Method, apparatus and computer program

Abstract

A first apparatus (e.g AIoT device) comprising means for: receiving, from a second apparatus (e.g. AIoT reader or activator), at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access ty

Description

[0002] A communication network can be seen as a facility that enables communications between two or more communication devices or provides communication devices access to a data network. A mobile or wireless communication network is one example of a communication network. A communication device may be provided with a service by an application server.

[0003] Such communication networks operate in accordance with standards, such as those provided by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) or ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute). Examples of standards provided by 3GPP are the so-called 3GPP standards for cellular technology generations, such as 3GPP standards for 4G technology, 5G technology and 6G technology. SUMMARY

[0004] Some examples of this disclosure will be described with respect to certain aspects. These aspects are not intended to indicate key or essential features of the various examples of this disclosure, nor are they intended to be used to limit the scope of thereof. Other features, aspects, and elements will be apparent to a person skilled in the art in view of this disclosure. For example, it should be appreciated that further aspects may be provided by the combination of any two or more of the various aspects described below.

[0005] According to an aspect there is provided a first apparatus comprising means for: receiving, from a second apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; determining, based on the paging request, the access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request; and sending, to the second apparatus, at least one paging response based on the determined access type.

[0006] The at least one paging request may comprise further information indicating at least one of: an identifier associated with a paging session, the paging session comprising one or more paging opportunities for responding to a paging request; at least one resource on which the first apparatus may respond to the at least one paging request; an identifier of the second apparatus; a first list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to respond to the at least one paging request, the first list including the first apparatus identifier; a second list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to not respond to the at least one paging request, the second list not including the first apparatus; a group identifier identifying a group of apparatuses to which the first apparatus belongs; a time limit within which the first apparatus is requested to respond to the at least one paging request; an end time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to stop responding to the at least one paging request; a start time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to start responding to the at least one paging request; a service type indicating whether the at least one paging request is one of: inventory only, command only, or inventory and command; or a backoff time for contention resolution.

[0007] Sending the at least one paging response may be based on the further information.

[0008] The second list of one or more apparatuses which are requested to not respond to the at least one paging request may comprise one or more subgroups of apparatuses, the first apparatus not being included in the one or more subgroups.

[0009] The information indicating the access type may comprise information indicating the access type as being one of: contention based random access; or contention free random access.

[0010] When the access type is contention free random access, the indication of the at least one resource may comprise an indication of at least one resource granted to only the first apparatus.

[0011] When the access type is contention free random access, the at least one paging response may comprise an identifier of the first apparatus.

[0012] When the access type is contention based random access, the indication of the at least one resource may comprise an indication of at least one resource shared by the first apparatus and one or more other apparatuses.

[0013] When the access type is contention based random access, the at least one paging request may further comprise information indicating a number of steps associated with a contention based random access procedure for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request.

[0014] The number of steps may be a maximum number of steps, and the random access procedure may comprise a number of steps less than or equal to the maximum number of steps.

[0015] When the maximum number of steps is two, the at least one paging response may comprises a random identifier and an identifier of the first apparatus.

[0016] When the maximum number of steps is four, the at least one paging response may comprises a random identifier, and the means may be further for: receiving, from the second apparatus, a reply to the at least one paging response including the random identifier; and sending, to the second apparatus, in response to the reply, a message comprising an identifier of the first apparatus.

[0017] The means may be further for: receiving, from the second apparatus, an acknowledgement message acknowledging successful receipt of the at least one paging response comprising the random identifier and the identifier of the first apparatus; or receiving, from the second apparatus, an acknowledgement message acknowledging successful receipt of the message comprising the identifier of the first apparatus.

[0018] The at least one paging response may comprise information indicating that the first apparatus is not compliant with the indicated access type.

[0019] When the further information comprises the identifier of the second apparatus, the at least one paging response may comprise the identifier of the second apparatus.

[0020] The identifier associated with the paging session may indicate that the at least one paging request is one of: a new paging request; or a previously sent paging request.

[0021] Sending the at least one paging response may be based on: the identifier indicating that the at least one paging request is a new paging request; or the identifier indicating that the at least one paging request is a previously sent paging request to which the first apparatus has not successfully responded.

[0022] The first apparatus may be an ambient device. The second apparatus may be an ambient device reader or activator.

[0023] According to an aspect there is provided a second apparatus comprising means for: sending, to a first apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; and receiving, from the first apparatus, at least one paging response based on the information indicating the access type.

[0024] The means may be further for: determining collision information associated with collisions between paging requests and / or paging responses, the paging requests including the at least one paging request and one or more further paging requests sent to one or more further apparatuses; and the paging responses including the at least one paging response and one or more further paging responses sent from the one or more further apparatuses; and determining the information indicating the access type based on the determined collision information.

[0025] The at least one paging request may comprise further information indicating at least one of: an identifier associated with a paging session, the paging session comprising one or more paging opportunities for responding to a paging request; at least one resource on which the first apparatus may respond to the at least one paging request; an identifier of the second apparatus; a first list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to respond to the at least one paging request, the first list including the first apparatus; an identifier of a group of apparatuses to which the first apparatus belongs; a second list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to not respond to the at least one paging request, the second list not including the first apparatus; a time limit within which the first apparatus is requested to respond to the at least one paging request; an end time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to stop responding to the at least one paging request; a start time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to start responding to the at least one paging request; a service type indicating whether the at least one paging request is one of: inventory only, command only, or inventory and command; or a backoff time for contention resolution.

[0026] Receiving the at least one paging response may be based on the further information.

[0027] The means may be further for: determining collision information associated with collisions between paging requests and / or paging responses, the paging requests including the at least one paging request and one or more further paging requests sent to one or more further apparatuses; and the paging responses including the at least one paging response and one or more further paging responses sent from the one or more further apparatuses; and determining the further information based on the determined collision information.

[0028] The second list of one or more apparatuses which are requested to not respond to the at least one paging request may comprise one or more subgroups of apparatuses, the first apparatus not being included in the one or more subgroups.

[0029] The information indicating the access type may comprise information indicating the access type as being one of: contention based random access; or contention free random access.

[0030] When the access type is contention free random access, the indication of the at least one resource may comprise an indication of at least one resource granted to only the first apparatus.

[0031] When the access type is contention free random access, the at least one paging response may comprise an identifier of the first apparatus.

[0032] When the access type is contention based random access, the indication of the at least one resource may comprise an indication of at least one resource shared by the first apparatus and one or more other apparatuses.

[0033] When the access type is contention based random access, the at least one paging request may further comprise information indicating a number of steps associated with a contention based random access procedure for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request.

[0034] The number of steps may be a maximum number of steps, and wherein the random access procedure may comprise a number of steps less than or equal to the maximum number of steps.

[0035] When the maximum number of steps is two, the at least one paging response may comprise a random identifier and an identifier of the first apparatus.

[0036] When the maximum number of steps is four, the at least one paging response may comprise a random identifier, and the means may be further for: sending, to the first apparatus, a reply to the at least one paging response including the received random identifier; and receiving, from the first apparatus, in response to the reply, a message comprising an identifier of the first apparatus.

[0037] The means may be further for: sending, to the first apparatus, an acknowledgement message acknowledging successful receipt of the at least one paging response comprising the random identifier and the identifier of the first apparatus; or sending, to the first apparatus, an acknowledgement message acknowledging successful receipt of the message comprising the identifier of the first apparatus.

[0038] The at least one paging response may comprise information indicating that the first apparatus is not compliant with the indicated access type.

[0039] When the further information comprises the identifier of the second apparatus, the at least one paging response may comprise the identifier of the second apparatus.

[0040] The identifier associated with the paging session may indicate that the at least one paging request is one of: a new paging request; or a previously sent paging request.

[0041] Receiving the paging response may based on: the identifier indicating that the at least one paging request is a new paging request; or the identifier indicating that the paging request is a previously sent paging request to which the first apparatus has not successfully responded.

[0042] The first apparatus may be an ambient device. The second apparatus may be an ambient reader or activator.

[0043] According to an aspect there is provided a method performed by a first apparatus, the method comprising: receiving, from a second apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; determining, based on the paging request, the access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request; and sending, to the second apparatus, at least one paging response based on the determined access type.

[0044] The at least one paging request may comprise further information indicating at least one of: an identifier associated with a paging session, the paging session comprising one or more paging opportunities for responding to a paging request; at least one resource on which the first apparatus may respond to the at least one paging request; an identifier of the second apparatus; a first list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to respond to the at least one paging request, the first list including the first apparatus identifier; a second list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to not respond to the at least one paging request, the second list not including the first apparatus; a group identifier identifying a group of apparatuses to which the first apparatus belongs; a time limit within which the first apparatus is requested to respond to the at least one paging request; an end time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to stop responding to the at least one paging request; a start time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to start responding to the at least one paging request; a service type indicating whether the at least one paging request is one of: inventory only, command only, or inventory and command; or a backoff time for contention resolution.

[0045] Sending the at least one paging response may be based on the further information.

[0046] The second list of one or more apparatuses which are requested to not respond to the at least one paging request may comprise one or more subgroups of apparatuses, the first apparatus not being included in the one or more subgroups.

[0047] The information indicating the access type may comprise information indicating the access type as being one of: contention based random access; or contention free random access.

[0048] When the access type is contention free random access, the indication of the at least one resource may comprise an indication of at least one resource granted to only the first apparatus.

[0049] When the access type is contention free random access, the at least one paging response may comprise an identifier of the first apparatus.

[0050] When the access type is contention based random access, the indication of the at least one resource may comprise an indication of at least one resource shared by the first apparatus and one or more other apparatuses.

[0051] When the access type is contention based random access, the at least one paging request may further comprise information indicating a number of steps associated with a contention based random access procedure for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request.

[0052] The number of steps may be a maximum number of steps, and the random access procedure may comprise a number of steps less than or equal to the maximum number of steps.

[0053] When the maximum number of steps is two, the at least one paging response may comprises a random identifier and an identifier of the first apparatus.

[0054] When the maximum number of steps is four, the at least one paging response may comprises a random identifier, and the method may comprise: receiving, from the second apparatus, a reply to the at least one paging response including the random identifier; and sending, to the second apparatus, in response to the reply, a message comprising an identifier of the first apparatus.

[0055] The method may comprise: receiving, from the second apparatus, an acknowledgement message acknowledging successful receipt of the at least one paging response comprising the random identifier and the identifier of the first apparatus; or receiving, from the second apparatus, an acknowledgement message acknowledging successful receipt of the message comprising the identifier of the first apparatus.

[0056] The at least one paging response may comprise information indicating that the first apparatus is not compliant with the indicated access type.

[0057] When the further information comprises the identifier of the second apparatus, the at least one paging response may comprise the identifier of the second apparatus.

[0058] The identifier associated with the paging session may indicate that the at least one paging request is one of: a new paging request; or a previously sent paging request.

[0059] Sending the at least one paging response may be based on: the identifier indicating that the at least one paging request is a new paging request; or the identifier indicating that the paging request is a previously sent paging request to which the first apparatus has not successfully responded.

[0060] The first apparatus may be an ambient device. The second apparatus may be an ambient device reader or activator.

[0061] According to an aspect there is provided a method performed by a second apparatus, the method comprising: sending, to a first apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; and receiving, from the first apparatus, at least one paging response based on the information indicating the access type.

[0062] The method may comprise: determining collision information associated with collisions between paging requests and / or paging responses, the paging requests including the at least one paging request and one or more further paging requests sent to one or more further apparatuses; and the paging responses including the at least one paging response and one or more further paging responses sent from the one or more further apparatuses; and determining the information indicating the access type based on the determined collision information.

[0063] The at least one paging request may comprise further information indicating at least one of: an identifier associated with a paging session, the paging session comprising one or more paging opportunities for responding to a paging request; at least one resource on which the first apparatus may respond to the at least one paging request; an identifier of the second apparatus; a first list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to respond to the at least one paging request, the first list including the first apparatus; an identifier of a group of apparatuses to which the first apparatus belongs; a second list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to not respond to the at least one paging request, the second list not including the first apparatus; a time limit within which the first apparatus is requested to respond to the at least one paging request; an end time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to stop responding to the at least one paging request; a start time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to start responding to the at least one paging request; a service type indicating whether the at least one paging request is one of: inventory only, command only, or inventory and command; or a backoff time for contention resolution.

[0064] Receiving the at least one paging response may be based on the further information.

[0065] The method may comprise: determining collision information associated with collisions between paging requests and / or paging responses, the paging requests including the at least one paging request and one or more further paging requests sent to one or more further apparatuses; and the paging responses including the at least one paging response and one or more further paging responses sent from the one or more further apparatuses; and determining the further information based on the determined collision information.

[0066] The second list of one or more apparatuses which are requested to not respond to the at least one paging request may comprise one or more subgroups of apparatuses, the first apparatus not being included in the one or more subgroups.

[0067] The information indicating the access type may comprise information indicating the access type as being one of: contention based random access; or contention free random access.

[0068] When the access type is contention free random access, the indication of the at least one resource may comprise an indication of at least one resource granted to only the first apparatus.

[0069] When the access type is contention free random access, the at least one paging response may comprise an identifier of the first apparatus.

[0070] When the access type is contention based random access, the indication of the at least one resource may comprise an indication of at least one resource shared by the first apparatus and one or more other apparatuses.

[0071] When the access type is contention based random access, the at least one paging request may further comprise information indicating a number of steps associated with a contention based random access procedure for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request.

[0072] The number of steps may be a maximum number of steps, and wherein the random access procedure may comprise a number of steps less than or equal to the maximum number of steps.

[0073] When the maximum number of steps is two, the at least one paging response may comprise a random identifier and an identifier of the first apparatus.

[0074] When the maximum number of steps is four, the at least one paging response may comprise a random identifier, the method may comprise: sending, to the first apparatus, a reply to the at least one paging response including the received random identifier; and receiving, from the first apparatus, in response to the reply, a message comprising an identifier of the first apparatus.

[0075] The method may comprise: sending, to the first apparatus, an acknowledgement message acknowledging successful receipt of the at least one paging response comprising the random identifier and the identifier of the first apparatus; or sending, to the first apparatus, an acknowledgement message acknowledging successful receipt of the message comprising the identifier of the first apparatus.

[0076] The at least one paging response may comprise information indicating that the first apparatus is not compliant with the indicated access type.

[0077] When the further information comprises the identifier of the second apparatus, the at least one paging response may comprise the identifier of the second apparatus.

[0078] The identifier associated with the paging session may indicate that the at least one paging request is one of: a new paging request; or a previously sent paging request.

[0079] Receiving the at least one paging response may based on: the identifier indicating that the at least one paging request is a new paging request; or the identifier indicating that the at least one paging request is a previously sent paging request to which the first apparatus has not successfully responded.

[0080] The first apparatus may be an ambient device. The second apparatus may be an ambient reader or activator.

[0081] According to an aspect, there is provided a first apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: receive, from a second apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; determine, based on the at least one paging request, the access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request; and send, to the second apparatus, at least one paging response based on the determined access type.

[0082] According to an aspect, there is provided a second apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to: send, to a first apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; and receive, from the first apparatus, at least one paging response based on the information indicating the access type.

[0083] A computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a first apparatus, cause the first apparatus to perform at least the following: receiving, from a second apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; determining, based on the at least one paging request, the access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request; and sending, to the second apparatus, at least one paging response based on the determined access type.

[0084] A computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a second apparatus, cause the second apparatus to perform at least the following: sending, to a first apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; and receiving, from the first apparatus, at least one paging response based on the information indicating the access type.

[0085] According to an aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions that, when executed by a first apparatus, cause the first apparatus to perform at least the method attributed to the first apparatus according to any of the preceding aspects.

[0086] According to an aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions that, when executed by a second apparatus, cause the second apparatus to perform at least the method attributed to the second apparatus according to any of the preceding aspects.

[0087] According to an aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method according to any of the preceding aspects.

[0088] In the above, many different aspects have been described. As previously noted, it should be appreciated that further aspects may be provided by the combination of any two or more of the aspects described above. Other features, aspects, and elements will become apparent in view of the following. DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

[0089] Some examples will now be described, by way of non-limiting and illustrative example only, with reference to the accompanying Figures (FIGs.) in which:

[0090] FIG. 1 shows an example of a communication network to which examples disclosed herein may be applied;

[0091] FIGs. 2A-C show examples of random access signalling;

[0092] FIG. 3 illustrates a paging session according to some examples;

[0093] FIGs. 4-9 show methods according to some examples;

[0094] FIGs. 10-12 show signalling exchanges according to some examples; and

[0095] FIG. 13 shows an apparatus according to some examples. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0096] Some examples of the present disclosure may be implemented in a communication network, such as any of the following radio access technologies (RATs): World-wide Interoperability for Micro-wave Access (WiMAX), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM, 2G), GSM EDGE radio access Network (GERAN), General Packet Radio Service (GRPS), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS, 3G) based on basic wideband-code division multiple access (W-CDMA), high-speed packet access (HSPA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, and enhanced LTE (eLTE), 5G (also called NR), or any future RAT such as 6G. Moreover, communication within the communication network may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), and / or Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM).

[0097] As used herein, the term “network device” or “network node” may refer to a node in a communication network via which user equipment may access the network and / or which is capable of controlling radio communication and managing radio resources within a cell. The network node or network device may be referred to as a base station (BS), an access point (AP) or an access node. The network device may be, depending on the applied technology, for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node, a nonterrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, or an aircraft network device.

[0098] Moreover, in connection of split radio access network (RAN), the network device may refer to a centralised unit (CU) of a base station and / or a distributed unit (DU) of a base station. An interface between CU and DU may be referred to as an F1 interface in NR. In the split RAN architecture, node operations may be carried out, at least partly, in the central / centralized unit, CU, (e.g. server, host or node) operationally coupled to the DU, (e.g. a radio head / node). One CU may control one or more DUs, acting at least as transmit / receive (Tx / Rx) nodes. In some examples, the DUs may comprise e.g. a radio link control (RLC), medium access control (MAC) layer and a physical (PHY) layer, whereas the CU may comprise the layers above RLC layer, such as a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio resource control (RRC) and an internet protocol (IP) layers. Other functional splits are possible too. In practice, any processing task may be performed in either the CU or the DU and the boundary where the responsibility is shifted between the CU and the DU may depend on the applied implementation.

[0099] The term “terminal device” may refer to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example, a terminal device may be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), or a Mobile Station (MS). The terminal device may include a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and play-back appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, USB dongles, an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like.

[0100] A term “resource”, as used herein, may refer to radio resources in time domain, in frequency domain, in space domain, and / or in code domain. Some examples of resources include e.g. a physical resource block (PRB), a radio frame, a subframe, a time slot, a subband, a frequency region, a sub-carrier, a beam, etc. The term “transmission” and / or “reception” may refer to wirelessly transmitting and / or receiving via a wireless propagation channel on radio resources.

[0101] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication network to which examples disclosed herein may be applied. The communication network or a cellular communication network may comprise a network node 110 providing one or more cells, such as cell 100, and a network node 112 providing one or more other cells, such as cell 102. Each cell may be, e.g., a macro cell, a micro cell, femto, or a pico cell, for example. The cell may define a coverage area or a service area of the corresponding access node.

[0102] The network node 110 may provide a user equipment (UE) 120 (one or more UEs) with wireless access to the communication network. The wireless access may comprise downlink (DL) communication from the network node to the UE 120 and uplink (UL) communication from the UE 120 to the network node. Examples of uplink channels comprise physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for transmitting control information and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for transmitting data towards the network. Examples of downlink channels comprise physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for transmitting control information and physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) for transmitting data towards the user equipment.

[0103] There may be a plurality of UEs 120, 122 in the system. Each UE may be served by the same or by different network nodes 110, 112. A UE may be configured with dual connectivity (DC), wherein the UE, e.g. UE 120, may be connected to multiple network nodes 110, 112. The UEs 120, 122 may communicate with each other, in case device-to-device (D2D) communication interface is established between them via a so-called sidelink (SL). Such D2D communications may be referred to as machine-to-machine, peer-to-peer (P2P) communications, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), for example.

[0104] In the case of multiple network nodes in the communication network, the network nodes may be connected to each other via an interface. LTE specifications call such an interface as X2 interface. An interface between an LTE node and a 5G node, or between two 5G nodes may be called Xn interface. The network nodes 110 and 112 may be further connected via another interface to a core network 116 of the communication network.

[0105] In some examples, one or more ambient devices may be deployed in a geographic area. An ambient device may be understood as being a device configured to receive a first signal (which may be referred to as activation signal) from an activator device, and use the energy of the first signal to generate and emit a second signal. The second signal may then be detected by a reader device. The response signal may be encoded with some information associated with the ambient device, for example an identifier of the ambient device. In some examples, the activator device and reader device may be the same device, or may be different devices. The activator device and / or the reader device may for example comprise the terminal device (e.g., a UE), or a network node, such as those described previously.

[0106] In order for the ambient device to emit the second signal in response to the first signal, the ambient device must access resources for the second signal. The ambient device may perform random access in order to access the resources. For example, the ambient device may use contention based random access (where multiple ambient devices use a shared set of resources), or contention free random access (where an ambient device is allocated its own set of resources).

[0107] FIGs. 2A-C illustrate examples of random access signalling that may be performed when the ambient device attempts to access the resources in response to receiving a first signal. In all examples of FIG. 2A-C, it is assumed that the activator and reader device are the same device for simplicity. The examples shown in FIG. 2A and 2B may be applied when performing contention-based random access, while the example shown in FIG. 2C may be applied when performing contention-free random access.

[0108] FIG. 2A illustrates an example of a three-step or four-step signalling exchange (depending on whether the final step, which is optional, is performed). The ambient device sends, to the reader device, a message comprising a random identifier. In response the reader device sends a message comprising the random identifier. When the random identifier received by the ambient device from the reader device matches the random identifier sent by the ambient device, then the ambient device sends, to the reader device, a message comprising an identifier of the ambient device. Optionally, the reader device may acknowledge receipt of the message sent by the ambient device. The random identifiers sent by the ambient device and the random identifier sent by the reader may not match when there has been collision with other messages sent using contention-based random access resources when the random identifier was sent by the ambient device, and so the method of FIG. 2A may help with contention resolution.

[0109] FIG. 2B illustrates an example of a one-step or two-step signalling exchange (depending on whether the final step, which is optional, is performed). The ambient device sends, to the reader device, a message comprising a random identifier and an identifier of the first apparatus. Optionally, the reader device may acknowledge receipt of the message sent by the ambient device. The example of FIG. 2B may therefore represent a faster and more resource efficient procedure as compared to FIG. 2A. However, in the example of FIG. 2B, if the reader device does not know the identifier of the ambient device, the reader device cannot “echo” the message sent by the ambient device (unlike the example of FIG. 2A).

[0110] FIG. 2C illustrates an example of a one-step or two-step signalling exchange (depending on whether the final step, which is optional, is performed). The ambient device sends, to the reader device, a message comprising an identifier of the ambient device. Optionally, , the reader device may acknowledge receipt of the message sent by the ambient device. Since the example of FIG. 2C utilises contention-free random access, there is no risk of collision with other messages; however contention-free access may not be easily scalable, and may require more resources (both radio resources and computational capability) to establish as each ambient device must be known or discovered prior to allocating a contention-free random access occasion on which to transmit the message comprising the identifier of the ambient device.

[0111] There may be problems with existing access schemes for ambient devices, which may be enhanced when the density of ambient devices is high. For example, it may not be feasible to dedicate contention-free resources to all ambient devices due to the limited resource capacity of the network and the computational complexity in scheduling large numbers of ambient devices in a small area. However, with contention-based schemes, such as those described in relation to FIG. 2A and 2B, the total or per device response time may not be known, as the number of collisions that occur during (re)transmission of the messages cannot be predicted, and the likely number of collisions scales exponentially with the number of ambient devices. Additionally, the ambient device identities and the status of ambient devices may not be known to the reader device, meaning that efficient resource control may not be possible. In some areas with multiple readers, ambient devices may be paged by multiple devices simultaneously, and may emit signals to multiple readers simultaneously, meaning that the contention for resources is further increased.

[0112] Some examples of the present disclosure may address one or more of these issues. Some examples may enable further functionality compared to existing paging mechanisms.

[0113] In some examples a second apparatus (e.g., an ambient device reader or activator) may send a paging request to a first apparatus (e.g., an ambient device, such as an ambient internet of things (AloT) device), and the first apparatus may send one or more paging responses based on the information comprised in the paging request. The information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating one or more of: (a) An identifier associated with a paging session, the paging session comprising one or more paging opportunities for responding to the paging request; (b) An access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; (c) At least one resource on which the first apparatus may respond to the paging request; (d) An identifier of the second apparatus; (e) A first list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to respond to the paging request, the first list including the first apparatus identifier; (f) A second list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to not respond to the paging request, the second list not including the first apparatus; (g) A group identifier identifying a group of apparatuses to which the first apparatus belongs; (h) A time limit within which the first apparatus is requested to send the at least one paging response; (i) An end time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to stop responding to the at least one paging request; (j) A start time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to start responding to the at least one paging request; (k) A service type indicating whether the paging request is one of: inventory only, command only, or inventory and command; or (I) A backoff time for contention resolution.

[0114] In some examples the paging request may comprise a paging message used to initiate a paging session, or one or more further messages sent in relation to that paging session -e.g., to provide updated information (for instance, to provide an updated first list or updated end time) associated with the paging session. The various different types of information comprised in the paging request will be described in more detail below.

[0115] In some examples the information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating an identifier associated with a paging session. That is to say, the identifier associated with the paging session may identify a paging session with which the paging request is associated. The paging session may comprise one or more paging opportunities for responding to the paging request.

[0116] FIG. 3 illustrates a paging session according to some examples, where a paging session 300 comprises one or more access rounds (which may for example be random access rounds) 302A-D. Each access round may comprise one or more paging opportunities (which may for example be random access opportunities) 304A-E. During each paging opportunity, ambient devices (including the first apparatus) may attempt to access resources to perform paging towards the reader device. In the event of contention-based access by an ambient device during a paging opportunity resulting in collision / contention with another ambient device, the ambient device may have to wait for another paging opportunity before attempting to resend a response to the paging request. It should be understood that the number of access rounds and paging opportunities shown in FIG. 3 is for illustrative purposes only, and that in some examples a different number of access rounds and / or paging opportunities may be provided.

[0117] In some examples, the identifier associated with the paging session may comprise a random or sequential number that identifies the paging session. The identifier may be unique over a certain time period. In some examples, the identifier may indicate whether the paging request is a new paging request or a previously sent paging request. For example, the identifier may comprise a single bit set to a first value (e.g., 1) to indicate a new paging request, or a second value (e.g., 0) to indicate a previously sent request. The first apparatus may send a paging response to the second apparatus when the identifier indicates that the paging request is a new paging request; or that the paging request is a previously sent paging request to which the first apparatus has not successfully responded. When the identifier indicates that the paging request is a previously sent paging request to which the first apparatus has successfully responded, the first apparatus may not send a paging response.

[0118] In some examples the information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request. For example, the information indicating the access type may comprise information indicating the access type as being one of: contention based random access, or contention free random access.

[0119] When the indicated access type is contention based random access, the paging request may further comprise information indicating a number of steps associated with a contention based random access procedure for the first apparatus to use when responding to the paging request. The first apparatus may then use a contention based random access procedure having a number of steps equal to the indicated number of steps when sending the response to the paging request, for example based on the procedures described above in relation to FIG. 2A (for a three or four-step procedure) and 2B (for a one or two-step procedure).

[0120] In some examples, the indicated number of steps may be a maximum number of steps, and the first apparatus may utilize a random access procedure which comprises a number of steps less than or equal to the maximum number of steps.

[0121] For example, when the maximum number of steps is two, the first apparatus may follow a one-step or two-step random access procedure, for example as described previously in relation to FIG. 2B. That is to say, the first apparatus may send, to the second apparatus, a paging response comprising a random identifier and an identifier of the first apparatus, and optionally receive an acknowledgement of successful receipt of the paging response from the second apparatus.

[0122] As a further example, when the maximum number of steps is four, the first apparatus may follow a three-step or four-step random access procedure, for example as described previously in relation to FIG. 2A. That is to say, the first apparatus may send, to the second apparatus, a paging response comprising a random identifier. The second apparatus, in response, may send a reply to the paging response including the random identifier. The first apparatus may then send, in response to the reply, a message comprising the identifier of the first apparatus. Optionally, the first apparatus may receive, from the second apparatus, an acknowledgement of successful receipt of the message comprising the identifier of the apparatus.

[0123] Furthermore, in some examples, when the indicated maximum number of steps is four, the first apparatus may instead follow a one-step or two-step random access procedure, as described above.

[0124] In some examples, the first apparatus may not be compliant with the indicated access type. For instance, the first apparatus may not support contention-free random access when contention-free random access is indicated, or may not support a two-step random access procedure when a maximum number of steps for a contention-based random access procedure is two. In such examples, the paging response sent by the first apparatus may comprise information indicating that the first apparatus is not compliant with the indicated access type.

[0125] In some examples the information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating at least one resource on which the first apparatus may respond to the paging request. The information indicating the at least one resource may for example indicate at least one time slot relative to a reference time slot, for example at least one time slot at which the paging request was sent.

[0126] When the indicated access type is contention free random access, the information indicating the at least one resource may comprise an indication of at least one resource granted to only the first apparatus. When the indicated access type is contention based random access, the information indicating the at least one resource may comprise an indication of at least one resource shared by the first apparatus and one or more other apparatuses.

[0127] In some examples the information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating an identifier of the second apparatus. The first apparatus may include the identifier of the second apparatus in the paging response to the paging request. This may be beneficial in cases where the first apparatus can receive paging requests from multiple reader devices including the second apparatus, as the identifier of the second apparatus may identify the second apparatus as being the intended recipient and / or the device which triggered the paging response.

[0128] In some examples the information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating a first list of one or more apparatus identifiers (or groups / subgroups of apparatus identifiers) which are requested to respond to the paging request, the first list including the first apparatus identifier.

[0129] In some examples the information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating a second list of one or more apparatus identifiers (or groups / subgroups of apparatus identifiers) which are requested to not respond to the paging request, the second list not including the first apparatus.

[0130] In some examples the information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating a group identifier identifying a group of apparatuses to which the first apparatus belongs.

[0131] Use of the first list / second list / group identifier may enable the second apparatus to trigger only certain first apparatuses within a coverage area of the second apparatus to respond to the paging message. In some examples, apparatuses not included in the first list may be considered as being comprised in the second list, and vice versa. Thus, in some examples, the paging request may comprise the first list or the second list, but not both lists. Alternatively, both the first list and the second list may be included in the paging request. In some examples, the second apparatus may indicate identifiers of groups or subgroups of apparatuses in the first / second list, and additionally information indicating to which group / subgroup identifier to which the first apparatus belongs. The first apparatus may therefore determine whether or not it is requested to respond to the paging request based on its membership to the indicated group / subgroup.

[0132] In some examples the information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating a time limit within which the first apparatus is requested to send the at least one paging response. The information indicating the time limit may for example indicate a time duration in terms of a number of slots, seconds, number of collisions, carrier wave cycles, time to new paging etc. For instance, the information indicating the time limit may indicate that the first apparatus is expected to respond within 100 ms, or within 3 collisions. In some examples, where the time limit is not explicitly indicated, the first apparatus may assume a default value for the time limit. The default value may be a defined time period (e.g., when the paging request is for individual devices), or indefinite (e.g., when the paging request is for groups of devices). In some examples, the second apparatus may extend or shorten the time limit depending on a number of devices which responded to the paging request - for example the second apparatus may send a further paging request with updated time limit information according to the number of devices which responded to the initial paging request.

[0133] In some examples the information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating a start time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to start responding to the at least one paging request. The start time may for example be indicated in similar terms to the time limit-i.e. in terms of a number of slots, seconds, number of collisions, carrier wave cycles, time to new paging etc. In some examples, where no start time is explicitly indicated, the first apparatus may assume a default value for the time limit, which may for example be zero (i.e. the first apparatus should start responding as soon as possible).

[0134] In some examples the information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating an end time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to stop responding to the at least one paging request. The end time may be used in some examples to terminate paging requests associated with indefinite time periods - for instance the second apparatus may send a further paging request indicating an end time to terminate an indefinite, ongoing paging request. However it should be understood that the end time may be used to terminate paging requests associated with time periods of any duration. In some examples, the end time may be used when all ambient devices or a sufficient subset of ambient devices have responded to one or multiple reader devices in order to cause all engaged readers to stop receiving (i.e. as means of inter-reader coordination).

[0135] In some examples, the information indicating the end time may indicate that resources allocated for the first apparatus to send a paging response are to be re-allocated I reserved to other communication type (e.g. sidelink). As a result, all ambient devices (including the first apparatus) may stop responding to the paging request in order to prevent interference.

[0136] In some examples, a core network entity (e.g. access management function) may send, to reader devices (e.g. in relation to topology 1), a stop signal trigger. The reader devices may then send, to the ambient devices, the information indicating the end time in response to receiving the stop signal trigger. In other examples, the core network entity may send the information indicating the end time directly to the ambient devices.

[0137] In some examples, if the first apparatus receives an ACK / NACK feedback from the second apparatus, the ACK / NACK feedback may cause the first apparatus to indicate an active end time (e.g. by toggling an internal representation of the end time to 1 without having received any explicit indication of the end time over the AloT air interface) to prevent any future responses to an ongoing paging session.

[0138] In some examples the information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating a service type indicating whether the paging request is one of: inventory only, command only, or inventory and command. “Inventory only”, “Command only”, and “Inventory and command” services have for example been defined in RAN2 agreements. In some examples, a first paging request may comprise information indicating a service type as one of “Inventory only” or “Command only”, and a second subsequent paging request may comprise information indicating a service type as the other one of “Inventory only” or “Command only” and indicate that the request is related to the previous request, thereby effectively forming a two-step “Inventory and command” request. In some examples, the first apparatus may store a temporary identifier of the inventory messages to facilitate subsequent execution of the command request, or vice versa.

[0139] In some examples the information comprised in the paging request may comprise information indicating a backoff time for contention resolution. The information indicating the backoff time may for example be a specified number, or a parameter used by the ambient device for determining or deriving the backoff time. For example, the information indicating the backoff time may comprise a Q factor. The backoff time (BT) for contention resolution may be defined as BT=2AQ-1. If Q=0, the first apparatus may respond immediately. If Q>0, there may be some (average) delay for the first apparatus to gain access to the medium. For a given number of ambient devices, higher Q factor implies that the number of ambient devices responding in a given time interval is lower.

[0140] Reference is made to FIG. 4, which shows a method according to some examples. The method described in relation to FIG. 4 may be performed by a first apparatus, for example an ambient device, such as an ambient loT device.

[0141] At 400, the method comprises receiving, from a second apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request. The information indicating the access type may be as described previously.

[0142] At 402, the method comprises determining, based on the at least one paging request, the access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the paging request.

[0143] At 404, the method comprises sending, to the second apparatus, at least one paging response based on the determined access type. The paging response may be as described previously.

[0144] Reference is made to FIG. 5, which shows a method according to some examples. The method described in relation to FIG. 5 may be performed by a second apparatus, for example an ambient device reader or activator.

[0145] At 500, the method comprises sending, to a first apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request. The information indicating the access type may be as described previously.

[0146] At 502, the method comprises receiving, from the first apparatus, at least one paging response based on the information indicating the access type. The at least one paging response may be as described previously.

[0147] The at least one paging request described above in relation to the method of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 may comprise further information indicating at least one of: an identifier associated with a paging session, the paging session comprising one or more paging opportunities for responding to the at least one paging request; at least one resource on which the first apparatus may respond to the at least one paging request; an identifier of the second apparatus; a first list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to respond to the at least one paging request, the first list including the first apparatus; an identifier of a group of apparatuses to which the first apparatus belongs; a second list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to not respond to the at least one paging request, the second list not including the first apparatus; a time limit within which the first apparatus is requested to respond to the at least one paging request; an end time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to stop responding to the at least one paging request; a start time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to start responding to the at least one paging request; a service type indicating whether the at least one paging request is one of: inventory only, command only, or inventory and command; or a backoff time for contention resolution. The further information may be as described previously. The first apparatus may send, and correspondingly the second apparatus may receive, the at least one paging response based on the further information.

[0148] In some examples the second apparatus may determining collision information associated with collisions between paging requests and / or paging responses. The paging requests may include at least one paging request (sent to the first apparatus) and one or more further paging requests sent to one or more further apparatuses (e.g., one or more further ambient devices). The paging responses may include at least one paging response (received from the first apparatus) and one or more further paging responses received from the one or more further apparatuses (e.g., one or more further ambient devices). The collision information may for example comprise a probability of collision between paging requests / responses, a measured number of collisions, a number of collisions per unit time, a binary indication of whether collisions are detected in a given time slot, etc. The second apparatus may then determine the information indicating the access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request, and optionally the further information, based on the determined collision information.

[0149] Thus the methods described above in relation to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 may allow the network, via the second apparatus, to control how ambient devices (including the first apparatus) respond to paging requests in terms of the access type used. This may help optimize the paging response process and give more clarity to the second apparatus in terms of expected response times etc. due to providing more control over which device(s) perform contention based access or contention free access, and other information associated with the given access type.

[0150] Reference is made to FIG. 6, which shows a method according to some examples. The method described in relation to FIG. 6 may be performed by a first apparatus, for example an ambient device, such as an ambient loT device.

[0151] At 600, the method comprises receiving, from a second apparatus, at least one paging request comprising a plurality of identifiers, each identifier being associated with a respective paging session, each paging session comprising one or more paging opportunities for responding to the at least one paging request. For example, the first apparatus may receive one paging request comprising a plurality of identifiers, or multiple paging requests comprising a plurality of identifiers. Each paging request may be as described previously.

[0152] At 602, the method comprises sending, to the second apparatus, a plurality of paging responses, each paging response being associated with one of the plurality of identifiers. Each paging response may be as described previously.

[0153] Reference is made to FIG. 7, which shows a method according to some examples. The method described in relation to FIG. 7 may be performed by a second apparatus, for example an ambient device reader or activator.

[0154] At 700, the method comprises sending, to a first apparatus, at least one paging request comprising a plurality of identifiers, each identifier being associated with a respective paging session, each paging session comprising one or more paging opportunities for responding to the at least one paging request. Each paging request may be as described previously.

[0155] At 702, the method comprises receiving, from the first apparatus, a plurality of paging responses, each paging response being associated with one of the plurality of identifiers. The paging responses may be as described previously.

[0156] The at least one paging request described above in relation to the method of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 may comprise further information indicating at least one of: at least one access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request; at least one resource on which the first apparatus may respond to the at least one paging request; an identifier of the first second apparatus; a first list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to respond to the at least one paging request, the first list including the first apparatus identifier; a second list of one or more apparatuses which are requested to not respond to the at least one paging request, the second list not including the first apparatus; a group identifier identifying a group of apparatuses to which the first apparatus belongs; a time limit within which the first apparatus is requested to respond to the at least one paging request; an end time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to stop responding to the at least one paging request; a start time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to start responding to the at least one paging request; a service type indicating whether the paging request is one of: inventory only, command only, or inventory and command; or a backoff time for contention resolution. The further information may be as described previously. The first apparatus may send, and correspondingly the second apparatus may receive, the plurality of paging responses based on the further information.

[0157] In some examples the second apparatus may determine the second apparatus may determining collision information associated with collisions between paging requests and / or paging responses. The paging requests may include at least one paging request (sent to the first apparatus) and one or more further paging requests sent to one or more further apparatuses (e.g., one or more further ambient devices). The paging responses may include at least one paging response (received from the first apparatus) and one or more further paging responses received from the one or more further apparatuses (e.g., one or more further ambient devices). The collision information may for example comprise a probability of collision between the paging requests / responses, a measured number of collisions, a number of collisions per unit time, a binary indication of whether collisions are detected in a given time slot, etc. The second apparatus may then determine the information indicating the plurality of identifiers, and optionally the further information, based on the determined collision information.

[0158] Thus the methods described above in relation to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 may allow the network, via the second apparatus, to establish and separately control multiple paging sessions for the first apparatus. For example, the paging request may identify a first paging session having a first access type and first end time, and a second paging session having a second access type and second end time different to the first access type and the first end time. This may provide more control and flexibility in how the paging sessions are established and controlled.

[0159] Reference is made to FIG. 8, which shows a method according to some examples. The method described in relation to FIG. 8 may be performed by a first apparatus, for example an ambient device, such as an ambient loT device.

[0160] At 800, the method comprises receiving, from one or more second apparatuses, a respective one or more paging requests, the one or more paging requests comprising at least one identifier of the one or more second apparatuses which sent the one or more paging requests. For example, the first apparatus may receive, from a first one of the one or more second apparatuses, a first paging request comprising an identifier of the first one of the one or more second apparatuses; and receive, from a second one of the one or more second apparatuses, a second paging request comprising an identifier of the second one of the one or more second apparatuses. Each paging request may be as described previously.

[0161] At 802, the method comprises determining, based on the one or more paging requests, at least one target second apparatus from among the one or more second apparatuses to which to send a paging response. In some examples the first apparatus may determine the at least one target second apparatus based on an estimation of a signal strength of the one or more paging requests. The determined at least one target second apparatus may correspond to the paging request associated with a highest estimated signal strength. Alternatively, the first apparatus may determine to send the paging response to the second apparatus which triggered the paging response, i.e. the second apparatus from which the paging response was receive, irrespective of the estimated signal strength.

[0162] At 804, the method comprises sending, to the determined at least one target second apparatus, at least one paging response. Each paging response may be as described previously.

[0163] Reference is made to FIG. 9, which shows a method according to some examples. The method described in relation to FIG. 9 may be performed by a second apparatus, for example an ambient device reader or activator.

[0164] At 900, the method comprises sending, to one or more first apparatuses, a respective one or more paging requests, the one or more paging requests comprising an identifier of the second apparatus. Each paging request may be as described previously.

[0165] At 902, the method comprises receiving, from at least one of the one or more first apparatuses, at least one paging response. The paging responses may be as described previously. The at least one paging response may be received from all of the one or more first apparatuses to which the one or more paging requests were sent, or some, but not all, of the one or more first apparatuses to which the one or more paging requests were sent.

[0166] Each of the one or more paging request described above in relation to the method of FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 may comprise further information indicating at least one of: an identifier associated with a paging session, the paging session comprising one or more paging opportunities for responding to a paging request; at least one access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the paging request; at least one resource on which the first apparatus may respond to the paging request; a first list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to respond to the paging request, the first list including the first apparatus identifier; a second list of one or more apparatuses which are requested to not respond to the paging request, the second list not including the first apparatus; a group identifier identifying a group of apparatuses to which the first apparatus belongs; a time limit within which the first apparatus is requested to respond to the paging request; an end time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to stop responding to the paging request; a start time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to start responding to the paging request; a service type indicating whether the paging request is one of: inventory only, command only, or inventory and command; or a backoff time for contention resolution. The further information may be as described previously. The first apparatus may send, and correspondingly the second apparatus may receive, the paging response based on the further information.

[0167] In some examples the second apparatus may the second apparatus may determine collision information associated with collisions between paging requests and / or paging responses. The paging requests may include at least one paging request (sent to the first apparatus) and one or more further paging requests sent to one or more further apparatuses (e.g., one or more further ambient devices). The paging responses may include at least one paging response (received from the first apparatus) and one or more further paging responses received from the one or more further apparatuses (e.g., one or more further ambient devices). The collision information may for example comprise a probability of collision between the paging requests / responses, a measured number of collisions, a number of collisions per unit time, a binary indication of whether collisions are detected in a given time slot, etc. The second apparatus may then determine the one or more apparatuses based on the determined collision information.

[0168] Thus the methods described above in relation to FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 may allow the first apparatus to determine, based on the identifier of the second apparatus comprised in the paging request, an origin of the paging request, and accordingly determine where to send the paging response. This may be particularly beneficial in the case of there being multiple reader devices from which the paging request can be received, as the first apparatus may for example be able to avoid duplicating the paging response (instead of replying to each paging request separately), or may determine a more optimal second apparatus to respond to (for example based on signal strength) to improve the chances that the response is received and thus improving the performance and reliability of the system.

[0169] Having described various concepts and examples of the present disclosure, three example scenarios are provided for the purpose of further illustrating some of the concepts and examples described above. It should be understood that these example scenarios should not be considered as limiting the aforementioned concepts and examples to only the following scenarios.

[0170] Example scenario 1

[0171] Reference is made to FIG. 10, which shows a signalling exchange for a first example scenario. In this example scenario, an ambient reader device R sends (e.g., broadcasts), to two ambient devices A1 and A2, a paging request with an inventory request. The paging request comprises the following information: (a) Identifier of paging session (PagingSessionlD) = 1; (b) Identifier of the second apparatus (Reader ID) = R; (c) First list = A1; (d) Time limit = 10; (e) Access type = contention free access (CFA).

[0172] The paging request therefore specifies that the request is associated with paging session ID = 1; that the request is sent by reader R; that the devices requested to respond are A1 (but not A2); that the requested devices have 10 time units (which may be a standardized time unit, e.g., time slot, or otherwise) to respond to the request; and that the requested devices are to respond using contention free access.

[0173] Device A1 then selectively responds within the predefined time limit to the reader without undergoing any contention procedure (i.e., using contention-free resources). The random ID of message (MSG) 1 is echoed as an identification measure in MSG 2. In this example, also the reader ID is echoed in the paging response to indicate reader selection.

[0174] Example scenario 2

[0175] Reference is made to FIG. 11, which shows a signalling exchange for a second example scenario. In this scenario, ambient reader device R sends (e.g., broadcasts), to three subgroups of ambient devices, A1, A2, A3, a paging request with an inventory request. Each subgroup may comprise one or more ambient devices. The first paging request comprises the following information: (a) Identifier of paging session (PagingSessionlD) = 2; (b) Identifier of the second apparatus (Reader ID) = R; (c) First list = A1, A2; (d) Second list = A3; (e) Access type = contention based random access (CBA); (f) Q-factor = 4.

[0176] The first paging request therefore specifies that the request is associated with paging session ID - 2; that the request is sent by reader R; that the devices requested to respond are in subgroups A1 and A2, devices in subgroup A3 are requested not to respond; that the requested devices are to respond using contention based random access; and that the Q-factor for determining the backoff timer for contention is 4.

[0177] Assuming large subgroups A1 and A2 and protracted response time due to massive contention with large backoff times, the reader decides to reconfigure the paging conditions to remove subgroup A2 from the first list and adding subgroup A2 to the second list. The reader therefore sends a second paging request, using the same identifier for the paging session (PagingSessionlD = 2), and indicating that subgroup A2 is comprised in the second list. This reduces the contention load and so the Q-factor is also reduced to 1 to accelerate device responses.

[0178] Subsequently, after paging responses have been received from subgroup A1, the reader then schedules subgroup A2 by sending a third paging request (with PagingSessionlD = 2) while indicating the subgroup A2 in the first list. The Q factor is maintained at value 1.

[0179] By reducing the contending pool of devices by half (assuming subgroups 1 and 2 are equally big), the resulting response time of a single group may be reduced exponentially. Scheduling these groups A1 and A2 subsequently in time thus results in significant reduction of total response time of both groups.

[0180] When the application-layer target for the inventory request is reached (as known from the reader or received from a network node or core network), the reader terminates all transmissions from the ambient devices in the subgroups by sending a fourth paging request (with PagingSessionlD = 2) and information indicating an end time as being immediate (e.g., end time = 1). After this, all ambient devices stop transmitting paging responses, as any data would be discarded by the application-layer server.

[0181] Example scenario 3

[0182] Reference is made to FIG. 12, which shows a signalling exchange for a third example scenario. In this scenario, ambient reader device R sends (e.g., broadcasts), to three ambient devices, A1, A2, A3 comprised in a same subgroup G1, a paging request with an inventory request. Each subgroup may comprise one or more ambient devices. The first paging request comprises the following information: (a) Identifier of paging session (PagingSessionlD) = 3; (b) Identifier of the second apparatus (Reader ID) = R; (c) First list = A1, A2; (d) Second list = A3; (e) Access type = contention based random access; (f) Q-factor = 4.

[0183] The first paging request therefore specifies that the request is associated with paging session ID = 3; that the request is sent by reader R; that the devices requested to respond are devices A1 and A2 within G1, device A3 in G1 is requested not to respond; that the requested devices are to respond using contention based random access; and that the Q-factor for determining the backoff timer for contention is 4.

[0184] The reader device may determine the collision information based on attempted paging responses sent by devices A1 and A2. Assuming large number of devices inside group 1 (Devices A1 A2) and protracted response time due to massive contention with large backoff times, and based on the collision information, the reader decides to reconfigure the paging conditions to remove device A2 within G1 from the first list. The reader therefore sends a second paging request (using PagingSessionlD = 3) and removing A2 from the first list by adding A2 to the second list. This reduces the contention load and so the Q factor is reduced to 1 to accelerate device responses.

[0185] Subsequently, after receiving paging responses from A1, the reader schedules A2 by sending a third paging request (using PagingSessionlD = 3) indicating device A2 within G1 in the first list. The Q factor is maintained at value 1.

[0186] By reducing the contending pool of devices by half (assuming Devices A1 and A2) reduces exponentially the resulting response time of a device. Scheduling these devices subsequently in time thus results in significant reduction of total response time of both devices.

[0187] When the application-layer target for the inventory request is reached (as known from the reader or received from a network node or core network), the reader terminates all transmissions from the ambient devices in the group by sending a fourth paging request (with PagingSessionlD = 3) and information indicating an end time as being immediate (e.g., end time = 1). After this, all ambient devices stop transmitting paging responses, as any data would be discarded by the application-layer server.

[0188] Examples have been described above whereby a second apparatus, such as an ambient device reader or activator, may send a paging request to a first device, such as an ambient device. The paging request may comprise information indicating various different parameters or conditions associated with a paging session, as defined above. This information may be used by the first apparatus to send a response to the second apparatus. The use of such paging requests may help address one or more problems with existing access schemes for ambient devices, such as but not limited to the total or per device response time not being known, or efficient resource control not being possible. Some examples may enable multiple paging sessions to be established and may enable more efficient paging using multiple readers.

[0189] While reference may be made to “an”, “one”, or “some” example(s) throughout the present disclosure, this does not necessarily mean that each reference is made to the same example(s), or that a particular feature only applies to a single example. Single features of different examples may also be combined to provide other examples. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection of an example, it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to apply such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other examples whether or not explicitly described. It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second” and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another.

[0190] It is understood that references in the above to various network functions (e.g., to an AMF, an SMF, etc.) may be implemented by apparatus that perform at least some of the functionality associated with those network functions. Further, an apparatus configured to implement a network function may further be configured to implement a virtual network function instance of that network function.

[0191] It should be understood that the apparatuses may comprise or be coupled to other units or modules etc., such as radio parts or radio heads, used in or for transmission and / or reception. Although the apparatuses have been described as one entity, different modules and memory may be implemented in one or more physical or logical entities.

[0192] It is noted that whilst some examples have been described in relation to 5G networks, similar examples can be applied in relation to other networks and communication systems. Therefore, although certain examples were described above by way of example with reference to certain example architectures for wireless networks, technologies and standards, further examples may be applied to any other suitable forms of communication systems than those illustrated and described herein.

[0193] It is also noted herein that there are several variations and modifications which may be made to the various examples described herein without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

[0194] As used herein, the phrases “at least one of A or B”, “at least one of A and B”, and “A and / or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A, B, and / or C” means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B, and C). .

[0195] As used herein, the term “or” refers to a non-exclusive “or” unless otherwise indicated (e.g., use of “or else” or “or in the alternative”).

[0196] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included. Analogously, performing a step or functionality “based on A” does not indicate that the step or functionality is performed solely based on “A” as one or more additional conditions may be included.

[0197] In some examples, there is provided a first apparatus comprising means for: receiving, from a second apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; determining, based on the at least one paging request, the access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the paging request; and sending, to the second apparatus, at least one paging response based on the determined access type.

[0198] In some examples there is provided a second apparatus comprising means for: sending, to a first apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; and receiving, from the first apparatus, at least one paging response based on the information indicating the access type.

[0199] In some examples there is provided a first apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: receive, from a second apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; determine, based on the at least one paging request, the access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the paging request; and send, to the second apparatus, at least one paging response based on the determined access type.

[0200] In some examples there is provided a second apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to: send, to a first apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; and receive, from the first apparatus, at least one paging response based on the information indicating the access type.

[0201] FIG. 13 shows, by way of example, a block diagram of an apparatus 10. The apparatus 10 comprises, for example, at least one processor 12 and at least one memory 14 storing instructions 15 that, when executed by the at least one processor, may cause the apparatus 10 at least to perform the method or methods as disclosed herein. In an example, the at least one memory and the instructions (e.g. a computer program code, software), are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus 10 to perform the method or methods as disclosed herein.

[0202] A processor 12 may comprise circuitry, or be constituted as circuitry or circuitries, the circuitry or circuitries being configured to perform phases of methods in accordance with examples described herein. As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations, such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry, and (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as, as applicable: (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a user equipment, to perform various functions) and (c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation. This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this disclosure, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this disclosure, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0203] The memory 14 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology. The memory may comprise a database for storing data. The memory 14 may be at least in part external to apparatus 10 but accessible to apparatus 10.

[0204] The instructions 15 may be comprised in a computer readable medium or a non-transitory computer readable medium. A term non-transitory, as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e. tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g. random access memory, RAM, vs. read only memory, ROM).

[0205] For example, the apparatus 10 may be a terminal device, which may be an example of the second apparatus described previously. As another example, the apparatus 10 may be comprised in such a terminal device, e.g. as a chipset configured to control the terminal device. The apparatus 10 may be caused or configured to perform at least the method of FIG. 5, 7 or 9 and / or any one or more of the examples described.

[0206] As another example, the apparatus 10 may be a network node, which may be another example of the second apparatus described previously. In another example, the apparatus 10 may be comprised in such a network node, e.g. as a chipset configured to control the network node. The apparatus 10 may be caused or configured to perform at least the method of FIG. 5, 7, or 9 and / or any one or more of the examples described.

[0207] The apparatus may comprise one or more entities of any of protocol layers, such as a MAC entity, an RRC entity, an RLC entity, a PDCP entity or a PHY entity. In some examples, the entity may be configured to perform at least the method of FIG. 5, 7 or 9, and / or any one or more of the examples described.

[0208] The apparatus 10 may comprise a radio interface 16. The radio interface 16 may provide the apparatus 10 with communication capabilities. The radio interface 16 may comprise a receiver configured to receive information in accordance with at least one cellular or non-cellular standard. The radio interface 16 may comprise a transmitter configured to transmit information in accordance with at least one cellular or non-cellular standard. The receiver may comprise more than one receiver. The transmitter may comprise more than one transmitter. The radio interface 16 may comprise a transceiver configured to receive and transmit information in accordance with at least one cellular or non-cellular standard. The transceiver may comprise more than one transceiver.

[0209] The apparatus 10 may comprise a user interface 18 comprising, for example, at least one of a keypad, a microphone, a touch display, a display, a speaker, etc. The user interface 18 may be used to control the apparatus by the user. The user interface 18 may be external to the apparatus 10. For example, the apparatus 10 may be connected to another device, such as a computer, either via wireless or wired connection, and the apparatus 10 is controlled by the user via the computer.

[0210] In some examples, at least some of the processes described herein may be carried out by an apparatus comprising means for carrying out at least some of the described processes. Means for performing method steps as disclosed herein may include software and / or hardware components of the apparatus 10. For example, the at least one processor 12, the memory 14, and the computer program code form means for carrying out the method or methods as disclosed herein, and any of the examples. As used herein the term “means” is to be construed in singular form, i.e. referring to a single element, or in plural form, i.e. referring to a combination of single elements. Therefore, terminology “means for [performing A, B, C]”, is to be interpreted to cover an apparatus in which there is only one means for performing A, B and C, or where there are separate means for performing A, B and C, or partially or fully overlapping means for performing A, B, C. Further, terminology “means for performing A, means for performing B, means for performing C” is to be interpreted to cover an apparatus in which there is only one means for performing A, B and C, or where there are separate means for performing A, B and C, or partially or fully overlapping means for performing A, B, C.

[0211] The scope of protection sought for various examples of the disclosure is set out by the independent claims. The examples and features thereof, if any, described in this disclosure that do not fall under the scope of the independent claims are to be interpreted as examples useful for understanding various examples of the disclosure.

[0212] Even though examples of the invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is clear that the examples are not restricted thereto but can be modified in several ways within the scope of the appended claims. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly and they are intended to illustrate, not to restrict, the examples. It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. Further, it is clear to a person skilled 5 in the art that the described examples may, but are not required to, be combined with other examples in various ways.

Claims

1. A first apparatus comprising means for:receiving, from a second apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request;determining, based on the at least one paging request, the access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request; andsending, to the second apparatus, at least one paging response based on the determined access type.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one paging request comprises further information indicating at least one of:an identifier associated with a paging session, the paging session comprisingone or more paging opportunities for responding to the at least one paging request;at least one resource on which the first apparatus may respond to the at least one paging request;an identifier of the second apparatus;a first list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to respond to the at least one paging request, the first list including the first apparatus identifier;a second list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to not respond to the at least one paging request, the second list not including the first apparatus;a group identifier identifying a group of apparatuses to which the first apparatus belongs;a time limit within which the first apparatus is requested to respond to the at least one paging request;an end time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to stop responding to the at least one paging request;a start time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to start responding to the at least one paging request;a service type indicating whether the at least one paging request is one of: inventory only, command only, or inventory and command; ora backoff time for contention resolution.

3. The first apparatus of claim 2, wherein sending the at least one paging response is based on the further information.

4. The first apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the information indicating the access type comprises information indicating the access type as being one of:contention based random access; or contention free random access.

5. The first apparatus of claim 4, wherein the access type is contention free random access, and the indication of the at least one resource comprises an indication of at least one resource granted to only the first apparatus.

6. The first apparatus of claim 4 or 5, wherein the access type is contention free random access, and wherein the at least one paging response comprises an identifier of the first apparatus.

7. The first apparatus of claim 4, wherein the access type is contention based random access, and the indication of the at least one resource comprises an indication of at least one resource shared by the first apparatus and one or more other apparatuses.

8. The first apparatus of claim 4 or 7, wherein the access type is contention based random access, and the at least one paging request further comprises information indicating a number of steps associated with a contention based random access procedure for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request.

9. The first apparatus of claim 8, wherein the number of steps is a maximum number of steps, and wherein the random access procedure comprises a number of steps less than or equal to the maximum number of steps.

10. The first apparatus of claim 9, wherein:the maximum number of steps is two, and the at least one paging response comprises a random identifier and an identifier of the first apparatus; orthe maximum number of steps is four, and the at least one paging response comprises a random identifier, and the means is further for:receiving, from the second apparatus, a reply to the at least one paging response including the random identifier; andsending, to the second apparatus, in response to the reply, a message comprising an identifier of the first apparatus.

11. The first apparatus of claim 10, wherein the means is further for:receiving, from the second apparatus, an acknowledgement message acknowledging successful receipt of the at least one paging response comprising the random identifier and the identifier of the first apparatus; orreceiving, from the second apparatus, an acknowledgement message acknowledging successful receipt of the message comprising the identifier of the first apparatus.

12. The first apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the at least one paging response comprises information indicating that the first apparatus is not compliant with the indicated access type.

13. The first apparatus of any preceding claims, wherein the first apparatus is an ambient device; and wherein the second apparatus is an ambient device reader or activator.

14. A second apparatus comprising means for:sending, to a first apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; andreceiving, from the first apparatus, at least one paging response based on the information indicating the access type.

15. The second apparatus of claim 14, wherein the means is further for:determining collision information associated with collisions between paging requests and / or paging responses, the paging requests including the at least one paging request and one or more further paging requests sent to one or more further apparatuses; and the paging responses including the at least one paging response and one or more further paging responses sent from the one or more further apparatuses; anddetermining the information indicating the access type based on the determined collision information.

16. The second apparatus of claim 14 or 15, wherein the at least one paging request comprises further information indicating at least one of:an identifier associated with a paging session, the paging session comprising one or more paging opportunities for responding to the at least one paging request;at least one resource on which the first apparatus may respond to the at least one paging request;an identifier of the second apparatus;a first list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to respond to the at least one paging request, the first list including the first apparatus;an identifier of a group of apparatuses to which the first apparatus belongs;a second list of one or more apparatus identifiers which are requested to not respond to the at least one paging request, the second list not including the first apparatus;a time limit within which the first apparatus is requested to respond to the at least one paging request;an end time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to stop responding to the at least one paging request;a start time indicating a time at which the first apparatus is to start responding to the at least one paging request;a service type indicating whether the at least one paging request is one of: inventory only, command only, or inventory and command; ora backoff time for contention resolution.

17. The second apparatus of claim 16, wherein receiving the at least one paging response is based on the further information.

18. The second apparatus of claim 16 or 17, wherein the means is further for: determining collision information associated with collisions between paging requests and / or paging responses, the paging requests including the at least one paging request and one or more further paging requests sent to one or more further apparatuses; and the paging responses including the at least one paging response and one or more further paging responses sent from the one or more further apparatuses; anddetermining the further information based on the determined collision information.

19. The second apparatus of any of claims 14 to 18 , wherein the access type is contention free random access, and the indication of the at least one resource comprises an indication of at least one resource granted to only the first apparatus.

20. The second apparatus of any of claims 14 to 18 , wherein the access type is contention based random access, and the indication of the at least one resource comprises an indication of at least one resource shared by the first apparatus and one or more other apparatuses.

21. The second apparatus of claim 20, wherein the access type is contention based random access, and the at least one paging request further comprises information indicatinga number of steps associated with a contention based random access procedure for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request22. A method performed by a first apparatus, the method comprising:receiving, from a second apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request;determining, based on the at least one paging request, the access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the paging request; andsending, to the second apparatus, at least one paging response based on the determined access type.

23. A method performed by a second apparatus, the method comprising:sending, to a first apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; andreceiving, from the first apparatus, at least one paging response based on the information indicating the access type.

24. A first apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to:receive, from a second apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; determine, based on the at least one paging request, the access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to the at least one paging request; andsend, to the second apparatus, at least one paging response based on the determined access type.

25. A second apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to:send, to a first apparatus, at least one paging request comprising information indicating an access type for the first apparatus to use when responding to a paging request; andreceive, from the first apparatus, at least one paging response based on the information indicating the access type.

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