packet data unit (PDU), a MAC layer HARQ buffer is flushed, a MAC layer HARQ buffer is not flushed, a transmission or reception of a MAC layer negative acknowledgement for a transmission of a MAC PDU, a number of HARQ retransmissions reached a predetermined threshold number of HARQ retransmissions, at least one of an indication of a MAC layer listen-before-talk (LBT) failure or an indication of a MAC layer uplink LBT failure, the physical layer is not instructed by the MAC layer to generate a positive acknowledgement of data, the physical layer does not generate a positive acknowledgement of data to the MAC layer, a physical random access procedure is not completed, a HARQ acknowledgement is not assessed or reported at the physical layer, or a priority associated with data to be transmitted.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the radio link failure comprises a HARQ-based sidelink radio link failure.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the priority associated with the data is a conditional priority determined by the MAC layer, and wherein: if one or more resources associated with one or more logical channels with a higher priority are transmitted, one or more resources associated with one or more logical channels with a lower priority are not transmitted; and if the one or more resources associated with the one or more logical channels with the higher priority are not transmitted, the one or more resources associated with the one or more logical channels with the lower priority are transmitted.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the data is associated with a higher conditional priority, and the simplified version of the data is associated with data having a lower conditional priority.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node is performed by the node by at least one of: a physical layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio resource control (RRC) layer, or an application layer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the simplified version of the data comprises at least one of: a compressed version of the data, one or more images having a higher compression ratio than that of the data, one portion of the data without having another portion of the data, a part of the data without having security-related information of the data, a part of the data with less security-related information than the data, or a lower number of images per second as compared with that of the data.

11. A node for communication, the node comprising: a memory storing an instruction; and a processor configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to: determine whether a fallback from a second frequency range communication to a first frequency range communication is needed for the node, wherein the first frequency range differs from the second frequency range, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to at least one of: in response to a determination that the fallback is not needed, transmit data from the node using the second frequency range communication; or in response to a determination that the fallback is needed, perform the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication and transmit a simplified version of the data from the node using the first frequency range communication.

12. The node of claim 11, wherein the node comprises at least one of: at least one user equipment (UE), at least one relay node, at least one vehicle mounted module, at least one base station, at least one roadside unit, at least one repeater, at least one transponder, at least one wireless router, at least one controller, or at least one access point.

13. The node of claim 11, wherein each of the first frequency range communication and the second frequency range communication is a respective sidelink communication.

14. The node of claim 11, wherein the first frequency range communication comprises one or more frequency bands in a range of 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz, and the second frequency range communication comprises one or more frequency bands in a range of 24.25 GHz to 71 GHz.

15. The node of claim 11, wherein determining whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node is performed by the node and is based on at least one of: a detection of a beam failure associated with the node, a beam failure recovery operation associated with the node, a change of an angle of at least one beam associated with the node is greater than a predetermined threshold angle, a change of an absolute position of the node, a change of a speed of the node, a change of an acceleration of the node, or a change of a heading of the node is greater than a corresponding first threshold, a change of a relative position of the node, a change of a relative speed of the node, a change of a relative acceleration of the node, or a change of a relative heading of the node is greater than a corresponding second threshold, at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement value is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, at least one sidelink RSRP measurement value is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, a channel busy ratio (CBR) threshold, a number of consecutive out-of-sync indications is received or experienced by the node, the number being greater than a predetermined threshold number, a medium access control (MAC) layer instructs a physical layer to generate a negative acknowledgement of the data, a physical layer generates a negative acknowledgement of the data to the MAC layer, the MAC layer instructs the physical layer to generate a negative acknowledgement corresponding to a transmission on one or more specific channels, a detection of a radio link failure, a reception or transmission of a MAC layer negative acknowledgement to a corresponding sidelink hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity, a failure of reception or transmission of positive acknowledgement for a transmission of a MAC packet data unit (PDU), a MAC layer HARQ buffer is flushed, a MAC layer HARQ buffer is not flushed, a transmission or reception of a MAC layer negative acknowledgement for a transmission of a MAC PDU, a number of HARQ retransmissions reached a predetermined threshold number of HARQ retransmissions, at least one of an indication of a MAC layer listen-before-talk (LBT) failure or an indication of a MAC layer uplink LBT failure, the physical layer does not generate a positive acknowledgement of data to the MAC layer, the physical layer is not instructed by the MAC layer to generate a positive acknowledgement of data, a physical random access procedure is not completed, a HARQ acknowledgement is not assessed or reported at the physical layer, or a priority associated with data to be transmitted.

16. The node of claim 15, wherein the radio link failure comprises a HARQ-based sidelink radio link failure.

17. The node of claim 15, wherein the priority associated with the data is a conditional priority determined by the MAC layer, and wherein: if one or more resources associated with one or more logical channels with a higher priority are transmitted, one or more resources associated with one or more logical channels with a lower priority are not transmitted; and if the one or more resources associated with the one or more logical channels with the higher priority are not transmitted, the one or more resources associated with the one or more logical channels with the lower priority are transmitted.

18. The node of claim 17, wherein the data is associated with a higher conditional priority, and the simplified version of the data is associated with data having a lower conditional priority.

19. The node of claim 11, wherein determining whether the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication is needed for the node is performed by the node by at least one of: a physical layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio resource control (RRC) layer, or an application layer.

20. The node of claim 11, wherein the simplified version of the data comprises at least one of: a compressed version of the data, one or more images having a higher compression ratio than that of the data, one portion of the data without having another portion of the data, a part of the data with less security-related information than the data, a part of the data without having security-related information of the data, or a lower number of images per second as compared with that of the data.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors of a node for communication, to perform a method, the method comprising: determining whether a fallback from a second frequency range communication to a first frequency range communication is needed for the node, wherein the first frequency range differs from the second frequency range, and wherein the method further comprises at least one of: in response to a determination that the fallback is not needed, transmitting the data from the node using the second frequency range communication; or in response to a determination that the fallback is needed, performing the fallback from the second frequency range communication to the first frequency range communication and transmitting a simplified version of the data from the node using the first frequency range communication.

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